The Deposition

The Deposition by Caravaggio

From the Vatican Museum


When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

Mark 15:42-47


Good Friday Solemn Collect:

Let us commit ourselves to God, and pray for the grace of a holy life, that, with all who have departed this world and have died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to God alone, we may be accounted worthy to enter into the fullness of the joy of our Lord, and receive the crown of life in the day of resurrection. BCP p.280


Lately, in the blogosphere, there has been much discussion of the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross, atonement, salvation, and from Rmj, who likes to use fancy words, soteriology. I've put in my two cents here and there, but I've found it much easier to say what I don't believe than what I believe. I've been struggling over the last few days to come up with my own theory on the meaning of Jesus' death. First off, I find that I can't separate the death from the Incarnation and the Resurrection. Second, I have not come up with anything that could be called coherent.

In the comments to a post by Rmj, I found this from Boreas:

Fr. Armand Veilleux, O.C.S.O., a member of the General Council and Procurator General of the Cistercian Order in Rome, essayed an answer which seems germane to this conversiation [on salvation], and which I quote in part:

"Christ saved us by his life, not by his death. But his death is part of his life. It was because he was faithful to being the witness to his Father to the end that he had to accept death as the consequence of this witness. But he did not accept it joyfully. The agony was a tremendous difficulty for a young man who was facing death at thirty-three years of age. Also, if you analyze the New Testament very closely, you see that Jesus puts an end to the practice of sacrifices.... Christ was not killed as a sacrifice, he was murdered. Because he accepted to be murdered, it is his life -- including that consequence -- that has replaced all the sacrifices. And so in our life, we are not pleasing God by making sacrifices; we are pleasing God by living according to his message as Jesus did. And this, our life, is the only "sacrifice" that God wants. So when we celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate the fact that Christ -- God incarnated as a human being -- has given himself as "food." We are not killing him; we are celebrating his life and the gift of life that he gives us as food -- as nourishment -- for our life."(pp. 231-32

From The Gethsemani Encounter in 1999 by the Continuum Publishing Co., of New York.

The words of Fr. Veilleux come closest to my thoughts on the meaning of the cross. Jesus' whole life, including his death, was the offering.

The Sacrament Of The Last Supper

The Sacrament Of The Last Supper by Salvador Dali. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC


While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’

Mark 14:22-25

Over the ages there have been countless discussions, explanations, and disagreements among Christians about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I believe in the Real Presence in the bread and the wine rather than a symbolic remembrance or reinactment of the Last Supper. The how of the presence of Jesus in the bread and wine is something else entirely, and I don't know of a completely satisfactory explanation. Jesus said it, so I believe it.

I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, with transubstantiation, which I find unsatisfactory. I cannot fully explain the Presence, but from the accounts in the Gospels, I find the words of Jesus, "This is my body....This is my blood," compelling.

In addition are these prophetic words from John's Gospel:

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’

John 6:48-58

....

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.

John 6:66-68

Those who walked away seemed to have thought that they were hearing words that were difficult to believe. If Jesus was speaking symbolically, why would they have left?

I also like these simple words of John Donne:

He was the Word, that spake it:
He took the bread and brake it;
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.'

Divine Poems. On the Sacrament.

Is This What You Want, Baby?

Yesterday, we returned to New Orleans because we wanted to cook a roast leg of lamb for Easter dinner. Since the Winn-Dixie Supermarket closed down, we no longer have a place to buy good meat here in town.

We went to the Whole Foods Market in New Orleans and spent a whole lot of money on meat and imported and exotic stuff which we can't buy here. The butcher at the counter where we bought our meat was a not-young black man, who lost three houses in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, his own house and two rental houses. He is fixing his house and going back there to live. He said, "Ive lived there 40 years." What courage.

All the while we were talking, he was calling me "Baby". "Yes, Baby. Is this what you want, Baby?" I thought to myself, "Where else but in New Orleans will you find a perfect stranger of a man who calls you "Baby" and means nothing familiar or disrespectful by it"? It's a great place full of great and courageous people, and I am proud that it is my home town.

The Temptation Of God

Tobias Haller at In A Godward Direction preached this sermon on Palm Sunday. The title is "The Temptation Of God". Tobias' sermons are lovely and quite accessible. I recommend that you read the whole sermon, but I especially liked his final words, which suggest a way forward for the time that remains in Holy Week.

Our yearly company with Jesus in his Passion has begun, as we set our feet upon the path of Holy Week once more. Let us then with courage set our faces towards Jerusalem and resist the temptations we face in our lives in the knowledge of his faith, his remembrance of us, who did not save himself, but gave himself that we might be saved. +

PALM SUNDAY - 2007

Palmesel means palm donkey in German, but most often refers to a statue of Christ on a donkey. These statues were mounted on a wheeled platform and used in Palm Sunday processions.

The Cloisters - A Medieval Art Museum in Fort Tyron Park, New York City


I note that in the statue illustrated above, Jesus appears to have a receding hairline. Take heart all you guys who have less than a full, luxuriant growth of hair on your heads. Perhaps Jesus was one of you.

Sunday I missed going to church because I took the Katrina disaster tour, with Scout of First Draft as the tour guide. She knows her way around New Orleans, especially the devastated areas, like a native, although she lives in Wisconsin. It was a strange, but perhaps appropriate initiation into Holy Week.

So far, I have not yet adjusted to the compression of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday into one Sunday. With this arrangement, we move from Jesus riding triumphant - albeit on a donkey, a lowly animal compared to a horse - with the crowds shouting "Hosanna in the highest!" and waving palm branches to an abrupt thrust into the Passion story and Holy Week.

I've just finished reading the Passion of Our Lord from Matthew's Gospel. Often when I'm reading something familiar, certain words will leap out to grab my attention, words that I have taken little note of in previous readings. Today the words were from Matthew 26:56, "Then all the disciples deserted him and fled."

How many times have I deserted Jesus and fled from him? More often than I'd like, I'm ashamed to say. Perhaps that's fertile ground for meditation during this Holy Week.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS? - PART 2

First Draft Krewe Before

It's truly difficult for me to write about my weekend, because New Orleans is my city and will always be my city, although I have not lived there for nearly 50 years. It's my home. I have lived in my town for 37 years, and it's a good town. My children grew up here, and it was a fine place to raise a family.

The New Orleans which I loved the most did not exist even before Katrina. The NOLA which I grew up in and lived in fof the first 24 years of my life is the city that I loved the most. Over those 24 years, it seemed to change very little, but during the years that I lived away, it changed greatly, unfortunately not always for the better. But it was still there, and I continued faithful to my love who had gone somewhat bad. We visited and enjoyed the goodness which remained.

I had already met Scout on one of her previous trips to New Orleans, but it was great to meet Athenae and Mr. A., Ray in New Orleans, Sinfonian, Cynthia, Mike Danablog, Cheri and Harry (archeop), and Spork. I will forever picture Spork with three heavy cameras hanging around this neck as we took the tour of the devastated areas. You can see some of his terrific pictures at his blog.

Gutting a house is hard work. The house we worked on was on 1773 Sere St next to the London Avenue Canal, which breached about a mile away from the house and flooded a wide area. I will read about those who volunteer to help gut a house with great respect in the future, especially those who work in the heat of July and August. The suits are hot, the respirator is a scary-looking thing which I was not sure I would be able to wear since I have claustrophobia, but it was OK once I got it on. Wearing the hooded suit, the respirator, the goggles, and two sets of gloves - work gloves over rubber gloves - you sweat before you even start to work. Many of the other - ahem - much younger folks did heavier work than I did for a longer time, but I did my little bit for the cause, sweeping debris that fell when the walls were knocked down into a pile, shoveling it into wheel barrows, and picking up boards with nails in them so no one would step on them. The others worked with crowbars and hammers. Some of us found a certain satisfaction in knocking out sheetrock as you can see from Athenae's post.

Inside the house it was dusty and dark; our goggles fogged up and we were drenched in seconds, but it was satisfying, in a situation in which you feel there's so little you can do, to slam a crowbar into some drywall. And that's for the convention center, and that's for fucking Geraldo having smarts our government didn't have and that's for every right-wing nutball who said people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and that's for everybody who ever told me America was a Christian nation. That's for Gentilly and that's for St. Bernard and that's for New Orleans and that's for my country, you fucking fucks, as Ashley would say. [Sadly, Ashley Morris, who blogged brilliantly and prolifically about New Orleans, died unexpectedly on April 2, 2008.]

The retired couple who lived next door appreciated what we did. They are well along in fixing their house but still have their FEMA trailer parked in front. They very kindly allowed us to use the bathroom in the trailer as we worked. Later, the gentleman bought us two cartons of fried chicken wings, which quickly disappeared as we devoured them.

We had a great crew of college students from Elon University working with us as part of a requirement for a class. Good for their teacher for having them do this. I'm sure they learned a great deal from this time out of the classroom.

On Sunday, we took a tour through the devastated areas, some of which I had not seen yet. My husband and I had gone twice before to view the ruins, but at some point I had to ask him to stop before we saw certain areas, because I just could not take any more, but yesterday I saw parts of the city that I had not seen before. Block after block of wasteland, with the only visible progress being the removal of the huge piles of trash and vacant lots where houses had been bulldozed. Occasionally, in the midst of the wasteland, we'd see one house fixed and inhabited. I wondered how the folks could live there alone, surrounded by vacant lots and ruined houses.

We saw the breaches in the levee, which had been repaired, but adjacent to the repaired and reinforced areas were the same old levees that failed after Katrina. No one in the area believes that the US Corps of Engineers has fixed much of anything. The same disaster could repeat itself once again.

Remember that it was not Katrina that caused the major disaster in New Orleans. The city came through the storm pretty well, but the subsequent failures of the levees, built by the same US Corps of Engineers, caused the city to go under water.

Enough for now. I'll probably write more later.

First Draft Krewe After

UPDATE: Many thanks to lb1303 and Dangerblond for their wonderful New Orleans-style hospitality in opening their homes to us, and thanks to all who contributed the delicious food for the gatherings.

UPDATE 2: If you'd like to read an account of a New Orleans all-nighter, go read Mike Danablog at Detached Retina. Keep in mind that the all-nighter came after a hard day's work of house-gutting.

UPDATE 3: A happy ending: Sinfonian, a member of the group who worked with us, returned to 1773 Sere St, which we thought was a lost cause and likely to be demolished.  Pictured below is the termite- and roach-infested kitchen as it looks today.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the beautiful new kitchen in the picture.  A young family purchased the house and lives there now.

  Below is a photo of the exterior of the restored house from Google Maps.

Do You Know What It Means?

Later, perhaps tomorrow, I'll write my impression of my trip to New Orleans with Scout Prime and Athenae from the blog First Draft and the other folks in our group. Meanwhile you might want to check out Athenae's post, We Are Marshall, at FD. I'm a little daunted to attempt to give my account, because she and Scout write so well.

If you are absolutely holding your breath, near to dying, to see a picture of me and Grandpère you can look at this post at First Draft and see if you can guess which of those lovely people we are. I warn you; it's going to be quite a challenge to pick us out.

JOHN DONNE- Priest, Poet, and Preacher

Today [Tomorrow] is the feast day of John Donne.

From the Lectionary:

"All mankind is one volume. When one man dies, one chapter is torn out of the book and translated into a better language. And every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators. Some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice. But God's hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to another."

In light of the previous discussion here about the Alpha Series and in light of the fact that I am a retired librarian, you can guess that these words of Donne speak to my heart.

I like this from James Kiefer:

...he saw in his wife Anne (as Dante had earlier seen in Beatrice) a glimpse of the glory of God, and in human love a revelation of the nature of Divine Love. His poetry, mostly written before his ordination, includes poems both sacred and secular, full of wit, puns, paradoxes, and obscure allusions at whose meanings we can sometimes only guess, presenting amorous experience in religious terms and devotional experience in erotic terms, so that I have seen one poem of his both in a manual of devotion and in a pornography collection.

Reminds me of "Song of Songs".

Of course, I can't leave off without this quote from Donne, which is also pertinant to the Alpha discussion:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promentory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death dimishes me because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

The entire "Meditation 17" which includes the above quote is well worth reading at the Lectionary site. In the Bible readings appointed for the day, I find, once again, the beautiful words from the "Book of Wisdom":

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

What a feast of words for the feast of the day!

PRAYER:

Almighty God, the root and fountain of all being: Open our eyes to see, with your servant John Donne, that whatever has any being is a mirror in which we may behold you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

UPDATE: Julie+ in the comments tells me that I have jumped a week ahead in the celebration of John Donne's feast day. She is absolutely correct.

But I needed John Donne today, and God knew that. "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8

What are calendars to the Spirit?

And didn't I ever get the jump on everyone? Ha!

UPDATE 2: I leave you with John Donne once again on the day before the proper day of his feast, as I head off for New Orleans. Au revoir.

Alpha Series - Part 5

Last night, the topic of the Alpha video was "Why and How Should I Tell Others About Jesus?" I liked this video better than some of the others, and, this time, I did not leave feeling grumpy.

With the previous videos, I sat there listening to this gentle man talking about giving one's life to Jesus and just feeling put off by the whole experience. The others in the group seemed to like it, and Nicky Gumble said many things that were right, therefore I felt guilty about my antagonism, which, in turn, left me feeling angry and diminished in my sense of myself.

The video we saw Thursday did not have that effect. Nicky said a few silly things like giving the exact number of how many thousands of times the word "go" appeard in the Old and New Testaments, as he was talking about the Great Commission to go out and preach the Gospel. The video did not include quite so many camera shots of rapt listeners to coach us on how to react. Yes, I'm cynical.

Nicky told funny stories about his clumsiness in sharing his faith in his initial fervor, wanting everyone to know Jesus, once he gave himself to Jesus. He cautioned strongly against putting pressure on people and advised persuasion instead.

One of the difficulties that I have with Alpha may be that I grew up in the Christian faith and never had what I could call a "Come to Jesus" moment. Over the years, the fervor of my faith has waxed and waned, and my faith trajectory has not always been onward and upward to a closer relationship with God. Mine has been more like hills and valleys. I do realize that folks can't come to faith without hearing the Gospel, and I sometimes feel that I'm not really doing my part in fulfilling the Great Commission.

The discussion afterward was lively and interesting. Why was Alpha better for me tonight? I don't know really. Maybe I was different. I can't say that it's something I would want to repeat, but I'm pleased that the final experience was more positive than the others.

Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

Psalm 95:1-5

From the Lectionary.

Thanks be to God for a good report from my doctor on my mammogram yesterday. It's been 21 years since my encounter with the big C, but I still get quite anxious each year when I have to be tested.