5th Sunday in Lent Year B

5th Sunday in Lent Year B March 18, 2018 One of my friends who writes a daily meditation recently wrote the following: “A magazine declared a ‘good week for self-reliance’ when ‘an Italian fitness instructor became so frustrated with the dating game that she married herself in a lavish ceremony.’ Apparently it was a bad week for wisdom and humility.” She continues, “We Americans see self-reliance as extremely desirable, often to the misguided place of failing to cultivate community. In the church, we speak of having two or three gathered to seek God, but we don't appreciate the power of our seeking together. Being with others in our quest for God keeps us humble and lifts us up when we haven't the strength to go on alone.”i Our gospel reading for today gives us glimpses of this seeking God in community as well. John tells us that Jesus and his followers are headed into the Passover in Jerusalem when some Greeks approach Philip saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip’s response is to go find another disciple, Andrew, and tell him, and together, the two of them go to tell Jesus. Now, at this point, we don’t really know what happens to the Greeks, whether or not they ever have their request to see Jesus granted. What we do know is that Jesus’s eyes are already set upon the cross, that he emphasizes that those who follow him must continue to follow him into self-sacrifice, service to others, vulnerability, and offering themselves up to God’s love in the face of suffering and evil. In all of scripture, when we have stories of people seeing Jesus, encountering Jesus, they are always transformed. Sometimes they are healed; sometimes they are restored to their community; sometimes they are convicted, because Jesus holds up a true mirror in front of them showing them how they have turned from the light. Sometimes they are disappointed because the way of following Jesus is much more demanding, much more difficult than they expected. But every time, no matter what the outcome, that person, after encountering Jesus is transformed. And our tradition teaches us, from as early as the Acts of the Apostles, that this transformation most often occurs within community. It is, in fact, the true work of the church—to invite people into being transformed by God. And when I think about my life and about the times when I have “seen” Jesus or about the times when I have been transformed by God, it isn’t during times of certainty and strength. They are the times in my life when I am most uncertain, most heart-broken; or they are the times in my life when I am most connected to others, especially those who are uncertain, vulnerable, or heart-broken themselves. Those are the times when I see Jesus. Those are the times when I am transformed. We are going to be talking more about transformation after Easter, but I want to invite you to begin thinking about this now, in our final days of Lent. Think about the times when you have encountered Jesus, when you have been transformed, in your faith, in your thinking, in the way you live your life. Beginning next Sunday, we are going to walk through Jesus’s final hours as a community of faith. We will participate in his final teaching to his disciples in the last supper and the footwashing. We will bear witness as he suffers and dies on the cross, and remember before him all of the suffering and injustice in this world. We will enter the dark tomb of the church behind the single light of the Paschal candle, remember the stories of our faith, and we will baptize sweet Giovanni Aguilar into the body of Christ and welcome him as a member of this community. And then we will celebrate the resurrection together. Every year, our three holiest days—what we call the Triduum—are found on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and at the Great Vigil of Easter. These give us meaning, understanding of who we are as followers of Jesus. And thankfully, we do not walk this way alone. We look to see Jesus in the Paschal Mystery that is revealed in Holy Week, and we seek to be transformed together as a community. This past week, I read an article titled: “Church Is What We Create with Each Other.” It is a lovely, poignant article that I commend to you to read (I’ve got copies here, and I’ll post the link on our Facebook page). In this article, the author writes about the ways that we are transformed through the community of the church saying, “For a long time announcements [in church] bothered me. I thought they kept us from what mattered, that they were housekeeping, business best conducted somewhere else. Was now really the time to talk about pancake breakfasts and broadband networks? But I’ve since come to understand that yes, actually, now is the time. Because I’ve learned — over many, many years — that church isn’t about order or quiet or even ritual so much as it is about showing up. For yourself, for God, and for the people around you who need to feel — just as you do — that the blessings and burdens of being a human are not theirs to bear alone [emphasis is mine]. Sometimes we feel that union of souls in sublime and obvious ways, like when we hear a fiery reading from the prophets or the psalms, or sing verse after verse of “We Shall Overcome.” And sometimes we feel it when someone stands up and tells us that she is looking for a new woodstove and please call her if you have a lead on a good one, not too expensive, not too far away.”ii “Church isn’t about order or quiet or even ritual so much as it is about showing up. For yourself, for God, and for the people around you who need to feel — just as you do — that the blessings and burdens of being a human are not theirs to bear alone.” Your invitation this week is two-fold. First, think about the times when you have encountered Jesus, when you have been transformed, in your faith, in your thinking, in the way you live your life. Think about how you would share one of those stories with anyone who might come to you and ask, “I wish to see Jesus.” And second, make plans to attend as many of the Triduum services here as you can: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday night. We need each other to see Jesus. We need each other to be transformed. We need each other to walk this way of the cross and to experience the true joy of the resurrection at Easter. i. Copyright 2017 by Carol Mead. March 8, 2018. www.holyordinary.com ii. White, Erin. Church Is What We Create With Each Other. March 15, 2018. https://onbeing.org/blog/erin-white-church-is-what-we-create-with-each-other