Welcome to Holy Textures

Holy Textures is a spot for my musings on the various Biblical texts that come our way through the Revised Common Lectionary.

My goal is to provide timely, short, easy to use and thought-provoking background commentary for your sermon or bible study preparation.

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Year C - Season of Lent and Holy Week - 2013

The 40 days of Lent actually do NOT include the Sundays. So the Sundays are referred to as being "in" Lent. For example, "Lent 2," means, "The second Sunday in Lent."

This means the Sundays are always a mini-celebration of the resurrection - even in Lent. So, while we are preparing ourselves for the walk to Jerusalem and all that will happen during Holy Week, there is no need to pretend that we don't know about, and are not already celebrating, Jesus' resurrection.

I've had the time to give a close reading of the Holy Week texts and background information. I come away even more amazed at the courage of Jesus to voluntarily face the torture and humiliation of Roman execution on a cross, in order to remain faithful to God's calling - God's purpose - for him: To proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

As usual with the Season of Lent, we get to spend time with the Gospel of John.

I like to think of John as like a good day at the spa: Soaking in the swirling eddies and quiet back pools of his repetitive, non-sequitor, images and stories.

John wants us to really SEE the life that is Jesus.

What could be more refreshing than that?

Ash Wednesday
February 13, 2013
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21  
"Lent: The restraint that frees. Three practices to refresh our relationship with God: Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting."
Sermon: "."

Lent 1
February 17, 2013
Luke 4:1-13  
"If Jesus were to turn stones into bread, instead of confirming his status as God's Son, it would confirm the validity of the testing; the correctness of asking, 'IF you are...?'  Turning stones into bread makes real the niggling possibility: 'Maybe I'm not?'"
Sermon: "Times of Testing."

Lent 2
February 24, 2013
Luke 13:31-35, Alternate Reading A
"The Pharisees warning that Herod wants to kill Jesus is like one of the tests we read about last week, Luke 4:1-13. Except instead of being tested with glory the test is fear. But the Pharisees are still encouraging Jesus to abandon his mission and save himself."
Sermon: "You Have to Sing the Blues to Feel the Joy."
Luke 9:28-36, Alternate Reading B
"The Transfiguration is an apt Preface to Lent and Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, because what lies ahead is both a confrontation between the non-violent justice of the Kingdom of God and the violent injustice of the Roman Empire; as well as the non-violent way of the Beloved versus the hoped-for victory by the Messiah. The crowds at Jerusalem will be cheering for "the one who is bringing the Kingdom of our ancestor David." This is not the same as welcoming God's Beloved. I wonder how much in our hearts, we are still cheering for Jesus as the triumphant Victor?"
Sermon: "Fresh Visions."

Lent 3
March 3, 2013
Luke 13:1-9 
"In other words - what Jesus is meaning to say:
   In this life, undeserved bad things will happen to good people; and,
   in the life to come, deserved bad things will happen to bad people
   who don't repent now."  
Sermon: "Feeding Our Spiritual Life."

Lent 4
March 10, 2013
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32    
"It is this last act of squandering the property so that foreigners come to own it that transforms the story from one of merely individual reckless behaviour to a story that individual reckless behaviour endangers the whole community." 
Sermon: "."

Lent 5
March 17, 2013
John 12:1-8    
"In this passage, John has Mary portray the shocking intimacy of loyalty, trust, and bonding with Jesus that over-rides cultural norms; and contrasts that with the disloyalty and dishonesty of Judas." 
Sermon: "Misdirecting the Issue."

Lent 6
March 24, 2013
Liturgy of the Palms:
Luke 19:28-40  
"What the authors of the Bible take for granted and fail to mention is that while Jesus is parading in on a colt through one of the back gates, on the other side of the city Pilate is parading in on a war horse accompanied by a squadron or two of battle hardened Roman soldiers."
Sermon: "Parades and Crosses." 
Liturgy of the Passion:
Luke 22:14 -- 23:56, Alternate Reading A.
Luke 23:1-49, Alternate Reading B.
"Brutal execution by stripping naked, whipping, and nailing to a cross was carefully crafted by the Romans to inflict the maximum amount of pain and degradation because they wanted to kill not only the individual but also any followers. That is to say, by demonstrating their iron-fisted authority over Jesus, the Romans hoped to kill any aspirations in any of his followers to 'take up their cross and follow.'" 
Sermon "."

Holy Week

Holy Monday
John 12:1-11
"Lazarus' presence with Jesus fills the room with the unfinished sentence: Just as Lazarus, the one whom Jesus loves, has been raised from the dead by Jesus, so will Jesus, the one whom God loves, be ... . Just how this sentence will be finished is exactly the fear - and the hope - that is in everyone's hearts."

Holy Wednesday
John 13:21-32
"But that they don't understand when Jesus gives the dipped crust of bread to Judas and then says, 'Do quickly what you are going to do,' simply reveals that unlike Jesus they are not able to 'read the signs.'"

Holy Maundy Thursday
March 28, 2013
John 13:1-17, 31b-35    
"Fortunately, this passage actually has TWO new commandments: 1) Love one another as I have loved you. And, 2) Forgive one another as I have forgiven you. Christ-like-love is the goal. Forgiveness is the salve that heals brokenness and makes love possible once again." 
Sermon: "."

Good Friday
March 29, 2013
John 18:1 -- 19:42    
"To outsiders, a battered and broken Jesus could no longer hold his head up and died in humiliation and defeat. But to those who believe into him, a true Son of God has completed his great work, and with a royal nod (and maybe a mischievous wink?) has passed on his Spirit so that we too might have life - the life that was in Jesus." 
Sermon: "."

Holy Saturday
March 30, 2013
Matthew 27:57-66, Alternate Reading A.   
"And just in case we might think that later events were a hoax, Matthew relates that the Jerusalem authorities take steps to guard the tomb." 
Sermon: "." 
John 19:38-42, Alternate Reading B.
"The crucial piece of background information is the belief that the flesh contained a person's evil deeds. And the year-long rotting of the flesh was a purging of these deeds, leaving the bones (which contained the personality of the person) ready to receive the new body fashioned by God at the resurrection. But the resurrection of Jesus on the third day will interrupt this process before it starts." 
Sermon "."