Everyone Loves a Parade - Geek Devotion for Palm Sunday

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday.  It is the start of Holy week, or remembering Jesus’ last week on earth.  The Gospel story for Palm Sunday is Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  The people are shouting and proclaiming him the Savior.  They are waving Palm branches and laying their cloaks in the road to make a carpet for his Donkey.

          Even though they are right; Jesus is their savior he is not the kind of savior that they want.  He has come to offer his life as a sacrifice for their sins.  But they want a conquering king.  They want a warrior with an army of angels to  overthrow the Romans and give Jerusalem back to the Hebrew people.

          I was trying to think of a Geeky analogy to help you understand what was going on.  How this parade could turn into a mob that would demand his death.

          I thought of the Dragon Con Parade each year.  Not only Dragon Con attendees, but lots of regular citizens of Atlanta come for the parade.  They cheer their favorite characters.  Any given year there will be a good number of the soldiers from the 300, a group of Amazons including several Wonder Women, The Avengers, Some of the Justice League, and of course the 501^st.  My great hope is that this year someone will do Beebo God of War.

          Now just imagine if the crowd didn’t realize that they were Cosplayers.  What if they thought that they were real soldiers and Super Heroes.  There are a lot of problems in our society today.  There is lots of division.  Lots of anger, even hatred.  Imagine you are in the crowd and see the chance for these heroes to make everything right again.  They could march down to city hall (or even Washington DC) and kick out all the corrupt politicians.  They could fix all our problems.  They could save us from ourselves and our poor political decisions.  That would be worth cheering for.  Then, you realize that isn’t why they are here.  That they are not going to do anything about the mess we are in.  Would you feel betrayed?  Would you feel angry?

          Jerusalem had political problems worse than we do.  They were occupied.  The Romans appointed puppets to rule for them.  If they didn’t do what Rome wanted, they could be replaced.  They had no say in their governing.  If they spoke up they could be arrested or even killed.  They knew the stories of God saving the people and leading them out of slavery in Egypt.  They knew that God promised a savior.  But they didn’t realize that politics come and go.  Rome wasn’t going to rule forever.  In the grand scheme of things, who has political power isn’t that important.

          Don’t get me wrong, Hitler was evil.  He needed to be opposed.  Some of the Roman Emperors were nearly as bad.  They fed people to lions for sport, or my particular favorite, they would dip people who refused to worship the Emperor in Pitch and light them on fire to use as street lights at night.  The Jews were right in wanting to get out from under Roman rule, but that wasn’t why Jesus came.

          Jesus came to save us from our sins.  Our salvation isn’t earthly, because if you kick out one corrupt government another will eventually take it’s place.  Jesus came to give us a place in God’s heavenly kingdom.  Jesus came so that we would have a place at the heavenly banquet.

          The story of Palm Sunday and what follows is to long to read for a five minute devotion.  So for those who want to hear the whole story you can find it in Luke 19:28-40.  If you really want to know what is coming you can continue with the passion story, some of which I will cover next week.  You can find it in Luke 22 starting around verse 14 and continuing through the end of chapter 23.

Do Unto Others

Do Unto Others – Geeks of Faith Lent Devotion

We are heading into the second week of Lent, our time to travel to the cross with Jesus and prepare our hearts for Easter.

Today I am going to start by sharing a bit of a weird dream I had last night.  We were preparing for some large family gathering and were preparing two chickens for the meal.  The problem was that they were still alive.  They had been plucked, buttered and seasoned, and I was asked to wrap them in some kind of dough.  The whole time they were trying to escape.  I kept asking why they were still alive and was told that they wouldn’t survive the cooking.  I protested, but this is just cruel, you are hurting them.  The response I got was, “So, they are just chickens.”

It was just a stupid dream, but I couldn’t shake it.  I mean, why would I dream that?  Shouldn’t I forget it like I usually do once awake.  Then, it dawned on me I have had several people on-line say something similar to me when I gently mentioned, “don’t you think that post is a bit hurtful?”  I would get the response of “So, they are Republicans, or Democrats; Liberals or conservatives; a fan of a rival sports team, Marvel or DC, Trekies or Star Wars fans…” In other words they imply that it is OK to be hurtful to those whom you consider rivals or who have different opinions and viewpoints.

I have been a victim of this even from friends.  When I was asked what I thought of “Thor Ragnarök” I was giving what I thought was an honest review.  I liked the stuff between Thor and Loki, but it had too much immature humor and stupid jokes for my taste.  They disrupted what otherwise would have been a very good story.  Before I could even finish my thought my “friend” literally huffed at me and said, “What did I expect?  Your just a DC girl?”  He completely dismissed me because he knew I loved Wonder Woman and Supergirl.  Never even bothered to consider that I love Captain America and the Toby Maguire Spiderman and I am looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel way more than Shazam.  (Yeah, I know it has been out a week, but I had a retreat and Presbytery last weekend.  So no spoilers!  I plan to see it soon.)  I have even Cosplayed Black Widow many times!

To get back on point, because HE didn’t like DC as much as Marvel it was OK to be mean to me because I liked DC better.  Because I didn’t agree with him on one movie he thought it was OK to dismiss my opinion and be hurtful.  I am not even going to get into the hateful things people have said about me because they “assumed”  I supported the other party, without even bothering to check if they were right.

That is a disservice that I believe that social media has created.  It is OK to say what ever you like because you can’t see them. People say horrible hateful things that they would never say to your face.  It is even easier if they didn’t originate it.  They see something hatful that someone else created and share it.  “Well, I’m not the one who said it.  I just thought it was funny, or true, or whatever.”  It is still just as hateful and hurtful.

In this season of Lent I would love it if people gave up spreading hate and discord over the internet!  At our retreat last weekend our speaker Karoline Lewis reminded us that Jesus came for the world, not just the Jews or the disciples.  The first person he actually told he was “I am”, the personal name of God, was the Samaritan woman at the well.  He treated an enemy of the Jews with love, respect, and compassion.  We are to love our neighbors and even love our enemies.

Jesus also proclaimed what we call the “Golden Rule.”  Matthew 7:12 says, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” If you wouldn’t want someone to say something about you, then don’t say it about others.  If you would be hurt if someone sent a meme or cartoon and implied it was you, then don’t share one about others.

If we give up anything this Lent, Let’s give up being hateful and hurtful to others.  Remember God loved them so much that Jesus died for them, too.  Jesus loves the people on both sides of every argument EVEN if you are convinced that they are wrong.  Let’s spread a little love and respect and tolerance instead of judgement and hate.

Dust to Dust – Geeks of Faith Devotion

I have a confession to make.  I don’t actually read the Avengers Comics.  My only frame of reference is the movies.  No one thought to warn me about what happened in Infinity War.  I assumed that the good guys would win in the end, not that everyone would get “dusted”.  Jon-Paul assures me that in the comics the good guys had the gauntlet and fixed things within a few pages… while I have to wait months… And now have to sit through trailers that have all the heroes depressed.  All the way home from seeing the movie I had the phrase from “Ash Wednesday” services stuck in my head.  “You are dust and to dust you will return.”

I tend to be really empathetic and turn into a blubbering mess when someone else is sad, even if they are on the movie or TV screen.  The characters didn’t know that everything would be all right.  Their friends were piles of dust at their feet and the Characters didn’t know that the actors were committed to more movies.

But that is life more often than I want to think about it.  Tragedy hits.  Life is unfair.  Young people die of cancer, in car wrecks, and in school shootings.  People we love get sick, die, or even just leave.  We lose jobs.  We get robbed.  Here in Florida hurricanes destroy homes and lives.  My brother lost everything in Katrina.

So how do we as people of faith deal with tragedy.  How do we stand strong in the face of disaster and injustice and the cruelty of the world?  One place we can look is the book of Job.  He lost everything and stayed faithful.  However, I don’t really like that one because it makes it seem like God wanted it to happen to prove Job’s faithfulness.

We can also look to Jesus.  Talk about unjust and unfair tragedy.  He was convicted of crimes he didn’t commit, and killed in one of the most horrible ways possible.  Crucifixion was excruciating and it took a long time to die.

One thing we can learn from Jesus is that it is OK to cry out in anger to God.  In the garden Jesus begged God to take the cup away.  He didn’t want to do it.  From the cross he quotes Psalm 22 and cries out to God, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”  It is OK to cry to God about injustice and pain.  God is big enough to take our hurt and anger.

But we also need to remember that Jesus knew his scripture.  Psalm 22 is a cry of despair, but it is also a word of hope.  Most people are only familiar with that first verse.  Listen to the rest of Psalm 22.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;

    and by night, but find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy,

    enthroned on the praises of Israel.

4 In you our ancestors trusted;

    they trusted, and you delivered them.

5 To you they cried, and were saved;

    in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm, and not human;

    scorned by others, and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock at me;

    they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—

    let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb;

    you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

10 On you I was cast from my birth,

    and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,

    for trouble is near

    and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls encircle me,

    strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

13 they open wide their mouths at me,

    like a ravening and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,

    and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

    it is melted within my breast;

15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,

    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

    you lay me in the dust of death.

16 For dogs are all around me;

    a company of evildoers encircles me.

My hands and feet have shriveled;

17 I can count all my bones.

They stare and gloat over me;

18 they divide my clothes among themselves,

    and for my clothing they cast lots.

19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away!

    O my help, come quickly to my aid!

20 Deliver my soul from the sword,

    my life from the power of the dog!

21     Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;

    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!

    All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;

    stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he did not despise or abhor

    the affliction of the afflicted;

he did not hide his face from me,

but heard when I cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

    my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;

    those who seek him shall praise the Lord.

    May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember

    and turn to the Lord;

and all the families of the nations

    shall worship before him.

28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,

    and he rules over the nations.

29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;

    before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

    and I shall live for him.

30 Posterity will serve him;

    future generations will be told about the Lord,

31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,

    saying that he has done it.

God never promised that we wouldn’t have suffering, but God promised to walk with us through it.  God understands it.  In Jesus God went through it.  I don’t believe that God caused the tragedies that will happen to us, but I do believe that God will be there to hold us through the pain.

Love That Saved the World

        So, I have a confession to make.  I am not only a Geek, I am also a “shipper”.  So, I believe that Superman belongs with Lois Lane, Spiderman belongs with Mary Jane, Mulder belongs with Scully, Captain Sheridan belongs with Delenn, and Supergirl belongs with Brainy and Saturn Girl belongs with Lightning Lad (no matter what Earth CW may try to tell us.)  But I digress…

          So in the beginning of Aquaman Arthur’s voice over says, “ She had fled an arranged marriage, left her whole world behind. But in my father’s lighthouse, she found something unexpected. And my father found the love of his life.”  From that point on, I knew the movie was going to be OK with me…  OK, yes, I did also hope for Arthur and Mara to hook up.  But that kind of love isn’t what I want to talk about in this devotion.  My favorite quote from the movie actually came in the end. Arthur says, “My father was a lighthouse keeper. My mother was a queen. They were never meant to meet, but their love saved the world. They made me what I am. A son of the land, a king of the seas. I am the protector of the deep. I am Aquaman.”

          It isn’t the love of a lighthouse keeper and a queen that I want to discuss today, but a love that saved the world.  I believe that love is the most important theme in the Bible.  The word love is used in the Bible around 310 times, depending on the translation.  There is love like Jacob had for Rachael, or Ruth had for her mother-in-law Naomi, or the brotherly love of David and King Saul’s son Jonathan.  But the most important love is the love of God.  In Hebrew it has its own word, “Hesed”. It is a faithful, forgiving, accepting, never-ending love.  That is the love that God has for creation.  That is the love that God has for each one of us.  As it says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

          It is God’s love that literally saved the world.  It is God’s love in Jesus that taught the world compassion and challenged us to live like he did.  It was God loving us enough that God came down and was born in a manger, lived among us, went through all that we go through, suffered and died on a cross so that we would know God’s love and forgiveness.  It is a love beyond our understanding.

          Now in Aquaman the love of a lighthouse keeper and a queen wouldn’t have done anything to save the world if Arthur didn’t have compassion for it.  It was Arthur’s love of both the people on the land and in Atlantis that compelled him to act.  It was love for all mankind that saved the world.

          God’s love for the world that is shown in Jesus saved the world, but it didn’t just end at the cross.  God still loves the world and Jesus still longs to heal it.  But now, as followers of Jesus we are called to be his hands and feet.  We are to show God’s compassion to the world.  It is God’s love through us that continues to work in the world today.  When we love our neighbors as ourselves we are showing God’s love to the world.  When we love our neighbors we are showing love to God as well.  In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the final judgement.  The only thing we will be judged by is how we treat other people.  Mathew 25:34-40 says: 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

              We may not be super heroes.  The fate of the world may not rest in our hands.  But when we show the love of God.  When we show “Hesed” to our brothers and sisters we participate in God’s saving the world.  So go out and share that compassion and love.  God knows the world needs it.

Make All Things New - A Geeks of Faith Devotion

          It is a new year.  People are making resolutions.  Some people are glad the old year is gone, and some may wish it wasn’t.  We lost some great icons this past year: Jerry Vandyke from coach, David Ogden Stiers from Mash, Steven Hawking, Tim O’Connor from Buck Rogers,  Margot Kidder, Charlotte Rae from Facts of Life, Aretha Franklin, Robin Leach, Burt Reynolds, Anthony Bourdain, Stan Lee, Both George and Barbara Bush, and at the very end Penny Marshall and many more.

          Sometimes it makes me feel old to see my childhood (and even adult) heroes pass away.  So we look into the new year and hope it will be better than the last.  Every year we will lose people who meant something to us.  Every year we will have some good times and some bad.

          This new year is what we make of it.  We can face it with dread or we can face it with hope.  Our attitude makes a difference.  When I am down I often turn to the Psalms.  The psalmist really knew how to look toward God in good times and bad.  For example listen to the first few lines of Psalm 96: 

O sing to the Lord a new song;

    sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

    tell of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the nations,

    his marvelous works among all the peoples.

4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

    he is to be revered above all gods.

We are called to tell of God’s glory on a daily basis.  This Psalm makes me think of one of my favorite songs from the musical “the King and I”

“Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect

And whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I'm afraid

While shivering in my shoes, I strike a careless pose

And whistle a happy tune and no one ever knows I'm afraid

The result of this deception is very strange to tell,

For when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well

I whistle a happy tune, and every single time,

The happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid”

Now the Psalmist isn’t telling us to fool ourselves into being happy.  The Psalm wants us to remind ourselves and others every day about God’s faithfulness and how much God cares about us.

          It is all in our attitude.  If we face the new year with the thought that God goes with us, it makes a difference.  Yes, there will be hard times.  Sometimes we will fail.  Sometimes we will get hurt, but that doesn’t mean that God won’t be there to bless us this year, too.  We have scripture to remind us of God’s faithfulness.  We also need to remind each other that not only is God there for them, but we are, too.  We don’t walk through this world alone.

          One last bit of hope for the new year.  The scriptures also allow us to peek at the end.  Spoiler alert:  God wins in the end!  So I will leave you with the words of Revelation 21:5: 

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Happy New Year!