• J.S. Bach – Prelude & Fugue in G Major [BWV 541]

• Maurice Ravel – III. Passacaille (from the Piano Trio) transcribed for organ by Michael Hey

• Max Reger – Choral Fantasy on Hallelujah! Gott zu loben bleibe meine Seelenfreud! Op. 52, No. 3

• Olivier Messiaen – from L’Ascension:

II. Alleluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel (Serene alleluias of a soul that longs for heaven)

III. Transports de joie d’une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienna (Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ, which is its own glory)

• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck – Variations on More Palatino

• Charles Ives – Variations on America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)

Join us!!

• S A T U R D A Y,  M A Y 1 9 ^th

• 4 : 0 0 PM

• S T.  P A U L ’ S   E P I S C O P A L     C H U R C H

9 1 4     E A S T     K N A P P     S T R E E T  •  M I L W A U K E E

• F R E E W I L L     O F F E R I N G

• R E C E P T I O N     T O     F O L L O W

What loss has left you with chronic heartache – you know the kind of heartache you feel when you wake up each morning? Separation and loss are devastatingly painful. Jesus says he’s a shepherd who’ll lose his life for his sheep, before he’ll lose them. Of course, he’s not just speaking of sheep. He’s speaking of us, who know life’s value, love’s depth, and the pain and cost of loss.

Once I lost a special ring, given to celebrate completion of my Anglican studies. The ring was a sign of beginning a new life chapter – ordination as a priest, and the affection of the giver, as well as a continuing reminder of the Good Shepherd I am trying to follow. So when I couldn’t find it where I normally place it, I panicked. In childhood we hear stories Jesus tells of lost people getting found, having faith enough to move mountains. If you ask with the right words, and rub the faith genie, you get your wish – right? I long ago outgrew thinking God is in the business of retrieving lost objects, or finding parking spots. I asked anyway. I could be wrong. In case I was right, I retraced my steps, and searched the floor again around my desk. Could it have fallen off my finger when I was taking out garbage? Days pass – no ring, and continuing heartache. Should I just confess – say I’d lost it and let’s order another one; or just keep waiting, hoping it would turn up before I got caught not wearing it? One Sunday morning I put on a suit I had not worn for a couple of weeks. In a pocket, my fingers touched — my lost ring. I felt a weight lift from my heart. A grin filled my face. We know that moment of joy when what was lost is found. Multiply that feeling exponentially. That doesn’t come even close to God’s love and desire for us, willing to lose life to let us know.

A couple of differences with my loss and Jesus’: the ring means a lot, but I wouldn’t die for it. Secondly, the Good Shepherd doesn’t lose the sheep. He’ll die to keep them safe, unlike a hireling who draws a salary, concerned with supporting a family and a pension plan – which are very crucial and important. For the hireling, though, his safety and the loss of a paycheck far outweigh the sheep. The Good Shepherd knows all the sheep by name – cares and loves each one. They know him – and he loves all as none other does. He doesn’t ask us to believe something, say the right things, just listen and follow, even calling those who have been excluded from other sheepfolds.

Is there anything or anyone you’d give your life for – to protect and save their life? We’ll give blood, bone marrow, a kidney, a savings account – but would we die? Some people aren’t as smart as sheep. Real sheep know their real shepherd’s voice and come when called. They recognize love and care.

Do you realize you are valuable enough – so loved, to be died for? Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and if you can’t understand it – just trust it. Even with Jesus we can get lost, wander and stray, look like a buffet for wolves and sharks, and predators who’ll eat us alive, or take us to the cleaners with no hesitation. Yet we have a shepherd who won’t let us finally be lost. He comes and finds us, never to send us out of his flock. And when his sheep thought they are dead in the water – the shepherd’s life is lost, they find a new reality.

He lays down his life because he loves as some think he shouldn’t. He’s been gathering as friends those outside the certified flock. He eats with outcasts – laughs with sinners, takes in tax collectors, women, touches lepers, and those unclean with social disease. In Jesus the kingdom is coming to all – especially those who have been locked out from God. He gathers all into the Father’s embrace of love and grace who are willing to be so loved and embraced. He is the Shepherd who brings everyone home, even those who think they’re not his kind. He dies for enemies – his and ours; for those we hate, exclude, and can’t seem to forgive. So how can we continue hating and excluding?

People today hunger for authentic community. Their spiritual journeys are different than ours, – or even nonexistent,  and we need to listen, to learn, hear them and help them learn how much the Good Shepherd cares for us all, even those outside the flock. The Good Shepherd teaches us to be humble, and realize we don’t have all the answers. So we create a safe place where people can be known and loved – where we share our deepest concerns and pray for each other. We are a flock, under the Good Shepherd, open to learning, trustworthy, loving unconditionally, forgiving without end, and realizing our enemies may have something to teach us. People long for such a safe, loving community.

Listening for and follow the Good Shepherd’s voice is hard. He calls us out of our comfort zones. We panic and fear. That’s a scary place. Always know we have a companion – a Shepherd who knows and loves us anyway, and willingly dies to let us know. We are such a community, church for others – not because we are so nice, but as we hear and heed the Good Shepherd.

We are a church trying to point to the Good Shepherd – help people hear a voice. They’ve heard enough fear, hatred and shame. They need a different voice, of love – the Good Shepherd’s. And the more we know our Shepherd’s voice, maybe through us they’ll catch a voice unlike they’ve never heard – not ours, but his, and they too will know, we can lose – we can lose what we love most, but not forever – we won’t be lost – the Shepherd dies and then lives to let us know.

Good Friday, April 6, Noon and 7:00 p.m. – Good Friday Liturgy (Communion from Reserved Sacrament)

Easter Sunday, April 8, – 8:00 a.m. Service (Holy Eucharist, Rite II) in the Morning Chapel, 9:00 a.m Easter Breakfast in the Great Hall, and 10:15 a.m. Service (Festival Holy Eucharist, Rite II) with Children’s Procession and Flowering of the Cross.

Pressing Palms and Passion into one liturgy is enough to give a Christian vertigo on a Sunday like this. As my mother-in-law says, “We’re trying to pour ten pounds of sugar into a five pound bag.” Why do we wave palms, hear the crucifixion story, and leave in abject silence on this day – as if we don’t how the story ends? Can’t we do one or the other?Some find all this is too mournful and sad. Faith should be comforting and uplifting. Palm waving and triumph are more like it. Jesus’ death is too cruel and violent. So, many will wait out Holy Week for Easter.

Some believe the cross is how Jesus makes a blood offering to satisfy God who then forgives our sin. If we believe this, we get to heaven.

Sorry – it’s not about us or what we believe. It’s about God – God’s revelation of divine love. To know that divine love fully, we first must experience the entire story, so we can know how to believe – but even more how to trust so our belief makes sense. Honestly, it’s a strange story because we don’t think this way. Cross a line, step on toes – the first response is to get even. But in this story, we see that nothing we can do will stop God’s love and mercy for given everyone.

The cross exposes our evil, ignorance, cruelty, injustice and wickedness that lurks within and can break loose not just against one another, but even Jesus. Only those who will let this story pour over, knock them down, take our breath away, can come to feel gratitude, sorrow, self-remorse and love, and see the enormity of God’s love and forgiveness. At the cross God lets us see our worst.

But again, it’s not about us. It’s God’s next move we need to see – God’s everlasting love shining over our sin and failure, saving us from ourselves for Him, because that’s what we most need. That’s the true triumph of this day – God’s.

Why do you think people come to church these days? Years ago parents and kids attended regularly. Good church habits were formed, even if some feared church attendance and getting to heaven have a positive correlation. Today researchers say people come to church wanting a place and community to belong, where they know you and love you, and where you find a purpose by working to make this world a better place. People come and join here for many reasons: the church is beautiful; God speaks to them in this room; the music is uplifting; the sermon is reasonably short; and some wonder if an inner emptiness is a longing for God. I hope people find that God so loves them and the whole world, in our words, lives and worship, regardless why they come here.

Some years ago a fellow appeared at televised professional sports events, dancing wildly in front of TV cameras. One day, while watching a TV evangelist, he says he was “born again.” Then he held up a sign for the cameras with words Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, John 3:16. I’m not sure about his motive, if he understood the verses’ meaning, or if anyone knew it’s a Bible verse, but he did get “John 3:16” onto national TV.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that to see God’s kingdom takes another birth – from above. Nicodemus doesn’t get it either. So Jesus borrows an image from Numbers. God’s beloved, chosen – forgetting all God did for them, complain against Moses and God, “The food service stinks and we don’t have enough water.” God allows poisonous serpents to bite and kill the whiners. Quickly, they get religion, confess their sin, and beg Moses to ask God to call off the snakes. God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and hoist it up on a pole for all to see as a remedy against certain death.

Does God act in such ways? The writer of Numbers wants us to think so. Maybe poisonous serpents are more like inner demons that bite and kill the spirit. People grow depressed, feel unworthy, discontented, so angry all they see is their misery – and get so inwardly focused they can’t see anyone else may suffer, too. They become blind to God’s blessings, healing, salvation and providence. They gripe, yet cannot find words of gratitude. As for the Hebrews, God provides a remedy. Jesus says God heals and saves by lifting him up, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Whoever will look and believe will be drawn out of darkness into God’s new way of life for the world – eternal life.” God comes not to condemn. God so loves everyone. That love is our life. Filled with divine love from above, we are drawn into God’s reign.

Some people treat John 3:16 as a litmus test for salvation: believe or perish. Just say you believe. Many a person has checked the box, signed the card, prayed the prayer, or said, “Yes, I believe,” thinking that’s it – “I’m in the kingdom now.” But that’s not “it” exactly. They even join a church – but that no more makes someone a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car. When we truly believe in Jesus, we stake our lives on him, trusting God heals us by loving us. We look up and see in a strange sign – a cross of death, how God so loves us – not removing death and darkness, but through death and darkness into light and new life.

But does God condemn those who refuse? John thinks so – but keep in mind, wrath is not the opposite of love. In God’s hands wrath leads to love and healing. God loves us so much as to hate how people ignore the needy; oppress others; wage violence and war; try to play God for others; act ungrateful and mean-spirited. We live in darkness, the opposite of divine love, not by God’s choice.

We cannot create our healing or love ourselves out of death and darkness. It comes from above. Funny how people trying to discover their true selves fail to face and notice their inner darkness. Only by confronting our inner darkness do we find God’s light, life and loved waiting to heal our inner wounds.

We need to discover that sense of true self each day – we are beloved of God. We don’t just say we believe it in our heads. We believe and trust that God is love that we so act with that God, bearing divine light and love to others. Jesus never said believe four spiritual laws, or affirm a verse of scripture and be saved. Belief is not the mastery of faith. Belief is the evidence God’s love masters us.

Back to the “born again,” evangelist of John 3:16. Some years ago he believed the Rapture was coming and the world would end. So he plasters John 3:16 placards all over his hotel room windows. But in the process he kidnaps three people. He’s now serving three consecutive life sentences in prison. “For God so loved the world” God doesn’t reject anyone of us – even misguided zealots who don’t really get how God so loves – or even us when we don’t fully understand either and miss the mark. God’s reign arrives when we live we believe.

So try to love this world and one another as God so loves – that’s kingdom life. Doesn’t look at all like the world. Look up and see Jesus: bearing God’s gift of everlasting love, and be healed.

Come on already – give us a break! It’s Lent. We slog around in regret and guilt, confessing sins known and unknown, and we still are going to die. If that’s not enough, add in the Ten Commandments to see how you’re doing. Paul says the law’s purpose is to remind us we sin, in case we forget.

Visit an east coast pre-Revolutionary Episcopal Church. You’ll likely see the Ten Commandments on the wall behind the altar. Parishioners saw them, learned them, obeyed them – for each Sunday they read them aloud at church and the priest admonished the parish to obey them. And then travel west into the boonies of eastern Kentucky. You’ll see the Commandments on sides of buildings, barns, in front yards, and even at Court Houses. Public displays tell heathen and liberals around who’s in charge here. It’s a lot easier to post them, than keep them.

Last week I read about a British evangelical preacher, “J. John.” He’s changed the negative “Thou shalt not’s” because, he says, modern people prefer their rules to be stated in positive ways. “Thou shalt not steal” becomes “prosper with a clear conscience.” “Thou shalt not covet” becomes “find contentment.” And “affair-proof your relationship” will prevent adultery. Not quite the way God sent them, but maybe that will work.

Shortly after God gets the Hebrews freed from Egypt’s Pharaoh, God becomes Writer in Residence on Mt. Sinai. God writes out Ten Commandments, a covenant patterned on laws of the time. The covenant is not “I did this for you. Since I did, here’s what you do for me, or I’ll smite you.” God’s offer is: “I freed you because I love you. To stay free, follow my directions.” Captives in all times set free, soon will look for a new Pharaoh, which is exactly what these freed slaves do when Moses goes off with God. They make an idol, and start holding worship services. Short-term memory fails. God who just set them free – finds He’s been traded in for a cow.

Think of the Commandments as God’s pledge of fidelity and unconditional love to all humankind. God first loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. Salvation does not depend on our ability and success at obeying rules. Salvation is God’s gift feely offered to all before we even have a chance to mess up. God hopes our response[i] will be at least to try and obey out of love and gratitude. The commands are a blueprint for living a life pleasing to God, if we choose. Even when we read passages about God we find offensive and cannot explain, always remember God’s steadfast love far exceeds God’s judgment and wrath.[ii] As a friend used to say, “We can become so hardheaded God needs a two-by-four to get our attention.” God’s gifts of love and grace to us are no use if we refuse them and live as we well please. And God does care that we won’t, for we’re likely to get into trouble.

God’s commandments come in two parts: the first four define a proper relationship with the God of the Exodus. The second part defines holy behaviors – how love of God shapes our relationship with others.

Most think keeping the first four is pretty easy. We love God. We think about God sometimes. We come to church – God’s number one with us, right? We worship, pray, study scripture, serve others to grow in our love to God. And we don’t worship idols or other gods, like the ancients.  We worship God alone, right? – except for maybe wealth, or nation, possessions, staying angry when we need to forgive – some even make an idol of self – “do what I want; find myself; discover myself.” Today’s idols are on TV, in movies, play sports. We likely spend more time worshiping modern gods – that are interesting and more exciting than the God of Exodus, the prophets and Jesus. If we get these four right – the other six will fall into place. Jesus boils it down to love God seriously so we can love one another fully – even those who annoy us.

Loving God and loving others won’t guarantee us success or prosperity. Jesus perfected love of God and others. For his efforts he suffered and died on a cross. Loving God doesn’t guarantee life will always be smooth. Sometimes we must exercise the will and stay loyal to God even when we do not understand what’s going on; stay close even when God seems absent. All along God’s love comes first. We trust that love. We celebrate God’s love and love God in return in words, behaviors, and actions to others. God shapes us into being a light unto the world, inviting others home to God, too. Will they see enough to be attracted home?

Remember who you are – you are the beloved of God. Love God by helping others learn they are God’s beloved, too, and see that love in you. We are here to be sent out and love this world for God’s sake. Do you wonder why Jesus reduced all these rules to just two? Start by reflecting on your relationship with God. No, no – that’s not right. Instead, start by reflecting on God’s relationship with you.

[ii] W. Sibley Towner, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008; pg. 77.