Sermon

St. Mary Nanoose Bay

April 5, 2020 – Palm & Passion Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11 & Matthew 26:14-27:66                

Dear Friends! How good it is to be with you this morning. I am imagining that I am looking out at you in the pews and you are all smiling back at me. It feels like so long since I’ve seen your faces! My dear friends - Good morning!! Good morning!!            

Can you remember processing over here from the Hall where we stood in a large circle hearing the part of the gospel read where Jesus is riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and shouting “Hosanna, hosanna!”? And then, was it Camyl, who led us singing from the hall to the church waving palm fronds and holding up our palm crosses? Weren’t the birds singing with us? And the magnolias, my, aren’t they stunning this time of year?            

And here we are, together, in our beautiful little church. The sun is streaming through the gorgeous stained glass windows, and Margaret has just been playing for us music to stir our souls. Aren’t we blessed to have this lovely space to gather in? Look around at the people sitting near you – aren’t we blessed to have friends to gather with? Loving God, you bless us in so many ways!            

Dear friends, now the tone of our gathering will change as we switch from celebration to sorrow, really to horror. We will hear the story of Jesus’ betrayal, trial and execution. This is in sharp contrast to the story we just heard in the Hall. How can this be? How can people turn on a dime and change their tune? How can both stories be true?!            

Peter tries to bridge the two by telling Jesus, “I will never desert you.” He is saying, ‘through thick and thin, I will remain the same. I love you, and will not abandon you, regardless of what happens.’ And he means it, I don’t think we need doubt that.            

We have to remember that Peter, like all the others, is involved in a drama to which he doesn’t know the end. He is doing his best from moment to moment. He has shared the bread and wine with Jesus and heard Jesus’ words and felt sure he could never betray the man he loves so much. He assures Jesus of his loyalty and the response is a rebuke!? He has followed Jesus to Gesthemene, unclear as to what will happen. He has tried to stay awake with Jesus as he prays but it’s been an exhausting few days and he just can’t keep his eyes open. And suddenly, the soldiers have come to arrest Jesus, there is moment of violence. Surely this can’t be happening?!            

We’re all like Peter, trying to follow Jesus, striving to do God’s will, listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We’re doing our best. We’ve chosen our Lenten practice, we’ve doing the “right thing” as we understand it, and suddenly, we don’t know what’s going on. Our lives have been turned upside down. We can no longer gather as we have done every Sunday for years and years. The world has changed in what seems like an instant. A month ago, we were singing in church, celebrating the Eucharist, listening to each other read and pray, passing the sign of peace and enjoying coffee and goodies in the Hall afterwards. This is how we expected our Lenten season to continue! Sitting at home this Sunday morning is not how we expected to celebrate Palm/Passion Sunday!!            

We are like Peter and the other disciples of Christ. They had an expectation of how life with Jesus would unfold. They had committed themselves to the idea of living and traveling with their teacher; it wasn’t always easy, but they had committed themselves to be in his inner circle; there were benefits, for sure. And they imagined this new movement, would only get bigger and better.            

This is a good experience for us. To be living with the unknown. To be thrown off our balance. Because we need to know, down to the core of our beings, that it is not us - it is not our expectations - that give us life and meaning. It is the changeless nature of our God; whose nature is to love. We are powerless to change God’s mind. What will be, will be. And all our efforts to be as consistent in our loyalty and faithfulness will be challenged. And that’s OK! We’re not the constant ones; we’re going to falter, we’re going to suddenly fear for our own lives and do something selfish, or inconsistent, or unpredictable. And that’s OK.            

What would not be OK, is if our God’s nature was as fickle as ours. Now that would be terrifying!            

St. Teresa of Avila tells us how to align with that mind of God, that nature of Christ –

                                          “Let nothing upset you                                                

                                           Let nothing startle you                                                

                                           All things pass                                                

                                           God does not change.                                                

                                           Patience wins all it seeks.                                                

                                           Whoever has God lacks nothing.                                                

                                           God alone is enough.              

That is our work – to learn to trust God’s love and God’s work in the world when our lives have been turned upside down. When we can’t do what we usually do. When we can’t worship like we usually do.            

So this is an especially unique Lent. Perhaps this enables us to read today’s scripture passages and imagine more fully how it was for those disciples back then, or even the bystanders – caught up in the emotion of the moment, uncertain as to what’s happening, why it’s happening, and how it will all turn out. Perhaps you’d be the one with the positive attitude – “It’ll all come right,” or maybe you’d be more cautious, hanging back, “I don’t know, let’s see what happens,” or even more fearful, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”    

Friends, the point is, that we don’t know how this time of Covid-19 will proceed and unfold, for us personally and for our families; for us as the community of St. Mary’s and for us, the Diocese of BC; for us as Canadians and for us as the world.            

Clearly, we won’t be stunned with a development such as the one the disciples and followers could never have anticipated – the brutal death of the One who they loved and followed and who was the source of their hope and dreams.            

No, we are blessed to be living on the other side of history. And we know, amazingly, that Jesus’ death was not the end; but the beginning of something that has changed our lives and the world, and that is the reason we gather this morning in our homes reaching out through space to form community and remember – our God is changeless. “The cross is the sign of the transcendent freedom of the love of God.” (Rowan Williams) No matter what we do, God is with us, and loves us. We cannot change God’s mind.            

I’m not saying it doesn’t matter what we do to one another, or how we behave, or how we treat God’s creations. Of course it matters. We want to be God’s co-creators in expressing and sharing the love that makes the world go round.            

But we also need to remember “God survives our sin, our failure, and is capable of remaking the relationships that we break again and again and again.” (Rowan Williams)            

So as we approach Easter, in a way we never have before, let us remember this - difficult things happen, God holds us through all the dark moments and times of doubt and fear, and God’s relentless love for us is our anchor and saving grace.            

Let us walk through Holy Week, hopefully more aware than usual, of our dependence on God to lead us where we are not at all sure where we are going – but secure in the knowledge that the future is Love, a love that transforms us and the world.            

Dear friends, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.            

God bless you.