The Passion

One Page Wonder

This lesson has a bit of the "Crossing the Streams" feeling for me. In teaching there is a kind of project called a foldable, and this is my favorite kind of foldable, the one page wonder. The idea is for the students to make their own mini-book. It being Palm Sunday, the lesson is on the Passion. They were pretty involved and made some interesting scripture selections. Intentionally there's too much for them to use, so that they will read and make choices about importance and what goes in. I've also go images of the one I made with them. I made mine at the same time instead of ahead of time so that there would be less imitation and more creation. I wrote in the passage from Mark 14:61-63 because I forgot it on the first version of the scripture passages. It's really one of the key passages to me, since Jesus identifies so strongly with how the Lord named himself to Moses.

Here's the scripture:



Here's a form with some gridlines and directions. But really any sheet of paper will do. (There really are gridlines, but it's a faint grey.)


And then here's my example.

A quick look in action.





Too late for me, but not for you; just saw this beautiful little video that's a visualization of Mark's Passion narrative: https://vimeo.com/28995786

Image credit: What Good Foundation @ Flickr

String of Pearls

Happy New Year! Good time for beginnings, and the Feast of Jesus' Baptism kicks off the church year.

Rabbis had a name for teaching scripture from different parts of the bible by connecting word: making a string of pearls. The gospel this week for celebrating Jesus’ Baptism is a great example of this. Rabbis think it’s especially nice when they can connect the three different parts of the Hebrew bible: the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Mark 1:4-11

John the Baptizer was in the desert telling people about a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went to him. As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.  John was dressed in clothes made from camel’s hair. He wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.  He announced, “The one who comes after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to bend down and untie his sandal straps.  I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. As Jesus came out of the water, he saw heaven split open and the Spirit coming down to him as a dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with you.”

So what are the connections? One book suggests these three:
Psalm2:7 I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.”

Genesis 22:1-2 Later God tested Abraham and called to him, “Abraham!”
“Yes, here I am!” he answered.  God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.”

Isaiah 42:1 Here is my servant, whom I support. Here is my chosen one, with whom I am pleased. I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.

1)    What are the connections?
2)    What do the connections lead to? I mean, what else connects with Jesus or his baptism in those other scriptures?
3)    Do you see any other connections?




Another preacher points out two other connections with that place: Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan, and the great prophet Elisha receives a “double portion of spirit” of Elijah, and parts the waters of the Jordan as Elijah did.
4)    What might make those important connections?


More connections: There are two other places in Mark’s gospel when Jesus is proclaimed the Son of God:

Mark 9:2-7

After six days Jesus took only Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone. Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.  

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Peter didn’t know how to respond. He and the others were terrified.)  Then a cloud overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Mark 15:37-39

Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice and died. The curtain in the temple was split in two from top to bottom.  When the officer who stood facing Jesus saw how he gave up his spirit, he said, “Certainly, this man was the Son of God!”

5)    What connections might Mark hoped you would see among Jesus’ baptism, transfiguration and death, connected by this phrase?



Your Baptism
How did we go from Jesus getting baptized to us getting baptized? Because of New Testament stories like this:
Acts 19:1-7

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied-- altogether there were about twelve of them.

The official scoop: A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace. Baptism is the initiation into Christian faith. Water and sometimes oil mark you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There’s three parts that you or your godparents commit to: renounce and reject sin, a statement of belief in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and a commitment to follow Christ as Lord and Savior. The effect of baptism isyou receive the Holy Spirit to live in you.

6)    Any questions about your baptism or baptism in general?


7)    Jot down one connection you want to remember from today.



References:

• Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. They have a website at ourrabbijesus.com
• "Cosmic Crossing", Russell Rathbun, thehardestquestion.org
• Picture: Fr. Stephen, MSC @ Flickr 

For the men's study on this topic I made small changes to the questions and added a section before the Acts reading.

Nadia Bolz-Weber wrote a sermon where she contrasted the warm, fuzzy moment of the Holy Spirit hovering like a dove, to the following verses 12 and 13: “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” She comments that we often treat our spiritual life or church practice as a “wilderness avoidance program.”

6) What other scripture connects to the idea that the Spirit may send us out into the Wilderness?


7) Have you had any experiences where close contact with God or a filling with the Spirit drove you into a spiritually or faith-challenging place?

The In Betweeners

The In Betweeners… that’s us!
Advent is a great time for considering what it means to be waiting for Christ.

BCers:  Isaiah
Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. 

1) This is the beginning of the 2nd part of Isaiah, where Israel is in exile. How is this comforting to them?


2) Are we in need of comfort now? In what way are people still in exile? How might this comfort them today?

John the Baptizer: Read Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
`Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." 

3) Crazy corner preachers are so rarely successful. But John was. Why do you think?


The following is probably too long a quote from Nadia Bolz-Weber's sermon on this. Please go read the whole thing.
“Repentance – which in Greek means something closer to “thinking differently afterwards” than it means change your cheating ways. Of course repentance CAN look like a prostitute becoming a librarian but repentance can also look like a whore saying ok I’m a sex worker and I have no idea how to get out but I can come here and receive bread and wine and maybe if only for a moment I can hold onto the love of God without being deemed worthy of it by anyone but God. Repentance is a con artist being a real person for the first time ever without knowing who that person is anymore but knowing he sees it in the eyes of those serving him communion naming him a Child of God. Repentance is realizing there is more life to be had in being proved wrong than in continuing to think you’re right. Repentance is the adult child of an fundamentalist saying I give up on waiting for my mom to love me for who I am so I’m gonna rely on God to help me love her for who she is because I know she’s not going to be around forever. Repentance is unexpected beauty after a failed suicide attempt. Repentance is a couple weeks ago when the clerk at the Adult bookstore on Colfax teared up and said “your church brought me thanksgiving lunch?” Repentance is what happened to me when at the age of 28 my first community college teacher told me I was smart and despite all my past experience of myself I believed her. See, repentance is what happens to us when the Good News, the truth of who we are and who God is, enters our lives and scatters the darkness of competing ideas.”

4) Nadia Bolz-Weber (The Sarcastic Lutheran) had that amazing take on repentance. What do you think? Can that fit with your image of repentance? What area of your life needs repentance?


Fellow In Betweener: Peter
2 Peter 3:8-15a

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

5) How would you sum up Peter’s take on waiting? Is it still relevant for us today or was it more for those expecting Jesus any day?


6) What does “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation” mean?

The End of Waiting: Read Mark 13:24-37

 Jesus said to his disciples, "In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake-- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake." 

7) For the Jews in exile, awaiting the messiah was clearly positive. It would mean the fulfillment of astounding promises. Is that what Jesus’ return is for us, or is it something different?


8) Keep awake. Be wise. Trim our wicks… how do we do that? How is living with a resurrected Savior than different from living with a resurrected Savior who’s coming back.



Bonus poetry: a friend was marveling over the wonder of the incarnation, and I stumbled on this bit of poetry that captured some of the wonder for me:

We who must die demand a miracle.
How could the Eternal do a temporal act,
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible:
We who must die demand a miracle. 

(short excerpt from For the Time Being – WH Auden. Link to a longer excerpt)

9) How can we prepare for Christmas like it is good news, surprising and noteworthy, instead of a story that we’ve heard a large number of times?


Double bonus: Auden's For the Time Being is a 50 page poem,  subtitled "a Christmas Oratorio."  The chorus is also amazing...

He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.

He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.

Recalls Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, doesn't it?