Tomorrow evening!

Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith

invites you to come learn about

Higher Education Funding & the Workforce

 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church

Thursday, May 1

7 - 8:30 p.m.

 

This issue is of special interest and concern to students. Please try to attend. The purpose of Interfaith Civic Academies is to provide data and initiate thought and discussion of the issues of our community.

Today's sermon: Wounded Healer

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Mer Rouge, La.

I have a scar on my knee. It’s not actually a very impressive scar. You probably wouldn’t notice it even if I were wearing shorts this morning!

But I enjoy telling the story of getting it anyway. I even think of the story in church sometimes because it involves sheep. In fact, I can’t NOT think of it when scripture reminds us, “all we are like sheep who have gone astray”!

You see, sheep are not very smart. One day on a small farm in Iowa, I and my brothers were helping my father in the barn when suddenly the skies opened and the rains came down—huge, drenching, rains.

Our small flock of ewes and newborn lambs was grazing in a pasture nearby. “Quick,” my father said, “get the lambs.”

And we all rushed into the pasture, took a soaking wet lamb into our arms and ran into the barn—the mother following us, of course—then back for another and another until all had been saved.

Sheep will stand in a heavy rain until the lambs get cold and water-logged, fall to the ground and die.

The scar happened because, running to the barn with an armful of wet lamb in a downpour, I failed to see a hunk of barbed wire on the ground and ran into it, ripping open my knee.

No big deal, really. Didn’t even go to the doctor. With no medical insurance, it had to be a lot worse than that to merit a trip to the doctor!

But I enjoy telling the story. It tells you something about me. It gives me a bit of “street cred,” if you will, or I guess “farm cred” would be a better term.

Today’s Gospel story often gets used to talk about things like Thomas’ doubting, his need to get visual confirmation of the resurrection of Jesus, and his ultimate, powerful statement of faith.

I, myself, have used this story to preach about how it is okay to be a bit skeptical, to ask questions and to wait and see. After all, the other 11 also didn’t believe the women when they first burst into the room claiming they had seen Jesus! So Thomas certainly should not take the rap alone!

And the story is about those things..., but I think that focus passes over something very, very important—namely, Jesus showing the disciples his scars, and then breathing the Holy Spirit into them.

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Civic Academy

Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith

invites you to come learn about

Higher Education Funding & the Workforce

 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church

Thursday, May 1

7 - 8:30 p.m.

 

 

This will be in lieu of a Canterbury@ULM meeting this week. Interfaith's involvement in this issue is directly related to our concerns as faculty and students at this university. Hope to see you there.

Bishop Jake's Easter Sermon

Old Tombs, New Life

Listen to Audio on SoundCloud

There are some things that only God can do. 

Jon Bruno is the Bishop of Los Angeles.* Before becoming Bishop Jon served an inner city parish in gang territory. Sitting in those pews among the maids and the mechanics and the janitors and the waitresses were members of rival gangs. 

You could describe some of these young men and women as former gang members. They had undergone a remarkable transformation of heart, soul, and mind. They hadn’t just quit an organization. They were new people. Compassion, respect, and vulnerability had displaced violence, contempt, and intimidation as the defining core of their lives.

Edward Burne-Jones' "The Morning of the Resurrection"

But they hadn’t gotten there all at once. And they certainly hadn’t gotten there on their own. There are some things that only God can do.

Most of the gang members in that parish were just that. Gang members: murderers, thieves, drug dealers. 

Don’t get the idea that these intimidating young men and women had rushed to church because they had seen the light and amended their ways. Against their better judgment they slipped into the back pews, eyeing everybody with suspicion. Their hearts raced when they recognized members of other gangs. They may have exchanged blows and gunfire with some of them.

Gangs do not offer an exit strategy. Well, that’s not entirely true. The tomb is a gang’s exit strategy. You get killed and you’re out. You try to get out and they kill you. In other words, you’re already in the tomb. You’re just waiting for it to be official.

And so gang members stumbled, staggered, and wandered into Bishop Jon’s parish because they had the faint hope that the tomb was not the last word. That maybe, just maybe, God offers a way out of the tomb and into some new life that they didn’t yet understand. 

As it turns out, God does get people out of their tombs. That’s what we celebrate Easter morning. 

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Christós anésti!

God Play, by Bette J. Kauffman

Anésti̱ o Kýrios , prágmati.

Wondrous Love, cont'd....

Thoughts and questions for reflection...

Mark's Gospel is known for its stark and spare style. Read again the story of the crucifixion in the post below. How does paring the story to its bare elements shape your reading and response?

In Mark's (and Matthew's) account, Jesus cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Most human's feel this sense of abandonment by God more than once in their lifetime. Have you? And what does it mean to you that Jesus felt it as well?

What about John August Swanson's painting (in the post below) speaks to you?

Here's a detail from the painting:

Who do you think these people are? How do you read their expressions and gestures?

Here's another detail:

What do you make of this person, alone at the bottom of the painting?

Wondrous Love...

The Crucifixion, by John August Swanson

Mark 15:21-39

The Crucifixion of Jesus

 They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

The Death of Jesus

 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’