“Don't Believe; Be LOVE”

Rev. Alison Longstaff, April 27, 2014

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Psalm 16; John 20:19-31; Heavenly Secrets 1799:4

Today we heard the story of Thomas—of the famous “doubting Thomas” who needed to see and feel and touch the risen Lord, in order to believe in His resurrection. Doubting Thomas, the one who needed proof, the one who prompted God to say, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Believe. Belief. What is belief? In our culture, we have come to define belief as “confidence in something’s accuracy.” It is a purely mental exercise which involves approval of something as true. “Belief” in Christian circles has taken on such an identification with the rightness of ideas that it has become pretty well divorced from our heart reality and how we live. Indeed, we Christians seem to be reduced quite easily to squabbles over minute differences in our theologies when we could be working in harmony to live and love better, to reduce the suffering on our planet. We seem to prefer to spend our time getting huffy and drawing up battle lines over our different theological interpretations. We kick the beggars into the ditch in order to make more room for us to fight. What ever happened to us beating our swords into plowshares?

Belief. The original meaning of “belief” was not so much about ideas or statements of truth as it was about love. The origins of the word “belief” can be traced back to Proto-Germanic, and it was based on a root word for love. The German word “liebe,” which means “love” comes from the same source. Indeed, “believe” could be translated into “be-love” which is much closer to what it really meant. It was about living what we loved. It was about committing to a way of life. The original Christians “believers” committed themselves to a life of love and service to their neighbours, not to a framework of theological theories.

They committed to caring for the widows, the orphans, and the homeless because they loved the vision of a world transformed by such a life. They saw themselves in the homeless and widows, and they treated them as they would want to be treated. The way they lived was a commitment to the Golden Rule in every corner of their lives. How the meaning of the word “belief” has changed through the ages!

There is an old story from first century Palestine of a mischievous man who asked Rabbi Hillel, a famous rabbi of that time, to teach him Judaism while standing on one foot. So, while standing on one foot, Rabbi Hillel responded: "Don't do to others what you wouldn't have them do to you. That is all the Torah (God’s Word); all the rest is commentary.”

What a great story. I believe it speaks to all faiths of all time. Christianity can be simplified to the same basic tenet. It is about treating others as we would like to be treated.

What we are talking about is compassion. Compassion, which could be another translation for the “good will to all people” that is prophesied by the host of angels to the shepherds. Wouldn’t this indeed bring peace on earth, “good will to all people”? 

The Dalai Lama has stated: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” More than one scholar has observed that the fundamental uniting element of all the major world religions is the Golden Rule–to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. How would the world be different if only we all lived according to it!

Our rules and creeds and theological theories tend to divide us. Our hearts and love and human compassion tend to unite us. It is this realization that brings a whole new meaning to the Lord’s words to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It speaks to our tendency to be exclusive in our Christianity. It could be read as, “Blessed are those who have not met and come to love Jesus Christ as their Saviour and still have come to live a life of goodness and compassion.” Indeed, wouldn’t such people, be they Buddhist or Jewish or agnostic, by virtue of living the golden rule, find their lives and relationships transformed in blessed ways regardless of what religious organisation has their signature of membership? I would imagine their lives are certainly more peaceful than that of any Christian “believers” who are busy squabbling and fighting over points of dogma. Who would you say is more blessed?

And so it is with you and I, be we Swedenborgian or Seventh Day Adventist, Unitarian or UCC, Catholic or Christian Reformed; we will find we are blessed by living the Golden Rule, regardless of our denominational affiliation. People of faith the world over do not necessarily believe every word of their traditional creeds, but they belong because they long for a blessed life. They long for belonging, and for their lives to have meaning and purpose. We belong, because we need community and we long for meaning. Don’t we all, especially when we are feeling that our own efforts are getting us nowhere, long to believe that there is some transformative power for good in the universe that can set things right, because our efforts repeatedly fall short?

Author and speaker Karen Armstrong has found that when we commit to a spiritual way of living, we are transformed by that commitment and by the living of it. It is in the practice of living a way of love that brings transformation, that lets us glimpse God. It is through ministry to others that we can feel the sense of what is sacred. Just as we experience in the Holy Communion, a very mundane act can become transcendent, and we can feel God’s presence.

So, to believe is to be love.  “Believing” is not when I say with my lips how I understand God, but when I show with my hands and my feet how I understand God’s love in the world.  When we commit to living the Golden Rule, the process of doing so brings God’s grace into our lives.  Though our culture says “belief” means “trust in certain ideas,” we have seen that believing is not and cannot be separated from how we live and how we love.  When we commit to living a compassionate or “Golden Rule” way of life, it changes us.  

Now, back to doubting Thomas. Doubting Thomas needed to see and feel God’s wounds in order to believe. I have tended to judge him for that. When I have heard this passage, I have liked to think I would be one of the blessed who believes without seeing, not the obnoxious one who needs proof. But the thing is, lately I realize how much I do identify with Thomas. Sometimes I want physical proof that my God has not died and is still with me. I would guess, whether we like to admit it or not, that we all go through this at some time or other in our lives. But perhaps this is why Thomas is part of the story. Perhaps he is exactly part of the story to reassure us and remind us that we are still lovable despite our doubts, because we all tend to have times of terrible doubt. Maybe it is okay to need a little personal attention from our God to get us through. Jesus doesn’t begrudge us anything if it will bring us closer to Him. He comes right to us where we are to show us his hands and feet and side if that is what we need. I have needed to learn not to judge myself for struggling to believe. 

Belief is such a struggle sometimes exactly because it is an action of the heart, not just the head. It is related to the word dis-couragement, which comes from the French word “coeur” for heart. When we are dis-heartened, God comes and en-courages us.  He fills our hearts up again. Whatever it takes.  So, if you find yourself struggling with doubt, don’t judge yourself.  Know that you are loved every step of the way.  Doubt is part of the story too.  In fact, doubt often serves to deepen our faith and compassion, which is exactly what we are on earth to do.   We are here to Be Love.  That is the way to be blessed and be a blessing.

“believe”. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/believe (accessed: March 26, 2008).

Originally preached March 30, 2008, St James Lutheran, New Dundee, Ontario

Readings:

Psalm 16 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."  As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.  The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.  LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.  You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

John 20:19-31  On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Now Thomas (called “the twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Heavenly Secrets 1799:4

In the Christian world it is our doctrines that cause our churches to be distinct and separate, and because of these we call ourselves “Roman Catholics”, “Lutherans”, “Calvinists” or “Reformed”, “Evangelical”, as well as many other names.  It is only because of our doctrines that we are called by these names.

This situation would never exist if we made love for the Lord and charity towards the neighbor the most important part of faith.  If that were so, our doctrinal differences would be no more than shades of opinion over the many arcana of faith, which truly Christian people would leave to individual conscience.

In our hearts we would then say that a person is truly a Christian if he or she lives as a Christian, that is, as Christ teaches.  If this were so, all the different churches would become one, and all the disagreements, which stem only from doctrine, would disappear.  Indeed, the hatred that one person holds against another would be dispelled in an instant, and the Lord’s kingdom on earth would come.

Easter Reflections 2014

Easter Reflections

We had a "family service" this Easter at Bath Church of the New Jerusalem.  That means instead of a sermon, I had created a children's talk, which I do from notes.

The only child in the church this year was an adorable baby girl, under one year old.

So we had Kylie's mother bring her forward, and I pretended she could respond to my questions.  

Well she grinned away, chewing on her pacifier, as happy as could be, representing renewal and new life and joy far better than any words I could have put together.  Just her presence was the best Easter sermon ever. 

My cousin, Amanda Rogers Petro, posted this reflection on Facebook, and granted me permission to share it with you:

"I often identify with Mary Magdalene, who stands there talking to the risen Jesus, but doesn't recognize him because she's been looking for somebody dead. Love keeps happening, and it's always alive. I sometimes miss the Divine because I'm looking for it in the tomb of my own limited ideas about where it should be and what it should look like.

What if the risen Christ is alive in every living being, in every space, in all time? What if everything, everything is overflowing with holiness?"

Exactly.

What if we realize that the Risen Christ is everywhere, and it is we that cannot recognize this Divine Love due to our limited sight and understanding?

The following song expresses the joy we feel when we recognize the Divine Love, ALIVE and Present in our lives, when we thought all was lost.

This is a whole bunch of Swedenborgians performing this Easter song written by Swedenborgian scholar and amazing musician Rev Dr. Jonathan Rose (at the keyboards). I am related to a good half of these singers. This is my roots. A Happy and Joyful Easter one and all!

And finally, here are the readings and notes from Sunday.  May you find something nourishing within. 

Easter “children’s” talk, note form.

What is today?

Why is it special?

Have you ever had anything die or be ruined?

What sorts of things can die?

In “Princess Bride,” Wesley died.  Except he was just “mostly” dead. Not all the way dead.

He was able to come back to life.

In “Heaven Can Wait,” a new “angel” took Joe’s soul before he got hit by a car. But Joe wasn't going to have died, and wasn't supposed to be dead yet.  So he came back in someone else’s body. Because he looked and sounded so different, it took a while for his friends and family to realize it was still him.

There are lots of stories about those who loved Jesus best not recognizing him after He rose from the dead.

Nothing that is good ever really dies.  Ever.  The external trappings go away, all the time.  And sometimes, well, LOTS of times, it feels like that person or pet or thing we loved will never be seen again.  And that is very sad.  It feels terrible.

But nothing created by God—nothing made out of love, can ever cease to exist.  It may change form or shape, and we may have trouble recognizing it at first, and it may be a LONG time before we realize we have it again, but every good thing we love will come back. EVERYTHING.

It might not look like what we expect, but our hearts will recognize it.

Our hearts will “burn within us” even if our eyes and minds are slow to understand.

That is one of the biggest and best messages of Easter.  Nothing that is God-With-Us can ever die.  Ever.

from Heavenly Secrets aka Arcana Caelestia by Emanuel Swedenborg, 

paragraph number 5114:4 (a paraphrase)

In the case of human beings, the Divine Love flows into and inhabits our inmost being. We can accept this Love and make it our own it by acknowledging it and loving this Divine in return.  What is eternal and infinite dwells within a person’s soul, not simply because it flows in but because we welcome it in return.  Indeed, because every human being has this Divine implanted within, one’s internal, or soul, or truest self can never die. 

John 11: 25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 

John 20:11 – 18  

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.¹³ Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

¹⁴ Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

Psalm 30 NKJV

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,

And have not let my foes rejoice over me.

² O Lord my God, I cried out to You,

And You have healed me.

³ O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;

You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 

⁴ Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,

And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

⁵ For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life;

Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. 

⁶ Now in my prosperity I said,

“I shall never be moved.”

⁷ Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;

You hid Your face, and I was troubled. 

⁸ I cried out to You, O Lord;

And to the Lord I made supplication:

⁹ “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise You?  Will it declare Your truth?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;

Lord, be my helper!” 

¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

¹² To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

A Blessed and Joyful Easter season to you all,
Rev Alison Longstaff

Palms of Praise - sermon for Sunday, April 13

“Palms of Praise”

Rev Alison Longstaff, April 13, 2014

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Psalm 8; Matthew 21:1-9; Portions: HS 878:5

I want to start this sermon and end this sermon with hands. 

Why hands?  Because it is Palm Sunday.

A palm branch is called a palm branch because it is shaped like a hand.  This is actually true in several languages.  English is not the only language that likens that leaf-shape to a hand.  Perhaps this is because of correspondences. (For those who are new to Swedenborgianism, “correspondences” refers to the perception and science that every created thing has a spiritual meaning and communicates a spiritual idea.  This is not a new idea, because we see it in ancient cultures, in ideas like totem animals, using crystals for healing, and even in astrology.  We don’t necessarily buy into any of those individual expressions of correspondences, but we do love to work with and explore the idea that God’s wisdom shows up in many places in many ways.)

So, back to hands. Even today, when you see a crowd in St. Peter’s square, or at a rock concert, or when a celebrity passes on a float in a parade, you will see people lifting up their hands.  We raise our hands in recognition and honor.  And we raise our hands to say, “Do you see me in return?”

In our story for today, not only were the people lifting their hands in praise and greeting of the Lord when He entered Jerusalem, many of those hands had palm branches in them, extending and enlarging the hands that were raised in praise and celebration.  They wanted to greet Him in a big way, not only saying “I honor you.”  But, “Please see me too!”

Now, perhaps on first glance, you might think this strange custom, of waving palms and casting branches and garments before the Lord has no points of resonance for us today.  We rarely see people riding donkeys, and if we do, we don’t feel compelled to throw our jacket down in front of them, or to rip branches off trees so we can wave them.

So let me help you see just how much we are like these people and still do just what they do.  For example, I’m sure you remember those days when the streets were all mud and we had to pick up our long skirts to keep them out of the….  Hmmm.  Maybe not.  But surely most of us have seen those images in movies of the chivalrous days when a gentleman would throw his coat down in a puddle before a person he respected and honored (usually a lovely lady) to protect her dainty feet and frilly skirts from the filth.  

That action is the same action as the people of Jerusalem are performing when they lay their garments before the way of the King.  Very likely they were covering up some of the nastier stuff that was lying in the Jerusalem streets. It was sign of great respect.  It was saying, “You shouldn't have to step in that.” It was a sign of respect so profound that the individual would sacrifice the clothes off their back to spare this person such an indignity.  And remember, they didn't have a lot of clothes back then!  They couldn't just run into the house and grab something out of the rummage sale bin.  

This is more like you doing this with your favorite sweater, your best suit, or that expensive coat that you love so much—laying it down over animal waste or smelly garbage or even human excrement, to then be walked over by many feet, grinding that garment deeply into the muck.  Then after all the excitement has passed, you can peel it up out of the filth so you can clean it.  Because it is the only one you have and you need it.  That garment is how you stay warm in the chilly desert nights.

Do you feel that now?  The significance and meaning of that action?  Now that is sacrifice!  That is devotion.

A custom that we still have today that has descended to us from that same ritual can be seen at the Oscars, when we lay down the red carpet before North America’s royalty.  We have paved so much of North America and gotten so far away from living with live-stock by now, that we have lost the visceral, emotional, practical connection to the ritual.  We don’t think, “I’m so glad she’s not ruining her Dior garment and Sergio Rossi pumps in that donkey—er, by-product.  Yet the red carpet ritual is descended from the very same tradition.  The garments and branches in the road in today’s Scripture were Jerusalem’s way of laying down the red carpet for the Lord.

But do we see people waving branches to honor a passing celebrity these days?  Well, maybe not branches.  But have you witnessed a sporting event recently?  There are lots of big things being waved—flags, banners, signs, posters, and giant foam hands. Giant hands.  It is a way of declaring support and loyalty. It is a form of claiming that team or star as one’s own.  And when the camera pans over the crowd, don’t the signs and banners catch your eye? Those individuals want to stand out.  They want to be seen.  They are publicly declaring their support for their hero.

That sort of cheering, rowdy, crowd energy that you see in the stands at a big event, or on the streets of London when Will and Kate drive by, is the sort of cheering crowd energy and declarations of faith and hope that we see in today’s story.  Now do you feel it?  Surely you have been in a crowd like that.  Surely you have thrown your faith and hope in with a team, or a political candidate, or some guru-figure at least once in your life.  That is what was happening on the streets of Jerusalem that day.  It was as real and relevant and exciting for them then as it has been for us in our experiences.

Now you might say, “Yes, but I've never mistaken Oprah, or Obama, or Patrick Dempsey for God!”  Well the truth is, very few, if any of the people in that day saw Jesus as anything other than their next physical king.  This human from Nazareth (so they thought) was going to rise up, overthrow the Romans, cleanse Israel from all foreign oppression, and make their nation a strong and respected nation once again.  Hurray! They would no longer be occupied and oppressed.  This man was their Messiah at last!  Their expectation was that he would become their earthly King—restoring Israel to herself and establishing her peace and freedom for all time to come.

And that was almost what Jesus had in mind, except it was the peace and freedom of all of humankind, for all time to come that He had in mind—which was a much bigger and more ambitious goal than to be a finite king of one earthly nation for a limited time.  So He went straight to the Temple, representing our spiritual center, and began to throw out the money changers. 

The first step in any renewal is to remove the things that stand in the way.  We cannot have a “buy and sell” attitude about our status with God.  God is not a vending machine, that if we offer a certain amount of prayers the right way, or sacrifice the right amount of chickens or fat oxen at the right time, we can then expect certain rewards or favors.  God’s love is unconditional and constant.  His/Her desire for our happiness is immediate and without reserve.  It is we who put in barriers and expectations between us and God, and decide we aren’t good enough or deserving enough to access God’s love directly.  It is we who think God will like us better or pay more attention if we “prove” our devotion.  It is we who create rules about God’s love and reduce our relationship with the Divine to something requiring transactions and debt and the exchange of “money.”

And it is we who interpret not having our prayers answered according to our specifications in our time frame as God not hearing our prayers and not loving us.  In that case we are just like the people in Jerusalem, who had a specific notion of what Jesus was going to do for them.  When He didn’t go to the Palace and throw out the Romans, but went to the Temple and upset the religious leaders, they began to withdraw their support.  Their Messiah was letting them down, and they began to abandon him in droves.  No doubt you have lived this in some version in your life.  I know I have. 

How many of us who expected Obama to turn the whole mess of the US government around after His election, have downgraded our loyalty and expectation since he hasn’t delivered the way we thought he should?  Or if loyalty and expectation connected with Obama doesn’t work for you, no doubt you can think of any number of groups, individuals, doctors, new health regimes, diet plans, or self-help books that you have signed up with or committed to only to have your hopes for wholesale salvation from whatever it was not be delivered.  We know this experience.  We live it all the time. It is easier to understand this people’s wholesale abandonment of Jesus during His trials and crucifixion when we can connect it with our own disappointments and disillusionments. Yes, they completely misunderstood what His mission was, and we often do too. 

So this is the lesson for us.  It is showing us the gap between Jesus’ intentions for our salvation verses our ideas of what we think we need to save us.  God always answers prayers and the answer is always “YES.”  But God’s “YES” answers the deeper longings, the underlying unhappiness, the whole shooting match of why we are asking for aid, not the face request.  It is a little like Extreme Home Makeover, Spiritual Edition, where we ask for help with a leaky basement, and meanwhile while God is working behind the scenes to give us a whole new dream home. 

But unlike Extreme Home makeover, God’s Divine Plan doesn't unfold in a week while we go to Disney World. No such luck. God’s Divine plan takes a lifetime of work, with lots of apparent set-backs and losses.  Sometimes we get little peeks at what blessings might be coming, but much of the time the journey can feel like a lot of lonely hard work. 

Like the people in Jerusalem, we all tend to expect on some level that God should make our personal lives relatively free from the really nasty problems that other people have.  And when He doesn’t, we sometimes jump ship, and hitch our wagons to something promising a more immediate “salvation” than God seems to be offering.

I know that sometimes I can’t help but hope that the next diet plan will be the one that locks in a slender figure for me forever.  I can’t help but hope that some new love or some big lottery ticket, or maybe Oprah discovering my awesome self will finally rescue me from the endless drudgery of budgeting and prioritizing and telling myself “no” because there simply isn’t enough money. 

Because I am human.  And that is what humans do.  We have incredibly short attention spans compared to our infinite God.  God’s plan for our salvation is so much bigger and grander and far reaching for us in scope and comprehensiveness and timing than we can possibly imagine.  We expect Jesus to come rule our little city and overthrow or mortal concerns and trials.  And we do get grumpy when He goes to the Temple instead and calls for a spiritual cleanse.  But the grand outcome will be ever so much better and more miraculous and comprehensive than even the grand coup at the end of “The Sting.”  There is a lot more going on behind the scenes than we can ever see; there is a lot more being set up and guided and put in place for the eternal happiness of the whole human race, than our small expectations and hurts and hopes can possibly fathom.

So welcome to the human race.  Welcome to Palm Sunday.  Every day is Palm Sunday when we look at life this way.  Every day we lift our hands to God in praise, expectation, hope, supplication for aid, and in desperation to be seen and loved.  And every day we may feel let down or overlooked.  We may buy the illusion that some other god is going to do what we want.  Or we may be lifted up in the joy and mystery, open to whatever may come.  We might just follow Jesus to the Temple, and trust in Him even through the crucifixion, ready to greet Him when He rises on Easter.

There is so much more to say, and no time left.

Let me leave you with a few correspondences for your contemplation. 

When anyone raises their hands in religious ecstasy, it is rather like a flower lifting its face to the sun, open to being fed and nourished from the rays of sunshine.  It is a receiving action.

Hands also represent what we do, our effectiveness, our power.  Things in our hands are an extension of our power.  Like Moses’ staff, and Gandalf’s staff and Harry Potter’s wand.

Palms are also quite sensitive.  The hollow is like a receptacle, and the driving of a nail through that soft place is the violent rejection of what the palm is offering.  The palm represents vulnerability and compassion.  An open hand represents “there is no weapon here.” 

And finally, it is okay that yours and my expectations of God often fall short of the mark.  We are human.  It is okay that we even sometimes turn on God, and abandon God because He doesn't live up to our expectations.  God knows we will do this.  We are still part of the story. And yes, even parts of us and times in our lives will sometimes crucify the presence of God because we are so threatened by what it represents.  Forgive yourself.  And try not to be afraid.  Even if we crucify the God of Love, She returns more powerful and more loving than ever, still intent on redeeming the whole human race, which is all parts of us in the story, not just the “good” parts.

Welcome to Palm Sunday.  Welcome to life.

Amen.

Readings

Psalm 8 NKJV

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise
Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
⁴ What is humanity that You are mindful of them,
And the children of humankind that You dwell with them?
⁵ For You have made humanity a little lower than God,^[b]
And You have crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶ You have made them to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under their feet,
⁷ All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field,
⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Matthew 21:1 – 9, 14-16  As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”

Heavenly Secrets 878 [5] In the Word, the hand stands for the Divine power.  Indeed "hand" is so significant of power that it became its very symbol in ancient times, as is evident from the miracles that were done in Egypt, when Moses was commanded to stretch forth his hand, or his staff, and this accomplished the miracles.