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Today we begin a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John with some verses from chapter 3 that are centered on God’s love and how our love can be manifested in acts. Although the English word, “love,” can refer to a wide variety of emotions and acts, Greek has several different words that can be translated “love” – philos, eros, and agape, each with different applications and contexts. In 1 John, it is agape that is at the heart of Christianity, and in the passage for today, agape is love in action: laying ourselves down for others. Some of us are exploring that further through the book, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times, by Bishop Michael Curry. Every day there are opportunities for us to choose to love others, putting the well-being of another above our own. In our Methodist tradition, John Wesley would call this “sanctification,” the process of practicing agape through the church. Our own church experience gives us the opportunity to learn agape through practice.

This is West End’s annual Youth Sunday when youth take on every role in the service, including all readings, music, and preaching. The two delivering the sermon(s) are Brazier Pierce and Mary Peacock, both of whom give their own experiences related to the scripture from Luke 24:36-48, where the disciples of Jesus, having seen him crucified, are surprised when he appears to them. Brazier and Mary each describe not only personal experiences, but offer how, in brief moments of encounter, we, too, can offer love and hope to others, whether they are friends, family, or complete strangers.

Forgiveness Is Not What You Think – On the Second Sunday of Easter, our Congregational Care Intern, Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, delivers the Communion Meditation, based on the passage from Genesis 45 where Joseph’s brothers have come to Egypt during the famine to seek food. Unbeknownst to them, he is the one from the Egyptian administration who meets with them – they are his brothers who sold him into slavery and told their father he had died. In this scene, Joseph confronts them but with forgiveness. Dr. Wilborn says that forgiveness is complicated because its “is-ness” is confusing. We think of Jesus as a model for forgiveness, but she gives examples (like the turning over of the tables in the temple) where we’re not so sure. We feel like suffering requires forgiveness, but sometimes we blame our own suffering on God. In our day and time we now understand that one who forgives receives much mental health benefit in that process. And, looking at this example of Joseph with his brothers, he didn’t “forget,” but pointed out that they are the ones who had sold him into slavery. But his actions dictate the end of the story, and they demonstrate that with God’s guidance, we, too, can dictate the end of a situation that elicits our forgiveness. Forgiveness is complicated.

Easter Sunday! The Gospel reading for our Easter service is the one from Mark’s Gospel (16.1-8). It is an odd and somewhat unsatisfactory ending to the story in that the three women who go to the tomb and are told that Jesus is risen and are then directed to tell the disciples about that and instruct them to return to Galilee where they will see him. But the final verse says they were afraid and told no one. Scholars say that the earliest forms of this Gospel ended there. The person who wrote this gospel, though, has been very deliberate and purpose-driven in all of it, so what might that purpose be in ending this way? Perhaps it is a challenge to hearers/readers of the Gospel to take on the responsibility of spreading the news of the resurrection of Christ. The direction to “return to Galilee” may direct us to re-read the stories of Jesus, not just for information but for transformation, and with that to realize that life has conquered death, and that we are to live every day choosing life over death and treading the steps of Jesus so that we and the world will forever be changed.

We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week.
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This is our Good Friday service, a remembrance held at the traditional hour of the crucifixion of Jesus. It begins with the chiming of the hour, which sets the mood. It includes a reading of two chapters of the Fourth Gospel that describe the arrest, condemnation, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus, a familiar and agonizing section to hear and recall. Rev. Maggie Jarrell, our Pastor of Children and Families, delivers the Good Friday Meditation. The title comes from the scripture reading as Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” In a sense, Pilate’s question to Jesus is, “What’s the point?” a question we often ask. We put off discomfort and pain, but avoiding such things is not possible because we are not in control. God keeps on loving us, no matter, and this suffering of the son of God reminds us that God knows our suffering and pain and loves no matter the situation. Solidarity with those who suffer means we take risks and give up comforts, but the example of Jesus who worked for the suffering and in so doing, also suffered, stands in front of us. During Holy Week we do not flinch from the truth because of God’s great love for us. God is with us; we are not alone. We know Easter is on the horizon.