The Rev Speaks

There are those who struggle with this statement. They have a hard time
believing Jesus physically rose from the dead. It is hard to believe what
was written for several reasons. First of all the four Gospels do not
agree with each other about some of the details in the life of Jesus. Also
it is possible the Gospels were written some thirty to possibly fifty
years after the resurrection. There is very little historical evidence of
the resurrection. How can you believe the little evidence available?       

Ones belief is personal. We can share our faith with others but no
one can give another their faith to another. It must be discovered by each person.
I can share with you where I come from. First of all St. Paul tells the
Corinthians he is going to remind them of the basic facts of the Gospel.
What he shares about the resurrection and what our creeds state are the
basics. The four Gospels agree on these facts, all the rest are details.       

While the Gospels might have been written years after the resurrection, St
Paul is writing his Epistle less than three years after the event. It is still fresh.       

There are those who do not feel there is enough evidence to prove the
historical facts of the resurrection. The problem here is it is not about
how much historical evidence we have. No amount of historical evidence
can absolutely prove anything. There is no absolute evidence George       
Washington crossed the Delaware, or Napoleon lost at Waterloo. With the
abundance of historical evidence concerning the Holocaust, there are
millions of people today who do not believe it ever happened. History can
be written and rewritten many times       

What is it that we can believe in? Personally I agree with St Paul who
asks King Herod, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you,
that God should raise the dead? Acts 26:8. When we recite the Creed we
say we believe in God… the Almighty. Almighty means God can do
anything. Why would it seem incredible that the Almighty could raise Jesus?        

Let us walk the Way of the Cross.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. 

STATION I WASHING FEET JOHN 13:1-16 Basin towel
Let us pray: Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.           

STATION II GETHSEMENE PRAYER, LUKE 22:39-42 cup

Epistle 1 John 2:1If any one sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the perfectoffering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.

STATION III BETRAYAL BY JUDAS LUKE 22:47-49 Thirty pieces of silver.
Gospel John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his onlySon, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

STATION IV BEFORE THE HIGH PRIESTLUKE 22:66-71 High priest miter
Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

STATION V BEFORE PILATE LUKE 22:20-24 Cross
He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

STATION VI SIMON OF CYRENE LUKE 22:25-26 Simon figure carries the cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

STATION VII WOMEN WEEP LUKE 22:27-31 Green and dry tree branches
If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
if we endure, we shall also reign with him.

STATION VIII PARTING OF GARMENTS LUKE 23:33-38 Torn garments
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

STATION IX FATHER FORGIVE THEM LUKE 23:34 Drops of blood
O Savior of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast redeemed us:
Save us and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

STATION X TWO THIEVES LUKE 23:39-43 Three crosses
We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross joy has come to the whole world.

STATION XI JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS. LUKE 23:44-49 Darkness over all.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.                     

STATION XII THE BODY TAKEN DOWN LUKE 23:50-2 Oil flask for anointing.
Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.     

STATION XIII BURIAL LUKE 23;53-54 Tomb and rock
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.            

STATION XIV THE WOMEN WAIT. LUKE 23: 55-56 Sunset / sunrise

O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us thy peace.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; Therefore let us keep the feast.                          

THE VENERATION OF THE CROSS                 

STATION I WASHING FEET JOHN 13:1-16
I am Philip. Peter was supposed to wash our feet when we first came in the upper room. He told John to do it. Peter always treated us as below him. He thinks he is better than any of us. I think Judas would make a better leader than Peter. After all we trust him with the finances. John wouldnt wash our feet so Jesus had to do it before we ate the Passover meal.

STATION III BETRAYAL BY JUDAS LUKE 22:47-49
As Judas I am not betraying Jesus for money but for politics. If they arrest Him tonight they cant try him until tomorrow. They must have two meetings to condemn a person to death. Nothing is done on the Sabbath. During those next three days His followers will rise up against the leaders for what they have done. Romewill come in with their legions. God will not let His people be destroyed. The kingdom will be established and we will have everlasting Peace.

STATION IV BEFORE THE HIGH PRIEST LUKE 22:66-71
I am a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. I am one of those who convicted Him of blasphemy. We already convicted him before. We called the meeting tonight so we could go tomorrow before Pilate and the Sabbath eve. I will be on Golgatha to witness to His death. As soon as He is dead we need to get the body off the cross before sunset. It is the Law.

I am a wealthy person who paid for the stones outside of the Temple so I am guaranteed a seat inside ofit. He will be dead tomorrow before the Passover starts. It takes time to get ready for the service. I must put on my best garments. I want to look holy and humble when I come before God to tell Him the good news of what we have done tonight.

STATION VI SIMON OF CYRENE LUKE 22:25-26
I am Simon from Cyrene. I have seen these Roman crucifixions before but I never want to see another one again. The victim carries a cross beam to the Hill where the main beams are already planted in the ground. They nail His hands to the cross beam then secure it on the center post where they nail His feet to it. I still have His blood on my back where I carried that heavy cross beam.

STATION VII WOMEN WEEP LUKE 22:27-31
I am one of the women who are paid to weep when one of our people is executed by Rome. I do what others do not have time or interest to do. I suppose it might relieve their guilt to have someone who cares. I never know who these people are. I just do what I am paid to do. I still do not understand what He meant when He said we should weep for ourselves rather than Him. I cant imagine how anything could get worse than it already is.

STATION VIII PARTING OF GARMENTS LUKE 23:33-38
I am a scribe who makes copies of the scriptures for the temple. I have to be perfect to make the copies just the same as the original ones. You Roman soldiers have got to speed things up. It is taking too long. I cant afford to be late for the Sabbath service. There is going to be a huge crowd at the Temple. After all it is the most special service of Gods Passover Lamb.       

STATION IX FATHER FORGIVE THEM LUKE 23:34
I am Peter. He called me The Rock. I was ready to defend Him to my death. I am not much of a rock any more. I felt so guilty that I denied Him three times in the Temple. He warned me before hand I would do it. He wanted me to deny Him. Said He could not afford to have all of us die with Him when we could live for Him. He told me I was not guilty, only to love Him and feed His sheep.

I am Mary from Magdalena. I was not too popular with the other disciples when I anointed His body with expensive oil. I wanted to show them He really meantHe would die. They would not believe me. Even if I saw Him rise from the dead they would not believe me. B I sa He did rise againut He knew what I was doing. I was saying good bye. He died for me so I could live. I have never known such love.

I am John the youngest of the disciples. The others are much older. I believe that is why Jesus honored and trusted me to watch after His mother. I would be more as a son to her. Come with me Mary. We will stay tonight in the upper room.

STATION XII THE BODY TAKEN DOWN BY JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS LUKE 23:50-2
I am Joseph from Arimathea. I was in the Sanhedrin along with Nicodemus when they condemned Him to death. He said He was the Son of God and we both believed Him, but we dared not stand up to the others and confess our faith. Come on Nicodemus we have work to do. You buy the oil. I will try to get permission from Pilate to take the body down. I know just the place for the burial.

STATION XIII THE BURIAL LUKE 23: 53-54
I am Martha the sister of Mary. We were friends of His. He actually raised my brother from the dead. Mary tends to be more spiritual and I more practical. I do wish I had taken more time to listen to Him rather than getting all the dishes done. Its too late now. I will never be able to hear Him again. It is too late tonight to anoint thebody properly. No work is done on the Sabbath. We will have to get up early the day after tomorrow. I wonder what He meant when He told me. I am the resurrection and the Life?

I am Mary, Marthas sister. She works hard and I tend to want to pray about things. We will both pray as we work together. But who will roll away the stone? Mary will you be going to the tomb with us and the other women to anoint your Sons body?

STATION XIV THE WOMEN WAIT FOR THE END OF THE SABBATH LUKE 23: 55-56
I am the Mother of Jesus. I have kept all He said and didin my heart ever since His birth. What He has said, He has done. Now the final fulfillment of His Word is about to happen. Mary and Martha you and the other women go ahead if you insist but why would I want to come with you? He will not be there when you arrive. He will already be risen.

No one was there to witness it. Why did He tell the disciples about them? Was it to show what great strength He had to over come temptations? Probably not. He meant to tell them, dont do it.
And It is still true today.We try to get into Gods Presence by following the law. We want to make the old self worthy of Gods Love.

Turn these stones into bread. We are tempted to try to change these stones of the old self into somethingto God rather than crucify the old self to follow Him.will do better. We can be good. We deserve it because we have worked so hard.
Dont do it!

I will give you these Kingdoms. We are tempted to look outside to get something God had already given so we can pay God for His graceful gifts He has given to us.Better Him toowe us than for we toHim.
Don’t do it!

Jump off this pinnacle and show them who you are. When we cant be good we are tempted to jump off the temple to at least prove we are better than others.
Don’t do it! 

We cannot deserve, pay or merit Gods Grace which we already have been given.

A Metaphor might be about the cowboy who runs into a bar and says to the bartender, “Quick give me twenty of your best shots of rye whiskey. The bartender pours the shorts and the cowboy drinks them as fast as he can. The bartend says, “Wow I never saw anyone drink as fast as that!”
He replies, “Youd drink fast as I did tooyou had what I have.”
“Oh my goodness you poor guy.is itou have?”
“I have only twenty five cents!”

The account of the Wise Men has epiphanies for many people who look at the story in a different way than the Scripture tells us. First of all they were not kings, and there may not have been three. There were three gifts, but there could be many wise men. The story is they came to the house were the Christ child was. That means they were not there at the birth in the stable. They could have come some two years later when Herod slaughtered the children from two and under.

Here is another epiphany, another way to look at the birth of Jesus.
A friend of mine did not believe Jesus was born in a stable. He believes with all of Josephs family there they would not permit that to happen.
This is the difference between a mans thinking and a womans.

The mans thinking is to take his girl friend to the Rose Bowl. At half time with the score board saying Mary will you marry meand the TV cameras zeroing down on the two with the guy on his knees, holding a ring and saying will you marry me? She blushes, holds her hands over her face, embarrassingly laughs and says, I will! The band strikes up Ta Daa and plays whatever fight song is appropriate over the roar of the crowd and in front of the millions watching.

The womans thinking is a lot different. She things of some secluded rendezvous with dim lights, violins playing quietly in the back ground, he looking into her eyes and says, Darling I love you. Will you marry me as he offers her the ring? Yes, yes I will my darling and the violins bring the music to a crescendo.

That is possibly the difference in what happened before they started out on their journey. Joseph says to Mary, dont worry I have reservations at the Inn. When they get there it is like the eve of the Super Bowl with large crowds in the little town of Bethlehem.Joseph tells Mary dont worry I have a corner of the room that you can have mybaby. As soon as he is born we will all get drunk, celebrate, dance, sing and congratulate each other all night long. It will be ball.

No Way says Mary.

Well we could go to Uncle Freds house to have my baby, but it is just the same as here. They are all filled up with your in-laws, their friends and strangers.

I am not going to expose myself and MY baby to your rabble.

What would you rather do, give birth in the stable?

DUUUHH!

And so it was. Mary preferred the quiet seclusion of the stable over the loud raucous drunks in the Inn or the strangers and inlaws of Uncle Freds house.

How do we know this is true? Read the text, I dont mean read the translated text, but go back to the original one. Remember it wasMary telling Luke what happened. She kept all these things in her heart.Luke faithfully translated what she told him into the Greek. The problem is major translators are men and not women. What if there was a translation of the New Testament or either Pauls or the Gospels or just one of the Gospels from a womans point of view? It might be a best seller today. It does not mean it would be a transliteration like the one we have, just a better translation from womans view of what.

CHRISTMAS IS FORGIVING
It is Christmas and a time for giving. How do you give? Here is how God gives. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The gift of God is given without measure. John 3:34 Everyone has the same amount of the gift as everyone else no matter who they may be. It is irrevocable, Rom. 11:29 God will never take it back no matter what we might do. The gift of His Presence is grace meaning it is given unconditionally. Gods grace is always in us. However we are not always in Gods grace. Whether we are in or out of Gods Presence is determined mainly by how we give. When we give conditionally we cut ourselves off from Gods unconditional grace.

When we give our love or forgiveness conditionally we cut ourselves off from Gods unconditional Love. I will forgive you if you never do that again! If you ever do that again I will never forgive you! We do not realize forgiving another is for our sake not for the other person.

Most relationships are determined by how we give and most can be healed by changing the way we give. When we try to fix one another, no matter how sincere, we tend to tear down the intimacy. If we want to build our relationship we need to share our appreciation for the other.

We can give in either of two ways, warm fuzzies or cold pricklies.
It is important to understand the dynamics of these two. We will always have plenty of bothin our pockets. We can change one into the other. Every time we give a warm fuzzy it changes two cold pricklies into two fuzzies. However every time we give a cold prickly it changes two warm fuzzies into pricklies.

Some may not believe this to be true. We can only understand it by doing it. During this Advent Christmas Season and in the year to come see what happens when we give warm fuzzies of appreciation instead of cold pricklies of criticism. We might find ourselvescelebrating Christmas giving all year round. Whats in your pocket?                  

WHAT SANTA HAS TO DO WITH CHRISTMAS  
Santa Clause: Faithful Bishop from Myra around 300 AD. Bishop Nicholas was a staunch defender of God’s Word. He was imprisoned and tortured by Diocletian, the Roman emperor but was released when Constantine became emperor. According totradition, Nicholas was a participant in the Council of Nicea (325 AD), which gave us the Nicene Creed.         
Nicholas was personally wealthy. He disguised himself and would secretly visit homes of the most needy. Under the cloak of darkness, he delivered food, clothing and money. The recipients had no idea where the blessings originated. The story of a noblemans three daughters perhaps best illustrates the magnitude of Nicholas’ generosity. Having lost his entire fortune, a nobleman was left withoutmeans of paying his daughters’ dowry. This gift was customarily given by a father to help the couple begin their marriage. Without an adequate dowry, a young lady could not find a respectable mate. One daughter decided to sell herself into slavery to provide a dowry for her sisters. When Nicholas heard of the predicament, he secretly went to the noblemen’s house at night and threw in a bag of gold. At a later date, he tossed in a second bag. When it came time for the third daughter to be married, Nicholas was discovered just as he was about to toss the third bag of dowry money into the window. The bishop made the father promise he would not tell the secret. The father’s vow was short-lived. Word spread quickly throughout Myra. Upon Nicholass death, some citizens of Myrapicked up where Nicholas left off. When recipients asked who provided the gifts, their neighbors merrily replied, “Saint Nicholas must have brought them!” Before long, the practice of secret giving had spread throughout the Western world. Saint Nick burst onto the American scene in the early 1600s. San Nic ko las became Santa Claus.                          

Jesus dealt with Pharisees whose theology determined their faith. They did not believe Jesus could do any miracles or who He wasand so they had little faith and a meaningless theology. When our faith determines our theology we increase both faith, theology and our belief. The Father of Jairus daughter said to Jesus, Lord I believe increase my unbelief. We increase our belief by increasing our faith and then our theology.

The three principles of faith are thought consciousness and Presence. The Presence is of Gods grace is always in us but we are not always in Gods grace. We can only access the Presence of His Peace, Love and Joy by using our conscious faculties to sense the Presence.

Most of us have no idea of how to access this Presence. We know the grace is there but no one has ever written, taught or preached on how to get in. The reason for this is because accessing the Presence is not a rational but a conscious procedure. You can tell people what to do, but you cannot tell them how to do it. Concerning the things physical we learn how to do it and then we do it. Concerning the spiritual it must be done first and then it can be understood.

We have two ways of thinking rational and conscious. The rational is our head and it sees the seen. The conscious is our heart and we can sense the unseen. When we are looking for theology we think of the words. When we are looking for faith we need to look beyond the words. We get a feel for the words.

This was a case of when we have the wrong solution we will have the wrong answer. We cannot have the right answer to a wrong solution. We get answers but we must discover solutions. It is like learning to swim. I tried to teach my son how to swim. I knew how to do it, told him how I did it, but it took quite a while before he learned how to do it. He learned how ultimately from inside understanding not outside information. We learn about solutions when we have an A ha discovery moment. To receive this understanding we must be open and ready for it.

Jesus was trying to give the young man an A hahdiscovery moment. Just telling him the right solution or the right answer would not be enough. He had to discover it for himself. First of all Jesus tried to do it by answering his wrong question with the wrong answer. Question, what do I do to inherit the Kingdom? Answer, follow the law. Jesus then gave him the commandments. He presupposed the young man was following the first four, worship one God, no idols, not using the Lords name in vain and keep the Sabbath. He then gave him the next five, leaving out the last one and using not to defraud anyonein its place. The young man should have said, but you left off the last one, not to covet. Then Jesus would have said A hah. The young man would have realized he was not following the law, but he went on to say, I have done all this from my youth.

Jesus then tried again using the shock treatment method. He told him to sell all he had, give to the poor, follow Him and he would have treasures in Heaven. The young man then should have said, I cant do this, and Jesus would have said A ha, now lets us talk about grace. But the young man could not bring himself to admit he could not follow the law so he went away because he had much. He was not ready to get it.

The young mans question was, what must I do? The answer is you cannot do anything. We are only saved by the grace of God. After another teaching Peter was about to get it when he asked Jesus, well who can be saved? Jesus then said A ha! “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

One day Peter told God how he was tired of just letting anyone in by grace. There should be some restrictions. They ought to at least come in with a pure heart, a good conscience and a clear mind. God gave him permission to do what he wanted. Peter built a bridge between the Pearly Gates and heaven. The bridge was narrow so that it could only be walked single file. Below the bridge was the burning inferno of hell.