The Lord's Prayer: A Response to 'Do You Love Me?' 'Feed my sheep.'

 

The Gospel of John tells us that this is now the third time that Jesus has appeared to the disciples after being raised from the dead:

Easter Sunday we were greeted with the story of an empty tomb. In John’s Gospel Jesus meets and speaks with Mary in the garden. Last week we heard that Jesus appeared to the disciples who were in a room behind closed doors and said, “peace be with you.”  A week later the disciples were again in the house, along with Thomas, and Jesus came again and said, ‘peace be with you.’ Today’s story has Jesus appear on the beach and share a meal with the disciples.

 

Mary is in the garden at the tomb, to be close to the last place she knew Jesus to be. The fishermen are on the lake fishing, going about their occupation. It is easy to determine what Mary and the disciples were doing.

I have always wondered though what the disciples were doing when in the room behind closed doors.  Could it be that they had gathered for weekly prayer, a shared meal, reading of scripture, singing of hymns? And when engaged in these activities, Jesus appeared and was present among them. Peace was shared.

The Gospels share numerous accounts of the disciples and Jesus going to the Temple to offer prayer, going to a quiet place for prayer, instances of going to the Synagogue to read and hear scripture, meals that included the reciting of psalms and hymns.

Praying -worshipping- as a group was part of the disciples’ regular life. In fact, it was part of the life and culture of the people around them too.

 

Do you remember the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, just as John the Baptist had taught his disciples?  I wonder if the prayer Jesus had taught them was part of their weekly prayer when meeting together? My guess is that it was. It was recorded in two of the Gospels so was known by those in the decades following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many of the liturgical pieces that we use today are ancient, growing from the time of the early church.

 

Jesus meets the disciples on the beach for breakfast.

There is quite a conversation! We hear an intense portion of the conversation where Jesus asks Simon Peter three times, ‘Do you love me?’  It is not for a lack of response that the question is asked more than once; Jesus is pointedly engaging Peter to reflect on the question.

‘Do you love me?’ Then offers the how, ‘Feed my sheep.’

 

At the beginning of the week, Lutheran pastors in Atlantic Canada were at a retreat where Bishop Susan Johnson led us in a three-day reflection of the Lord’s Prayer.

The combination of hearing Jesus’ words, ‘do you love me’ and ‘feed my sheep’, along with the study of the Lord’s Prayer, had me realize that the Lord’s Prayer asks the same question and gives the same response -it is the same message as that on the beach.

“Do you love me?’ ‘Feed my sheep.’

 

Bishop Susan had us work through each section of the Lord’s Prayer: first hearing the words as found in Luther’s Small Catechism, then hearing a short modern interpretation, followed by a question for us to reflect on in a small group. We learned that in praying the Lord’s Prayer we are intimately connected to peoples and communities around the world; past, present, and future. For each petition we worked hard to interpret the words for today, in this time and place.

 

In this prayer one focuses on the intimacy of God’s relationship with us, our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves and others, our relationship with earth. Jesus, in teaching this prayer, reminded the disciples of the care and intimacy that God extends to them and to us. Once receiving such a gift, we then extend care and intimacy to others.

‘Do you love me?’ Yes, Lord – Our father, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom, thy will, glory, and honour‘; Feed my sheep.’ Yes, Lord – with daily bread, as we forgive those who trespass against us, on earth as in heaven.

 

We were given homework. We were asked to rewrite the Lord’s Prayer to illustrate our understanding of each phrase; to make the prayer alive in us and around us, now. A few years ago, for our mid-week Lent study the congregation reflected on different re-writes of the Lord’s Prayer, noting how different translations, words, and phrases, had the prayer expand in understanding.

‘Do you love me?’ ‘Feed my sheep.’

With Jesus’ words in mind, I invite you to take the next nine days and reflect on the Lord’s Prayer; bit by bit – if you have a catechism the petitions are separated out in the section on the Lord’s Prayer (or take a peek at the back of the ELW pg. 1163 to see each petition). Take time to put the prayer in your own words. Feel free to share them with me by email.

 

In baptism, promises were made that we would learn the Lord’s Prayer. Through the years – in Sunday School and church, as a bedtime prayer -  it is a prayer that we learn by heart.  I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer. Repeatedly praying the prayer, it becomes part of us, influencing our relationship with God, ourselves, others, and creation.

May your reflection on the prayer, bring it to life once again, and resurrect Christ within, to work through you, to be Christ in the world.

 

Jesus asked me, ‘Do you love me?’ ‘Feed my sheep.’ My response is my homework version of the Lord’s Prayer:

God-who-so-loves-the-world, humans and creation… yet “beyond the beyond.”

Holy is your name in a plethora of forms.

Come with your vision; your kindom be now.

Warm our will to be akin to yours.

May earth be in relationship and wholeness as it is in the fullness of your grace.

Gift the world with gratitude to live and share abundance.

Forgive breaking and broken relationships

--sin—

As we commit to reconciliation.

Council us to live beneath our means.

Deliver all from the hunger of wanting more.

For in you and through you is commonwealth, life-giving energy, and extreme exuberance. Amen.

A Carton of Eggs - Empty Carton

 

Christ is risen!

Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

 

Some women of our group astounded us.

They were at the tomb early this morning,

and when they did not find his body there,

they came back and told us

 that they had indeed seen

a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

--- Luke 24: 22-24

 

 

It is evening of that first Easter day.  Two followers of Jesus are traveling on the road to Emmaus when they encounter a stranger.  The stranger asks what they are talking about.  The followers can’t believe that the stranger had not heard the news of the past three days from Jerusalem. The followers tell the stranger about Jesus of Nazareth – his life, his death, and his resurrection.

 

Earlier in the day, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women with them, told the disciples that they had found the tomb empty, that Jesus’ body was not there, and that they had seen angels. The women were the first to proclaim: Christ is risen!

 

The carton of eggs is empty.  All the eggs have been cracked open and their contents digested in devotional form. We have been fed through Lent by the story of a God who chose to die to show us the depth of love God has for creation, including us. This unconditional love, mercy, and grace is food for the weary, hope for the hopeless, and endless joy. We have been fed, so that we have the strength and courage to go into the world and tell the story of Jesus; to proclaim, Christ is risen!

The women did. The followers did. And now it is our turn.

 

Prayer –

God of death and resurrection, fed by your love, mercy, and grace – strengthen us and give us courage to tell the story of Jesus and to proclaim that ‘Christ is risen.’ Amen.

 

                                                                                    ---- Kimber McNabb

A Carton of Eggs - Empty

 

Luka and Amana were the young adults confirmed in the fall (2021). 

Their reflections included asking their siblings

what Easter means.

 

 

Easter to me means the day Jesus died for us even though we were sinners and did not deserve it.  It means he chose to die carrying our sinners forgiving us for having done them.  All he asks is that we live the lives we would have wanted us to live and in return he would allow us into his kingdom.  It also means that Jesus has risen from the dead and is waiting for t right time to come get us.  He gave up his life so that we wouldn’t have to burn in purgatory and live eternally paying for our transgressions, so that we can live with him forever painlessly happily righteously, and holily. That’s what Easter means to me.

                                                                 ----Luka Techlemariam

 

Easter to me is a day to remember and be grateful for the sacrifice Jesus made for us even when we didn’t deserve it.  It’s also a time when we should be grateful to God for saving us and giving us a chance to go to heaven as long as we believe in Jesus and put all our faith and trust in him.                                     

                                                               -----Christina Techlemariam

 

 

Easter to me is when Jesus lets us try again in life and right the wrong we have done.

                                                                    -----Nankana Jeremia

 

 I know that Easter is coming and I love Easter because it's the day that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.                                                 -----Annita Jeremia 

 

To some Easter is all about the Easter bunny and chocolate eggs. To others, it might just be another holiday marked on a calendar. But to me, Easer is the most important holiday not because of the chocolate (No matter how much I love chocolate;) but because it marks a fresh start, a forgiven past, and the death of Jesus (Christ our savior) but also the resurrection of Jesus that saved us from our sins, which gave us a second chance to receive eternal life and closed the gap that was between us and God.               
                                                                                                    -----Amana Jeremia

 

 

GOD, thank you for loving us so much! Help us to love you and share your love with others!  AMEN

God's Epic Love Song

 

Jesus didn’t die because God needed a sacrifice.

Jesus didn’t die because God needed an atonement for sin.

Jesus didn’t die because God needed payment.

Jesus didn’t die as a scapegoat.

Jesus didn’t die because of God; Jesus died for us.

 

The proclamation of Easter is:

God chose to become human.

God chose to embody mercy.

God chose to articulate, ‘your sins are forgiven.’

God chose to die.

God chose to show humans to what length God will go for the sake of love.

God chose to be extreme  - to make a point.

God chose to die – to rise- to send the message ‘you are loved,’ ‘you are worthy,’ ‘you are valuable.’

God chose to say, ‘I love you this much.’   … I would die for you.

 

 

The Three Days – Maundy Thurs, Good Friday, Easter- reminds me of the epic power ballads of the late 80s and early 90s.  Long love songs with instrumental interludes; the song starts in a soft intimacy and builds to extraordinary power and emotion. When one listens to one of these ballads one is drawn into the music – one feels something – something bigger than life.

 

When I consider the power and emotion of The Three Days, I can’t help but understand this weekend as God’s epic love song to creation. The song started Thursday night, in a soft intimacy, as Jesus’ followers gathered around the Table to share a meal. Jesus speaks to those who gathered:

“Look into my eyes /You will see/what you mean to me/search your heart/search your soul/and when you find me there/you’ll search no more

Don’t tell me it’s not worth tryin’ for/you can’t tell me it’s not worth dyin’ for/you know it’s true/everything I do/I do it for you.”

The sentiment is true, but these words, in this form at least, were not spoken by Jesus.  They come from Canadian musician Brian Adams and his song written for the movie “Robinhood: Prince of Thieves,” Everything I Do I Do It for You,

 

On Thursday night after the meal there was a little more sharing of conversation and a communal singing of psalms as the group went to pray in the garden.  As the night wears on, Jesus is arrested, tried, and condemned.  Jesus dies.

In the story of the power ballad – this is the point where there is an instrumental interlude –

a time to let the intimate words spoken wind their way into one’s heart, understanding, and being; a time to let the conversation from supper and the events leading to death to sink in.

 

As the musical interlude ends  ---that would be in the wee hours of dawn when the women went to the tomb to anoint the body--  the love song of the ballad begins again, and it rises bigger than life, an epic crescendo, deafening in volume, with growing power and urgency, building to a note higher than heaven:

Christ sings -

“You can’t tell me it’s not worth tryin’ for/I can’t help it, there’s nothin’ I want more/

Yeah, I would fight for you/I’d lie for you/walk the wild for you/yeah, I die for you/

You know it’s true/everything I do/I do it for you.”

 

The song softens once more to whisper the final lines once more, and then close with an instrumental postlude; a time to hold the emotion -love – to breathe it in, to let one’s heart melt into gratitude. And as the music drifts to silence our inner most being is at peace, knowing, ‘I am loved, I am worthy, I am valuable.’

 

When experiencing the power and urgency of God’s epic love song – when I hear an 80s power ballad, even though I am not much of a singer, I desperately want to sing it ….I would fight for you, I ‘d lie for you, walk the wild for you, I would…. –

I want to share it! Proclaim it!

 

God is singing to creation. If you are not feeling it, listen to Brian’s song when you go home and hear God singing for you. Receive God in the extreme.

Easter is God’s epic love song!

Not because God had to go through the Three Days, God wanted to – for you.

This Easter, continue the resurrection – by singing, by being, by responding to God’s epic love song.  For love -  Share it! Proclaim it!

 

Christ is risen!

Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

 

A Carton of Eggs - Cross

 

Dear Friends,

This is a year like no other.  For many of us it has been a challenging year, a year of loss and rebirth, missed opportunities to spend time with our families and loved ones, and grief. Yet, through it all, we remain faithful. We remember the shared embraces, the warm good wishes and, especially, the times we have spent together with our church family. The Lenten season here at Resurrection in 2015, for instance, remains a powerful image for many and has stayed with me to this day.

 

Easter week is the holiest season of the church calendar, but it is also the most emotional for many of us. During the Lenten period, I lose sight of Christ’s ever approaching resurrection and focus only on the pain of his death. It does not really occur to me that at the end of the story, Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. He comes back to life and sits at the right hand of our Father, where we worship him anew every year at Easter.

My mind can absorb the facts, the legends and stories that make up the Bible, but it is hard for my heart to really take it all in. It is starting to soften gradually. Listening to Pastor Kimber’s sermon that Maundy Thursday all those years ago, I felt my heart letting down a sweet, tender milk that continues to nourish me every year that I attend services, even in these times of virtual worship.

When I followed Pastor Kimber’s calm voice moving quietly throughout the sanctuary on Good Friday that year, watched her carry the heavy wooden cross and place it reverently across the altar, I fell in love. With the Christ Jesus, with the Apostles, and with our Heavenly Father. Our tiny, insignificant church took on a special significance. I was drinking in the Holy Spirit, you were all there with me, and the Pastor was bringing it to life for the entire congregation. We were caught up in a story that took place thousands of years ago, but it is new for us with each telling. Every year it is as if we are hearing it, seeing it, for the first time.

We may be forced to forego our fellowship hour, or hearing our shared voices raised in song and, at times, even lose our physical worship space, but we will have them again. Just as we can look back over all the years we have worshiped together, we can look forward to coming together again in the years to come. This year has been a year like no other, but we have stayed strong in faith, continued to pray for each other, and weathered every storm that has come our way. May we continue in peace for many years to come.

 

God Bless,

Heather Clarke

A Carton of Eggs- Chalice

 

Phrase from the scripture	Matthew Chapter 26 [27] And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; [28] For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Hymn	Lutheran Book of Worship 204 – Cup of Blessing
Reflection	A reflection on a cup in our lives.   We design cups.   We personalize them.  We make them our own.  It is wonderful the way a cup travels with us.  Reflect upon the special cups that have been with me for many years.  They comfort me and remind me of special moments.   When we are thirsty, we turn to the cup.   There is no more satisfying feeling that holding a warm cup with our favourite beverage.   I will hold it close, savour the moment and reflect upon my day.
Closing prayer	Holy one, great God of judgment and mercy, we give thanks to you through your beloved son, Jesus Christ.   …   You ordained for everything a season, a time to break down, and a time to build up, a time to keep, and a time to put aside. Let this now be a time of healing, a time of justice, a time of reconciliation and peace.   On the night in which he turned to his friends, our Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, “Take; eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he also took the cup after the supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, “Drink of it, all of you. This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”   Remembering, therefore, Christ’s turn toward the world, his journey to the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, we turn toward you in the gifts of bread and wine, signs of your mercy and balm for our souls.   Amen. Come Lord Jesus.                                     ----- David Winfield

Advice on Preparing for Easter - Luke 22: 1-13

 

Since Advent, the church has been reading scripture from Lectionary Year C. In Year C the gospel readings focus on the Gospel of Luke – although sometimes include other stories as told by John; this is particularly true around Holy Week and Easter. We began this morning with Luke’s account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Maundy Thurs and Good Friday you will hear the Passion of Luke read in a dialogue of three voices.

 

This morning’s Gospel reading was chosen to be the connector between Palm Sunday, and Maundy Thursday’s account of the Last Supper, prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Judas.  As I went to find it in our big print lectionary book – I found out that in the three year lectionary cycle, this passage is never read.

I suppose this is because the rest of the Passion story is long and is often read in its entirety on Palm Sunday--- to make sure that those who skip out on Thursday and Friday have heard the full story; there is no resurrection without walking to the cross.

 

It is too bad that Luke 22 is not read. The passage from Luke 22 is great place for us to dwell as Lent draws to an end and we enter Holy week. The passage sets the stage and specifically draws our attention to reflect on whether we are ready to acknowledge, accept, and receive a risen Christ.

 

Are you ready to acknowledge a risen Christ? Accept a risen Christ?

Are you ready to receive a risen Christ?

 

The characters in Luke’s Gospel give us three ways to be ready to say ‘yes.’

 

First, we are told of the Chief priests, scribes, temple officers and police – they are looking for a way to put Jesus to death.  This group is concerned for their continued authority, power, and position.  They feel threatened by Jesus because Jesus has gained a following with revolutionary talk, encouraged the living of God’s covenant, has brought prophetic promises to life – with healings, and has given hope to the poor, marginalized, and forgotten.

To be ready to receive a risen Christ –

We need to let go of the authority, power, and positions we hold;

and with humility - what authority, power, and position we have - is to follow the example of Jesus: revolution, living God’s covenant, bringing healing, hope, and inclusion.  … only then are we ready to receive a risen Christ!

 

Secondly, we are told that Satan entered Judas Iscariot – Judas prepared to betray Jesus, his teacher and friend, for money. This part of the story draws our attention to our hearts and our relationships. What is in our hearts? Betrayal, enmity, lust, greed, anger, revenge, unkindness…

To be ready to receive a risen Christ –

We need to let go of Satan – the devious and destructive bits that worm their way into our hearts and minds – the things that strain and break relationships; our relationship with God, others, and creation.  … only then are we ready to receive a risen Christ!

Thirdly, we are told that the disciples go to prepare the Passover meal – meaning they go to find a place to borrow, they set the table, and get a caterer.  These details are important because the meal won’t happen if preparations were not made. It is an important meal that has been celebrated in family groups for centuries to remind the people who they are and who God is. It is a sacred meal and time together sharing food, scripture, prayer, ritual, and singing.

To be ready to receive a risen Christ –

We need to make preparations in order to celebrate the Easter Feast. The only way to get there is walking through Holy Week – eating together the Last Supper, washing feet, stripping the altar, praying, singing, sitting in sadness as the crucifixion story washes over us, kneeling at the cross, and then waiting…   only then are we ready to receive a risen Christ!

 

You are invited to journey through Holy Week so that you are ready to receive a risen Christ.

A Carton of Eggs - The Stone

 

“Run, faithful women, to the graveside.

Marvel, the stone is rolled away.”

Hymn 375, ELW.

 

A large stone covers the entrance to Jesus’ tomb. The women arrive to anoint his body and find the stone rolled away.  This is the first sign that something beyond understanding, beyond explanation, has happened.  It is something to marvel at.

 

I imagine the pain and grief of those who loved Jesus being comforted in a small way by knowing his body was safe within the tomb.  The stone covering the entrance to the tomb was large.   

And now the women who had kept watch at the cross were preparing to offer the final burial rites to their beloved friend and teacher. 

They wondered who would roll the stone away for them.

 

I imagine their shock and fear when they see the stone has been rolled away.  What has happened?  How could it have happened? 

 

We know what happens next, but the women wouldn’t.  What they are seeing, without being aware of it, is the first manifestation of God’s loving action and power in Jesus’ resurrection.

 

And then they see that the tomb is empty.  Jesus’s body is not there.  

 

The stone is the prelude to the rest of the resurrection story.  We see God’s love acting in the physical world, the world of earth and flesh.

One author, writing about the stone, suggested that it needed to be rolled away so that we could look into the tomb and see that it was forever empty.  Jesus has risen!

 

 

A prayer:  God of compassion and mercy, we marvel at your love for us. Help us to roll away the stones from our hearts so that we may be emptied and restored, that we may experience your loving power in the world, and show and share that love in all our thoughts, words and deeds.  Amen.                                 

                                                                     -----Carolyn Humphreys

A Carton of Eggs - Linen

 

 

When evening fell, a wealthy man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had become a disciple of Jesus, came to request the body of Jesus; Pilate issued an order for its release.

Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in fresh linen and laid it in his own tomb, which had been hewn out of rock.

Then Joseph rolled a huge stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Matthew 27: 57-60

 

 

Dear God,

Thank you for your enduring love through the season of Lent.

When I see this piece of linen, I reflect on Joseph of Arimathea, who boldly went to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body to bury him.  Joseph risked his own life to publicly declare his faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

He brought linens and prepared Jesus’ body for an honourable burial during his time of death. 

Jesus, help us to vocalize our faith in you, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Guide us to live out our faith and honour you in our thought, word, and deed.

In Jesus name, Amen.

                                                                       ---Adèle Corkum

The Smell of Death

 

Odours have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odour cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally.  There is no remedy for it.  – This was written by the German author Patrick Suskind.

 

The text from the Gospel of John transports us to the realm of smell.

 

One summer, when I was Programme staff at Lutheran Camp Edgewood, I was responsible for teaching campers about nature.  As part of my tool kit, I had items found on the grounds by campers: shed snake skins, a dead cicada bug, fungus, peculiar rocks, and a sizable snapping turtle shell. Campers enjoyed touching the items and hearing stories about them, where they were found, and learning about the habitats and lives of the creatures.

It was the snapping turtle shell that always affected me – it was a fantastic specimen! yet, every time I picked it up- I would smell death. Even though the shell had been cleaned and sun-bleached and the shell no longer smelled. It had an air of death. The summer before I found the dead turtle, on its back, dead, cooking in the sun, rotting, …  and the smell…  there is no remedy for it.

 

This text from the Gospel of John transports us to the realm of smell, particularly drawing our attention to the smell of death.

 

In the first verse Jesus goes to the house of Lazarus and the text reminds us that Lazarus had been raised from the dead.  Remember in that story, as told in the chapter before what we read this morning, Jesus arrived 4 days after the death. Martha tried to dissuade Jesus from opening Lazarus’ tomb – Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.

Despite the warning, the tomb is opened. Peugh!

The writers of the Gospels help readers and hearers by placing the point of the story in the first line; everything following goes back to the highlighted point. Here the point is a serious conversation about death. Jesus is engaging the disciples and followers in a conversation about his upcoming death.

 

The passage has lots of side conversations that can be distracting. Judas poses an ethical question regarding the poor and how one spends their resources in relation to what one gives to the poor. The question itself is one that is a valid and an important dilemma to contemplate. … but maybe not right now.  It’s as if the question is thrown into the story because Judas (and future readers and hearers) are unprepared or unwilling to reflect on the main theme, death; and for Judas’ specifically Jesus’ death.

 

Have you tried to speak to others at church, to friends, loved ones, your children about death? Your own death: what you are afraid of, what you are looking forward to, what you believe, what you want done, how you would like to spend your last days, your medical wishes if you are unable to make them yourself?  So often we avoid theses conversations to move onto something else, saving them for later, a perfect time that will materialize in the future.  We are often like Judas, asking interesting and important, yet distracting questions, to avoid this difficult topic of conversation. There is not a perfect time; death is always in the air.  

 

Death is always in the air -- For you, what is the smell of death?

 

Once again, we are confronted with a Gospel that upends human notions and understanding. We begin in the smell of death and the grave and are overwhelmed with the fragrance of ointment.  Judas tries to change the subject – away from the dead man in the room, who is now alive- but Jesus draws the conversation back to death, Mary bought the ointment so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. The fragrance was said to have filled the whole room, overpowering and saturating all previous smells. Think about moments you have walked through a perfume section of a department store, or been in a place burning incense, the smell lingers in your clothes, in your hair, on your skin, for hours.

 

The thought of the smell of death reminds me of a funeral in my last parish.  The visitation was held at the church on a Saturday afternoon and evening.  The casket was left in the church building for the funeral on Sunday afternoon.  The casket was squeezed into a small sitting room during Sunday service, along with all the floral arrangements.  There was no room for anything else in the room.  During church an older member started to feel light-headed, so went to the little room squeezing in around the casket and flowers, he lay down on the cool leather bench-seat in the room. After church he and I had a conversation about his experience. He said that he was not one bit scared or squeamish laying down beside the casket; that is where he would be any time now. He was happy he had fallen asleep with the perfume of angels and woken to the same glorious smell. Although he did admit that it would have been more than okay to not have woken up on this side of the sod. The fragrance had overwhelmed him and he slept and woke in peace.

 

Ointment - the catalyst to change the perception of death from foul and retched- to being overwhelmed by the presence of God, inundated by promise, hope, and copious grace; so whelmed that you can not rid yourself of it.

 

At the beginning of Lent in 1630, John Donne (dean of St. Paul’s cathedral, London) preached a sermon in Whitehall, with his majesty the King present.  The sermon was titled, Death’s Duel, and was preached just a few days before his own death.  The sermon continually returned to Psalm 68:20:  Our God is a God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong issues of death.

 

The sermon is much longer than modern ears or rear-ends will tolerate, but it is worth a read if you are so inclined. Or perhaps turn to Donne’s poem, Death Be Not Proud. In both, Donne flips the concept of death, from deadly and fearful to live-giving.

 

Donne talks about human existence on earth as a pilgrimage of death; our whole life is a pilgrimage of death. He writes, Birth dies in infancy, and our infancy dies in youth, and youth and the rest die in age, and age dies and determines all. He encourages listeners to reflect that all of life is

From death, in death, by death. Consider that any personal improvement, learning, moving forward; all change requires death; the death of whatever you were the moment before this present moment. In this way death is a gift, a constant companion that allows us to move on, have hope, seek promise, embrace the next moment. God doesn’t deliver us from dying, deliverance comes by death; for Death thinks that in dying one is finished, only to find that in the next breath death has delivered a being to eternity, free from the body, released to life.

 

Donne also encouraged reflection on the thought to look at death as:

Not when or if I die, but when the course of nature is accomplished upon me.  To consider death as an accomplishment of the course of nature is to embrace death as WHOLENESS.

 

Donne reminds listeners that in the last hours of pilgrimage Jesus -God- (the Lord that was God – could die, would die, must die) was about sacramental practices: washing feet and eating together; mixed with a night of prayer, preaching, and reciting psalms.

And is this not the ointment – the smell of death – in the house of Lazarus and Mary?

Sacramental practices: washing feet and eating together; talking seriously with each other on topics that really matter, and later as night drew nigh, praying and reciting psalms.

 

As we approach Holy Week, let us not neglect this opportunity to transform notions of death, to have conversations about death – the rotten smell (the things we are afraid to bring up) and to be overwhelmed by the smell of ointment -God’s presence and grace.

 

May this be so for all of us. Amen.