OUR SHARED LIFE ON COMMON GROUND: Reflections on Stewardship in 2010

Dear Friends:

Christ Church is common. Some might see such a statement as contrary to their experience and the usual understanding of the word, common. Common literally means “shared by all.”

We are common because our life together is shared by all people who are seeking God. This includes those whom we invite to share our common ground.
And so it is that Christ Church is shared by all of her members and by those who happen by this place looking for God (see Jesus’ story about the buried treasure in Matthew 13:44).

The fire that has rendered our parish hall unavailable since May of 2008 has been a great loss not only for this parish family, but for those who have shared this facility with us over the years. We have housed meetings of many 12 step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous. For those folks seeking God and recovery, this Christ Church campus was their spiritual home and a place of refuge.

We have also opened our doors to be a place where the basic responsibility of citizenship can be exercised in the voting booth.

Just before I started to serve here as your rector in 2001, I was standing on the steps of the church talking with Bob Dennison, who was the very gracious senior warden when I arrived. One of the men from A.A. approached us and thanked us for sharing our parish hall with them and without a moment of hesitation, Bob Dennison replied, “We share the same land lord.” In that moment, I knew that I was in the right community of faith. We are a common church, shared by all who make this place and this community their spiritual home.

As your vestry continues to labor towards returning the parish hall to full service, I invite you to consider how this loss of space has impacted our common life at Christ Church. The buildings that house us are really like our family home. How would a family deal with the loss of a kitchen, a dining area, a living room?



We need such common spaces to express and share our common life together. Like our bodies, our physical existence is the clear expression of our spiritual life and so it has been more difficult for us to share our common life together since the fire.

This letter is about supporting the common life and work of Christ Church. Your financial support allows us to live on common ground in a community of faith with a common love for God and our neighbors and to extend this beautiful way of life to those in the community with whom we share our common space.

Each year we are all asked to make a personal pledge to support this parish and each year I have invited, encouraged and hoped for a pledge of your presence in worship, your service in community, and your growth in the knowledge and love of God and neighbor.

We will continue to celebrate our faith-based pledging which is explained in our annual pledge material and I want to encourage you to also consider how you can become more involved in the common life of Christ Church. My vocation as a priest, my joy, passion, and commitment, is to help you in this endeavor in whatever way I can.

May God bless this common ground and faith community as we move towards restoring our parish hall and kitchen and once again open our parish hall to those who come here looking for a faith and a community that is real.

God’s Peace on Common Ground,

Bob+

Random Acts of Loving Kindness and Perfection

This past Tuesday, November 17th, Barbara Ramsey-Duke called a meeting of your senior warden, Gail Connolly, your vestry Outreach chairperson, Susan Mulledy-DeFrank, and me to set up a bone marrow donation drive in honor of Maya Chamberlin. Maya has been our prayer list for several months (September 9th) because she contracted “a rare form of a blood disease, called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH for short. This disease involves the histiocyte cells eating up normal blood cells which are then stored in the liver and spleen. This results in an enlarged liver & spleen which then compromises breathing by pushing on the lungs. The disease is so rare that there is not even a body of data on which a prognosis (survival odds) can be based.”

The rest of Maya's background story can be found at the conclusion of this reflection on my Gospel Reflection blog. Barbara Ramsey-Duke had contacted a woman named Anna Marie Cruz from Be The Match. This organization helps set up bone marrow drives in the Los Angeles area. Anna Marie told us about the work of her organization and she helped separate fact from fiction about the process of donation. All of us felt that offering this opportunity to our parish and the community beyond our parish was of utmost importance.

Anna Marie also shared stories of matches between those in need of a donor and the donors whose gift saved lives. She had one such story chronicled on a Dvd. Christine Pechera was dying of cancer, but a bone marrow donation saved her life. All of us were moved by Chistine’s story.

And so we will offer the parish, their friends, family, and our surrounding community an opportunity to register to be donors. The word donors literally means “one who gives.” And the gift that is given is hope and life for those who sit “in the valley of the shadow of death.” (Psalm 23) As Christians we profess faith in God who is THE donor of all life of which we are stewards. We give thanks for :”our creation, preservation, and for all the blessings of this life” by sharing the life that God gives to us. In John’s Gospel, we read that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16)

To be clear, those who sign up to be donors are promising to donate to whomever they match, making their gift a “random act of loving kindness.” This is important for us to know because it makes our decision to be a donor an act of godly generosity.

Gifts that are given only to those whom we know, love, and care about are good gifts, but when we offer to give to those whom we don’t know, might not find lovable or even likable, we offer a godly gift. It is a godly gift because God gives to us without regard to how we feel about God. As it is written in Matthew 5:43-48:

43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I urge you and encourage you to enter into the joy and love of God’s perfect giving.

WHAT and WHEN: Bone Marrow Testing will be offered on Sunday December 13, 2009 immediately following the Holy Eucharist at 10am until 3pm

WHERE: In the sanctuary of Christ Episcopal Church
408 South Broadway

WHY: For the love of God and God’s Children who are in need

Maya’s Background Story

Maya became sick with flu-like symptoms on Sep 9. As has been the case so many times in the past 3 years, her symptoms worsened. We brought her to the doctor Sep 10 and after a blood test Maya was admitted Sep 11 since all the blood cells, including white blood cells, platelets, and the hemoglobin level were quite low (pancytopenia) and her liver and spleen were enlarged.

The levels kept dropping so she was transferred Sep 12 from Torrance Memorial to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Millers Children Hospital in Long Beach. In the ICU Maya's breathing became labored and her belly became distended. We had no idea what was happening and the doctors worked furiously to find an answer. Several specialists were consulted and many tests were performed.

On Sep 13, chest x-ray's showed large amounts of fluid in her chest cavity and the doctor decided to perform a lung tap: insert a tube into the chest cavity to release fluid. Nearly 400 ml was removed and Maya's breathing and heart rate improved dramatically. We were relieved and Maya got some good rest...for 4 hours. She then became uncomfortable and her breathing became more labored. The doctor decided it was time to take over the breathing for her via a tube and ventilator. Right before she was sedated and the tube was inserted, Maya asked for Jaden. We were quite happy to hear her alert response and Sam asked her who Jaden was. When she didn't respond Sam asked if Jaden was her sister. Maya spoke right up and said, "No. He is my brother. He is naughty some times and you and mommy put him in time out." We were relieved to know our Maya was still alert and mentally active.

Maya's heart rate was averaging 180 beats per minute since being admitted. After the lung tap the heart rate went down to 140 but went back up. After the ventilator her heart rate went down to 150. Meanwhile specialist after specialist visited and assessed Maya and ran off to check their literature and consult with other experts. We were quite impressed with the responsiveness, extremely high level of competence, professionalism, sacrifice and ability to explain in detail their thoughts. The team narrowed on several suspects, every single doctor contributed to connecting the dots and astonishingly made the diagnosis in a matter of hours. The Oncologist confirmed the diagnosis through analysis of a bone marrow biopsy. We are very lucky the diagnosis was made so quickly.

Unfortunately the diagnosis is a rare form of a blood disease, called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH for short. This disease involves the histiocyte cells eating up normal blood cells which are then stored in the liver and spleen. This results in an enlarged liver & spleen which then compromises breathing by pushing on the lungs. The disease is so rare that there is not even a body of data on which a prognosis (survival odds) can be based. The treatment is a form of chemotherapy and was started the same day of the diagnosis (Sep 14). Maya's heart rate went lower to 140 as she became more comfortable and on the 2nd day got all the way down to 105. It is currently in the low 90's.

We have a long, bumpy, uncertain road ahead of us. Maya has already responded well to the treatment but it is very early. Maya is still on the ventilator and has about a thousand tubes stuck in her. We are now preparing to move her off the ventilator but need her to "wake up" from the sedation and paralytics that she has been under in order to proceed.

We are DEEPLY grateful to all of our friends and family who have made incredible sacrifices and steady support through this initial phase. We very much look forward to updating you on Maya's progress through this web site. Our thumbs are about to fall off from all the texting! Thank you again and God bless.

THE END IS NEAR AND THE BEGINNING HAS COME: LIVING IN THE AGE OF FORGIVENESS

It seems that every year there are movies released about the end of the world. It is interesting to look at the sorts of cataclysmic endings which are portrayed in these films. 2012 is among the latest renditions of the apocalypse.

But is the apocalyptic ending of the world a required belief of the Christian faith? Judging from the many churches who preach end times religion to “encourage” people to convert to the Christian faith in order to save themselves, it would seem that such beliefs are mandatory.

But how did Jesus understand the end? In our passage from Mark this coming Sunday, Jesus tells his disciples that the lofty and beautiful Temple in Jerusalem would not survive and that no stone would be left a top another. The Temple was the center of Jewish faith and worship. It was the place of sacrifice where sins could be transferred from the sinner to a sacrificial animal, thereby freeing the sinner from the debt of sin.

Notice that sin is not forgiven, but rather redirected towards a sacrificial animal whose spilled blood pays the price for the sin. Of course, there were some sins which could not be expiated through such sacrifices. Forgiveness was God’s prerogative and no human system could do away with sin or the death that it demanded.

When Jesus told his disciples about what we would call apocalyptic nightmares, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, rising up of kingdoms against kingdoms, and famines, he did so to help them avoid focusing on these things and looking for a messiah who would deliver them from these disasters. To be led astray by one of these messiahs claiming to be the real deal, the authentic Christ, meant that one was in a position of being manipulated by such Christ figures.

Consider the dooms day messages in the media today. To be sure we have many problems on planet earth, but when we hear others claiming to have answers to these problems and loudly denouncing any opposition to their positions, we would be wise to heed Jesus’ warnings to avoid being led astray. This is not to suggest that we should not work towards solutions, in fact, people who live forgiven and forgiving lives do just that.

So, in the midst of the gloom and doom of ecological melt downs, warfare, rumors of warfare, famines, disease, and natural disasters, what would Jesus have us do? Jesus taught his disciples to understand these signs as birth pangs. At the end of pregnancy comes a birth, new life and just before that new life enters the world, the mother suffers the pains of child birth.

Something seemingly larger than the birth canal through which the child will emerge is coming. Birth seems to be a profound metaphor for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven into the world. Something larger than our world that functions without forgiveness is coming, the birth of which will mark the end of the pain and suffering and the beginning of a new way of being human.

I think we sometimes underestimate the power of forgiveness. The prophets including John, preached it as coming into the world. A paralytic was lowered into the home where Jesus was teaching and healing. The paralytic’s friends did this for the man. When Jesus saw the faith of the man’s friends, he said to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Is this a case of cheap grace? Is Jesus speaking out of turn? There were some there who thought so. They said that only God can forgive sins—only God can forgive sins. Our world is held captive to the belief that only God can forgive sins and therefore we are condemned to live in a God forsaken world of sin where only death is seen as a temporary remedy.

What did Jesus say to those who challenged him? He said: “Which is easier to do, say to this man ‘your sins are forgiven’ or ‘rise up, pick up your pallet and walk?’ He then said a most remarkable thing: “but so that you might know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins on earth, he said to the paralytic, ‘rise up and pick up your pallet and walk.’”

We are living in a world of unforgiveness. We are living in a world that will not accept that God’s forgiveness is the only operating system for planet earth. Apocalyptic visions are part of our world of sin and death, they are the birth pangs of a world in need of healing, but most of all in need of forgiveness.

Jesus is the Son of Man and the Son of God who brings the message and reality of forgiveness to us even as our world of sin and death rages on and seeks to terrify us into living on sin and death’s terms. The prophet said “repent.” Did you ever wonder what he meant? Jesus answers the question. Allow God’s love and forgiveness to change you and to change the way you love and live in the world. This is the end which will be the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mark 13:1-8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?" Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, `I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs."

GOD'S TWO CENTS WORTH

The expression, “Here is my two cents worth,” is often used to suggest that whatever I might say on this or that subject is not worth much or it is sometimes to suggest that whatever is going to be said is a strongly held opinion by the speaker.

There once was a widow whose property was taken away from her when her husband died. She lost her home because what she had to say to defend herself was not given much value. Indeed, there were attorneys who knew the law well and were able to claim the widow’s land and home by their use of the law. The widow was left with next to nothing.

Now not all attorneys acted this way. Some remembered that God expects those with power and authority to use their office to defend and protect the rights of widows, orphans, the poor, the powerless, and the foreigners who lived in their country. They believed that this is what God expected because this was how God acts, this is who God is.

So why would one set of attorneys behave one way while others acted another? Who is right? In our Gospel for Sunday we find Jesus teaching. Just prior to this time, Mark tells about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He goes to the temple and chases out all of the people who made money off of the sacrificial religion of Israel.Sacrificial religion is how human beings seek to control our otherwise violent natures. We stop chaotic violence by authorizing limited violence to restore order.

In some cases this violence is directed toward animals whose blood is shed. Israel tried to make the law an instrument of the sacrificial system so that those who were sacrificed were not arbitrarily selected, but guilty of offenses that triggered violence or were violent.

The gods of violence are truly man made, but we have elevated them to the level of ultimate meaning and power. These are the gods that sanction the limited violence of sacrifice. What happens when these gods are revealed to be our human attempt to protect ourselves from ourselves?

Jesus’ cleansing of the temple left him standing alone in this place of sacrifice. He becomes the only sacrifice available and out of the mouth of this divine and human victim, he begins to teach. He puts a human face on the other human victims of the world whose voices and faces are never heard. Sunday’s Gospel is part of this teaching from Jesus. Jesus offers God’s two cents worth.

“Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’"

Note that Jesus does not tell us to beware of all scribes, but only of those who have traded their relationship with God for the prestige, power, and control which they use in the name of God and the law to increase their wealth at the expense of the powerless. Do these men have any idea of their culpability? Has their status and religiosity blinded them to what they are doing?

Do we do things that we know hurt the powerless of our world as if what we are doing is the “right” thing to do? Since civil religion is waning, new gods and political, economic, and legal systems now provide sanction for acting against God’s rule of justice and mercy for the least among us. Read the newspaper, watch the news, how are the least among us being treated? What part do we play in this rejection of God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven?

We have a choice about whether we will listen to God’s two cents worth. We have a choice about how we make this revelation from Jesus the beginning of a new way of seeing the world around us. We have a choice about seeing our part in the way we treat others with no power and no voice. The Prayers of the People during the Eucharistic service express the revelation of Jesus and the confession allows us to see our part and confess our part to God.

What is God’s two cents worth to us?


Mark 12:38-44

Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

LAZARUS IS A SAINT, BUT YOU KNOW SAINTS TOO

This Sunday is All Saints Day. During the course of my priesthood I have been asked by people both young and old what happens to our loved ones when they die. This question is not a scientific inquiry, but a question of the heart. Death separates us from those we love—husbands, wives, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends.

So it is only natural for us to ask about those who have died.

All Saints day is not just about the famous saints we have heard about or after whom the Gospels are named. Saints , as one of the hymns we will sing this Sunday says “are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.”

When we think of our loved ones who have died we discover a deep sense of longing for that person to be present to us again because we experienced in them a bit of God’s tender loving kindness towards us.

Paul Tillich wrote: “The saint is a saint, not because he is ‘good,’ but because he is transparent for something more than he himself is.” I have now lost my parents and their whole generation whom I called family. I lost my Dad when I was very young and his death was a deep loss for me.

The depth of this loss, I have come to believe, is made so by the reality of my Dad’s life as a saint, as someone through whom God was visible. I believe that my Dad was more than good, he was God’s presence to me and that is what caused me to feel the pain of his death so deeply.

Where is my Dad now. The simple answer is that he is with God not because he earned his way into heaven, but because in his life God’s loving kindness and presence was seen through the eyes of those who knew and loved him. I believe in the communion of saints and my Dad was a saint, a common, ordinary saint through whom God’s light was shed in the world.

In our Gospel for this All Saints Sunday, we will hear the story of Jesus coming to the village of Bethany because his friend Lazarus had been ill and died. Jesus loved Lazarus and Lazarus was loved by his sisters, Mary and Martha.

They saw God in Lazarus and so did Jesus. How could Jesus, who could heal the sick allow their brother to die? If only he had come sooner, maybe Lazarus would have been saved.

Perhaps the real purpose of life for each of us is in allowing God to be seen in our world by others. I am not talking about a show of self-righteousness or holier than thee or thou behavior, but in the many ways God’s love seeks to be present to those in need, those who are hungering and thirsting for a world of merciful love.

When Jesus comes to the grave of his old friend, he raises him from death as a witness to the God whose absence Mary and Martha grieved at the death of their brother. They saw this light in Jesus and more.

They were saints too, but you can’t be a saint by yourself. Saints can not see how the light and love of God flows through them to others in the most ordinary kinds of relationships.

Jesus raised Lazarus, not as a personal favor to an old friend, but as a demonstration that God intends to shine through us and through his whole creation no matter how hard we sometimes try to shut him out or to ignore him.

Our grief at the death of a loved one is a sure sign of our hunger for God because in these loved ones, we experienced in someway or another, the loving kindness and grace of God.

As Blaise Pascal reflected, “Grace is required to turn a human being into a saint; and he who doubts this does not know what either a human being is or a saint is.” If we grieve the loss of a loved one , we grieve and ache for the presence of God. If we ache for the presence of God in our lives, we are on our way to becoming saints to others.

Here are the lyrics to the hymn, "I SING A SONG OF THE SAINTS OF GOD." Read them over and offer thanks to God for being present in those whom you love, but see no longer. It is in our losses that we discover our deep love for God and God's saints.

I sing a song of the saints of God
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
And one was a shepherdess on the green:
They were all of them saints of God --- and I mean
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
And his love made them strong;
And they followed the right for Jesus' sake,
The whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
And one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
And there's not any reason --- no not the least
Why I shouldn't be one too.

They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds of thousands still,
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.



John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord,if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was
lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man,said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone.

And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face
wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them,"Unbind him, and let him go."

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU?

The Blind Boys of Alabama sing soulfully about their faith. Sunday's Gospel may just record for us what it means to be blind and yet to see as a person of faith. Healing blindness of the heart is more of a miracle than healing eyes that cannot physically see.

As Jesus is leaving the city of Jericho, a man cries out to him for mercy. Asking for mercy lacks definition. What is it that this man wanted. If you asked Jesus for mercy what would you be asking for?

The city of Jericho may just be the oldest continuously occupied city in the world dating back to 9,000 BC. Out of this ancient city with a rich secular as well as a religious history, Jesus continues on his way up to Jerusalem. His disciples have shown themselves to be spiritually blind to what is going on in the life of their teacher, Jesus.

They have argued about who is the greatest in the midst of Jesus clearly telling them that he would be turned over to the Romans; falsely accused; humiliated; shamed; tortured; and finally killed in a most public and vilifying way. He would be labeled as anti-God and anti-empire. His kingdom would be shown to be non-existent and built upon the wrong ideas (forgiveness, love, charity, mercy, peace without exclusion). He was deemed a traitor to his own people and to the Roman Emperor and Empire.

And yet, as he leaves Jericho, a man cried out to him for mercy. Jesus asked him to be more specific: "What do you want me to do for you?" How would you answer Jesus' question if he asked you what you wanted him to do for you?

The man called Jesus "My teacher." Teachers are people who show us how to see things in a new way. Teachers offer us new information, new insights, and inspire us to embrace a new vision of how things could be. So, this man calls Jesus his personal teacher and asks him to let him see again. Of course, this man was blind, but in his blindness he knew a deeper darkness in his spirit that was in need of the mercy of God. He lived in a world of darkness and he was hoping for light, for vision.

Jesus tells this man that his faith has made him whole. Faith gives us the eyes of God to see the world as God sees it. Such a vision of the world through God's eyes stands in stark contrast to the vision of the world which we currently see. The world that saw Jesus as the enemy of peace and unity remained blind. This blind man became the witness to the crucifixion. His name is Bartimaeus (his name means son of honor)and he has the eyes to see more than just another senseless death at the hands of power. He sees and witnesses to a deeper and more profound act of God pouring himself out for life of the world.

Amazing grace and mercy--increase in us your gifts of faith, hope, and charity that we might see you in this world which you created and for which you give your life and love. Amen.

WHO'S ON THE RIGHT AND LEFT OF JESUS?

Have you ever wanted to be the person who sits next to a very important person? Many of us are shy about such things. Even though we would really like to be seen with a VIP, our modesty or sense of place warns us against asking for such a special favor from the one we admire.

The Gospel for this Sunday is the story about two of Jesus' disciples asking Jesus for the honor of sitting on his right and left side when Jesus comes into his glory. Does their request cause problems for them with the other disciples? How does Jesus respond to their request? Here is the Gospel reading for this Sunday.

Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"

Imagine asking such a thing of Jesus or of anyone? Now children often use this tactic with their parents, but adults usually understand that asking for a blank signed check from someone is just not good form. So, Jesus’ response is remarkable for his openness to being asked and his willingness to meet their request.


And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

Their request reveals their child-like desire to bask in the glory of Jesus. They have imagined glory in a way that we might all understand. Glory is about being number one; about being the winner; about having all the power, control, and marbles in the game of life. To sit on either side of such a person of glory would most certainly reflect rather nicely on those who were granted these seats of honor.

But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

What does Jesus mean by this response? “Drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,” perhaps was a reminder of Jesus’ baptism in the wilderness. Drinking the cup sometimes refers to the sort of life one ends up living by choice or otherwise. What was the cup that Jesus was drinking?


They replied, "We are able."

I have volunteered to do things in my life that later turned out to be real challenges to me intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Sometimes I knew what I was getting myself into, but most of the time I did not.

For the love of God that I discovered in the church, I said yes to being baptized.

For the love of God that I experienced in the church, I learned to accept God's love from others and to share God's love with others, I said yes to being confirmed.

For the love of God that I discovered in the One whose mighty and all embracing love stretched around the world to embrace those outside of the church, I said yes to being ordained to serve as a priest.

Each of these decisions I made had no guarantee of the sort of consequences that would follow. In fact, I really said yes to the love of God without realizing that my response would result in the life I have lived thus far. And so it was with the disciples. Jesus’ love for them and the world made them ask for something that would result in consequences they could not predict.

Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

Jesus was not able to guarantee seats next to him. In fact, he did not even know who would be next to him. But, he did know that these two disciples would drink the same cup he was drinking and be baptized with the baptism he was baptized. I believe that Jesus saw in these two people a love for him and for his Father that would result in their following him so closely in the way he lived his life, that their lives would look like his.

Do you remember that Jesus referred to a cup during his last agonizing and prayerful moments in the Garden before his arrest, trial, suffering, and death?

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’" Matthew 26:39

For the love of God, these two disciples sought to live in that kingdom of heaven so graciously and joyfully described and offered by Jesus. They wanted to be near Jesus, they wanted to be in his Father’s Kingdom.

I have asked my friends on Face Book who they thought the two people would be who were seated on the left and right hand of Jesus in his glory. Many have offered various saintly souls, but I believe these two seats next to Jesus refer to the two crosses that flanked Jesus on his cross. On one cross, there hangs a repentant thief and on the other cross an unrepentant thief. This is Jesus’ moment of glory hanging between those for whom he lived and died.


When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Of course rivalry is part of our world. Jesus did not lecture James or John. Rather, he reminded the other ten of the cup which we share with him and the baptism with which we are all baptized. It is Christ’s cup and Christ’s baptism that is our cup and baptism. We, like our Lord, are not here on this earth for this brief time to be served or to lord our power or wealth over others. We are called to be servants of God and of others.