A long time ago, in a jungle village in Mongolia, there lived an elderly woman and her son.

"My time has come" said the woman, "I must walk to the top of the mountain and meet the god of death."

Her son said, "Let me carry you, the voyage is too long for you to make on your own."

The elderly woman protested, saying that if her son also walked to the top of the mountain, the god of death could take him too.

So early the next morning, while the elderly woman was sleeping, her son stole into her room, put her on his back and, despite her protests, began the long trek up the mountain to see the god of death.

To make matters worse, the elderly woman was hanging onto branches and snapping them as they made their way up the trail, impeding their progress, and slowing them down.

"Stop that mother!" Her son said, "You will tip us over and we will get hurt! Is that what you want?"

After hours and hours of hiking, the elderly woman continuing to grab hold of branches, she and her son finally reached the top of the mountain, where the boy laid his mother down.

"Let me ask you one question," he said, "Why did you insist on grabbing all those branches, wasn't it enough that I took you up here? Aren't you grateful that we finally made it here?"

"My son," said the elderly woman, "You know that you must go quickly, for the god of death is here. Please see that I was not trying to impede our progress, I was concerned with you finding your way back to the village, so I marked the trail."

In the Paschal mystery we find God at work, moving beyond our understanding, working for good, working for us.

Our present adversities are not without value. Hang on. Easter is coming. 

Police say the burglar, who broke out a wooden window insert, destroyed a screen bracket, tripped our alarm, then wandered the hallways at St. David's before leaving out the front door in December, has been caught.

38-year-old Justin Hall of Pontiac was apprehended the same night he broke into the music office at St. David’s. Apparently he left our place and broke into a nearby office building - causing $7,000 worth of damage. Police arrested him there and he’s been in the Oakland County Jail ever since. Apparently he has been there before and suffers from several problems stemming from addiction.

I was informed of this by a court sentencing administrator who called asking what St. David’s wanted from Hall: Did we want him to pay for the minor damage he caused? Clean up the mud he tracked through the offices? Pay us some sort of restitution?

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the pinnacle commemoration of Jesus’ triumphal march into Jerusalem, arrest, conviction, and crucifixion. Here we witness Jesus’ courage through adversity, ultimately forgiving his persecutors and bowing to the will of God.

When your parish leaders were polled regarding punishment for Hall, it was decided that we would ask for none, rather urge the court to mandate some sort of addiction treatment. We elected to forgive him for the damage and anguish he caused, trusting that God might work through therapists to bring about the needed healing. I’m immensely proud, though not surprised at this response from our leaders.

The approaching Holy Week reminds you and me of forgiveness - both the forgiveness we receive and the forgiveness we might give. We do well to ponder the ways we can pardon those who have offended us. Jesus had a knack for looking beyond offenses to the deeper work of God. ‘Forgive them for they know not what they have done,’ were his famous words upon the cross - how might we too look at the bigger picture by overlooking the offenses?  

Jesus wasn’t much of a complainer.

Once, in the Gospel of John he whined (well kind of) when he was about to be arrested.

He said, 'Now, my soul is troubled.’

Like I said, not much of a complainer.

But what he said after that is especially helpful.

Jesus believed that the tough times he endured actually had purpose.

This meant that Jesus not only refrained from complaining, but he actually urged God to get on with it, to bring on the trials, as if his job was to live into this purpose; ‘Father glorify your name.’

There’s not a tough time you and I face that Jesus is unacquainted with. He knows the trial and he knows there’s something to it.

So, what would it look like to face our trials like this?

What if we understood each of our trials as part of God’s purpose? Meaning that to complain was to go against that purpose?

Lord, we know complaining is not only unattractive, but it speaks of a lack of faith. So please give us pause when complaining and help us understand our trials as singular ways of bringing forth your purposes in the world. 

There was once a ship named Hope.

She had four captains.

The first was named Anger.

The second, Faith.

The third, Discouragement.

And the fourth, Confidence.

It's because all ships know that storms come.

They know that storms always bring great worry, fear, and instability.

And all ships know that these four captains are needed to bring the vessel through.

When the skies darken, Anger takes the helm.

And when the hatches are battened and the crew takes their stations, Faith appears.

When the waves start lashing the deck, Discouragement often takes over.

But as the crew works through the night, they do so with Confidence at the helm.

Friends, the storms come.

Instability in governments.

Uncertainty in our jobs.

Unpredictability in our relationships.

Even changes in our parish life.

And as the storms come we Christians instinctively reach for Hope.
So let us not be despondent but understanding that the journey has many phases, anger, faith, discouragement, and confidence. 

And let us remain firm in knowing that God is ultimately in charge, invisibly guiding the ship, assuring us that all things work for the good of those whom God loves.

A man entered an open-air market. 

He stopped at a table where a woman was selling insurance - life, home, and car. She was giving away little blankets to show the comprehensiveness of its coverage.

At the second table a man was offering timeshares. All were five star resorts in the most exotic places. He was giving away body lotion to signify the luxuriousness of his offerings.

A third table featured the brand new Apple Homepod, that allows people to simply speak a command, and instruct a computer to do the thinking and doing. The salesman was giving away free keyring-flashlights to show how convenient this new product was.

Then, all of a sudden a wild-eyed crazy man stormed into the market and began overturning tables and shouting all sorts of angry words.

He said he was furious at a system that promised false security, comfort, and convenience. 

He said all of it was a lie - arguing that promising this without mentioning the ultimate source of it all was false advertising and was more harmful than anyone could ever know.

He said he was going to tear it down.

Soon the man was led away in handcuffs.

People kept on shopping.