Oma & Googa (4/22/12)

The Third Sunday in Easter

April 22, 2012

First Lesson – Acts 3: 12-19

Second Lesson - I John 3: 1-7

Gospel Lesson – Luke 24: 36-48

OMA and GOOGA

                Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

                It is now the third time having had this experience as a grandparent, but because our grandson, Slater, lives so far away and we don’t get to see him as often as we do Gabriel and Abigail, it is that much more amazing.  How is it that this one and a half year old child, who sees us only two times a year, can immediately and unquestioningly bond with Oma and Googa?

                As a parent, I never thought twice about it.  We were with our children 24 hours a day and seven days a week; all day and (for the first six years) all night.  The parent/child relationship is a working relationship, but being a grandparent is a miraculous blessing.  Many of you who are grandparents may identify with this.  For others of you, think about a special relationship you may have had with a grandmother or grandfather.

                It is not unlike the question I’ve always wondered about the post-resurrection experiences of the disciples of Jesus.  How did they know it was him, risen from the dead, alive in their midst?  In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciples can only image Jesus to be a ghost.  That’s the only thing that made sense to them.  That was the only plausible explanation to his presence.  Earlier in this same chapter of Luke’s Gospel, two disciples travel on the road to Emmaus, walking and talking with Jesus without any idea who he is, until the revelation is made.

                I thought a lot about this while on vacation because 1) well, we were visiting with Becky, Ben and Slater in Las Vegas and 2) I had been listening to a book written by the atheist author, Sam Harris called The End of Faith, in which he tries his hardest to disprove faith with many mental gymnastics and Biblical misinterpretations.  But it begged the question: “How do we know Jesus is real?”

                For little Slater, I can identify two important factors in his acceptance of the revelation of who his Oma and Googa are:

1)      Becky and Ben, and Ben’s mother, Denise, are witnesses to the fact that Oma and Googa exist.  They tell Slater stories about his grandparents and surround his room with pictures, going through a litany of family members in his evening prayers.  So then, when we do arrive, Slater has some idea what to look for.

2)      When Christa and I are with him, we do “grandparent” type things.  You know, Oma helps to feed him at meals and sings him songs and changes his diapers.  And Googa plays with his blocks, I mean, I play with him playing with his blocks and carry him on my shoulders.  And together, we take him to the park to play on the slides and sing swinging songs together.

And in those two experiences Slater knows, he just seems to miraculously know that these are his grandparents, that they belong to him, that they love him and that he loves his Oma and Googa.

Do you see the Jesus connection?

1)      Jesus, by his preaching and teaching prepared his disciples for one day being able to see the face of God, his Father.  His life would be an example of what to expect in a victorious and glorified God that would be real in their lives.  He told them to pick up their cross and follow him.  That sounds pretty intentional.  He even predicted his suffering, death and resurrection.  And he taught them, “I am telling you these things now, so that when they do occur, you may believe.”

2)      And then, after his death and resurrection, he did “Jesus” type things to open up their eyes to his presence.  He greets the huddled disciples by saying, “Peace be with you,” after having departed from them with the words, “My peace I leave with you.”  He lets them see the nail holes and his pierced side, just like what happened to him at his crucifixion.  And he eats with.  Wasn’t that the very last thing Jesus did together with his disciples?

And their eyes were opened to his resurrected presence.  They just miraculously knew that it was Jesus.  The promise of God’s love had been revealed to them.   And after their eyes and minds had be opened to the reality of Jesus in their presence, he commanded them that repentance and the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.  And he added, “You are witnesses of these things.”

                We are so blessed that our parents and our godparents, our teachers and pastors of the past told us the stories, surrounded us with pictures and music, and prepared us to know what to watch for to see the God of love, to have Jesus be revealed to us, so that we might miraculously just know the God of our ancestors, the God who loves us and the God whom we can love.

                And now it’s our job, our parental responsibility, to let our children know that they have a heavenly parent, better yet – a grandparent – who is real and never far away.  It’s our turn to tell the stories, describe the pictures, sing the songs, and prepare the table.  Or else they won’t know what to look for.  It would never be that God isn’t there.  It’s just that they wouldn’t know because no one ever told them that God is in the sunset, that Jesus sits at table with them and eats with them, that when someone comforts them it is with the embrace of the loving arms of Jesus.

                But, after being thus prepared, when God comes into their lives in God’s good time – and in Jesus, the promise of God is made so we know that God will do it – when God comes into their lives in the sharing of peace, in the forgiveness of sins, in the sharing of the meal; when God comes into their lives as Jesus carries us on his shoulders, as Jesus plays with us and comforts us, as Jesus breaks bread with us, they will miraculously just know it.          AMEN.

                May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord

Have you ever looked at the sunset
With the sky mellowing red,

Seen the clouds suspended like feathers?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord.

Chorus:

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?

He's here in plain view.

Take a look, open your eyes,
He'll show it to you.

Have you ever stood at the ocean
with the white foam at your feet?

Felt the endless thunderin' motion?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever looked at the cross,
with a man hanging in pain?

And the look of love in his eyes?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever stood in the family
With the Lord there in your midst?

Seen the face of Christ on each other?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

ALL THAT'S KNOWN

This song deals with the role of education. Is it just to pump us full of facts, or to challenge us to critical thinking? When education is just teaching to the test then it becomes dull and uninspiring. But education may open you up to new possibilities within yourself. Does Latin or Astronomy have anything to do with who you are as a person? I never understood English until I took Latin. I never understood myself, much less God, until I seriously studied theology.

Read LUKE 2:41-52 for the story of the young Jesus in the temple. The 4th Commandment calls us to honor father and mother. Jesus ignored father and mother on the trip home from Jerusalem to the point of their scared concern, but then is amazed that they could not understand that he must be "about my Father's business." What role does "those in authority" play in helping or hindering your process to self-awareness and discovery?

Think about your own Sunday School or, especially, catechetical (confirmation class) instruction. If it was a good experience for you, it may have a positive impact on your faith development. If it was a bad experience for you, it my have turned you off completely to any faith development. I once had a student in confirmation class who never returned to class or to church after he didn't get the bike for Christmas that he had been praying for. We didn't study the Lord's Prayer soon enough for him!

Jesus debating with the teachers in the temple seemed to be saying, "Just watch me! One day all will know." Do you feel like the circumstance of growth and life are holding you back? The powerful message of the ministry of Jesus had to wait about 18 more years before he was mature and wise enough to be able to share it with the world.

"I'm calling," cries out Melchior. Is anybody listening to you as you call out for true learning and for someone to take you and your ideas seriously? What are you calling out for the world to know about you?

All That's Known - LYRICS

MELCHIOR
All that’s known
In History, in Science
Overthrown
At school, at home, by blind men

You doubt them,
And soon they bark and hound you
Till everything you say is just another bad about you

All they say
Is “Trust in what is written”
Wars are made
And somehow that is wisdom

Thought is suspect
And money is their idol
And nothing is okay unless it’s scripted in their Bible

But I know
There’s so much more to find
Just in looking through myself, and not at them

Still, I know
To trust my own true mind
And to say there’s a way through this

On I go
To wonder and to learning
Name the stars and know their dark returning

I’m calling
To know the world’s true yearning
The hunger that a child feels for everything they’re shown

You watch me
Just watch me
I’m calling
And one day all will know

Mama Who Bore Me

From the moment of our birth we begin to question our existence. We question our value as individuals. We question those who are influencial in our lives. We question the existence of God because we have suddenly been removed from it.
READ Psalm 14 and Psalm 22:6-11
What is meant by the concept of original sin? What is your reaction to being told that we are sinful human beings from our birth? Where do you place yourself on the scale between perfect and imperfect?
READ Jeremiah 1:5 and Luke 2:19
Or do you believe God has a plan for your life from the very beginning? Jesus was born in meager circumstances, in humble surroundings, with a suddenly absent father, yet overcame the obstacles in his life to make a profound difference in the world.
Did angels announce your birth (that is to say: Do you have any story to tell about any unusual, special or unique situations of your birth)?
READ Luke 2:34-35
In the song, Wendla accuses her mother of not adequately preparing her for the pain of life. What role do parents play in helping to develop your identity? What role should parents play in your faith development?
To light a candle: sounds like an Advent theme to me! So where is hope for the future to be found? "Christ will come a -callin'" Do you find hope in those words - a possibility of new birth and new life - or just more disillusionment?
"When he comes, they don't know how to go." Are we missing out on something? In this world of sin, do we fail to respond to the hope and the grace that God has to offer in the birth of Jesus?
"No sleep in heaven, or Bethlehem." Just curious-what do you think that means?
In the following reprise of the song, the music changes from a slow ballad to an active rock genre as if to say that in each new age of development, from infant to teen to adult, it keeps getting more and more complicated!

Mama Who Bore Me - Lyrics

For music and videos, check out "Spring Awakening" on YouTube.

Mama who bore me, Mama who gave me
No way to handle things,
Who made me so sad.

Mama, the weeping; Mama, the angels
No sleep in heaven, or Bethlehem

Some pray that one day Christ will come a-calling
They light a candle and hope that it glows
And some just lie there, crying for him to come and find them
But when he comes they don't know how to go.

Mama who bore me, Mama who gave me
No way to handle things,
Who made me so sad.

Mama, the weeping; Mama, the angels
No tears in heaven, or Bethlehem.

Spring Awakening III

INCARNATIONAL THEOLOGY: God resides in human flesh and blood.

READ the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses 1-18.
"The Word became flesh and abided with us, full of grace and truth." (v.14)
What does it mean to you that God took on human form? Do you think Jesus struggled with the same issues of identity and self-awareness as we do?

READ the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, verse 23.
The Hebrew word "Immanuel" literally means "God with us." The words are quoted from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Some five hundred years before the birth of Jesus the intention of God to "pitch his tent" with us, to "tabernacle" with us, to dwell within the human experience was already revealed.
In what ways do you know that God is with you? Does it help to know at times when God seems far away to you that the promise of God has always been there from the beginning?
PJ

Spring Awakening II

Spring Awakening is a Broadway musical based on an 1891 German play by Frank Wedelind about personal self-discovery. The musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater opened in 2006 and won eight Tony Awards in 2007.
The first time I heard the songs of Spring Awakening I had no idea what it was about. Hearing songs like "Momma Who Bore Me," talking about a birth in Bethlehem, to "I Believe," to "The Song of Purple Summer," which seemed to me to be about eternal life; I supposed that the musical was somehow about the life of Jesus. I did have a hard time understanding how a song like "Totally F***ed" fit it. But might that not be an apt description of crucifixion!
Upon deeper awareness it made sense to me that a play about the intimacies of human life, about the struggle between despair and hope, about the effect of sin and the desire for love and forgiveness, is the story of each one of us: you and me and Jesus.
Such issues of teenaged angst like maturbation, abuse and rape, thoughts of suicide, and sexual identity and awareness existed as much in the late 19th century as they do today. As much as things change, some things remain the same. Is that surprising to you? Or would you expect that to be the case?
PJ