Horses and riders, let them go!

Israel in Egypt, G. F. Handel

Recitative (tenor)

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them: —  

(Exodus xv: 20, 21)  

Soprano Solo and Chorus

Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.  

(Exodus xv: 21)  

It has been awhile.  My sharing with you ended on the Second Sunday of Easter.  It has been busy. The post Easter mystagogy, that turning toward the word and living the Resurrection, has been quite busy and wrought with distractions.  Glad to have a minute to share some thoughts.

I left the story with the encounter with the risen Jesus.  With Miriam, we sang, “I will sing to the Lord, He is gloriously triumphant. Horse and chariot are cast into the sea.”

However did they come back, chasing me through the Red Sea of my life?  Those horses, chariots, and charioteers are persistent and pernicious. Didn’t  I take care of this on Easter?  It hasn’t even been 40 days.

To reconnect with  the Easter message, I went back to read various commentators who wrote on or around Easter.  Many wrote that we live stuck in Holy Saturday.  This has not settled into my heart as true. 

Consider, the apostles are in the upper room, likely sitting Shiva, telling stories of their beloved friend. Wrapped in their rent garments, they consoled each other and prepared themselves for a life without their teacher. 

Was it enough for them to have an experience of the risen Jesus, not once but twice?  Is it enough for us?

I suspect not.  I suggest that it is not Holy Saturday that holds us with a false sense of safety. Rather, we live in the upper room of the post Resurrection experience.  Time and time again, we are visited by our risen Friend and in our comfort with the memories of the past cannot understand the greeting, “Peace; Do not be afraid.” 

Holding to the past, keeping our fears alive, choosing to live sitting shiva, rejecting peace keeps those chariots and charioteers alive.  How quickly we have forgotten the ecstatic energy of Easter morning.

We believe that we are transformed by the grace of resurrection in our baptism.  The time is now to put those chariots and charioteers to rest and say yes to the ecstatic peace that overcame Miriam.  Our call is to leave the upper room and live the life of the transformed and be Miriam.

On this first night of Passover, don’t miss a chance to “Sing unto the Lord….he has triumphed gloriously!  Shalom.

We Sing Hosanna in the Highest Heaven

Hosanna to the Son of David  (Weelkes)

Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna! Thou that sittest in the highest heavens; Hosanna in excelsis Deo!

Palm Sunday and Holy Week.  There is so much written about these sacred days. It is awkward to bring my thoughts forward for sharing.  I will and must as I stay true to my struggles as a Catholic in the Diaspora.  These are the days when we all should feel most welcome in the community of faith.  I do not. They are the days that define our faith and bring our baptismal mandate into focus.

It is painful to be apart.  These are days filled with prayers and rituals I know so well. I have lived them, led them and prayed them my entire life. 

As I read the lectionary selections for today, I was again stunned by how powerful and beautiful the passion account of Luke really is.  Uninterrupted by pseudo theatrics, the story is my story and the story of my baptismal entry into the “life, death and resurrection” of Jesus.  I am relieved to not have the story interrupted by endless fracturing of the text between various “players”.   This may have been the best, right solution for a musical setting of the story which, as it was, a precursor of the oratorio and opera; a miracle / mystery play of sorts.  Why has it persisted into modern times?

My single greatest objection to this format is simple.  The congregation is relegated to the position of shouting “Crucify him.”   Wait a minute. I did not crucify, Jesus.  I am crucified WITH Jesus. 

The crucifixion is a result of the “happy fault… necessary fault of Adam…..to ransom a slave God gave His Son.” Paul teaches us clearly that by baptism we are one with Jesus in the crucifixion and by baptism gain our place in heaven.   Why do we hold onto to this archaic representation in word and ritual that keeps the People of God the wrong place, denying their baptismal right and holding the blame for crucifying Jesus? 

Of course, in our life, we sin.  We turn away from God’s love. We do not love ourselves, as we should in order to love our neighbor.  We do not live and proclaim the kingdom. However, our sins do not condemn Jesus to die.  Only God the Father could ask Jesus to die;  a death  that could only come of Jesus’ own free will.  This is so  in order to free us from the sin of Adam in the Garden. 

Wouldn't it be a somewhat more genuine approach to have share the banquet and, then as a family, recount the story of our salvation as a story, carefully told as you would share the most tender moments of your family heritage with the children of the household?   

In truth, we sing “Hosanna to the Son of David” throughout this week. It does not end with the reading from the book of Isaiah.  We walk with Jesus  expressing our deepest gratitude for him being one among us and willingly, in a most human moment, saying yes to God the Father for our salvation. This is the reason Jesus came to live as one with us. In this he knew our struggle to say, “Yes.”  We die too with him as do we rise and sit in the highest heaven. "Hosanna in the Highest."