Dying

"When evening came he was at table with the twelve."

He was sitting at table, eating with those who were going to betray him.
He even went so far as to wash their feet.
This is Jesus' way of handling opposition, violence, and betrayal.
Not only Judas would run away from his arrest and death.
In the end only John would return, brought by Jesus' mother, Mary.
Jesus took the road of nonviolence, of consistent love, a road taken by the best of his followers even in our days.

Listen to what one of them, Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

To our most bitter opponents we say: we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering.
We shall meet your physical force with soul force.
Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.
Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you.
Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you.
Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you.
But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.
One day we shall win our freedom, but not only for ourselves.
We shall appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

Another great mind and heart in this country Father John L. McKenzie, summed it up in his own poignant way.

"If Jesus taught us anything it was how to die, not how to kill!"
These are words worth reflecting upon in the violence and harshness of our days.

Sunday Sermon

The pastor was greeting folks at the door after the service.

A woman said, "Pastor, that was a very good sermon."

The pastor said, "Oh, I have to give the credit to the Holy Spirit."

"It wasn't that good!" she said.

The definition of a good sermon:

It should have a good beginning.

It should have a good ending.

And they should be as close together as possible.

Easter Thoughts

A man was coming out of church after Easter services, and the pastor was standing at the door to shake hands.

He grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him aside.
The pastor said, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!"
The man said, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor."
The pastor asked, "Then how come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?"
The man whispered, "I'm in the secret service!"

Top Ten Reasons to Celebrate Easter

10.

You absolutely love the movie "The Ten Commandments."

9.

You look really, really good in yellow.

8.

You just went on a low-cholesterol diet and didn't want to waste all those eggs in the fridge.

7.

You figure any holiday that starts with a "Good Friday" can't be all bad.

6.

You love to bite the heads off chocolate bunnies.

5.

It's a good time to check out your neighborhood church and not be noticed.

4.

You have this bunny suit you love to wear, but are too insecure to wear it without a reason.

3.

Even though you don't know what it is, you really like the sound of going to a "Passion Play"

2.

You figured since Jesus went to all that trouble to make it to the first Easter, you d give it a shot.

1.

As a Christian you celebrate the resurrection every other day, why not Easter too?

Betrayal

"As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. It was night."

The darkness of night falls over us after each betrayal.
It is when we take our own piece of bread and leave others behind, thinking only about how to get more out of our situation.
Did you ever leave others behind in that dark of night?

People built their lives on your promises and you never kept them.
They waited for your return, and you never came back.
Were you ever left in the dark by others who betrayed you?

This kind of betrayal is not something we only do as individuals toward the persons around us.
It is something we often do with others as a community.
We rarely see how all are bound together.
We fail to see ourselves and others as part of the universe, as part of all that is created in Christ. We look too seldom at long-range efforts and pursuits.
We are out for a quick gain.
We squander energy, we cut down trees irresponsibly, we consume irreplaceable goods, we let whole species of animals and plants just die off.
We, the current dwellers of this earth, are impoverishing and betraying our offspring.
We took our piece of bread, and so much more than that, and we often thought of nothing else.

Night will be falling over the whole of the earth.
It will be falling over all of us if we don't change our ways.