Holy Week

During Holy week, we remember the time that politicians attempted to silence a man whose words of truth threatened their influence and power. A man whose words rang so true, that to discredit him was nearly impossible. He had to be killed, but only after being humiliated. 

We remember how His words were manipulated in hearings so as to seem like blasphemy. How political threats were used to convince a Governor to act when his instincts knew that the man before him did no wrong. 

How political leaders swayed the public with propaganda into a frenzy against an innocent man who spoke of peace, faith, and charity. How they created a tone of fear in the region that made even the most faithful of apostles deny even knowing their Master. 

How the politicians nurtured hatred to the point where a simple sentence of death became amplified into a bloodbath of torture, humiliation, and suffering. 

We remember these events by reliving them through theatre, music, and dramatic storytelling. We make sure to sing hymns that remind us, "I Crucified You." We remember the crowd shouting, "Let His blood be on us and all our children."

Surely, one reason for this is that it is important to remember how easily people who claimed to be people of faith were so easily manipulated by the simple tools of politics. These same tools are being used today. In this election campaign, for example, politicians once again are manipulating truth, slandering innocent people, and breeding hatred and violence. And once again, people who claim to be people of faith are allowing themselves to be manipulated. 

Let this Holy Week remind us that there is a truth beyond the words of people who wish to acquire or maintain power. Let us remember the consequences of allowing these lies to turn us against each other, and away from God. Let us NOT respond with thoughts of, "Look at what THOSE people did;" but rather with, "Look what, but for the grace of God, we might end up doing." And let it inspire us to focus on the words of Jesus Christ. Let us remember that He defeated them by bearing witness to the Truth. Let us focus on God, and what it truly means to be a Christian. 

 

Broken into Beautiful

Three weeks ago, we sat in the choir loft at St. James Methodist Church, joining their choir in a performance of a beautiful song by Gwen Smith called, "Broken into Beautiful." The song is from a cantata or musical, and references the story of the woman who tried to see Jesus, but the crowd wouldn't let her, because of who she was. The crowd felt that her past had tarnished her character to the point that she was unworthy to see the Lord.

There are a number of stories in the Gospels of people being deemed "unworthy" by society to come before the Lord. And in each one, Jesus sees them and through his intervention, they are healed; made whole again.

Often these stories are used to present the healing power of God. We come to Him as sinners, and through his forgiveness, and his strength, we are cleansed of sin, forgiven, and able to repent and start over again.

It occurred to me, as I listened and sang at that Lenten Service, that maybe the story is much simpler than that. The woman was being kept from Jesus, not by Jesus Himself, but because of the PEOPLE'S judgement of her. Whereas our understanding of the tale was that she was unclean in the eyes of God, and then healed of her sinfulness; in actuality, she was fine in the eyes of God, but she believed she was unworthy because that's what THE CROWD told her.

This is the essence of Bullying. Beyonce Knowles was a beautiful young child with a lovely voice. She'd win talent competitions, and come back to school to meet people who would bully her. Of all things, she was bullied for being TOO pretty, TOO light skinned, TOO talented, TOO successful. The bullies turned something she should have been proud of into something she was ashamed of.

What Jesus does in the story is not a miracle. He doesn't lay hands on her, removing her stains and sins. He doesn't use the power of God to heal her of leprosy or some other horrible, disfiguring disease.  All he does... is acknowledge her being there. He sees her as a woman, worthy of God; one of God's creations just like the rest of us. But after being shunned by society, and told that she was "less than;" Jesus' simple inclusion and acknowledgement was EVERYTHING.

When this occurred to me, I thought of my job as music director. Often, when asked to sing in choir, people say, "Oh, you don't want my voice." "I'm not good enough." "I'll just make you sound horrible." My response is always as it has always been: "Yes, I do; Yes, you are; and No, you won't." (Respectively.) I don't believe in people who "Can't Sing;" only people who haven't learned how to sing. My job as Choir Director is to teach people how.

Think about people who you have seen shunned by society, left out, dismissed as being unworthy, because of OUR judgement, not God's. And think about how you, as a follower of Jesus, could acknowledge them, assure them that they're a child of God, and allow them to be included in our world.