Do Not Be Afraid

Matthew 28:1-10

…the angel said, “Do not be afraid…Jesus said, “Do not be afraid… vs. 5, 10

     Easter dawns with an earthquake and bright lights.  The shadow of the cross is no more.  God has overcome death and sends God’s messenger to announce Good News.  Dead is no longer dead.  The grave is empty.  Jesus moves toward his home base in Galilee.

     The situation and the news engender fear in the guards who “secured” the grave.  An angel confronts the women visiting the grave.  They are also frightened.  And why not?  Any encounter with the divine brings with it fear.  Angels always have to lead with, “Do not be afraid.”  The divine, the holy, is so different, so foreign that fear is the natural response. Yet…Do not be afraid.  The holy one comes not to harm but to heal, comes not to condemn but to save, comes not to bring despair but hope.  “He is not here.  He is risen.  He goes before you…”

        It’s not all over.  It’s a beginning.  The disciples go back to where it all started, to Galilee.  They go back home again to what they know. But now nothing is the same.  Jesus will meet them on their home turf and then send them out into the world.  

     Annie Lamott said it best when she said, “God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.”  God is always meeting us in comfortable places.  Yet, we are sent again and again to “the least of these,” for they are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, in prison.  We go among them to meet God, to meet Jesus who is risen from the dead. 

    Easter brings resurrection light.  True, the shadow of the cross still lies across our lives, but our lives are also lit with the powerful light of the resurrection.  We come to celebrate with gratitude the God who is in both the shadow and the light.

     We may not be able to gather to worship, but we still celebrate the presence of the living God in our world.   Our celebration includes being the body of Christ in the world—Christ’s hands, feet, mouth, heart in the world.   Christ is risen!  He lives in the least of these! Alleluia!

Prayer prompt:  God of new life, of resurrection and presence, we give thanks for the ways you come among us to cast out fear.  You call us to face our fear with love for one another.  So equip us and empower us that we may live out the new life you have given us.  We pray in the name of the crucified and risen Christ. Amen.

Dark Night of Death

Matthew 27:57-66

When it was evening, there came a rich man…and asked for the body of Jesus…and laid it in his own new tomb….  vs. 57, 60

     The followers of Jesus weren’t just “the least of these,” the riff-raff of society, the forgotten ones.  Joseph of Arimathea also considered himself a follower of Jesus.  Joseph was rich, which probably meant he had power and position.  Yet he comes into the shadow of the cross to claim the body of someone treated like the least of these.  It’s evening when Joseph claims the body of Jesus.  Dark shadows cover their actions.   It’s the dark night of death.

     The body needs a tomb.  Joseph has one that he has prepared for himself for he knows that he’ll need a tomb one day.  For now, though, he places Jesus in it.  Inside it’s cool, and when the stone is rolled across it, the inside is inky black. The shadow of death has arrived. 

     Even with Jesus death and burial, the authorities are afraid.  They want a guard placed before the tomb.  Guards usually are stationed at prisons or palaces.  Is the tomb a prison or a palace?  

     The grave is sealed and as Pilate says,  “…make it as secure as you can!”  Don’t let any light get into that dark place.  Don’t let there be talk of resurrection.  Don’t let the power and presence and promise of God break out.

     Some of us already have made plans for when we die.  We do so because we know death is inevitable.  Like Joseph we may have a grave plot or a niche where we will be buried.  That day will come and death will  bring on a dark night.  Death snuffs out life and light.  Loved ones and strangers will carry us to our resting place. 

      On this day we do well to remember that on Ash Wednesday someone traced an ashen cross on our foreheads and we heard the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  

   The dark night of death comes…and yet this one was placed in the tomb makes holy all tombs, even ours.  

Pray:  God of life and death, we pray today for all who grieve, all who face imminent death, all who struggle against dying that God would enter into their dark nights.  As we remember our own mortality, help us to remember that Christ has died with us so that we might have new life.  Amen.

Fast:  From the illusion that we will live forever.

Act:  Remember with thanksgiving those who have lived before us and especially those who nurtured in us the gift of faith.

Out of the Shadow

John 19:25-30

Meanwhile standing near the cross of Jesus was his mother…v.25

     In our Good Friday liturgy, we often read the story of Jesus’ Passion from the Gospel of John.  It’s a story of betrayal, denial, condemnation, crucifixion, and death.  The other gospels picture Jesus’ disciples and family standing at a distance as Jesus is crucified. John, however, tells us that Mary the mother of Jesus and two other women named Mary stood “near the cross.”  

    These women come out of the shadows, out of the anonymity of life, to stand near the cross.  Made bold by their love for Jesus and Jesus love for them, they step up to attend to his dying.  Because they did, they also received Jesus’ blessing.  The beloved disciple has also managed to screw up his courage and stand with the women.  Jesus turns to his mother and to his friend and pronounces them family for each other.

   As we mark Good Friday, can we stand near the cross, come out of the shadows of our world to declare that we honor that cross, own that cross, shoulder that cross in our world?  As we stand near the cross with others from life’s shadows, the least of these, can we hear Jesus creating a family out of all of us?  Near the cross, can we find common cause with all those God loves so dearly?  Near the cross, can we make sense of Jesus command to “love one another?”  Near the cross, can we experience again the powerful and all-encompassing love of God?

     Jesus gave up his spirit at the cross.  Where did it go?  To God?  Or did it go to us?  Jesus’ work was finished, but the work of the disciples had just begun.  Through the centuries the followers of Jesus have fed the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick and the imprisoned.  The Spirit of Jesus didn’t die but remains alive in us who now do his work in the world.

May we stand near the cross today.

Pray:  God of cross and glory, when we stand near the cross, we stand in its shadow.   Here in the shadow and darkness of our world your spirit is poured out on those whom you have chosen for your beloved community.  As we stand near the cross, help us to hear that you have given us to each other to love so that we may go from your cross to love the world as you have done.  Amen.

Love One Another

John 15:12-16

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  v. 12

     Maundy Thursday gets its name from the reading of this gospel where Jesus not only gives a new commandment but also lives it out in the washing of the disciples’ feet.  The breadth of the Hebrew Bible proclaims the steadfast love of God.  Jesus lives out that steadfast love in his life in the world and now gives those who follow him the challenge to do the same.

     “Love one another.”  We come full circle to the parable with which we began.  The actions Jesus lifts up as done for the least of these and subsequently for him are the acts of love and service that are done almost anonymously.  These actions aren’t done to garner publicity, to fulfill some duty, or to gain a diamond in a heavenly crown.  These actions simply are what people do when they are grasped by love of God.

       When we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison, we join in the work that God is already doing in the world.  God is the source of food, water, welcome, clothes. God is present with the sick and the prisoner.  With our own acts of love we both join in God’s work and also bear witness that God dearly loves the world that God has made.

      May God find us at Jesus’ right hand, among the sheep, at the final judgment.  May the final reckoning of our lives be found in our living of Jesus command to “Love one another.”

Pray:  God of love and service, we pray for the Christian church throughout the world that it might dedicate itself in the Three Days to living Jesus’ command “to love one another.”  Amen.

Fast:  From hatreds.

Act:  Make a list of three new ways you can join God in serving others.

Matthew 26:57-68

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest… v. 57

     Jesus says that when we visit the prisoner, we are visiting him.  How often do we stop to think that Jesus literally stands among the least of these–those arrested, those charged, and those found guilty?  He is betrayed to the authorities, abandoned by his friends, subjected to a judicial system stacked against him, accused by false witnesses, found guilty though he was innocent.   Jesus experience puts him in the ranks of almost everyone in prison.

     When Jesus praises those on his right for visiting the prisons as visiting him, he knows of what he speaks.  He knows the loneliness, the confusion, the fear that come with arrest and imprisonment.  He knows the terror of facing those in power who have authority over his life.  

      In Matthew’s gospel Jesus is mostly silent as he is accused and questioned.  His reticence amazes Pilate and infuriates his accusers.  He stands mute before them trusting in a higher power and a higher authority to vindicate him.

      As we visit those in prison, we can bring the good news that the God of justice and the God of love not only knows what they are experiencing but has also experienced it.  Jesus walks the walk they walk.  Jesus suffers the indignities they experience.  Jesus experiences their helplessness and vulnerability.

        As we visit, can we have empathy for the situation of these people?  Can we draw on our own experiences of loneliness, vulnerability, helplessness, to share their situation?  Can we also bring the light of the resurrection to them?  Can we remind them and ourselves that God brought the salvation of the whole world through the events of the cross?  The cross was a necessary prelude to the light of the resurrection.

Pray:  God, the author of freedom, you have experienced being a prisoner, facing injustice, losing freedom.  Today we pray for prisoners and their families that they not lose hope as they experience their difficulties.  Show your presence to them where they are that they migh rely on your power and  presence and promise as they live out their sentences.  Amen.

St. Dysmas

Luke 23:39-43

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  v. 43

     Tradition has it that the thief on the cross who asks to join Jesus’ kingdom was named Dysmas.  Living briefly and literally in the shadow of the cross, Dysmas came that day to rely on God’s mercy and the hope that Jesus inspired.

       Over the last 30 years Lutheran congregations have sprung up in unlikely places such as the penal institutions in South Dakota.  Prisoners have established and maintained congregational life within the walls of the South Dakota prisons.  These congregations  call pastors, elect council members, serve as worship leaders.  These congregations call themselves St. Dysmas Lutheran Church.

        The congregations welcome and encourage people outside the walls of the prison to join them in their worship life.  This is an opportunity not only to praise God together, but also for prisoners who do not get visitors to engage in conversation with someone who is not an inmate or paid to be there.  

         Many who worship at St. Dysmas testify to what belonging to these congregations means to them in their situation.  For some, their experience has changed their lives, their attitude, their hopes for what lies outside the prison.  For others these congregations provide opportunity to return to a childhood faith that they rejected. For others their participation provides an important link to the world from which they were separated.

        Contributions from individuals, congregations, and congregational auxiliaries fund the congregations and their ministry.  Since prisoners only make about 25 cents an hour, the congregations can’t be self-supporting.  The people and congregations in South Dakota are the light of the resurrection as these men and women live daily in the shadow of the cross.

Pray:  O God the author of freedom, we pray jail and prison chaplains and for the ministry they do daily among inmates and staff.   May the good news of the life of freedom even in difficult times take root in the hearts and minds of those imprisoned.  Amen.

Fast:  From taking for granted our country’s freedoms.

Act:   Purchase gift cards haircuts, bus fares, etc.

OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger justice projects.

Inside the Walls

Matthew 28:18-20

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. v. 20b

     My experience inside the walls of a prison or jail is, fortunately, very limited.   My stays were limited to an hour or less as I visited the incarcerated. 

      My first experience entering a prison occurred in the Workhouse in St. Paul, Minnesota.  We spent part of our seminary training as counselors in hospitals and prisons.  Over a few weeks in the workhouse, I visited a young man who had grown up in North Dakota.  He had suffered terrible abuse from his father and escaped to the streets of St Paul.  However, there he’d broken the law and was confined now to the workhouse.  

      Remarkably, the regimentation of the workhouse helped him.  He became a trustee and happily reported to me that he had worked outside the walls of the prison to change light bulbs.  He appreciated the trust placed in him.  I wondered what would happen when that supervision was gone.

       Some years later I visited a young man of our congregation who had sold drugs.  He acknowledged his guilt, and in our visits he mostly complained about the lack of activity for the prisoners.  It all seemed about punishment rather than rehabilitation.  I remember one visit where the jailer said to me scornfully as he let me in, “So, you going to save him padre?”  After working in the jail for a long time he was cynical about anyone changing their life.

        In another parish, the treasurer of the congregation embezzled congregational funds.  He eventually found himself in the county jail with Huber privileges.  This meant he spent only nights and Sundays in the jail.  He had not only let down the congregation, but as the pastor I was affected as well.  The visits weren’t easy to make.

         None of my visits changed anybody’s life.  None of them resulted in a conversion experience.  All of them simply said to those incarcerated, God has not forgotten you here in the shadow of the cross.  The light of the resurrection still shines, and you will see it.

Pray:  O God the author of freedom we pray for those who seek justice for all people.  We pray for judges, attorneys, and probation offices that they would seek justice with mercy for all who come before them.  Amen.

Fast:  From branding all who complete prison terms as worthless.

Act:  Collect supplies for a jail ministry to use (Pencils, colored pencils,  

         stamps, paper, cards and envelopes, magazines, paperback books.

            OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger justice projects.

Set Free

Matthew 27:15-26

So (Pilate) released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. v. 26

    Because of Jesus, Barabbas is set free.  Jesus takes his place as the condemned prisoner.  The crowd chooses the criminal Barabbas over the innocent Jesus.  Yet, we never hear of Barabbas again.  Did he amend his ways?  Did he become a believer?  Did he become a witness to God’s mighty acts?

      Prisoners, once they are released, face a new challenge.  Their misdeeds and their incarceration follow them into their new freedom.  At times it can feel as though they are still in prison. Their freedoms are curtailed.  People view them with suspicion. They can find it difficult to find employment, perhaps housing, etc.  The people who accept them are their old friends who got them in trouble in the first place.

      Some communities now take small steps to help people transition back into everyday society.  Halfway houses provide one of those support structures.  Another more recent effort is in creating Circles of Support for people released from prison.  A small group of concerned people gather with the released prisoner on a weekly basis for conversation and support. They aren’t part of any post-prison supervision, just people in the community who want to help someone establish a new life. These circles of support have proved helpful in keeping the participants from returning to prison.

      The shadow of the cross lies over the life of freedom that Barabbas was given.  Did he ever know the light of the resurrection?  Will those who leave our prisons know that light?

Pray:  O God the author of freedom, your son Jesus was put in prison and a condemned man was set free.  The cross lies before us as a symbol of how you have set us free though we are sinners.  Help us to live responsibly and responsively in that freedom. Amen.

Fast:  From branding all who complete prison terms as worthless.

Act:  Befriend a person on probation

            OR $1 for ELCA World Hunger justice projects

Simon Peter in Prison

Acts 12:1-17

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell.  v.7

     The earliest believers found prison, torture, death to be constant threats as they went about their ministry.  They upset the powers that be with their insistence on God’s divine intervention in the world in Jesus.  They denied the divinity of the secular rulers who tried to make a religion out of their authority.

     King Herod arrested Peter and James.  He killed James to gain popularity with the religious leaders and put Peter in prison in preparation to behead him also.  But God visited that prison the night before the execution. Peter is miraculously freed from his prison by God’s angel.

       As we make our visits with prisoners, we can’t promise that we can offer to open the prison gates.  We can, however, offer a spiritual freedom.  We can offer forgiveness for past deeds.  We can offer fellowship and friendship even though that prisoner has done wrong.  We can offer a sense of community that goes beyond the walls that define their world.

      Peter had resigned himself to his fate.  As the angel leads him out of prison,  Peter wonders if he isn’t dreaming.  His release is impossible.  Yet, he’s not dreaming.  God is with him.  God rescues him.  God restores him to that beloved community to which he belongs.

      Of course, the powers that be aren’t happy with Peter’s escape.  Someone must take the blame.  Peter’s guard are found wanting and are put to death.  

       From the shadow of the cross, Peter is led into the light of the Resurrection.  He continues in that light to live and serve the one who dwells in him.  The writer of Acts goes on to say, “But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.”   (Acts 12:24)

Prayer:  O God the author of freedom, be with those who serve us as jailers and prison guards.  Keep them safe even as they strive for our safety and the safety of those in their custody.  Keep them from cynicism and despair as they work among troubled people. Amen.

Fast:  From self-righteousness 

Act:  Volunteer for a Circle of Support group

            OR set aside $1 for an ELCA World Hunger justice project

Joseph in Prison

Genesis 39

…the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love…  v. 21

          When we are looking for reasons to visit those in prison, we can begin with the fact that God is already visiting there.  Joseph is in Pharaoh’s prison on trumped up charges.  God does  not abandon him to that fate.  Indeed, God’s presence and Joseph’s reliance on that presence allows Joseph to become a trustee in the prison and a leader.  

           In this prison are two of Pharaoh’s servants:  a cupbearer and a baker who have displeased the Pharaoh in some way.  In prison they have dreams and ask Joseph to interpret them.  Joseph’s interpretations turn out to be true.  The cupbearer is restored to his position and the baker is hanged just as Joseph said.  

       Two years pass until Joseph is again called upon to interpret a dream.  This time it’s Pharaoh who dreams.  Joseph interprets the dream as predicting seven abundant years and seven famine years for Egypt.  His advice to Pharaoh is to store up the surplus for use in the times of famine.  Joseph is put in charge of this program of saving lives.

        We have become aware of imprisoned innocents, most notably and recently the Central Park Five.  A rush to judgment, a willingness to disbelieve the accused, a fallible judicial system can consign the innocent to imprisonment for many years.  For some of them, at least, the presence of God in that place gives them the strength to endure.

        Who reminds them of that presence?  Jail chaplains surely, but also those who come from the outside to stand alongside the innocent in their imprisonment.  When it’s appropriate, it may even mean taking up their claim of innocence.  When we visit a prison, we find that God is already there living in the shadow of the cross and living in the least of these.

Pray:  O God the author of freedom, we pray for all who reside in our prisons and jails.  For those who are innocent and those who are guilty.  Walk with them in these days so that when their term is ended they may return to wholeness of life. Amen.

Fast: From words that condemn and judge.

            Act:  Collect items for prison ministry such as Holy books of all faiths, 

                        OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger justice project or local 

                        Jail Ministry.