Let This Cup Pass. Approaching Maundy Thursday

Let this Cup Pass. Approaching Maundy Thursday

And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’” — Matthew 26:39.

Jesus, Romero, MLK, Bonhoeffer

 Romero (March 24), MLK (April 4), Bonhoeffer (April 9)

Interestingly, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, three of the most well-known 20th-century Christian martyrs, die close to Easter. Archbishop Romero is shot on March 24 at age 62 at the altar in El Salvador while celebrating the Eucharist after speaking out against the current government’s brutality. Martin Luther King is shot on April 4 at age 39 in Memphis, where he is supporting striking city sanitation workers. Bonhoeffer is hanged on April 9, also at age 39, for taking part in plans to assassinate Hitler. He is killed 23 days before the Nazi surrender. 

Romero is shot as he lifts the chalice at the end of the Eucharistic rite. When a death squad kills him, his blood falls onto the altar and mixes with the contents of the blood of Christ in the chalice. 

All three men are icons for our Lenten and Holy Week journey, people who speak their truth even when it offends the ruling authority.  

Jesus also dies when his message offends the temple’s religious leaders, who then scheme with the Roman authorities to kill him. Jesus is not killed at age 33 by the Jews but by the ruling Jewish religious elite. They persuade the elite Roman officials that Jesus’ presence threatens the peace in occupied Palestine. 

Romero, MLK, and Bonhoeffer don’t start their Lenten journeys as the voices of truth. They are all quiet, modest men. The Vatican approved Romero as bishop with the El Salvadoran government’s approval because he seemed “quiet and safe." Black leaders choose King to lead the bus boycott because of his youth and because he is the newest and youngest black pastor in Montgomery at age 25. Bonhoeffer is simply a deep-thinking Lutheran theologian. 

But on their journey, the three witness the injustices in the world caused by those in authority over the powerless. They die to an old life of quiet conformity and silence, and are reborn into a new life of speaking out Christ’s truth in love. 

Eventually, like Jesus, all three realize they will be killed for trying to address the injustices and lack of love in the world around them. Their writings all suggest that they, like Jesus, ask that this cup pass from them, but it doesn’t. So, with a price on their heads, they walk straight into the turbulent storm.

We remember them today, just as we recall the night the one they followed is also about to die. We pray for even a little of their courage and strength to speak out against the injustices in our world, supported by authorities where we live, work, play, and worship.

We pray for the strength to do “the next right thing,” as Jesus taught Oscar, Martin, and Dietrich.  

Joanna Seibert. joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Taking Up Our Cross in Holy Week

Take up Your Cross

“There is great pain and suffering in the world. But the pain hardest to bear is your own. Once you have taken up that cross, you will be able to see clearly the crosses that others have to bear, and you will be able to reveal to them their own ways to joy, peace, and freedom.”—Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

We often wonder what Jesus means when he asks us “to take up our cross.” Is our cross the difficult co-worker or family member who keeps us awake at night, trying to discern how to love and live with them? Is it a painful physical ailment that has now become chronic? Has a job become our cross? Maybe it is an addiction. Is it the cross of food or financial instability?

Nouwen believes our cross is often the inner pain we bear. We push into our unconscious, and it bubbles back up, sometimes like an ugly dragon. The pain is produced by parts of our personality we dislike, which we see in others and reject, rather than owning them ourselves.

The deep inner suffering may also live within us because of some trauma or pain inflicted by others whom we cannot forgive. They are still hurting us. We may have forgotten who the person is, especially when they are a family member, but we still live with the pain.

Nouwen tells us that this inner pain is often even more challenging than all the suffering in the world.

As we meditate on Christ’s wounds this Holy Week, we can believe that the Christ within us can lead us to our own wounds and suffering. Connecting and feeling Christ’s wounds brings us to awareness of the inner suffering that blocks our pathway to the God within us.

Nouwen believes that once we recognize and name our inner cross of pain, we will more clearly see the crosses others bear. 

I see this in grief recovery groups. The participants recognize others’ pain and begin to connect to them. Those who are suffering may know the depth of each other’s suffering best.

The miracle is that those who have experienced this inner pain are the ones who heal each other best.

 This is called resurrection. It happens in community.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Keeping Your Eye On the Sparrow this Holy Week

 Keep Your Eye On the Sparrow this Holy Week

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So, do not be afraid: you are of more value than many sparrows." —Matthew 10:29-31.

Kathleen Battle

On June 7, 2017, in an issue of The Christian Century titled “Thinking Critically, Living Faithfully,” Liddy Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, was the guest preacher discussing the sparrow text from Matthew. She mentions the lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who chaired the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which distributed money to the families of those who died in the terrorist attack using a formula based on each victim's income and earning potential. The compensation ranged from $250,000 to $7.1 million. Feinberg struggles with this differentiation at the end of the process, as he listens to the stories of the victims and their families and wonders if one person is twenty-eight times more valuable than another.

song sparrow

Barlow also reminds us of the Civilla Martin poem, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow," which became a gospel hymn offering comfort to the African-American Church in earlier centuries. We will never forget hearing Kathleen Battle sing this hymn a cappella at a concert with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. We sat in the front row, center, and she was right in front of us, just a foot away, in this striking dark red-wine velvet dress. Her soul was singing from somewhere deep inside her.

This, indeed, is a Scripture passage and a hymn about how valuable each of us is to God. People often come for spiritual direction when they do not feel valued by God. So when we talk, I wish I could sing this song like Kathleen Battle and tell them their worth.

Barlow concludes her message by telling us that Feinberg was once again consulted in 2007 by the president of Virginia Tech about distributing compensation to the families of those killed in that mass shooting. His 9/11 experience has changed Feinberg. He now believes in the equality of all life. Therefore, he recommends that all victims, students, and faculty receive the same compensation.

This is the story of how the God of our understanding works tirelessly to teach us the value of our neighbor. Our God desperately loves and values each one of us.

 Every morning, I am reminded of this as I watch the white-crowned house sparrows come to the feeder outside my window above my desk.

When fear fills my heart, the sparrows outside my window comfort me.

I still hear Kathleen Battle singing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow/And I Know He's Watching Over You and Me." 

White Crowned Sparrow

I often sing this hymn throughout the day, especially during Holy Week. These are seven special days to reflect on the depth of God's love for each of us. 

Joanna. joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/