Pastor's Message  - April 5,  2009

Homily by Sloan Letman

“1st Century Gangsta”
Mark 11:1-11

There are some questions I have from the Palm Sunday Readings

And there are some assumptions that are made about the readings

“Save us” Who need to be saved?
What do they need be saved from? From what to what?
Who needs salvation more?
The slave or the slave-owner?
The AIG executive who just got a very nice bonus or the Insurance agent who got laid off?

We have an assumption of power
Who were the people in that group shouting?
We have assumptions that they were poor, “financially poor,” or poor in spirit?
Were they oppressed?

Palm Sunday is the Turning point.
The turning point in Mark and in the life of Jesus.

Where assumptions and expectations are turned on their head.
The assumptions of what the Messiah is supposed to do and assumptions about Jesus
And the people and disciples find out “This isn’t what we expected or what we wanted”
“Can we have the fishes and loaves Jesus?”
The “happy Jesus”
Not the angry Jesus that is about to cleanse the temple or curse fig trees.
We like a safe and meek Jesus

But acting right and safe doesn’t get you what you want
It’s not going to feed your child
It isn’t gonna get you saved

I have never seen or heard of a quiet protest.
Peaceful protest yes.
We’ve seen riots
But I have never seen quiet.
Hell no we won’t go… (softly)

At some point,
We have to make waves
We have comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable
We have to take risks
We have to get a little gangsta

What does it really mean to live like Christ?
Seriously!
Who is he hanging with?
What are the qualities of these individuals?
Are these the CEOs and Celebrities of the 1st Century?
No! He is in the streets!
He is hanging with the hustlers, pimps, prostitutes, and people in the gutter, the lowest of the low.
But in community NOT charity.

What is he doing?
He is with them.
The true Emmanuel.
In community not charity

Could he do it today?
Let’s look at that for a moment.
What if Jesus was right here in New Orleans in the 21st century?

The wedding at Cana: When he turns water into wine.
That’s bootlegging!

The Feeding of 5000: He is in Violation of sanitation laws, is he a part of a non-profit or church?
Did he wash his hands?
Free FOOD who has heard of such a thing?
Who Ordained Him?

Healing the sick: Practicing medicine without a license and the hospitals and insurance companies are not happy with Him.

The Clearing of the temple: destroying public property, assault and battery, trespassing, and terrorism!

Raising of the dead?: That is a straight up SCAM!!! Fraud!
Does Lazarus and his family get a refund from the funeral parlor and the cemetery?

Palm Sunday: And I doubt he had a parade license so add inciting a riot, unlawful assembly, and possibly sedition?

Sedition is a term of law, which refers to covert conduct, such as speech and organization that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws.

Sedition does not consist of levying war against a government nor of adhering to its enemies, giving enemies aid, and giving enemies comfort.
So was Jesus treasonous?

Oh! Jesus is so going to Jail and if convicted depending on his color he might be going to Angola.

This Jesus of Nazareth was a criminal that this week that was convicted of his crimes against society and disrupting the natural order of things.
He violated the Roman Peace or Pax Romana.
And if he was here today he would definitely disrupt our daily lives and our Pax Americana

That is who we follow!
And He is the one who gives us our purpose for existence!
That is the purpose of His Church!
Is that the purpose of this church?
What is the risk of being the church today?
What is the risk of being a Christian?

Are you willing to be gangsta in any form?
Are you willing to risk something in this Christian endeavor?

Not in the form of breaking government laws but in the form of breaking the cultural, social, and internal church laws and mores that bind us and hold us from salvation.
Are you willing to abandon the statement “we have always done it that way?”
That statement is not inclusive.
It is not include your neighbor and it does not include God.
Are you willing to follow Christ?
Are willing to follow Him to the cross?

Homily by Reverend Douglas Moore

“What Happened On Friday?”


    It is extraordinary how something significant happens and nobody notices.  Take the first Good Friday, before anyone called it "Good Friday".  What happened on that Friday? 

    Peter must have had a terrible day.  I would guess he did not sleep all night as Friday morning approached.  He had lied to himself, to the other disciples and to Jesus.  He had betrayed himself and Jesus. He wanted so much to be brave and courageous, loyal and faithful.  Yet, when the time came, he failed, he folded, he collapsed.  He could not do anything at all - except to lie and deny - in the face of his own overwhelming fear.

    Peter must have spent Friday terrified and more certain than ever that nothing really changes.  That in spite of all the bold talk, all of Jesus’ promises of a new way, nothing changed at all.  Jesus would be dead by day’s end, and Peter was helpless to do anything for him. 

    Peter’s hopes for a different life, a different self, a different ending were crushed.  He was his same old self and the ones in power; the ones who could actually do things were the same Friday evening as they had been Friday morning.  Nothing ever changed.  The suffocating hand of history and fate were too much to overcome.

    Pilate must have awoken on Friday a little worried.  Rome was not pleased, and would not be pleased until this irritating Jesus problem was put to bed.  Pilate’s situation was simple:  His job was to keep the colony quiet, to keep the peace using as much force as he needed and to assure that the tax revenues and the wealth continued to flow back to Rome.  Personal qualms or doubts about this Jesus fellow, questions of innocence or guilt simply did not matter.  Pilate had to keep things quiet.  Pilate had to do his part to assure the continuance of the magnificent "Pax Romana", the peace that Roman power imposed on the world. 

    But it was tricky: Jesus hadn’t really done anything that bad.  Yet, this crowd, these elders, kept calling for his death.  The solution came to Pilate in a flash of brilliance:  Offer the crowd a choice.  Let the crowd decide.  Either a convicted felon or Jesus.  Either way, the crowd would be satisfied, a troublemaker would be executed, Pilate would be off the hook from possibly making the wrong decision, and Rome would be pleased.  For Pilate, the chameleon who changed with the political winds, everything worked out just fine at the end of the day.

    Friday night, the end of the awful day, finally came for Peter.  I guess he still could not sleep.  Wherever he was hiding he knew what had happened and he knew what he had done.  His guilt, his deep sense of failure and weakness grew worse by the minute. 

    I imagine that Pilate slept well Friday night.  Jerusalem was quiet, the week was almost finished, and the problem from Nazareth was silenced.  Pilate had done his job well.  Rome would be pleased.  Rome, the "eternal city", would be pleased with Pilate.

    What a pity it is that no one on that Friday knew what had happened.  No one knew.  How marvelous if Peter had only known he would soon be forgiven and loved by the very one he betrayed.  How wonderful if Peter had known his sin would be forgiven, completely forgiven.  If Peter had only known that by the fullness of grace he would be restored, re-united with his beloved Master, how wonderful that would have been.

    What a pity that Pilate did not know what happened on Friday, that Pilate did not understand that eternal Rome was not eternal or that Roman power was not the last word. Such a pity that Pilate did not realize that his complicity in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth would haunt him forever.  How sad that Pilate never understood that true peace is not found though the deadly manipulation of the mob or beneath the crushing weight of the Roman legions.  What a pity that Pilate could not, would not see who truly stood before him.

    Peter and Pilate went to bed Friday night not knowing what had happened.  They believed everything was the same: Jesus was dead, real power was in the Empire and death - the one true power - ruled supreme. Peter and Pilate believed that nothing had changed on Friday and nothing ever would change.

    Peter and Pilate did not know what happened when they went to bed on Friday.  What a pity that is.  But what if we do the same?  What if we, who know the story, simply go to bed not believing what has happened, not believing that anything has really changed? 

    What a pity if we continue to go to bed night after night not believing that anything different will happen, not believing that our failures and our sins are forgiven, refusing to believe that real power is not in Rome or in the grave.  What a pity if we believe the week, and each and every week of our lives, truly ends on a cross of death.  What a pity if we are unable to ask the question: "What really happened on Friday?"  Unable to trust the answer:  "Everything began to change on Friday. Everything."