Missing posts

Some of you may wonder why there are no sermons posted for certain Sundays. That's because there are Sundays when our wonderful deacon, the Rev. Tim Jones, preaches. He posts his sermons on his own blog. If you want to read Tim's blog (and I highly recommend you do) you can link to it from our website: www.stjohnsasheville.org

Sermon for Year C Easter 5

Who was I that I could hinder God?

I want you to sing something with me.
It’s not hard.
And it’s also not a hymn.
But I imagine that many of you know it.
It’s actually a Beatles song.

And it goes like this:

All you need is love
(and then the choir will sing: Doot de doot de doo…)
All you need is love (Doot de doot de doo)
All you need is love, love,
love is all you need.

Let’s try it together now…

All you need is love
(and then the choir will sing: Doot de doot de doo…)
All you need is love (Doot de doot de doo)
All you need is love, love,
love is all you need.

Okay, now if you need to doze off during the rest of my sermon,
what we just sang is the Cliff notes
for what I am preaching today!

Because what we hear today in the scripture readings is this:
God’s love is BIG!
God’s love is for everyone.
Everyone.
Our scripture seems quite clear and direct:
God has enough love to go around—
and around and around and around!

Enough love for both the Jews and the Gentiles.
Today we can expand and say
God’s love is big enough for
the Jews, the Gentiles, the Muslims, the Christians, the Hindus,
the Wiccans, the Buddhists,
The believers, the doubters and the non-believers.

God’s love is BIG and inclusive.
God’s love includes you and me—
As the old song goes,
“He’s got the whole world in his hands!”

None of US get to pick and choose
Who receives God’s love and who doesn’t.
God doesn’t need human beings to pick and choose.
There is no evidence that God works like that.

Peter comes to understand this through a dream.
Peter thinks he has all his religious rules down pat.
Then he has a dream.
Down comes this giant picnic cloth from heaven,
and when Peter refuses to eat,
because he is worried that some of what is there
might be unclean, unholy--
God says, “Give me a break, Peter.”

God says my feast is enormous,
abundant, generous.
Who are you to judge what is clean or unclean,
what is holy or unholy?

There is plenty for everyone.
and everyone has a place at the table.
God’s love is BIG.

And Peter gets it.
Peter understands that God is telling him
there is no “them” and “us.”
Peter hears and understands
…What God has made clean, you must not call profane.


Peter understands
that he is not God.
Peter understands
that he is not the One who makes all things new.


Peter says to those who are criticizing him,
criticizing him for being inclusive and welcoming,
Peter says, Who was I
that I could hinder God?

Who are any of us
that we can try to limit the love of God?

That has never been part of the gospel.
Never.

In John’s gospel today we hear the new commandment—
directly from Jesus.
Jesus says “love one another”.

Jesus does not say
love people that are just like you.
Jesus does not say
love the people that are easy to get along with.
Jesus does not say
love the people that will love you back.

Jesus says love EVERYBODY.

Jesus says this is how people will know
that you are my disciples--
by the love you show to one another.
Not the love you feel, but the love you SHOW.

This love is not a theory.
This love is how we treat one another.
Yes, we feel love in our hearts
but love can truly be seen.
Love is incarnate.


Love is how we speak to one another.
Love is our actions and our tone of voice.

Love is standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Love is being infinitely patient with the people who drive us crazy.


Love is speaking up
when someone talks about someone behind their backs
or tells a joke that diminishes a person because of their race or
religion, their gender or sexuality.

Love is wiping tears from the eyes of those who are suffering
and feeding those who are hungry.
Love is about being kind and gentle
in our own households,
behind closed doors,
when no one is around to see or hear or be impressed.
Love is seeing the whole world
as our household.

There is a story, a midrash, that many of you may have heard.
You are about to hear it once more.

Many centuries ago,
the Pope decreed that all the Jews
had to convert to Christianity or leave Italy.

There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community,
so the Pope offered a deal.
He would have a religious debate
with the leader of the Jewish community.
If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy and did not have to convert.
If the Pope won, they would have to convert or leave.

The Jewish people met
and selected an old but wise Rabbi
to represent them in the debate.

However, the Rabbi spoke no Latin
and the Pope spoke no Yiddish,
so they all agreed that it would be a silent debate.

They would need to communicate with sign language.
On the chosen day, the Pope and Rabbi sat opposite each other.
They stared into each other’s eyes
for a full minute before they began.

The Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
The Rabbi looked back and raised one finger.

Next, the Pope waved his hand above and around his head.
The Rabbi pointed to the ground where he sat.

The Pope then brought over
a loaf of communion bread and a chalice of wine.
The Rabbi reached into his pocket and pulled out an apple.

With that, the Pope stood up
and declared that he was beaten,
that the Rabbi had won the debate,
and that the Jews could stay and not convert.

Later, the Cardinals met with the Pope,
asking what had happened.
The Pope said,
First, I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity.
The Rabbi responded by holding up one finger
to remind me that there is still only one God
common to both our beliefs.
Then, I waved my hand in the air
to show him that God was transcendent,
all around us.
The Rabbi responded by pointing to the ground
to show that God was also right here with us.

I brought over the wine & bread of communion
to show that God is generous and forgives all our sins.
The Rabbi pulled out an apple from his coat pocket
to remind me of Adam and Eve in the garden and original sin.

The Rabbi had me beaten & I couldn’t continue.

Meanwhile, the Jewish community gathered around the Rabbi.
“How did you win the debate?” they asked.
“I haven’t a clue,” said the old Rabbi.
“First he said to me that we had three days
to convert or get out of Italy,
so I raised my finger to say, “Don’t’ even think about it!”
Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews
and I said to him, we’re staying right here.”
“And then what?” asked a woman.

“Who knows?” said the Rabbi,
“He brought over his lunch, so I took out mine.”


Every day we debate similar—often silent --battles with one another.
We think we are speaking the same language.
But what I say and what you hear
and what you say and what I hear,
may be worlds apart.

Sometimes we think we hear God saying one thing
but who knows?
Maybe God is saying something completely different!

God tells Peter through a dream
that God’s world is not about the human norms
of insiders and outsiders,
of rules and regulations,
of winners and losers.

God’s world is about abundance and plenty.
God’s world is about everyone
being welcome to come to the feast.


God’s love is so enormous
we can’t even imagine it,
not even in our wildest dreams.

We worry and fret and criticize and judge.
We misinterpret one another’s words and actions.

We clutter our minds and our hearts
with so many things
that are really no concern of ours.

The gospel message to love one another is difficult to live.
Indeed.
Extremely difficult.

But fortunately Jesus was a man of few but profound words.
He gives us a mandate short enough to easily remember:
Love one another.
Even those of us with the worst memories can probably manage 3 words:
Love one another.

Or maybe if we can just keep on singing that Beatles’ song
to help us remember.
Maybe we will start to remember a little more often,
a little better,
each and every day.

Let’s try it one more time…

All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love is all you need.
Love is all you need.

Love is all we need.
Amen.

Sermon for Year C Easter 3

Ananias, I need you…

Saul, still breathing threats and murder…
That is the way our scripture reading
from the Acts of the Apostles begins today..
Saul, still breathing threats and murder…
Not just THINKING threats and murder…
but BREATHING threats and murder.

Our breath
comes from the deepest part of our being.
Saul is a man who is so filled with hate, so consumed by anger--
his mind, his body, his very soul
have one goal:
kill anyone and everyone who dares to follow Jesus.

Saul, still breathing threats and murder…
sets out for Damascus.
And everything changes.
There’s a blinding light—
literally a BLINDING light—
and Saul falls to the ground—


If you travel to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wilkesboro
you can see a magnificent fresco of this event,
painted by artist Ben Long in the nathex of the church.
Saul is knocked off his horse onto the ground
and everyone is engulfed in an almost nuclear flash of light.

And just in case Saul doesn’t get the message of who is in charge
Jesus speaks to him.
Yes, directly to him.
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you?” asks Saul.

“Jesus. It’s me—Jesus. And I’m talking to you!”


And Saul is left helpless.
Being helpless is not a comfortable place or position
for someone who likes to control everyone.
Suddenly Saul, the big bad bossman, is left helpless.

And Jesus calls to another man.
Ananias.
Jesus says,
“Ananias, I want you to get up
and go find a man who is named Saul.”

Now Ananias wants to be a good and obedient disciple,
but being asked to go and purposefully seek out this man,
the infamous Saul?!??
Jesus might as well have told Ananias
I want you to put your head in an angry lion’s mouth.

“Uh, Lord, I’ve heard about this man. This Saul.
He’s a bad man, Jesus.
Saul is evil and he has done evil things,” says Ananias.

But Jesus is insistent.
“Ananias, I need you to go to Saul.”

And Ananias goes and lays his hands on Saul—
not to harm Saul, but to heal him.
And Saul’s sight is restored.
He gets up, he is baptized, he has something to eat
and he is changed forever.

No longer would Saul breathe threats and murder—
instead Saul will breathe invitation
to share the amazing grace of God.

Saul becomes Paul.
A follower of Jesus.
Now as terrifying as that experience on the Damascus Road
must have been for Saul,
there are definitely some of us
who wish that Jesus would be so clear, so direct,
with us.

Those dramatic, shattering, everything-changes-immediately conversions
still happen—to some people.
But for many,
the conversion, the transformation
of our hearts and minds into believers and followers
is slow, gradual
inch by inch, minute by minute, day by day.
One baby step at a time.

For many of us there is no blinding light
or being dramatically knocked off our “high horse.”

There are just ordinary days, ordinary people and ordinary experiences.
Very often our transformation
happens through people much like Ananias.


Faithful people who love God and trust God.
Faithful people who show up.
People who answer the call to follow Jesus
by reaching out to those around them each day,
by offering kindness and compassion,
by practicing patience,
by loving others as God loves us.
Faithful people who show up and keep on loving us,
without judgment, without conditions, without reservation.


Ananias went to Saul and laid his hands upon him.
He laid his hands upon this man
who had taken part in the stoning to death of Stephen.
He laid his hands upon this man
who arrested, and most likely murdered, men and women,
simply because they were followers of Jesus.

God needs ordinary Christians like Ananias,
ordinatry people
who demonstrate the extraordinary power of forgiveness and love.

This season of Easter is a time to give thanks
for those who have been Ananias to us.

Those who have come and laid their hands upon us
when we needed it the most but could ask for it the least.

Those who have loved us when we knew we did not in any way
deserve to be loved.

Those who do not remind us of all our past mistakes
but instead,
reach out and turn our faces toward the future.

Ananias is the face God wears in this world.
Every ordinary day.

Our true conversion happens
when we move beyond waiting
for miracles on the Damascus road,
when we move even beyond receiving those
who act as Ananias to us.

Our true conversion happens
when we ourselves get up, go out,
love and serve—
when we ourselves
become the Ananias to others.

When we stop breathing fear and hatred,
discontent and skepticism
and we begin to breathe in and breathe out
the love and peace of God,
a love and peace
which passes all understanding
a love and peace
that changes us,
and changes the world around us.

Sermon for Easter Day 2010

Christ has risen

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed!

The tomb is empty.
The world has been turned upside down.
Christ is risen.
Happy, happy Easter Day!

Even our church looks different today.
We have left Lent—that is for sure and certain.
Now there are flowers and brass and silver.
We are decked out in festival white vestments.
.
Penelope Carscaddon’s powerful Stations of the Cross paintings—
gone.
Packed away until next Lent.

And now we feast our eyes upon flowers and fruit and all abundance,
beautifully painted by another artist in our congregation,
Ann Warren.

Welcome happy morning!
We come together this morning to celebrate resurrection—
hope and promise and possibilities,
new life in Christ.

Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb in the dark of the morning
and sees that the stone at the tomb’s entrance has been rolled away.
She is terrified and runs to get Peter
and then the other disciples arrive.
And they are completely baffled.
The disciples leave her and go back to their homes.
But Mary stays.
Mary Magdalene stays and weeps.

Was it not enough to lose her beloved friend Jesus—
has someone now come and stolen his body as well?
She weeps.
From fear, from anger, from exhaustion, from heartbreak,
she weeps.
Until she looks up and sees two angels.
(I guess that would make any of us stop crying!)

And then she turns around and there is Jesus.
only at first she thinks he is the gardener—
remember, the tomb is in a garden—
it’s why we celebrate Easter and other Sundays
with flowers in the church.
Mary sees a man and she doesn’t recognize him
until he speaks her name.
“Mary!”
And then she knows.
She knows.

I want to tell you a legend about Mary Magdalene and Easter eggs.
And I also want to tell you a story that happened just a few years ago—
also about Easter eggs.

Here is the legend first:

After Jesus ascended into heaven,
Mary Magdalene traveled to see the Emperor of Rome.
Some say she wanted to give him a piece of her mind
about how poorly Pilate handled Jesus’ trial.
But regardless,
when she sees Tiberius Caesar,
Her first words to him are “Christ has risen.”
To which Caesar scoffs and responds,
Pointing to a white boiled egg on his breakfast table,
“Christ has no more risen than that egg is red!”
which of course, at that point,
the white egg immediately turned blood red.
Even today in the Orthodox church,
eggs for Easter are always dyed red.



If you look in the Weinhauer Chapel this morning
before you head over to lunch—
and I hope you will
because the chapel is glorious—
breathtakingly beautiful with flowers and plants.

You will also see there
a small icon of Mary Magdalene—
and as is the case in many of her icons--
Mary Magdalene is holding an egg.
Christ has risen!

Now for the other Easter egg story.

You know egg hunts are a lot of fun.
Some of us even remember pre-plastic Easter egg hunts—
When the eggs were all hard boiled and hand dyed.
But there’s nothing wrong with plastic eggs filled with chocolate!

We will have an Easter egg hunt here at St. John’s today after lunch.
It’s for children—
but you get to decide if you are still a child.
So don’t be shy!


The hiding and hunting and finding of eggs is fun!
Plain and simple fun!

This story was shared with me a number of years ago
about a little girl named Helen who was three years old
when this story happened.
Now after church,
(their church did not have a lunch and an egg hunt)
Helen went home with her mother and father
and friends and family gathered at their house for a wonderful lunch
After lunch,
The eggs were hidden and the children shrieked with delight
hunting for and finding the eggs.

Helen loved the hunt and the finding so much,
that she didn’t want to get immediately involved
in the opening of the eggs
or eating of the chocolate and other treats inside.

She insisted that they hide and hunt and find the eggs
over and over and over.
And the children loved this!
It was a truly glorious and joy-filled Easter day!

But about three days later,
at breakfast with her mother and father,
Helen asked a question.

“I don’t understand,” said Helen.
“What do Easter eggs have to do with Jesus?”
Now I guess her parents didn’t know the legend about Mary Magdalene,
so they were just silent.
They weren’t sure what to say.
They weren’t sure they knew
what Easter eggs had to do with Jesus.

But before they could even attempt an answer,
Helen said,
“I don’t even care
because I don’t even like Jesus any more.”

Now her mother and father really were speechless.
But Helen kept talking,
“I don’t like Jesus because he died.”

Helen’s mother and father still could not speak.
But Helen—are you getting the picture that Helen is a talkative child?!!!—
Helen kept on talking.

“But maybe Jesus can just live in my heart now—
sort of like my Grammie who died
and I don’t ever get to see her any more either.”

Maybe Jesus can just live in my heart now.

Even at age three,
Helen understood resurrection.
Those we love
living on in our hearts.
Those we love
Still very much a part of our lives.

Easter is also about us,
alive and held and treasured in God’s heart.
For ever and ever.

iWhen you receive the bread and wine of communion this Easter morning—
and you are all welcome to receive communion this morning--
When you receive the bread and wine this morning,
you will not hear the ordinary familiar words.

No body of Christ or bread of heaven.
No blood of Christ or cup of salvation.

But on this day, on this Easter morning.
today, when I place the bread in your hands I will say:
Christ has risen.

And you can say
The Lord is risen indeed
Or you can say ALLELUIA!
or you can say AMEN!
Or you can just smile!

And the same when you receive the chalice.

Christ has risen.
The Lord is risen indeed!
Welcome, Happy Morning!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sermon for the Easter Vigil

Stepping into the story

The Great Vigil of Easter is all about story.

We act out the story of the light of Christ coming into the world
as we light the first fire of Easter
and process the Paschal candle into the Church.
The story of the light of Christ coming into a dark and hurting world.
Our world.

We light our own small candles from the Christ candle
because for each of us,
in ways small and large,
our own story
has been set afire by the story of Jesus Christ.

We sit and listen to stories--
the creation, the flood,
the crossing of the Red Sea,
the dry bones.

The story of the people of God.
Our story.

And tonight Robin Lynn Holt will be baptized.
Baptized into the Church of God.
Officially welcomed as a child of God—
an already much loved member of this parish, St. John’s.

As with all of us, Robin has her own life story,
but tonight her story changes.
She will make her promises to God.
She will be baptized by water and anointed with oil.
Tonight Robin will be marked as Christ’s own for ever.


Tonight all our stories are woven together as God’s people—
past, present and future.

We have made it through the 40 days of Lent and Holy Week.
We have arrived at the threshold—Easter.
Resurrection. New life.

Easter is not about a one day event.
Easter is about how we choose to live our lives.
Easter is about living as transformed people of Christ.

Easter is about putting all our eggs in a basket called hope.
Easter is opening our eyes to resurrection moments that confront us every day.

How do we live in this broken, battered world as Easter people?
With God’s help.
With God’s love.
A love made visible to us every single day
When we love one another.

Easter is our story, our way of life.

I remember many years ago when Tom and I lived in Memphis.
A friend of ours at our church suffered from severe heart disease.
He needed a transplant.
It did not look as if that would happen.

But at a time when it was almost too late,
it did happen.
Our friend Ted received a new heart.
Everyone in our church
was ecstatic with joy.
We felt that our prayers, and especially the prayers for Ted’s family,
had truly been answered.

But a few months later.
the transplant began to fail.
Prayers went up and out and around.
But Ted’s new heart was failing
And Ted was dying.

I remember being at the hospital
and stepping on the elevator with Ted’s wife, Jo
and their children.

There were so many heavy hearts that day,
but I shall never forget the words Jo said to their adult children,
as they held hands in that elevator and rode up to see Ted,
she said,

“Remember, children! We are Easter people!”

We are Easter people.
Indeed.
It does not mean that we live protected sheltered happy go lucky lives.
Like everyone else in the world
our lives harbor edges, if not deep pools, of sadness and suffering.

But what it does mean is
that regardless of whether we live or die,
we are God’s beloved children—always.
Being Easter people means we live our lives
knowing that life is stronger than death,
hope is always stronger than fear,
and nothing is stronger than the love of God.

Some young friends of mine who are now in seminary
went to El Salvador this year during their spring break.
There was a celebration there to honor and remember
Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Oscar Romero was a fearless defender of the poor and the persecuted.
He was an outspoken man
in a country where speaking out
was not the way to live a long life.
Oscar Romero was assassinated 30 years ago.
He was killed as he stood at the altar celebrating the Eucharist.

But you see, Oscar Romero’s story did not end there.
Because the Easter people of El Salvador
and in other parts of the world
stepped in, stepped up, spoke out
and continued to fight for those
who had no one to fight for them.

My friends sent me some photographs of their time in El Salvador--
thousands of people all wearing t-shirts
that said “Romero Vive”.
Romero lives.
The story of God’s people goes on.

Bishop Martin Barahona,
a dear friend of a dear friend of mine,
currently serves as the Episcopal Bishop of El Salvador.
Days before the Romero Vive celebration began
there was an assassination attempt on Bishop Barahona’s life.
He escaped unharmed--
and he refused to be intimidated.
He marched in the streets in his purple bishop’s cassock.
Romero Vive.
Romero lives.
How is that possible when Oscar Romero was killed 30 years ago?

We must not forget another outspoken man,
another man whose heart belonged to the poor and the suffering
and those pushed to the edges of society.
A man named Jesus was crucified, assassinated,
almost 2000 years ago.

Jesus lives.
Jesus vive.
Christ is risen in us
so that we might live as Easter people.
People of hope and purpose and love.
People who can offer hope and purpose and love to others.
We are Easter people.
We are marked as Christ’s own for ever.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sermon for Year C Palm Sunday

Remember me…

Palm Sunday officially begins our journey into Holy Week,
If we were like the early pilgrims in Jerusalem
we would have set off on a walk around the city,
waving our palms, shouting HOSANNA!
Glory to God in the highest!
If the weather were a little different today
we could have set off with a procession around the block!

Regardless, the Liturgy of the Palms is the joyful part of this service,
of Holy Week.
People open their eyes and recognize
Jesus as the true King of kings.
A king like no one ever imagined.
The people—and we-- are ready to follow.

But then comes the second part of our service.
The Passion play.
The whole story of this week ahead of us is told.
It is a harsh story, a heart breaking story—
and rather than follow,
people are more likely to run away, to hide, to shake with fear,
and out of that fear, and mob mentality,
to join their voices with the mob, shouting,
“Crucify him! Crucify him!”

We don’t WANT to be part of that mob—
but the truth is,
sometimes we we are.
When things don’t work out as we hoped,
if Jesus can’t save us, rescue us, solve all our problems,
ease all our suffering,
we sometimes turn our backs,
harden our hearts and think,
“Humph! Some Messiah you are, Jesus!”

But the criminal in this story, facing his own death, says,
“Jesus, remember me…”
The criminal—the lowliest of the low--gets it.
His eyes are wide open.

Jesus is not about perfect solutions or easy answers or magic.
Jesus comes to remind us that God travels with us—
Emmanuel—God with us--
wherever our journey leads.
Through joy and through suffering.


Holy week overflows with worship services.
These worship services are purposefully placed into this week
so that we might remember,
so that we might have some set aside times
to keep what is holy holy,
to contemplate
how we are to follow—
not how we are to believe,
but how we are to follow.

One week from today will be Easter Day.
My prayer is that you will not jump from today to next Sunday
But that you will come for what is between these days.
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday morning, the Great Vigil…
Come so that we might remember together.

The intention of Holy Week--
all these many worship services--
is not to make our lives more busy.

But just the opposite.
To set aside some time
to EMPTY our lives,
to make room
for what really matters.

To remember.

Sermon for Year C Lent 5

It’s later than we think…

Today we celebrate the 5th Sunday in Lent.
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday,
also known as the Sunday of the Passion.
Next Sunday is our doorway into Holy Week—
but once we pass through that doorway
so much comes so quickly—
Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil and then,
Easter Day—
So much so fast
we hardly have time to process much less ponder.

So this week, this last week of Lent, is a good time to pause and look ahead
for what is to come and what it all means in our lives
as people who follow Jesus.

Today’s gospel is about generosity.
Mary comes bearing an extravagant gift, expensive oil—
And she squanders (so some think) it all on Jesus.
Jesus who has accepted, fed and healed the poor throughout his ministry
Says,
“You will always have the poor with you,
But you do not always have me.”
Sometimes this text is used to say there is no point in trying to help the poor
Because Jesus himself says the poor will always be with us.

Jesus is not demeaning the poor—
Instead Jesus is saying,
pay attention to the moment that is right before you.
It is always later than we think.
Mary senses that.
Jesus knows that.

Pay attention to the moment.
Pay attention to these last moments of Lent.
How has your Lenten discipline been?
Have you stopped craving chocolate or television or video games or whatever it was you gave up?
Or have you forgotten what it was you intended to give up—
You did pretty well the first couple of weeks
and then sort of fell into a state of Lenten amnesia?
It happens.
Have you taken on something that has enriched your spiritual life
or made happier the lives of those around you?
In these last days of Lent
pay attention to the presence of God
and be present to all that is right in front of you.

As we head down the final leg of our journey to Holy Week
we have time
to think about the myriad ways God is generous to each of us.
We have time to consider and to act,
to be more generous to one another,
more generous to our families,
more generous to those in our parish family,
more generous to those in our community.
To be extravagant with our love as Mary was as she anointed Jesus.
What better way to prepare for Holy Week.

Thanks to a Spanish pilgrim who traveled to Jerusalem in the 4th century,
We know a great deal about the history and liturgies of Holy Week.
This pilgrim, a woman named Egeria,
kept an amazing journal,
about what she called “the Great Week.”

Her journal, written around the year 380,
details all the services of Holy Week
the early Christians celebrated in Jerusalem.
And like Egeria,
those pilgrims took these liturgies back home with them,
back to their home churches
in places far from Jerusalem.

Holy Week is indeed a great and powerful week.
It is why we, as Episcopalians do not jump
over all that happened to Jesus between Palm Sunday and Easter.
We do not skip the foot washing, the last supper,
the crucifixion, the time in the tomb,
the world plunged into darkness and despair.
We walk the way of the cross.
We do this through our liturgy—
praying the Stations of the Cross,
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday,
the Easter Vigil.
And then…and only then…Easter Day.

This week, this last week of Lent,
is our time to prepare for that journey of Holy Week.

This week is a time to consider the new things
that are springing forth in our own lives
and in the life of this parish.

As the prophet Isaiah says,
Do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

Lent is the metaphor for the wilderness times of our life.
But the wandering in the desert is not forever.

Get ready!

Resurrection is coming.
The river is about to burst out of its banks.
We are almost there—
but not quite.

As we head toward “the Great Week”,
as the pilgrim Egeria called it,
we are gifted with a little more time to practice generosity,
to reach out to those we love
and to embrace those who reach out to us.

Jesus knew the truth.
It is always later than we think.