Holy Tuesday: Jesus Before Pilate

Opening Prayer: Lord on this Holy Tuesday we thank you that you deeply know us. There probably were many who thought they knew Jesus. But in the end, their surprise at Jesus’ promise to rise again, shows how little they really knew him or took him at his word. Help up to always, always take you at your word, to remember your

promises, and to put our trust not in our faith but in the truth of your essence which is to love, to above all things, to love. Amen.

Reading: John 18:28-40 New International Version (NIV)

“Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So, Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

Message: The story of Jesus before Pilate is one of betrayal, but more importantly, I think it is about how people choose to use their power and influence. The encounter between Jesus and Pilate is put into motion by Judas. We know that Judas had some authority within the group of disciples because he was the keeper of the money bag (John 12:6). Matthew tells us that Judas contacted the chief priests and initiated the contract to betray Jesus (Mt. 26:14-16). Judas used his power and his influence to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

The chief priests representing the religious sector had been trying to figure out a way to be rid of Jesus for some time. Jesus’ first trial is before the Sanhedrin, a group of 71 members who controlled civil and religious law. They use their immense power and influence to devise a way to capture Jesus in secret and to bring him before Pilate. In effect, the Sanhedrin use their great might to pass the buck onto Pilate. Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor over Judea under Emperor Tiberius, wants to use his power to free Jesus but caves, and by the washing of his hands, Pilate passes the buck back to the Sanhedrin. The choices made by Judas, the Sanhedrin, and Pilate sentenced Jesus to death on the cross. They used their power to destroy, rather than to bring life. They used their power to their own benefit and to maintain the status quo.

Thanks be to God. We also know that it was Jesus’ choice to go to the cross. We know that it was the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, permitting him to walk among his disciples before he ascended into heaven. God used God’s power to send the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter. We also know that God’s power is not a power that seeks glory for itself but is generated out of God’s love for us. Let’s be mindful of the ways we can use our power to be regenerative, giving life.

Closing Prayer:  Thank you God for your life-giving power. Let it this power flow freely in me and through me that the world may experience the regeneration that Agapé love brings. Amen

Holy Monday: Jesus and the Temple Moneychangers

Opening Prayer: Good morning Lord. As I enter the second day of Holy Week, I want to remember the echoes of the crowds, just yesterday, but I must remember to remember not only to look back to the time when Jesus was honored as a king with loud Hosannas. Courageously, I want to look forward into the darkness, assured that at the end of the dark night there is light, the light of the Resurrection. Amen.

Scripture: John 2:13-17 English Standard Version (ESV)

“The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the moneychangers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Message:

 This special devotional series focuses on the activities historically celebrated as happening during Holy Week. Today we are focusing on Jesus clearing out the moneychangers from the temple. Like any encounter between God and humans, this story has been used appropriately and in some cases inappropriately to decide what should and should not happen in the Sanctuary, the church building, or the church parking lot. As our devotion, let’s take a look at what was happening and explore why Jesus is angry? 

The scene that is set before us takes place as everyone is preparing for Passover. Preparations for Passover included finding a good place, fixing the meal, and offering sacrifices. It makes sense that not everyone would have access to appropriate sacrifices and so it was a service to offer these animals for a price. The problem was that there was a lot of price gouging going on. Jesus is not angry that people are engaged in the enterprise of buying and selling. He is angry that this holy rite is being corrupted by commerciality. Jesus is angry that the focus of preparing one’s heart and mind for the celebration of God’s saving grace has been changed to a festival of one’s buying power. 

Imagine if on Communion Sundays we offered freshly baked primo bread and Welch’s grape juice, or medium generic bread and juice, or day’s old bread and watered-down juice, all for a price. The focus would then be on who could afford the better communion elements. Eventually, the quality of the communion elements would be equated with the quality of the person who could afford the communion elements. Can you see how competitiveness and shame could easily enter into the picture? Did you notice how our attention has been shifted away from the grace that God gives us through receiving Communion and onto the cost of the elements and the people who can or cannot afford the better elements? 

These are the central issues. (1) God’s grace is free, all of the time. All of the time, God’s grace is free; and (2) God’s grace through which we receive forgiveness of sin is never about who we are. It is always about who God is. The practice of selling and price gouging put yet another veil between God and God’s people. Making money became the primary focus, not our reliance on receiving forgiveness through God’s grace. As you ponder the events of Holy Monday, think about the abundance of God’s grace that can never be bought or sold.

Closing Prayer: Together we sing that wonderful hymn chorus, “How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior’s love for me”. Thank you Lord!

Run the Race

Opening Prayer: I thank you Lord that I can be assured that you are with me. Help me in these times of self-quarantine to focus on the joy of your presence. Help me to see my small sacrifice of personal closeness in the light of your great sacrifice for me. Help this perspective to fill me with a peace that I will help me to better run this particular race.

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Message: I am sure the feeling of weight is a shared experience today. We all are burdened with worry, fear, and concern. Much of this weight is on us and within us because in the age of the internet, we have almost too much information. I usually think “the more information the better,” but the fact that we live in an age where the information is not only plentiful but contradictory makes it difficult to know who or what to believe. In these times, as in times of calm, it is important to remember that there is one place and one person in whom we can place our trust and from which we can receive the truth.

It is equally important to remember that the author of our faith is also the finisher of our faith. This fact alone makes me breathe easier as it lifts a bit of weight off me. It is not up to me to see to my faith’s completion in perfection. This is Jesus’ realm. Now, we must be careful because trusting Jesus to be the author and the finisher of our faith does not mean that there is nothing required of us. On the contrary, a race is placed in front of us. We are called to run by “laying aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” It is the act of turning away from sin and toward Jesus that allows us to be able to run the race “with perseverance.” I can think of no better prize on which to keep our eyes than the loving arms of our Savior and Lord. Give your burdens and your sins to Jesus and run the race with these weights lifted by forgiveness through grace. Run unencumbered toward the light of the world.

Closing Prayer: My heart is heavy. The sound of my voice echoes around my quiet home. I ache for the healing touch of another human being. Yet, I will praise you. I will joy in the Lord of my hope. I will become creative in the ways I let those I love know I love them. Help me to bear this season of personal distancing with courage. Remind me to look ahead and to use this time to prepare my soul for the next season to which I will be called. Amen

Living in Limbo Land

Waiting, 1880–1882. 48.2 cm x 61 cm. Norton Simon Museum at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Pasadena, Los Angeles.

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord, it’s me again. Thank you that I can take joy in knowing that you always receive me with joy. I am never too much. I can never talk to you or be with you too much. Help me during the period of living in limbo-land to enjoy the precious ability to have time in abundance. Help me to use it wisely to renew our relationship and to build on that renewal daily. Amen.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:28-29

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.

Meditation: My least favorite place to live is in limbo-land. This season in which we are asked to “shelter in place” feels like limbo-land. We know that this is not the way it will always be, but we have no idea how long this season will last. We also have no idea once this period ends how long it will take to get back to a sense of normalcy, or even what normal will look like. Living in limbo-land makes me feel anxious and the anxiety I am feeling causes me to feel tired, restlessly tired. In some ways, waiting provides too much potential. I wonder if it is this that makes me nervous. What if after all of this waiting, my next step is wrong? What if it turns out that I have wasted all of my time waiting in limbo land, only to find myself worse off than before?

In times like these, it is important to force ourselves to focus. Worries due to feelings of powerlessness or unfocused energy making us feel faint wastes these rare opportunities. Focus instead on the "everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth." Focus instead on our God who does not grow faint or weary. It is when we shift focus, that we can find hope in the promises God makes in Isaiah to give power to those who feel faint and strength to those who feel powerless. 

Living in the season of limbo is not fun and can stir up a sense of powerlessness, leading us to feel faint. I encourage you to shift your focus a bit and to revel in the potential afforded us to receive power and strength from one who offers both abundantly.

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord teach me not to lean on just my own strength and power, but to drink deep at the well that does not run dry. Calm my fears and feelings of powerlessness. Help me to see all of the power I have in you. Provide me with rest in this time of restlessness and help me to see with hope the potential afforded me. Amen.

The Church, the Body of Christ

Opening Prayer: Good morning Lord! Thank you for all the ways in which you have wonderfully made me. What an amazing me you have created. Through my ability to read I can travel through time and around the universe. I can create music that soothes the spirit, art that tantalizes the sight, and food that excites the palate and my sense of smell. When I meditate on your word, my spirits are lifted, I become centered, and peace returns to quiet my anxieties and fears. What a wonderful gift. Thank you. Amen.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-14

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.

Meditation: The scripture above is wonderful in that it recognizes the Creator God through one of his many wonderful works, the human body. I am often amazed at how interconnected and interdependent the human body is. If I have a cold and can’t smell, my sense of taste is also affected. The human body is amazingly strong and amazingly weak. Paper can cause a cut that is as painful as a cut from a knife made of metal. We are exposed to hundreds of thousands of germs on a daily basis, but most of us regularly avoid contracting the flu, a cold, or something worse. If the toe is injured, the pain is felt not just in the toe, but in the foot, leg, the back, and even the shoulders. It is not surprising that Paul used the metaphor of a human body when describing the church, the body of Christ.

Like the human body, the Church, the body of Christ was created by God, not by humans. It is wonderfully made. God is so interconnected throughout this creation that thoughts are perceived. When the Church is lying down or going out, God is there. God is familiar with all of the ways of his creation the body of Christ, the church. What might be the result of us recognizing our home congregation through this Psalm? Perhaps we would be more conscious that our congregation as the body of Christ was knit together long before we became participants and with proper stewardship has the potential to last long after. Maybe we might be conscious of God’s unique connection to Brunswick and see God’s working behind us and in front of us. I encourage you to imagine what our church might look like if it was seen as  God’s creation and not a creation of human ingenuity. Wow, I think of how limitless our potential could be.

If we saw our home church, the congregation as a creation of God we might look at each with amazement at God’s work, seeing each person as fearfully and wonderfully made. Maybe we could see God’s presence working around, in, and through each person. In recognizing our interconnectedness, we might learn how to laugh with another or how to cry with one another. Celebrating our interdependence, we might lift together asking fingers to work together to grasp and involve the wrist and arm to complete the action. My challenge to you today is as you ponder the words of Psalm 139, in this time of isolation from the gathered Brunswick family, that you seek out ways to reflect your membership as part of God’s creation, the church, the body of Christ.

Closing Prayer: Lord, it is difficult to be separated by so much distance. Help me to use this time wisely. Grant me the courage to move beyond my comfort level to be the body of Christ to someone this week. Reassure me in my loneliness and isolation that I am a part of a wonderfully and fearfully made body. Remind me that there is no place I can go that you aren’t with me. Exercise my mind, body, and spirit so that I become limber enough to thrive through this season so that when the next season comes, I am ready, willing, and able. In your holy name, I pray, Amen.

Talk to you again soon,

Pastor Yolanda

“I am the Church! You are the Church! We are the Church together!”

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the coming rain. It is a sign that even though our lives may feel stuck in one place because of the pandemic, the world is actually going on. Help me to find ways to participate in the movement of the world and of your spirit. Amen.

Scripture: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1Corinthians 12:27

Message:  I was struck today by a Facebook post from a friend extolling the virtues of being able to participate in worship virtually. He was surprised that the experience was edifying and was even looking forward to the next service. I was reminded by this post again that the Church, the Body of Christ rests in and among the believers before it moves out into the rest of the world. Edifices with their steeples, pews, and colored carpeting, banners, and the like, which might range from the spectacular to the humble, are just spaces where those filled with the very spirit of God come together. In times of isolation by choice or thrust upon us, it is essential to recognize that you, we, are the Church. There are always ways we can be in communion with the body of believers whether local or far away. I have been saying lately to friends and colleagues, “We all need to get back to those old-fashioned ways of communicating. Write a letter, send out a card, make a phone call date to have coffee together.”

The title of this devotion comes from a hymn written by Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh in the 70s. It is complementary to our reading from 1Corinthians. The Greek word, sóma, translated body most often refers to the physical body…flesh and blood. While most interpret the use of sóma to apply to the spiritual or metaphysical body, I would like to focus on the use of soma to mean the physical body.

What does it mean that your physical body is the body of Christ? Let’s take a look at 1Corinthians 6:19-20, which reads, “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body” (ESV). Your physical body is a place in which worship and work of the Holy Spirit can and should reign. It is not just your mind and spirit that have been ransomed by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It is also your physical body and its senses. It is the physical body that provides acts of love, mercy, and charity. It is the physical body that sits next to others in places of worship. It is the physical body that is moved to compassion and therefore acts. It is the physical body that reacts when it feels the presence of God. I need you; you need me, we all need each other because we are the body of Christ. We are his hands, his feet, and his heart. So, while it might be preferable, it is not necessary to be in a specific building to experience God’s presence. It also not necessary, though preferable that we be in close personal contact to worship or to be in communion with one another. There is no “holy of holies” and God doesn’t dwell in an Ark. God dwells in you. The hard part will be remembering this so that your body, mind, and spirit acts like it. Please pray with me.

Closing prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for choosing to dwell in me. I often feel like the least likely vessel, but I remember how joyfully Mary received the news that she would bear the Savior of the World. Help me to be at least as joyful as that responding, "I am the Lord's servant…May your word to me be fulfilled" (Luke 1:26-38). Amen.

Balance

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for another sunny day. The light and the warmth of the sun remind me of your presence. Help me to find ways to shine a little light and warmth on others today. Amen.

Verse: Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”

Message: It is difficult to maintain balance these days. One report tells us the crisis is slowing; another tells us we have not hit the crest of the storm yet. There are daily reports of heroism; of people sharing their gifts and resources to make others safer. On the other hand, there are stories of infected people purposely trying to infect others and of resource hoarders. Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes offers two sides as well. Exercises mare recommended to strengthen your legs, back, and core. Recommendations that help one achieve physical balance are helpful spiritually as well.

• Be aware of your current balance

• The New Testament consistently asks believers to be aware of the health of their spiritual selves.
• f Move in slow, precise movements
• There are times to be in a hurry, but taking steps that show a thoughtful, prayerful process might yield better results.
• Shift your weight from one leg to another
• You can’t carry it all. Bring your burdens to Christ. Find people with whom you can share the burden.
• Walk heel to toe in a straight line
• When I feel out of balance, I start to think and act scattered. I don’t walk in a straight line. Spiritually walking in a circuitous manner takes up a lot of energy, and while I feel like I have burnt off energy when I look back, I notice that I have not made very much progress.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes, as noted, there is a time for everything under the sun. Ecclesiastes doesn’t, however, say you are to experience both extremes at the same time. I encourage you to walk in balanced ways so that as your spirit grows it is able to provide support, comfort, and joy that will heal your body, your mind, and your soul. Please pray with me.

Closing Prayer: Lord help me to find balance. Remind me to walk in the paths of righteousness and to exchange my burdens for yours. Amen.