The Shattering of Illusions

We feel the power of Jesus’ walk in love in its shattering effects.

In the Palm procession into Jerusalem, “the whole city was in turmoil”— the social order was shaken, agitated, trembling, quaking. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a veritable social earthquake.

Six days later Jesus breathed his last and “the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” The earth responds to the death of Jesus with an earthquake that terrifies the soldiers who are watching the crucifixion. Jesus’ presence and witness are catalyst to social and physical earthquakes, not only shattering rocks but also shattering social order and expectations.

But the real shattering that Jesus causes is the shattering of illusions: the shattering of the sense that we are good enough to earn God’s favor, that we deserve this good life. I’ve heard that some people will not come to church on Palm/Passion Sunday because they object to being cast as the crowd who whiplash from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify him!” The familiar story of Jesus’ arrest, condemnation, beating, and crucifixion can turn us to think we hear a story about them and what they do, not us: weak hearted Peter; horribly corrupted religious leaders; Judas the betrayer; indifferent, coolly detached and cruel Romans. The cruelty and injustice happen because of evil and weakness of other people, far away, long ago, misguided, and probably primitive.

Until, that is, the story is about us.

On Sunday we heard the Passion related through “the voices in the crowd”— a Gospel seen through the eyes of the ordinary people. They drive home the uncomfortable truth that is at the heart of Lent and Holy Week: this is not a story of the failings of “them,” but of the failings of human beings. It is the story of us. We miss the mark. Our best efforts we fail. We compromise. We are broken. We need to learn to forgive, and to ask forgiveness. We are limited, weak, misguided, and we sin through things done and undone.

From the voices in the crowd, we hear the testimony of Larry, the owner of the upper room where Jesus and his disciples gathered, who “wished [he] had earned less, and loved more,” and who says “Because I stood back and did nothing, I helped you onto the cross.”

Have you ever stood back and done nothing?

Rachel, the servant girl, is an “innocent bystander” cleaning the building where Jesus was tried and condemned. She knew that Jesus was innocent and said nothing.

Have you ever known that a wrong was being committed and said nothing?

Barabbas is free and guilty of crimes—and indebted to Jesus for taking his place on the cross.

Has someone else ever taken the hit for something you did?

Simon of Cyrene wonders “what can a stranger say to a crowd of angry people?”

Have you ever been afraid to stand up for someone or protect them, to speak the truth, because the crowd and the bullies outnumbered you?

The Roman soldier explains that even though he believed in Jesus’ innocence, in executing Jesus he was “only doing his job.”

Have your actions—things done and undone—ever contributed to the misery, poverty, and even death of others?

And Jesus’ mother, who has wondered and feared throughout Jesus’ whole life, who has been crushed by confusion and the deepest loss, wonders what she could have done to save him.

Have you ever tried everything to save someone, only to discover that what you have to offer is simply not what is needed?

Having illusions of one’s own deserving goodness shattered is more upsetting and destabilizing than a city in turmoil or a rock-splitting earthquake. It is a sickening feeling to realize that there is only “us,” that in the end, there is no “them.” To realize that we may hurt people on purpose—or hurt them by accident—or hurt them by circumstance—or the sheer complicated nature of the world—but that, in fact, we hurt others. That we are complicit. That we are guilty.

I hope that you can go there. I hope that you can let that truth settle for just a little bit—not to drown in shame or remorse, but so that you can feel in your gut why forgiveness is the act that holds together the moral universe. How else does God’s mercy, freely given, make sense? Why would you need mercy if you never made a mistake? What place does mercy have in a cosmos that is simply transactional, where “you get what you deserve”?

The earthquake of the soul comes when we realize that we do not get what we deserve. Instead, we receive forgiveness and mercy. We are urged to pay it forward: to extend forgiveness and mercy to others. To transform the universe not by violence, or by winning, or by domination, but by love of others and knowledge of self.

It’s a beautiful vision, but hard won.

I pray that this next week, and then the week after and after that, you will take a spiritual inventory—like Larry who “wished he’d loved more and had less” and Rachel the servant girl who said nothing, and the soldier who was only doing his job and all the rest of them—and that you will choose to be brave. Brave enough to see where you fall short, and to ask forgiveness. Brave enough to hear others ask for that gift from you, and to let your heart melt. Brave enough to trust that whatever the world throws at you, you are seen and beloved by God. Brave enough to spend a lifetime living into that love. Brave enough to lean into knowing that without deserving, you have the love of the Holy One, love that you are free to share with others, whether they deserve or not. And I pray that I will, too.

In peace,

Jen+

Rev. Jen has set her office drop-in day as Wednesday of each week from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. for anyone who would like to stop in and visit. You are always invited to make an appointment for a time convenient for you. Mondays are her Sabbath day.

LENT SCHEDULE AND GUIDES
Click on links for Lent materials below:

First week of Lent
Lent and Easter Schedule
https://www.lentmadness.org/
Lenten Discipline – Week 1 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”
Lenten Discipline – Week 2 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”
Lenten Discipline – Week 3 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”
Lenten Discipline – Week 4 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”
Lenten Discipline – Week 5 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”
Lenten Discipline – Week 5 “Walking the Palm Sunday Path”

Holy Week Schedule

• Maundy Thursday 7.00 pm, St Andrew’s
• Good Friday 12.00 pm, St. Andrew’s 7.00 pm, Gobin Memorial UMC
• Holy Saturday 10.30 am, St. Andrew’s
• Easter Vigil, Saturday 8.23 am, beginning at Gobin Memorial
• Easter Sunrise Service 6.30 am, St. Andrew’s Memorial Garden
• Festal Easter Service 10.15 am, St. Andrew’s

EPISCOPAL 101, SUNDAYS 11:45-12:45

Continuing this month, Episcopal 101, a gathering to learn about the Episcopal church–what we do, how we pray and worship, our history, and more. All are welcome.

PROJECTS AND PARISH SPACE

We are blessed with ample and well organized spaces for our worship, fellowship, and outreach. However, things have a way of collecting at churches—as we found when Gwen Morris and Cathryn Ensley cleaned out the front closet. We want to know what’s going on! Please mark supplies or materials gathered for outreach with the name of the project and the name of the point person.

HEALING PRAYER

Most Sundays our intern Meghan will be offering anointing and healing prayer at Sunday services during communion. Meghan will set up a station in the narthex; meet there for general or specific prayers for healing.

EVENING PRAYER

Join us for Evening Prayer in the sanctuary on Tuesdays at 4:00. Evening Prayer is a wonderful service to wind down the day and move into the evening hours.

CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER DURING LENT

Lenten Prayer: 7:45 am (pray where you are); 1:00 (contemplative prayer in sanctuary); 1:30 (Stations of the Cross, in sanctuary), 6:30 (Taizé at Gobin), 9:00 compline on-line (use St Andrew’s zoom from church web page). Details in Hamilton Hall.

ALTAR FLOWER CALENDAR

An altar flower calendar is posted in Hamilton Hall. Sign up to sponsor the altar flowers to commemorate a birthday or anniversary, remember a loved one, or in thanksgiving for an important event. We ask a donation to help offset the cost of the altar flowers and other worship expenses. Be sure to tell the office your dedication so that it can be printed in the bulletin. Please make checks payable to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and in the memo field please put this information: Altar Flowers, person’s name, occasion, Sunday date you’d like for the flowers to be on the altar.

VESTRY MEETING MINUTES

If any of you are interested in what your Vestry is doing, there are two copies of each month’s minutes on the music stand in Hamilton Hall. Feel free to read and return!

SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY

Please add razors, shaving cream, laundry detergent, spray cleaner, and toilet bowl cleaner to your shopping list for the NFP for the month of April. Meals and conversation in Hamilton Hall are going well. Patrons are now able to pick out items they most need. Your contributions help our budget go farther in helping meet the needs of those in Putnam County. Please scroll down to view the distribution dates and latest updates. If you can help with this ministry in any way, please contact Harriet Moore or Carl Huffman.

KROGER COUPONS

If you have any unwanted Kroger coupons, please bring them to Hamilton Hall and place in the window ledge near the “Little Library”. We would like to make them available to our Non-Food Pantry recipients so that they might be able to take advantage of them to help extend their food budget. Thanks in advance!

FREE DAILY DEVOTIONAL

We have some large print Day by Day daily devotionals in the sanctuary that you are free to take home for your personal devotions–and if we know that people would like copies, we can order the right amount. Many of you may also appreciate the on-line version of Day to Day. Click here.

Your prayers are asked for:

Haile Bane, grandson of Joanne Haymaker
Beth Benedix, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Jennifer Clarke, friend of Patti Harmless
Diane * Judy * Angela Evans
Heather Cantonwine and family, friends of the Knuths
Family of Katie Gleichman, relative of Jim & Cathryn Ensley
Tom Kaiser, friend of Jen+ & Chris
Lynda, friend of Sarah Finlay-Black
Warren Macy
Teresa Masten, friend of Karen & Jim Mannon
Sally Motsch, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Mary Mountz
Sam Paris, grandson of Harry and Susan Maginity
Gene Shaw, brother-in-law of Patti Harmless
Elizabeth & Natalie Sheffler, daughter & granddaughter of Page & Narda Cotton
Deloris Smith, friend of Emily Knuth
Jenny Smyth, niece of Patti Harmless
Luke Smith, son of Mark Smith
Skip Sutton
Larry Taylor, former member of St. Andrew’s
Donald Voermans, father of Nick Voermans
Catherine Waggoner, friend of Jen+
Dwight Ziegler, uncle of Stephanie Gurnon