Reflections of a Running Reverend

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it." (Mark 8:34-35 , NRSV) Throughout Lent, we reflected on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross and learned five things God may be calling us to give up in order to truly live. To give up anger and bitterness and grow in forgiveness. To give up judgment and grow in grace and acceptance. To give up apathy and indifference and grow in compassion. To give up pride and grow in humility. To give up control and grow in faith and trust. There are other things we need to give up. But to "die to ourselves" so that we may truly live - that is our call. As Richard Rohr said: "We need to deeply trust and allow both our own dyings and our own certain resurrections, just as Jesus did! This is the full pattern of tra...

Lent is a 40-day season where, just like Jesus, we are called to confront our greatest temptations and try to identify things in our lives that we need to give up because they hinder our fully following Christ. In this series, we've been exploring deeper things that God may be calling us to give up, more than just chocolate. As a basis, we've been looking at Jesus' 7 last words on the cross. We come to the last two utterances today. Now, these two words are believed to be two versions of the same thing as told by two different Gospel writers.    In John, he says, “'It is finished.' Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30, NRSV) No loud voice. No shouting. He probably even said it with a smile. It is finished. It is done.   To fully grasp these words, we have to remember the struggle of the night before, in the garden of Gethsemane, when he struggled for control and prayed, “Father, if it is at all possible, take this cup of suffer...

We continue on our 40-day Lenten journey where, just like Jesus, we are confronting our greatest temptations and trying to identify things in our lives that we need to give up because they hinder us from fully following Jesus. So far we’ve learned three. We are called to give up anger and bitterness and grow in forgiveness; to give up judgment and grow in grace and acceptance; to give up apathy and grow in compassion.   Up to this point in the crucifixion story, Jesus has been composed and collected, all things considered. I mean, given what’s been done to him, he has remained poised, calm enough to dish out words of wisdom that were nothing less than divine. He was issuing forgiveness. He was promising new life. He was calmly making sure his loved ones will be taken care of. And even in his trial, he was composed, speaking in short, one-liners that were full of wisdom and meaning. He never said a word of complaint about his ordeal. He was just so regal, so poised, so...

"When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, 'Woman, here is your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.'” (John 19:26-27a, NRSV) Jesus continues to hang on the cross, suffering and slowly dying a very painful death. Every breath was difficult and painful. Imagine doing pull-ups. When you’re doing pull-ups, it’s hard to inhale when your hanging all the way down. You have to pull yourself up and inhale on the way up. Then you exhale on the way down. So in order to take a breath, Jesus had to pull his body up, his hands and feet putting pressure on the nail wounds. With each motion going up and down, his already raw back would rub against the rough cross. He also had to angle his head so the thorns don’t hit the cross and push back at his skull. Soon, the lack of oxygen and dehydration cause his muscles to cramp, making him try to shift as far as he possibly can to p...

Lent is a period of 40 days, excluding Sundays, of deep soul searching to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter. In many ways, Lent mimics the 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness, where he struggled with his temptations and gave up things that were hindrances to his life’s mission. It might be helpful for us to look at Lent as a yearly spiritual wilderness journey where we confront our greatest temptations head-on and try to identify things in our own lives that we need to give up because they are hindrances to our fully following Jesus. So what are you giving up for Lent this year?   Last week, I talked about a sermon series I preached a couple of years ago entitled, "More than Just Chocolate" where my congregation and I learned that the point of fasting is not to deny joy or pleasure. We say “no” to some things so we are free to say “yes” to others. Using Jesus' seven last words or statements on the cross, we explored aspects of our l...