“The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have much to lose.” -Dorthy Day

This quote is so very pertinent to my life right now…why am I trying to climb? Why am I so concerned with my own security? Simplicity, until recently, has been little more to me than an idea. I have been so concerned with my financial situation that I have placed “being responsible” over following Christ. Though my situation is very different from “climbing the corporate ladder” or trying to “get ahead,” there is a very real sense that I am perusing security and it has taken up residence in my mind and has begun to transform my mind without my permission.

I think I see why so many people go to college and build a very noble value system only to abandon it for the “real world.” I see why people lose sight of the things that are really important to them. It’s as though they learn truth and beauty and then they enter into this strange new world where those things are seen as unrealistic. They don’t really know what they’re doing in this world so they just listen to the people around them who think they’ve got it figured out. They hear the voices that say, “taking care of the poor is ok, but you’ve got to take care of yourself” and since they feel a little lost they readily accept any advice they can get, slowly conforming to the patterns of this world. The voices around them take their minds and their imagination captive and they exchange truth and beauty for cynicism and complacency.

“I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world, Just a lie you’ve got to rise above” -John Mayer from the song No Such Thing

I have only recently entered this world and all the ideas I have about living simply and creatively seeking God’s Kingdom above security, wealth, and comfort have slowly begun to seem impractical and out of reach. Thus Romans 12 has taken on new meaning for me.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

If we do not seek transformation from Christ, if we do not take Christ as our example and take that example seriously to the most serious level, then we will be transformed by the world with or without our permission. You see, it’s quite impossible to discern God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will if money and comfort take up residence in our minds because God’s will has literally nothing to do with those things. In our confusion and in our vulnerability our love for others dims and our concern for trying to “make it” in this world brightens. Seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness/Justice (Matthew 6:33) means not working for “the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life” (John 6:26-27). Seeking Christ, seeking to be transformed by the renewing of mind means selling all we have, selling out on our concern for self, selling… if only to get them out of our minds… our values for wealth and comfort. Following Christ means giving up on worrying about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough trouble of it’s own (Matthew 6:34). Following Jesus means remembering that “we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:7). Is not following Jesus about emptying yourself of selfishness?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

Following Jesus and seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness means trusting and praising “God from whom all blessings flow” (this is why we sing the song after we give offerings and tithes) rather than trusting and praising the advise of the world from which only counterfeit blessing flows. Seeking this God’s kingdom means actually taking the imagination of God and the simplicity of Jesus Christ into the strangeness of the “real world” just as folks like Saint Francis, John Wesley, Mother Teresa, and Shane Claiborne have done throughout our family history… and it means creatively doing so in whatever capacity and in whatever setting we may find ourselves.

I feel called today to rediscover the passion I have not yet completely lost and to start again now in seeking first the Kingdom of God in all its simplicity and peace.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

1. Liturgy
2. Eucharist
3. Community
4. Sabbath

See more on my outline here…

A quick side note on Zombie dexterity: It has been argued that the theatrical shift from slow moving Zombies to fleet-footed gymnastic Zombies as in 28 Days Later and the Dawn 2004 remake is a reaction to the digital age and speed of computers, or to continue the analogy, computer viruses.

The Universal Church: Not So Universal?
“There has never been a time when the church was one. The centralizing of the church around Rome and the papacy was a historical move emerging between the third and fifth centuries in an already divided and contested Christendom. “Each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ,’” as Paul attests in one of his early epistles (1 Cor. 1:12). There has never been a Christendom in terms of a universal kingdom of Christ. While the Roman medieval church was extending both its powers and territorial domain from the eleventh century to the sixteenth, it became increasingly aware of its own smallness. . . . Even before the Reformation’s splintering, Christendom was an ideology only partly realized and internally contested. The church, then, is always to come. It is a promise that forms the horizon within which the churches seek to be and become more fully the church.” (Politics of Discipleship, by Graham Ward p. 25-26 HT: Halden)

Reading the Bible Missionally
There is a great series going on here by Tony Stiff. Here’s an excerpt: “The necessity of having our lives wrapped up in mission. If you’re going to read the Bible missionally you must be living missionally otherwise the questions you bring as a reader to the text won’t be aimed at mission but something else. Nevertheless there is a circularity at work here. Reading Scripture missionally also deepens and informs missional living.”

Mark Scandrette: Five Myths of Community
Scandrette, author of Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus, talks about five myths of community at Flood Sacramento.  Here is a synopsized version of his talk (you can listen to the entire talk here):

1) The Myth of Longing: Scandrette notes that we have all long to belong to something, but, the idea that community will be a place we always “belong” is a false conception of community. You will not always “feel” community as a sense of belonging. We all bring preconceived notions to waht community should look like, and we have to also consider that our expectations will not always be met. This is an integral part of community.
2) Myth of the healthy skeptic: These are the people who go to different churches and just complain about how “bad” the church is. They don’t tithe, but only give to organizations far away from the community. This person thinks that they are better than others because they are not into middle class things. The truth is, we are all stumbling forward trying to figure out community, and we need to be patient with all those on our journey as they must be patient and forgiving with us.
3) The myth of the right leader:  If we have the right leaders, everything will be great. A leader is someone who follows the Jesus way, in the ethics of the kingdom of God, and is able to help another person to do that. There is nothing in their about being a great public speaker, organizer, or being a great guitar player.
4) The Myth of Flat Leadership: The myth that we don’t need leaders anymore. We will collectively decide what happens. The problem, argues Scandrette, is that someone has to initiate something. Scandrette also notes the varying levels of maturity in those who have been longer down the Jesus way. Some people will need mentoring and others that will need the help of the community on their way. I wonder what he would think of Bill’s post I linked to the other day, but this seems like a fair point.
5) The myth of community without conflict: Similar and probably a byproduct of number one. Community doesn’t mean we will all just get a long. There will always be drama in community, and you can’t just leave one community if you start having drama.  A big part of community is learning how to forgive and be forgiven by those in community.

Picture from flickr

I was talking to Sarah recently about how to teach ownership to students and children.  I have no children of my own, but I do (eventually) want to teach in some capacity.  I have my history credential, but there are no jobs this year.  The question remains how teach Christ’s message to children and in the same breath teach them about ownership?

The Christmas photo reminds me of many Christmases where my brothers and I would fight over who gets to light the candles at Advent.  It also brings back many memories of fights over shared toys and anger when my brothers would destroy “my” legos or when games on the super nintendo would get erased and we would have to start over.  Needless to say, I was taught from a very young age the idea of ownership and sharing.  But how would Jesus have us live and think of ownership?

It is here that I turn to the book of Luke (9:3-6):

He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Jesus sends the disciples out with nothing and they are required to depend on others.  It is quite a thing to lose your independence in America.  I have only seen a few people really lose it in my lifetime and it would seem now they have no choice but to obey him.  I don’t think this passage is talking to everyone for all times, but I do think there is a kind of message in the text that reminds us that the “independence” we often talk about in America is not what Jesus had for the apostles.  He taught them utter dependence on the communities they were to live in.  Perhaps we would be wise to follow in those footsteps.

Perhaps we would be wise to depend and trust one another in a Christ filled community.

Perhaps we would be wise to play together in a way that ownership becomes secondary to friendship.

Perhaps we would be wise to begin the project of really getting to know each other.

2. As I try to get put a variety of Christian opinions about abortion on here, I am also now trying to put a variety of opinions about prop 8 on here for your linking pleasure.  Over at Bicycle Muse, I want you to read his full post on prop 8, but I want you to here this quote that particularly resonated with me:

Public policy is the act of constantly navigating between two extremes; nothing goes or anything goes. We constantly see this tension when we talk about the hot political topics of today be it abortion, immigration, economics, military action or, in this case, marriage. In other words, public policy often comes down to the tension between security and freedom; highly controlled or loosely allowed. From a secular as well as a religious standpoint, limitations and boundaries are essential for social order. The question that remains is who sets the boundaries? Are they self-imposed and do we practice self-control (anarchy)? Is control imposed upon us by others (dictatorship)? Do we gather together and agree on a common standard of control and create communal boundaries (democracy)?

3.  Over at blip there is a good discussion beginning about iconoclasts and their opponents.  I would suggest joining in if you feel strongly about it.

4.  On Beauty’s Road and Common Root are both asking how Christian communities are responding to the financial Crisis.

5.  According to these pictures, we have no financial crisis (thanks to Pat for linking me to this).

6.  Torture and America – Read all about it.

7.  What do you think of emergent homeschooling?

8.  Rumors have been circulating about Hillary being secretary of state that are more than just internet whispers. The former rival recently met with Obama in Chicago, and one person is guessing why.

I am trying something new on a new blog called Kingdom Conversations.  The idea behind the new blog is to get together a group of people who want to talk about deep theological issues in a web-based discussion community.  I already have one person involved with writing posts for the site, but I am looking for many more.  The categories on the new blog right now include the following:

Music:  I am looking for people who want to take the time to write one or two articles a week on the topic of worship music and contemporary Christian music.  Right now I am personally working on a series over there (in progress) of the power of worship in forming Christian theology by looking through the WOW hits of 2008.  If you are interested in writing these types of articles where you analyze the current industry of Christian music, I would encourage you to e-mail me or leave a comment below.  I am looking for analysis of the industry and what direction you think the industry of Christian music is going.

Jesus:  This section is dedicated to the big man himself, Jesus Christ.  On this part of the site I am looking for bloggers interested in writing about how we can embody the teachings of Jesus in a postmodern world.  I am also looking for people who are interested in connecting Jesus to those who have spoken about him throughout church history.  For instance, I have an article in this section comparing how catholic theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar interpreted Jesus.  If you have other ideas for how we can discuss these things, I am always open to hearing new ideas.

Poverty: This section of Kingdom Conversations is open to those who want to discuss the issues of social justice, peace for the world, and how to deal with poverty domestically and abroad.  I am interested in original ideas and innovative thinking.  Please visit this section to see the wonderful work that Amber Bishop has done in putting up the first article.

I  am also hoping in the near future to add sections on theology, church history, and controversial social issues, but I am going to wait until the first three get off the ground.  If you submit an article, you will be linked on kingdom conversations, and you will quite possibly be blog rolled on my own blog.  I am not a particularly high volume site, but I do get anywhere from 100-150 readers a day, and some of that traffic will follow you back to your site as kingdom conversations gets up and running.  I hope that some of you will consider writing for us.  If you are interested please e-mail me at dkam136@gmail.com.

Five:  If needed, Christians should throw away credit cards AND Debit Cards

America’s consumerist society creates thousands of dollars in “electronic money” every day of illusory money.  Christians who struggle with impulsive buying habits should destroy both their Credit and Debit cards.  Thus, we have to plan out how much money we want to spend, go to the bank and get the money during the regular business hours, and we have a limited supply of money to meet our sometimes unlimited demand.  Consider that such a move would also help to get rid of the rampant individualism we see behind “our” money.  Rather than going to a machine to get money, we have to actually talk to a bank employee, perhaps talk to people as we stand in line, and actually go inside to pay for our gasoline.  We will more and more opportunities to come out of our individualistic bubble if we get rid of our cards.  Furthermore, if we do not have a debit card we cannot make impulsive late night trips to places we have no money for.

This also deals with the compulsive need for “borrowing” money from credit companies who already know the way the system works.  We are projecting that we will have money in the future, but Jesus clearly reminds us to worry about tomorrow when it comes.  What about loans?  Should Christians then take loans to buy a house?  Careful consideration must take place when looking at homes.  I am not qualified as an economist to talk on such issues.

Six: Christians should stay AWAY from the iPod

Technology is not the evil being addressed here, but iPods are not a good deal for for a number of reasons.  First, iPods are not the best financial choice for music consumers.  One will not receive the maximum amount of “musical space” for the amount they are spending.  Just look at this site here where a bundle of 500 CD-R (each 700mb) costs only $85.  That is total of 350 gb worth of musical space for $85.  The more bulk one buys them in, the more bang for the buck.  An 80 gb iPod already costs $250.  Simple calculations let us see the better deal.

Some might argue that an iPod compact design and convenience of being able to listen to it anywhere at anytime make it a better deal.  But iPods are also one of the largest propaganda machines for American empire.  The iPod is meant to be an individualistic endeavor where only one person can listen at a time (if you want to spend more money on listening to an iPod communally you must spend at least another $40 to listen in the car, or another $90 on a radio docking station, or at least another $20 on a cable if your stereo has the correct converters).  Another downside to iPods is that parents cannot control the volume levels and thus ear problems result.  Parents have a harder time controlling what their children listen to.  Finally if it breaks, we lose over $200 down the tube right away.  If a CD breaks it costs less than $0.50 to replace.  Christians need to think seriously about issues like this.  Not only are CDs more communal, but they can create a sense of shared identity as we listen to music together.  Music was always meant to be a communal experience.

Seven: Christians should “Go Wireless”

See!  I told you that I am not anti-technology.  Within the context of communal living that we discussed in the last post, going “wireless” is the best option for Christians.  What do I mean by this?  Christians should trash their TV and invest their money into computer technology.  Consider the economic benefits.  TV is a passive activity, and whether or not we realize it, time is as valuable (if not more valuable) than money.  In economics this idea is called “opportunity cost.”  Most people don’t think about the fact that while they are watching TV passively, they could also be cleaning the house, reading a book, talking with one another, serving the church, helping the poor, or a whole host of other activities.  In addition to this, the cost of cable and satellite can be avoided (saving you $50 a month or $600 a year).  You can still rent movies and watch them on the computer.  You can still get the news online and even watch many clips from CNN, Fox News, and other syndicated news sources.  The computer is quickly becoming the new mode of development in the world, and Christians should be taking advantage of it.

As I talked about a while ago, the technology of the internet is flattening the world.  Christians need to be taking advantage of this new medium by investing into the internet our time and resources in order to create a very particular Christian message.  This is already being done to a large extent by bloggers, web-designers, and the like who are attempting to subvert the idea of internet with the very particular message of Jesus Christ.  One idea is to create an online community for your church.  Encourage members of your church to keep blogs where they are able to share their ideas, talk about theology, ask for prayer, and talk to one another.  As a blog community begins, a pastor can send out messages quickly through his own blog, through e-mail, and can use the internet as a sounding board for new ideas and discussion within the church.  This also allows those who have to leave the church for business reasons or family reasons to stay connected to the church body after they have left through reading about the lives of the church members, praying for them, and commenting on their blogs.

The next advantage of Christians becoming an “internet community” is to stay connected to the information of the church at large.  We can quickly receive updates from missionaries in the field, learn about conferences taking place all over America, be involved in blog conferences like the ones taking place on the catholic theologian Balthasar and become part of the church universal.  We can be praying for one another worldwide and whatnot.  All of these things require that Christians become competent with the internet and wireless world.

…more coming soon…

Before reading this, make sure you click the peanuts comic above to read it. This is a commentary on the above comic strip.

Although Charles Schulz is in the grave, I pray that he would forgive me if I have overstepped by bounds in discussing the theological ramifications of Lucy in the aforementioned comic strip. Charlie brown-reminiscent of my own humanity-is attempting to fly a kite. Richard Beck has done an excellent job of showing the deep symbolism of Charlie Brown, and I will not go further here. We have all flown our kites unsuccessfully. We have all felt the whirlwind of finances catching up with us. We have all, on some level, been so busy that we did not believe we could possibly finish everything on our plate. We have all, hopefully not too often, failed at something. Moses, a failed Egyptian, could not keep his political status. Saul, a failed king, was not obedient to what he believed to be the excessive command of God. Paul, a failed Jew, had left everything he had-often despised now by his own race whom he considered brothers.

The scripture is always dealing with, on some level, someone who cannot quite read the winds right, someone who tangles up their kite, someone who is not unlike Charlie Brown. The scripture deals with a Moses who refuses to believe he can be used-staff in hand-as a powerful instrument of God. The scripture deals with a Saul who did not believe in a God that could possibly want him to slaughter thousands of innocent calves and sheep. The scripture deals with another Saul (later Paul) who gives credence to the very things God abhors-the killing of his saints.

But, when one reads the comic strip carefully, one realizes that Charlie Brown is not the problem. God can make a Moses speak with power from on high. God can send a Samuel to rebuke Saul for his disobedience. God can blind a Paul to slow him down long enough to listen, but what can God do when his church-represented by Lucy-speak out small truths that make the God of this universe out to be a self-help booklet? What can the God of the universe do when the very people who are supposed to be speaking for him are singing beautiful half-truths in his name?

What is it that Lucy says? Rather than teaching Charlie Brown how to properly fly a kite-about wind-speeds, kite theory, proper environment (so that Charlie Brown does not, as he usually does, get it stuck in a tree), and teamwork-Lucy says he must believe that he has the ability to fly the kite. What is it that the church says? Rather than teaching followers of Christ how properly and incarnationally be the church-learning about the deep roots that make up the currents of the church, theology, how to live properly in the world (so that we do not, as often happens, end up in the same ruts and routines that lead nowhere), and community-the church says we must believe in our innate ability to be the church. As a result, we have people who strongly, passionately, and zealously believe in the church, but have no tools to better read the winds. We don’t make better kite-makers. The church sees their only function as pointing out the kite is broken-the rest is up to the person to work out with God.

Jesus often spoke to the Pharisees-whom we have to take seriously as the most ardently religious Jews of their day-saying that they “load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them” (Luke 11:46). Notice in the comic how Lucy helps Charlie Brown to get to a good place, and then turns around and begins pushing him down again. The church in America brings people to a point where they are “saved,” and then turns right back again to tell them they are not good enough. It is as if some churches have no theology after the four spiritual laws.

But is not transformation-where Lucy comes alongside Charlie Brown to help him rebuild his kite and fly his kite-the Church that Jesus Christ calls us to? Isn’t anything less a mere hypocrisy and contradiction of terms? Didn’t Jesus come to do more than tell us our kite is broken?

How do we move beyond “broken kite theology?”

Western Christians are often guilty of western contextualization of the Bible-making it logical, straightforward, de-mystified, and full of theological propositions. Would it not be better, instead of reading scripture in short snippets, to read full books receiving the full theological and eschatological vision of the authors? For instance, one of the most famous “broken kite” passages is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The focal point of the passage, however, is that “a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24).

The vocal point-the point of contention and focus for any Jew-would have been when Paul suggested that he has found “a righteousness from God, apart from the law” (Rom 3:21). God had given a very particular hesed (covenant love/faithfulness) to a very particular people. What Paul said was-at the least-scandalous, and-at the most-heretical to any Jew. This was the one-two punch that Paul intended to lay out for the audience in Rome. Up to this point, Paul had been breaking down systems uniformly-both for the Jew and the Gentile. The Gentiles could not trust in their state sponsored religion of empire, but the Jews could no longer keep the Gentiles-the unclean oppressors who would not allow freedom to Israel-out of the Jewish faith (Paul calls them “ingrafted” branches). Paul was calling for solidarity between the Jews and Gentiles.

If we have all been saved-asks Paul-by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, “where, then, is there boasting?” There is none because “we believe that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28). Again, Paul is pushing his way out of Orthodox Judaism (although later in the book he will lament such a push) towards promotion of Gentile Christianity. One can only imagine the great languish in his heart to probably lose many of his friends for the cause of Christ. All of a sudden, the book becomes all too human, but the divine shines through because Paul’s heart bleeds that all people should come together under the commonality Christ-with whom we have died, resurrected, and now live in community, through the spirit, with the triune God. There should be no dividing walls any longer. The scandal of the “broken kite” is that Jesus hasn’t just fixed the kite of the Christian, but he is willing to fix the kites of our enemies, the unclean, the dirty, and the prostitute. In other words, God is willing to fix the kite of those may have murdered our children. He is willing to fix the kites of those some would never think of touching. Moving beyond a simply “broken kite” theology means taking on a mind of Christ that is willing to touch anyone-no matter how dirty or how different.

How do we teach people to make better kites?

Surely the comic would have ended differently if Lucy would have sat down and helped Charlie Brown make a better kite. Surely the problem would have been solved if the other peanuts characters-Linus, Rerun, Sally, and Shroeder-all came out to cheer on Charlie Brown’s efforts and make sure the task were accomplished. Perhaps the church would be different if, rather than simply talking about kites, the church came alongside lay people to help build better families, better homeless shelters, better communities, and better churches. Perhaps if the church came together-laypeople, pastors, worship leaders, and elders-to cheer on the individuals within the church and make sure the task of being the church is accomplished.

But how does a church do this? Perhaps the best way to be the church is not written in books, outlines in seven-step plans, or found in mission statements. Perhaps the church is found in feasting as a community-as is the practice of the triune God. When communities of people come together-simply helping one another-to bear one another’s burdens, then we will see “the full measure” of Jesus’ joy within us (John 17:13). Jesus’ prayer is that we “all may be one” in the same manner that Jesus and the Father are one (John 17:23). There is no great idea-only a great person-to hold the disciples together. As such, the call of a Christian is to a great community of people-not primarily a community of ideas. Ideas divorced from relationship are nothing at all.

Talk of justice with no help to the immigrants in my own California is no justice at all. Talk of community while the single man or woman in our church goes to eat alone is no community at all. Talk of love without simple acts of kindness to our children, our friends, our wives or husbands, is no love at all. To talk of anything divorced from action is “death faith” (read the book of James). In the words of the mystic Adrienne von Speyr:

“One cannot prepare oneself properly for the confession without a living relationship to the Holy Scriptures, inasmuch as they contain the life of the Lord or interpret his intentions…He remains to the Father; his whole existence is love for the Father, prayer to the Father, service of the Father. In his light we immediately see how things stand with our own existence, our own prayer, our own service, what we have not done correctly and what we have missed.”

“A little bit better everyday,” she remarked.  Underneath her tones I can hear the frustration.  “She is trying really hard to walk, but she is obviously still in the wheel chair.”

“Can she talk, yet?” I ask.

“She still can’t talk very well.   She is going through therapy.  Because of her poor circulation she had to get her ring resized.  It was a very traumatic moment for her when they took the ring off her finger at the hospital.”

I looked down at my food.  I wonder what it would be like to have to work to eat it.  I wonder what it would be like to not be able to speak to my parents about it.  I wonder a lot of things.

“But then the other night at small group Dwayne told everybody he had an announcement.   He said, ‘I know there has been some confusion around here with Barbara’s ring being gone, but when I said ‘in sickness and in health until death do us part, I didn’t mean until it got uncomfortable, I meant until we die.  With all of you here, I want to rededicate my marriage vows to Barbara.’  Then he put the resized ring back on her finger.”

“Wow,” I said dumbfounded.

“He is a good guy,” mom remarks.  “She couldn’t talk, but she could still bawl like a baby.”

The Jews who came from these traditions were not willing to idly sit by and watch the kingdom of Israel be further marginalized and oppressed by the Jews. Kevin reminded us that in the word “hosanna,” we are not only singing praise to God’s anointed, but we are calling out “save now.” Breaking through the eschatological hope of Israel was also a frustration and an all so human response suggesting the pain and torment going in within the souls of those very Jews who called Jesus Lord. These same Jews that are calling out to Jesus are also the ones under the burden of heavy taxation. This is not just a nice event to usher in easter–palm Sunday is an event within itself and can only be understood in that moment in that time once. We can only peer into and try to empathisize with the pain and suffering in Jerusalem that happened that day.

And within this day we find the paradoxical emotions of love for Israel and hate for repulsive Roman rule, looking forward to the future while despairing in their present paralysis, and their happiness of a coming messiah intermingled with a doubt because so many others have come before.  It is in this moment–with these precise feelings–that we enter into Palm Sunday.  Today then becomes a day where we close our eyes–meditating upon the scene.  In the midst of doubt, perhaps we can find a small thimble of hope in this carpenter.  In the midst of despair, perhaps we can look forward to a final future where justice rolls down like a mighty stream.  Perhaps in the midst of the hate for the systems we feel so powerless to stop, we see a character that will maybe–just maybe–conquer them with love.