Gospel

An Unfathomable Mystery

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
ecce homo by Honoré Daumier, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
God, we understand the gospel 
    to be an incomprehensible reversal
    of all righteous and pious thinking.
You declare yourself to be guilty to the world
    and thereby extinguish the guilt of the world.
You yourself take the humiliating path of reconciliation
    and thereby set the world free.
You want to be guilty of our guilt
    and take upon yourself the punishment and suffering
    that this guilt brought to us.
You stand in for godlessness, love stands in for hate,
    the Holy One for the sinner.
Now there is no longer any godlessness, any hate,
    that you have not taken upon yourself, 
    suffered and atoned for.
Now there is no more reality and no more world 
    that is not reconciled with you and in peace.
That is what you did in your beloved Son Jesus Christ.
 
“Behold the man!”
See the incarnate God,
    the unfathomable mystery of your love for the world.
You love human beings.
You love the world – 
    not ideal human beings, but people as they are,
    not an ideal world, but the real world.
 
after Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 – 1945, German  theologian and martyr
 
__________________________
 
 
For this is how God loved the world: 
He gave his one and only Son, 
    so that everyone who believes in him 
    will not perish but have eternal life.

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believing in the resurrection of Jesus

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image, by William Hole, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Almighty God,
Who through the death of your Son 
    has destroyed sin and death,
And by his resurrection 
    has restored innocence and everlasting life,
That we may be delivered from the dominion of the devil,
    and our mortal bodies raised up from the dead:
Grant that we may confidently and whole-heartedly 
    believe this,
And, finally, with your saints, 
    share in the joyful resurrection of the just;
through the same Jesus Christ,
    your Son, our Lord.

Martin Luther, 1483-1546, German Reformer
 
_______________________________
 
 
But these are written that you may believe 
    that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, 
and that by believing 
    you may have life in his name.
 

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waiting prayer for Holy Saturday

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
Holy Saturday by Roxolana Luczakowsky via Facebook
 
 
This is the hardest time to pray:
after the drama and catastrophe,
before the angels and the big reveal.
The passion, the agony, the desperate grief
have given way to numbness
and absence
in this time in between.

God seems to be offstage,
preparing for the final scene,
taking care of ancient souls in other worlds
or clothing the hidden, broken body
in resurrection glory.

So let our prayer this day be plain
and to the point:

May God be with us in the waiting,
and may we wait with hope,
today
and every time in between.

Amen.
 
Kerry Greenhill, Methodist Deacon and Minister
 
____________________________
 
 
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, 
    who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 
    and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. 
He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

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the last step of love

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Cristo crucificado, Titian via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
A few hours more,
A few minutes more,
A few instants more,
For thirty-three years it has been going on.
For thirty-three years you have lived fully minute after minute.
You can no longer escape, now; you are there, 
    at the end of your life, at the end of your road.
You are at the last extremity, at the edge of a precipice.
You must take the last step,
The last step of love,
The last step of life that ends in death.
 
You hesitate.
Three hours are long, three hours of agony;
Longer than three years of life,
Longer than thirty years of life.
 
You must decide, Lord, all is ready around you.
You are there, motionless, on your Cross.
You have renounced all activity other than embracing these 
    crossed planks for which you were made.
And yet, there is still life in your nailed body.
Let mortal flesh die, and make way for eternity.
Now, life slips from each limb, one by one, finding refuge in his 
    still beating heart.
Immeasurable heart,
Overflowing heart.
Heart heavy as the world, the world of sins and miseries that it bears.
 
Lord, one more effort.
Mankind is there, waiting unknowingly for the cry of its Saviour.
You brothers are there; they need you.
Your Father bends over you, already holding out his arms.
Lord, save us,
Save us.
 
See.
He has taken his heavy heart,
And,
Slowly,
Laboriously,
Alone between heaven and earth,
In the awesome night,
With passionate love,
He has gathered his life,
He has gathered the sin of the world,
And in a cry,
He has given all.
‘Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.’
 
Christ has just died for us.
 
Michel Quoist, 1918 – 1997, French Catholic priest and writer 
 
_____________________________
 
 
It was now about the sixth hour,
    and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 
    while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 
    “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” 
And having said this he breathed his last.

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Jesus, touch our eyes

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Andrey Mironov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 
Lord Jesus, touch our eyes,
    as you did those of the blind;
then we shall see
    in things that are visible
    those things which are invisible.

Lord Jesus, open our ears,
     heal our wounds and purify our lives,
     as you did those who came to you;
then we shall hear and perceive what is true
     amidst the sounds of the world,
     and find wholeness in ourselves.

after Origen, 185—254, Alexandrian Theologian
 
_______________________________
 
 
They came to Bethsaida, 
    and some people brought a blind man 
    and begged Jesus to touch him. 
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. 
When he had spit on the man’s eyes 
    and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, 
    “Do you see anything?”
He looked up and said, 
    “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. 
Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, 
    and he saw everything clearly.
 

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beginning Lent

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image via Pexels
 
 
Loving Lord,
at the beginning of this Lenten season,
we are met with the challenge of handing over
every bit of our lives that do not come from You.
To rid ourselves of what clutters our lives,
and all that distracts us from the simple truth
of Your love for us.
 
Your prophets have called us to change the way we worship—
to make internal sacrifices instead of external ones.
To seek justice, and love kindness,
and walk humbly with You
each and every one of our days.
 
If we don’t give anything up for Lent,
then let us at least give up this:
that we might cease living in ways that disconnect us from You,
for every one of our steps is like a circle around Your temple.
Perhaps this Lent,
we can give up our way
and give ourselves to Your way for us.
 
So, lead and guide us on this Lenten way.
May we walk with Jesus toward the hill just outside of Jerusalem.
May we like Him take up our cross and follow,
spending each moment of our lives living responsively to You,
just as Christ Himself did.
For that is the faithful way. 
Amen
 
Patrick Ryan, Presbyterian pastor in West Virginia.
 
___________________________
 
 
Then he said to the crowd, 
“If any of you wants to be my follower, 
    you must give up your own way, 
    take up your cross daily, 
    and follow me. 
If you try to hang on to your life, 
    you will lose it. 
But if you give up your life for my sake, 
    you will save it.
 

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Forgive our sin, O Lamb of God

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Lamb of God, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
 
 
The sins of the world,
such dreadful sins.
not just the personal sins
but the solidarity of sin
greater than the total
    of individual sin
nuclear evil in endless fission,
    O Lamb of God.
 
The sin of racial pride
that sees not the faith
    that all men are divinely made
nor the riches of pigment
    in portrait faces,
the same psychology
and religious search,
that each is the sibling
    for whom Christ died.
 
The burgeoning greed
    that never heeds the needs of others
involved in a merciless system,
looking only at profit and dividend,
the last of possessions
    that cannot accompany us
    at our last migration:
Take away these sins,
    O Lamb of God.
 
The massive sin of war,
    millions of lives impersonally destroyed,
billions of pounds wasted
    on weapons, bombs,
    truth enslaved,
    the hungry still unfed,
    grief stalking unnumbered homes:
Weep over us,
    O Lamb of God.
 
The sin of the world,
    alienation from thee
    not just weakness
    but evil intention,
organized and unrestrained
    with its own momentum
    leading to death:
O Lamb of God,
    take away this sin.
 
Begin with me,
O Lamb of God,
    forgive my sins,
    cleanse my heart,
    disarm my will
    and let me fight
    armed with thy truth, righteousness and love
    with thy cross of love
    incised upon my heart,
        O Lamb of God.
 
George Appleton, 1902-1993, Anglican Bishop in England and Jerusalem
 
________________________
 
 
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
 

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Who are you, that you love us so much?

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Francesco Londonio ~1750, photo by Dall’Orto, via Wikimedia Commons
 
How meek you are, Jesus, yet how mighty!
Your judgment is mighty, but your love is sweet.
Who can stand against you?
 
If we seek who you really are, your true nature is hidden in heaven,
    in the essence of the mighty Triune God.
But if a person were to seek your face,
    they could have found you in the lap of Mary.
 
Who can realize your depth, 
    you who are a great sea that made itself so small?
We come to see you as God, and see?
    You are a man!
Or if we came to see you as a man,
    the light of your Godhead shone brightly.
 
Who would believe that you are the heir of David’s throne?
From all his beds, you inherited an animal’s feeding trough.
From his palaces you received a cave.
And instead of his chariots, a young donkey.
 
How fearless you are, 
    allowing everyone to carry you in their arms.
You met all with a smile, 
    making no distinctions between family and stranger,
    between your mother and others.
 
Was it your love – you, who love all?
What moved you to let everyone have you,
    the rich and the poor alike?
How could you not return anger for anger, 
    fear for threat?
You are above returning injury for injury.
 
Who are you, Jesus, that you love us so much?
Amen.
 
Ephrem the Syrian, c.306-373, Syrian hymn writer and theologian
_____________________________
 
 
And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 
She gave birth to her firstborn son. 
She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, 
    because there was no lodging available for them.

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Allow us to live in today’s Advent

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O Lord, today we know once more, and in quite practical terms,
    what it means to clear away rubble and make paths smooth again.
We will have to know it and do it for years to come.
Let the crying voices ring out, pointing out the wilderness 
    and overcoming the devastation from within.
May the Advent figure of John,
    the relentless envoy and prophet in God’s name,
    be no stranger in our wilderness of ruins.
For how shall we hear unless someone cries out
    above the tumult and destruction and delusion?
 
Your Advent message comes out of an encounter of man
    with the absolute, the final, the gospel.
It is thus the message that shakes – 
    so that in the end the world shall be shaken.
The fact that the Son of Man shall come 
    is more than a historic prophecy;
  it is also a decree, 
    that Your coming and the shaking of humanity 
        are somehow connected.
If we are inwardly unshaken, 
    inwardly incapable of being genuinely shaken,
if we become obstinate and hard and superficial and cheap,
    then You will yourself intervene in world events
    and teach us what it means to be placed in this agitation 
    and stirred inwardly.
 
Allow us to live in today’s Advent, for it is the time of promise.
To eyes that do not see, it still seems that the final dice 
    are being cast down in these valleys, on those battlefields,
    in those camps and prisons and bomb shelters.
But just beyond the horizon the eternal realities
    stand silent in their age-old longing.
There shines on us the first mild light 
    of the radiant fulfillment to come.
From afar sound the first notes as of pipes and singing,
    not yet discernable as a song or melody.
It is all far off still, and only just announced and foretold.
But it is happening. This is today.
And tomorrow the angels will tell what has happened 
    with loud rejoicing voices,
  and we shall know it and be glad,
    if we have believed and trusted in Advent.
 
Alfred Delp, 1907-1945, German Jesuit, executed for resistance to Nazism
Watch for the Light freely adapted
 
_______________________
 
 
In those days John the Baptist came, 
   preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

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expel the devil from this man

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image by Lawrence OP via Flickr
 
O Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
expel the devil
and the paganism from this man,
    from his head, from his hair,
    from his brain, from his back,
    from his front, from his eyes,
    from his ears, from his nostrils,
    from his lips, from his mouth,
    from his tongue, from under his tongue,
    from his jaws, from his throat,
    from his neck, from his heart,
    from his whole body, from all of his members,
    from inside and the outside of him,
    from his bones, from his veins,
    from his nerves, from his blood,
    from his senses, from his thoughts,
    from his words, from all his works,
    from his strength,
    from all manner of conversation,
    for this, and in the life to come,.
But may the power of Christ, our mediator,
work in you, that we may attain life eternal,
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, Amen.
 
Antiphonary of Bangor, Prayer over a Person who has a Devil, #96
 
___________________________
 
 
And he called to him his twelve disciples 
    and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, 
    and to heal every disease and every affliction.

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