Attached to God, Part Two

Good Friday 2016; John. 18:1-19:42, St. Paul's, NC; 3/25/16

Jim Melnyk: “Attached to God, Part Two”

The Rev. Lorraine Ljunggren of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Raleigh writes, “How did we get here?  How is it we come to be gathered here in a church in the 21^st century, so long removed from the Jesus story of the first century?  What causes us to stop whatever we are doing to drive or ride here by noon before the Sabbath begins?

Our first answer may be we've been headed here since Ash Wednesday.  That's true enough since our Lenten journey began that day in February.  We might say we've been headed here since the Season of Advent led us to Christmas and the Nativity of Jesus.  That's true enough.  We may also respond that we are continuing a journey outlined by the first Jesus followers formed what we call the church and started remembering what happened on that first Good Friday.

But, more to the point, we must arrive here because we decide, or have decided, at some level to follow Jesus of Nazareth ourselves.  What does it mean that in the following we end up here?  And are absolutely positive we're ready to follow when this service ends?”

As twenty-first century Jesus-followers we have an edge that those first disciples did not on this terrible day.  True, they had Jesus with them – fully present in the most tangible of ways – yet they also had the uncertainty of the day.  They knew the power of Rome. They knew public opinion of Jesus, and therefore of them, had taken a horrible turn.  And even having received the encouragement and promise of Jesus that God had something so much greater in the works, they couldn’t begin to conceive of Easter Day in their hearts.  We know the story.  We’ve been on this journey since long before Advent and Christmas – we’ve been on this journey since the first moment we felt the waters of Holy Baptism move across our brows.

And still we struggle with what it means to follow Jesus.  Still we struggle with what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – to be as Edward Hays describes it, fully attached to God, and to God’s design for the perfection of the world.  Still we struggle with what it means to love Jesus – to be fully attached to Jesus and his vision of the new Reign of God – the kingdom of God – now, on earth, as it is in heaven.  Still we struggle with what it means to love our neighbor, and to love the sojourner – the stranger – the alien, who lives among us and with us – to be fully attached to one another in a way that seeks and serves Christ in all persons and honors the dignity of every human being (Edward Hays, The Lenten Labyrinth, p. 110).

We struggle with what it means to be in love with God, Jesus, and one another – to be fully attached to one another and to God – we struggle because we know that the cross is all too real – and we know what happens to people who stand for the Good News of God in the ways that Jesus stood – before Caiaphas – before Pilate – before an angry mob.

Which brings us finally to this place today – this place with dried, discarded palm branches in a space devoid of all Sunday splendor.  We come knowing that Good Friday is real – as real today as it was two thousand years ago.  We come, I hope, seeking God’s hope – God’s promise for us – for our lives.  We come with perhaps a bit of fear and anxiety over what it truly means to be a Jesus-follower – and perhaps with a glimmer of hope that with God’s help we can pull it off.  With a glimmer of hope that God’s final word of love will finally prevail in a world that doesn’t seem too attached to love.

“How did we get here?” asks Lorraine Ljunggren.  “We got here by way of love; a life-giving for all – liberating for all – love.  The love of God we experience in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Amen.