Lent 5 (B) + Touchable Jesus + 3.22.15

-
(http://www.cherylricker.com/2012/05/whos-the-judge/woman-with-jesus-small/)
Melissa Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33)

Remembering Malcolm Boyd who often wrote in this style, a meditative conversation with Jesus.

Jesus, we wish to see you.
We are rushing like the Greeks in this gospel reading, to see you.
To hear what it is you have to say to us.
To tell us about eternal life.
Whatever it is you can say, Jesus, to make this whole world seem better.
Jesus, we want to see you.
Not the great high priest on a pedestal, Jesus,
Although that’s what you are, too,
But to see you.
In the flesh.
But it is hard to see you like this.
With all your barriers down, knowing what you will go through.
Jesus, we want to see you.
But it is hard for us.
It is hard for us because we still have this idea that you are a white knight on a horse, or perhaps someone who can’t be hurt.
Yes Jesus, we take offense at the fact that you might be touchable.
You have told us you are human.
But here you come out, all “my soul is troubled”
And what are we to do?
That isn’t very helpful, Jesus.
We would prefer that you would keep such thoughts to yourself.
I mean, if you can be hurt, how can you protect us?
If you can die, how can we have eternal life?
Doesn’t the well of living water all go dry?
Jesus, we are here with you, with the Greeks and disciples too.
We are walking the road with you.
Because we wish to see you.
We need to know you.
But we don’t know what to do with your pain.
Some have said that if you hadn’t been hurt you could never save us.[1]
In a way, when you dropped all the barriers, you let love in such that it could win?
Is that true, Jesus?
It takes a vulnerable savior to save us all.
To live as one of us, and die and rise again and to show us how to love.
But also to die and rise again and to gather us all up into your loving arms.
To let all the barriers fall, like your tears in Gethsemane, so that everything might be taken up into your loving arms.
Is that true, Jesus?
Can you take all of the hurt inside us and embrace it, Jesus?
Can your arms take the pain of those who have lost parents, spouses, children?
Those whose diagnosis or prognosis points towards the valley of the shadow of death?
Can you handle it, Jesus?
When my heart is troubled, too, can you embrace me?
Will you embrace me in the end?
Because we want to see you.
I want to see you.
And I think
You will embrace us.
Your arms are stretched wide, wide as all creation.
You are reaching out to us, us who have you tattooed on our hearts.
You reach out to us, Jesus
Because
You want to see us, too.
You need to know us, too.
And that just takes all.


[1] Ayanna Johnson Watkins, “Living the Word: Sunday, March 22, Fifth Sunday of Lent,” (Christian Century, March 18, 2015).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faith or Fear? Advent 1C

-
Melissa Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard Year C + Advent 1 (Jeremiah 33:14–16; Ps. 25:1–9; 1 Thess. 3:9–13; Luke 21:25–36) So… what are you going to do when you stand before the man with the holes in his hands? Now that may seem like a strange question to ask this first Sunday in December.  Surely, Pastor Melissa, we’re gearing up for jollity, not getting ready to meet our maker? But in a sense we are, always, all the time, waiting for Jesus, and I think that’s what Advent is really all about.  Reminding us that we are always waiting not just for the Christ Child to come and be born in our midst, but that we are also waiting for that awesome, if slightly scary Second Coming of Christ. And it is true that this passage talks about distress and the roaring of the waves.  And many looked at the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, that iconic image of the ocean-side theme park, including a Ferris Wheel, in the waves, and many said, this is something w...
Read more

Proper 20 (B) + A community of power + 9.23.18

-
Image
M. Campbell-Langdell All Saints, Oxnard (Proverbs 31:10–31; Ps. 1; James 3:13–4:3, 7–8ยช; St. Mark 9:30–37) Take a moment and think of the most powerful positive woman figure you know – in your life or in your favorite movie, show or book. Who is the woman who has most inspired you? Keep that image of that woman in mind as we look at this passage from Proverbs Chapter 31. Now here we see the verse “A capable wife who can find?” And all the feminists amongst us will be relieved to hear that a better translation from the Hebrew would be: “a woman of power” instead of a “capable wife.” [1] That changes things, doesn’t it? Then when we hear about this ideal ancient Hebrew woman’s exploits – her buying of lands, her trading prowess, her physical strength, even her domestic abilities such as weaving, and perhaps especially her kindness to the poor, we see strength and power in all of these. Of course, looking at this passage, this is not one woman but a concept of the most...
Read more

Proper21BAcceptingourownwounds29sept24

-
  Accepting our own and other’s wounds Mark 9: 38-50   St Michael’s, Isla Vista / All Saints Oxnard The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell; MCL additions   May I just start this morning by acknowledging that our Gospel reading is complex.   The images are startling (horrifying?) and the metaphors come almost too quickly to catch.   What is clear is that something serious is going on between Jesus and his disciples, and Jesus is using every means possible, including some pretty harsh language, to try to course correct.   To even begin to understand this passage, we need to back up to last week’s reading from Mark.   In that reading, the disciples are arguing with each other about who is the greatest and best disciple.   In response, Jesus gets a little kid, some commentators say “toddler,” and holds this child in his arms during the rest of the conversation.    The other part of the scene to keep in mind is that Jesus has just told...
Read more