According to the Gospels, Jesus said a lot of things. Many of them are inspiring and heartwarming:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find."
"Yes, I am with you always, even to the end of time."
"Peace be with you."
"Do not be afraid."
"Your faith has saved you."
But if we look at the whole of Jesus' words and witness, we will find that while yes, Jesus wanted us to know that we are deeply loved and cared for, he also challenged us to be transformed, so that we can transform the world. This week's Gospel reading contains questions and statements that make us stop and think, to consider what it really means to be followers of Christ:
"Who do you say that I am?""Get behind me, Satan!"
"Take up your cross and follow me."
"Those who want to save their life will lose it."
What do we do with these words? I'll admit that they scare me a little - if I want to save my life, I have to lose it? Do I have to become a prophet, so driven by a quest for justice that I might be killed for it?
We know that the cross is not the end of the story - ultimately, there's an empty tomb. But as we journey together in the season of Lent, I hope we can all wrestle together with these questions and the challenge of the cross. What does it mean to be the Body of Christ in the world today? And ultimately, who do you say Jesus is? Join us on Sunday as we continue the struggle and proclaim Christ's presence among us in communion.
AND: Join us tonight for a prayer service in the chapel at 6pm, followed by a soup supper at 6:30. You are also invited to join us for worship with the Protestant Community at Ithaca College on Sunday evening at 6pm in their chapel. Hope to see you soon!
Blessings and peace,
Manda
Texts for Sunday worship:
Psalm 22:23-31
Mark 8:27-38
Other lectionary texts for Sunday:
Romans 4:13-25
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
If you want to become full,
ReplyDeletelet yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
-Tao Te Ching, 22
"So long as the mind is captivated by memory, and really feels itself to be that past image -- which is 'I' -- it can do nothing to save itself; its sacrifices are of no avail, and its Law gives no life. For it is under the spell of death, identified with an impotent abstraction, so that, in the language of symbolism, it is 'formed of clay,' or wandering in the wilderness, in 'a dray and barren land where no water is.'
ReplyDelete"And under this spell it remains, hopelessly and helplessly captive, just so long as this dead image continues to give any illusion of life, so long as one thinks or feels that 'I' is able to do anything in the way of a creative act.
"Therefore, the necessary condition for the miracle is the realization that this 'I' can do nothing -- the discovery of its total and inescapable captivity. The 'I' must confess that it is mere dust, that 'there is no health in it,' for liberation from the 'I' is impossible so long as one retains any hope in its powers. While this hope persists, one is still under the spell of death, turned into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife who looked behind on the way from Sodom.
"'Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day...he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his soul shall lose it.' -Luke 17:30-33
"'The day when the Son of Man is revealed' is, of course, the Last Day, the day when time comes to an end -- as indeed it does eternally in this Now, wherein alone we are truly alive...
"...On the other hand, the miracle can come to pass if all hope in the 'I' is abandoned, if that wherein man thought his life consisted is seen beyond any doubt to be unreality and death. The one thing then, which is the indispensable preparation for the miracle of man's becoming 'no longer I, but Christ,' for the birth of Godhead in man, is the confession of 'sin' -- not however in the current sentimental sense of the word, but in the true metaphysical sense of 'hamartanein,' 'to miss the mark,' to be off the point.
"The mark or point here -- equivalent to the 'straight and narrow gate' or the 'needle's eye,' which is the entrance to heaven -- is the timeless, eternal moment wherein our real life consists. To be 'off the mark' is to be identified with the past, and thus 'the soul that sinneth shall die.' Repentance in 'dust and ashes' is simply the clear admission that everything which I know (remember) as myself is dead, and can do nothing. The 'I' which is the past can give no salvation from the past."
-Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity