Chris Yaw

When we were going through COVID, didn't it feel like we were trying to live our lives while walking through water up to our necks? Every step was labored, time-consuming, life was exhausting.

We were scared, full of anxiety,

we were utterly dependent on others, thank God for essential workers,

and we were really clueless about where this whole thing was going.

Even now, while COVID is not the threat it once was, it still feels like we're walking through the water, maybe not up to our necks, but certainly up to our knees.

There's a lingering anxiety, dependency, and lack of awareness as to where things are going - and this is all now simply part of daily life.

This Sunday is called Good Shepherd Sunday, it is full of pastoral imagery of sheep and shepherds.

And while we are not reminded of how much sheep smell, or how warm their sweaters can be,

we are reminded that sheep are a very fearful and skittish sort.

We're reminded of how utterly dependent they are on the shepherd and on others to care for them.

And we're reminded of how unaware and unable they are to predict or even cope with the future.

Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it?

Fear, dependence, and a lack of awareness.

And what's curious is that Jesus's solution to these clueless sheep, is not to provide weapons or high walls to assuage fear,

Nor does he instantly provide a lifetime's worth of food and water,

Nor does he give the sheep superhuman intelligence and savvy insight to better predict the future.

No, Jesus gives himself,

He asks them, and us, to put our trust in his assurances of protection, his promises to provide for us, and his invitation to trust him for our future.

Fear, dependence, and a lack of awareness.

God knows who we are and gives us the shepherd to accompany us on the journey.

Let us entrust our fears, dependency, and futures to the Shepherd’s care.

Slaving away in some laboratory in San Diego, scientists tried and tried and tried to perfect a product that I love: WD-40.

It’s great for hinges, to loosen bolts, even to get oil stains off the car.

But it took some time to perfect -

In fact, it’s called WD-40 because the final product was the 40th iteration of their idea.

They tried to make this thing 40 times.

What if they’d given up at 35? Or 36? or 39?

This Sunday you and I will hear the story of Jesus, who shortly after his resurrection, joined a couple of his disciples walking on a road to a nearby town called Emmaus.

These disciples had no idea who this stranger was who was walking with them, and they peppered him with questions and were intrigued by his answers.

So when it began to get dark and the disciples were headed inside to stay the night - and Jesus wanted to keep going - these disciples strongly urged him to stay with them - to continue to talk with them - to continue to satisfy their spiritual curiosity.

Jesus did.

He stayed with them.

And shortly thereafter, they finally recognized him in the breaking of the bread.

But what if those disciples hadn’t invited Jesus in?

What if they’d said, ‘Hey, great conversation, see you around!

And never pursued their, spiritual quest?

Friends, as we bask in the glory of the Easter miracle - we are bidden to keep on keeping on in our pursuit of Jesus.

Don’t be satisfied with what we know or where we are - but to keep on keeping on in our pursuit of the spiritual life.

What does that look like to you?

In what ways are we too ’settled’ with God?

And how might we pursue the spiritual life even more deeply -

So many of the problems that plague us, the issues that roil us, the challenges that overwhelm us, can usually be handled much better when we are at higher levels of spiritual fitness.

Easter is a time to get in touch with our true self, our spiritual self, that self that recognizes Jesus all around us, all the time.

My friend bought a new car recently and remarked, ‘Wow, I didn’t know how many cars were out on the road that were just like mine!’

And an old, Latin phrase came to mind:

‘Whatever is received is received according to the manner of the receiver.’

In other words, we take biases into our perception of reality.

We have our own lenses - through which we perceive things:.

We get a new car - we immediately see others that look like it.

Bias, preconceptions, ingrained habits - these all come to mind when we turn to that perennial ’Sunday after Easter Story’ of Doubting Thomas.

When the Risen Christ comes to the disciples, while Thomas is out at Starbucks, we see several biases at work when, upon his return, they tell him that Jesus has appeared - and Thomas doesn’t buy it - and when he rejects the idea of the Risen Christ, we see his biases coming to light.

We see Confirmation Bias, which is when our brains welcome information that confirms what it already thinks, and resists information that disturbs or contradicts.

We see his Complexity Bias, the proclivity of our brains to reject a complex truth, in exchange for a simple untruth.

And we see his Convenience Bias, which is when our brains welcome information that keeps us happy and complacent, but rejects information that causes us to work or embrace discomfort.

Thomas’ is a story about facing our biases - being open to new paths - to possibility, openness, in order to make room for God.

Jesus knows this - and here’s how he addresses it:

Notice how he appears to his disciples?

Not arrayed in white light, ascending as a regally clothed Deity saying, “I told you so!”

No - Jesus comes among them pointing to his wounds.

Jesus calls attention to the marks of his suffering, his humiliation, his fraternity with everyone who has, is, and will ever live - by connecting with our suffering.

Ask people when they’ve felt closest to Jesus, and I always get the same answer - “When I was down, when I was out, when I was at my lowest."

Jesus comes to us at our lowest, in his lowliness, to help us climb higher.

Jesus transcends human bias in the humility of the cross to show us the strength of vulnerability.

He shows us how we build fraternity in our woundedness, and strengthen our bonds in the admission of our frailties.

Ours is an authentic God - asking us to be who we are - and bidding us to come to him as we are - laying our preconceptions aside - walking in a humility he mirrors, in pain and inadequacy he feels, that we might be strengthened enough to show other walking wounded, where they too might find healing.

Go through the day today humbly and not afraid to connect with the wounds of others - with our own wounds.

Humility is not a sign of powerlessness, but of true power.

Somebody famous was arrested this week.

Yep, everybody expected it.

In, fact, things were so tense, authorities worried a riot would break out.

So they meticulously orchestrated it, and made sure plenty of armed enforcement was on hand.

As the accused surrendered to his fate, some celebrated, some booed, some called it justice, others scorned it as a travesty.

Some wanted to set him free, others wanted to kill him.

In the end, he willingly gave himself up to authorities.

He stood silently before his accusers.

He didn't answer anybody's questions.

- although he was very, very rich -

- although he was very, very powerful.

And if we want details, we can read about it in any newspaper in the world.

Indeed, for some, Donald Trump's legal battles have become an obsession.

But in this holy week, there's another arrest story vying for our attention.

This is a story you know quite well because down through the years it has brought you, and untold billions of people, life, peace, healing, restoration, and salvation.

And, like every year, the recounting of this story is never convenient or easy.

It means putting aside other stories,

Paying less attention to other priorities,

Making a serious effort to set the story of Jesus above all others.

So friends, in this Holy Week, fight off the distractions,

Make Holy Week the powerful engine room to a life ablaze with hope and possibility!

At this very moment, there are people languishing in prisons, scrounging through garbage cans looking for a meal, one million of our public school children are homeless, thousands of people will be evicted from their homes today.

And the solutions to these big, looming problems always begin with small, seemingly insignificant decisions - the resolve to live outside of ourselves and to help others, as Jesus taught us to do. And the stories we make room for in our minds will determine the actions we take to live the selfless, charitable, and loving lives we want to live.

Headlines will come and go.

Distractions and detours will always abound.

But in this story we find the keys to eternal life, the foundation stones to the healing of the world.

Make room for that story this week.

Open your hearts anew to its message.

Draw closer to God, and God will draw closer to you.

Upon entering the museum with the toddler, he made a bee-line for the gift shop and immediately glommed onto a little stuffie - with instant admiration.

Mom and Dad walked over and put the stuffie back on the shelf.

They explained that there was an entire museum to tour before they would consider souvenirs.

But they promised they would return.

The toddler relented, unhappy, but taking solace in the promise that he would come back - and that his deep desire would be met.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday.

It marks the triumphant celebration of Jesus, our king, entering the Holy City of Jerusalem to begin the long-promised reign of God.

However, the Romans and corrupt religious authorities would not make that easy.

The celebration would quickly turn into an angry mob scene, ending in the arrest, torture, and death of Jesus.

His followers would flee in terror, giving up on their messianic hopes, cowering in fear, certainly considering any further developments improbable, even impossible.

But the magic of Palm Sunday is in the lingering promises of Jesus.

He told his disciples, numerous times, that this would happen, that he would not leave them alone, that he would return.

Today you and I face fears, threats, and anxieties of our own over a myriad of problems - to which, Jesus has also made promises.

Wherever we find ourselves today, Jesus has said he will provide for us.

Jesus has said he will forgive us.

Jesus has said he will accept us.

Jesus has said he will be with us - and never leave us

Palm Sunday invites us to remember Jesus’ promises that yes, he will return, to fulfill our deep desires.

Years ago a fascinating study was published on the topic of mice and hope.

Researchers took a number of mice and, one by one, put them in a bucket of water to see how long they would live.

These scientists noted that an average mouse would try to swim for about 10 minutes before giving up, surrendering to his fate and sinking to the bottom to drown.

The researchers would then scoop the mice up, revive them and let them go on their merry way.

However, when they put these same mice, who had been once rescued, back into the bucket, they noticed something absolutely astonishing.

These mice did not try to swim and struggle for 10 minutes before giving up, they would now go on for 60 minutes.

In other words, having experienced a miraculous rescue, seeing that there might be some possibility of survival, these mice hung on six times longer.

This Sunday, the last Sunday before Holy Week, we hear the iconic story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, people thought Jesus had lost his marbles for suggesting he would be revived.

You know the story, Jesus commanded the dead man to come out, he did, and the amazed disciples would take this story and store it in their hearts as they went into the very first Holy Week.

It's as if Jesus wanted them to witness this life after death event in preparation for his own, hoping, perhaps that they, too, would have six times more faith than before.

Jesus has us hear these stories because he wants us to believe as well. Jesus wants us to know that we serve a God who makes possible the impossible.

So when people tell us we'll never solve the problems of gun violence, loneliness, homelessness, political division, and poverty, we are not ones to chime in and say, 'You're right, these will never be solved.' No, we have seen God do impossible things, so we can be a people of hope.

We know that the world does not get any better by negativity, pessimism, apathy, and defeatism, of which there is way too much. What the world needs, is Jesus message of hope, and Jesus's people, you and me, to be heralds of that hope.

We, too, have seen, let us go and act accordingly.

Not long ago the cat went missing!

Maybe someone left a door open, maybe he slipped out when groceries came in from the garage, maybe he joined a gang of alley cats who dropped a rope down the chimney at midnight...

At first, we were hopeful.

We placed food outside for him, but it went uneaten.

We placed ads on social media, but they went unanswered.

We took neighborhood walks calling his name, but that went nowhere.

So as the days went by, hope began to dwindle in the household... Mom, dad, the kids... Everyone except the 4 year old.

Weeks after the cat left and miles from where he could have possibly gone missing the 4 year old would, all of a sudden, quite randomly scream the cat's name out the window of the moving car.

He would wake up in the morning asking for him, and he would ask to go outside after dark looking for the cat, which he never found - until, one night, he did.

Skinny, hungry, and chatty, he was ok - which sent joy sweeping through the house: the cat had been found!

But would he be here, were it not for the hope of a 4 year old after everyone else's had fizzled out?

This Sunday you and I will hear a story of a dramatic healing amidst a sea of doubt.

We will hear the doubters, the mockers, and a believer - whose faith parallels the 4 year old's - and comes to us in the midst of our hopeless, apathy, and doubt:

Take courage.

Don't give up.

Don't assume you've got it all figured out.

Be open to the unimaginable.

With God all things are possible.

A friend recently told me this story...

Once, when she was in her kitchen preparing a meal, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around to see a stranger pointing to the other side of the room, where my friend turned - only to see her 18-month-old daughter with the car keys that she was about to insert into an electrical outlet.

My friend leapt across the room, snatching the keys from the little hands of her surprised daughter, before embracing her ever so tightly, feeling so grateful she was ok.

Then, when my friend turned around to address the stranger in the kitchen, she realized nobody was there, the room was empty.

My friend believes that this was a sign from God - and it was given to her as an enduring message that God is with her, that both she and her daughter are not to take life for granted, and that God's gift of life must be paid forward to help others.

Has God ever sent you a sign?

Have you ever been sent one as profound as this, or one that's much more subtle?

What are you doing with it?

These questions pop up as you and I approach Sunday's Gospel, when a Samaritan woman was so touched by a dramatic and unexplainable sign from God that her life, and the lives of those around her were indelibly changed.

In fact, the Bible is full of stories of Jesus performing unexplainable signs with life-altering consequences. These consequences undoubtedly build gratitude, joy, satisfaction, and more than likely a deeper societal cohesion as people look to pay forward the gifts that they've been given.

I think, when most of us search our histories, we find moments in which we felt the Divine doing positive things for us.

And a big reason that God gives us these signs is so that we can pay it forward, that these "God moments" might inspire us to be kinder, more hopeful, more forgiving, and more loving to those around us, because we are more deeply in touch with the eternal and abiding presence of the Creator.

How has God made God's self known to you?

What kind of message was God sending?

How good are we at remembering this - And using it to fuel our own work of inner peace, reconciliation, and healing?

One of the most important words in the Bible is that word remember! Remember what God has done for us, remember how God has provided for us, remember how blessed we are - and use that remembrance for our own good, and the good of others.

When I was much too young to understand biology I asked my mother, "Where do babies come from?"

Of course, this is the question every parent of a 6 year old looks forward to...

But Mom never flinched... didn't head toward the liquor cabinet...

Instead she sat me down and said that when two people really love each other, babies are the inevitable result - life follows love - love gives birth to life.

Apparently that answer was good enough, because my next question was, "Would you rather be a Popsicle or a pickle?"

But the point is, you and I were created to love.

We love ourselves, our pets, our neighbors, our country, our cars, our God, the sunset, the Amazon driver, even Justin Bieber, some of us - But we soon figure out we are at our best when we love - we come alive to love.

In fact, researchers say our greatest source of happiness in life will come from loving relationships.

But how hard this is to put into practice!

It was for Nicodemus - a religious leader who sought out Jesus in the wee hours for a clandestine rendezvous - the original Nick at Night - because the socio-religious culture which had evolved around Nicodemus made it difficult, uncool, almost unacceptable, to talk so openly and comprehensively about love, God's love for everyone.

And things haven't changed much today.

It's still difficult to live in love.

Which is why we need Jesus, in him we see love without expectation or requirement, unbridled and unlimited, all we need is awareness, waking up to the reality that we were created to love. Our big job is not to change, convert, bully, or baptize, but to love.

You are a love machine, sang the Miracles, and they weren't far off, you come alive to love, Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus was to awaken him to love, how is God trying to awaken us to the same thing?

Remember Homecoming weekend in high school or college?

That's the occasion when grads would return home to re-visit the people and places that played a formative role in their lives.

Aside from the big hair and wide lapels on those polaroids in a shoebox somewhere under your bed, this was an occasion to pay some sort of honor or tribute to the positive influences that shaped us into who we are today.

Ideally, home is where we learned positive values, habits, and priorities - of honesty, fairness, justice, generosity, acceptance, and forgiveness. And returning home can bring recalibration and renewal to lives that may have drifted far from this.

In this sense, let me suggest that Lent is a sort of homecoming.

Today, Ash Wednesday, kicks off a 40-day journey of rediscovery, culminating in Easter, God's great declaration that no matter how far we've strayed or how completely we've snubbed, forgiveness is possible, restoration is possible - we can return home, to God, to Christ, to love.

A guiding question for me this year is, "What are you optimizing for?" In other words, all this money you're making, all this exercising, learning, watching, reading, spending - what's the end goal? Is the way I am now living bringing me closer to Christ and helping me make a world I want to live in?

On this journey we ask: is all that I'm thinking, doing, and being, pointed toward home? Are my habits, attitudes, and goals aligned with where I want to go and who I want to become? Lent can be a life-altering exercise in recalibration, getting us back on track and back in the game.

Andiamo! Let's go home.

Where were you at 830 on Monday night... When shots rang out over the campus of Michigan State University?

Did your phone ping with a news notification?

Did a friend text you?

Did you see it on a TV news bulletin?

Did you immediately think of friends you have on campus? Friends of friends?

Did you think of the last time you'd been in East Lansing, as a sports fan?

The parent or grandparent of a student?

Or a student yourself?

After all, we're not talking about Boise State or Cal State - this is our school, Michigan State...

Just 14 months after the same thing happened at Oxford High School, just up the road, you and I are plunged, yet again, into a miasma of stunning confusion, raw anger, gut-wrenching sadness, and genuine surprise: how, why, what to do?

2,000 years ago a trio of the innocent watched in speechless awe as a similarly incomprehensible, life-altering event unfolded on a mountaintop in the Middle East - the Transfiguration, which we will hear more about on Sunday, was an event equally confusing, disabling, and void of any sort of immediate understanding.

And those who witnessed this event were forced to do what you and I are doing - to find some way down this mountain of serious emotional distress - and somehow make our way back into a dangerous and unpredictable world still in need of desperate reform.

Those early disciples used that event to inspire and fuel reform that brought remarkable change to the world - more vast, life-giving, permanent and positive than the world had ever seen.

In their confusion and pain, they resolved to follow the light, the light of God, who held them through the darkness, the pain, the loss - and guided them to places of action - of healing, restoration, and reform.

We all know we have a problem.

We are all looking for a solution.

Can we look to Jesus as an icon of hope - who shapes the stunned and confused into the bold and the brave - who turns pain into purpose, and just might, through this unspeakably evil act, be equipping you and me to be the change we want to see?

Mountain top moments don't come along very often.

Let's not waste them.

The freeways in Los Angeles are so big many of them have High Occupancy Vehicle, or HOV lanes.

These are large, spacious lanes on the far left side of the highway that are usually wide open, and can only be used by vehicles with 2 or more passengers, Los Angeles being well-known for smog, and carpooling being a proven way to lower emissions. However, for anyone else who tries to use them, there's a very stiff fine.

When you're stuck in traffic on the highway, all alone in your car, sweating in the afternoon sun, glancing over at drivers in the HOV lanes, blissfully whizzing off to their destinations, it can be very tempting to find some way to use that lane.

And the cops have seen it all.

Drivers have used life-size, blow-up dolls.

One guy strapped into his passenger seat his St. Bernard.

A lone woman argued she could use the lane because she was pregnant.

The measures we will go to to get around laws we don't like are as extreme as they are legion.

And this Sunday in church we will hear reminders from God that, like those HOV laws, the Lord's rules are not given to annoy us, but to help us!

Think about it, when we set up our own rules around diet and exercise we're wanting to be more healthy and live longer.

They help us be free of disease and illness.

When we set up rules to pray, go to church, study our faith, and help others, we want to be more joyful and fulfilled.

They help us be free of guilt and selfishness.

God's rules are meant to free us to be good and to do good.

So we can't help but to ask ourselves:

So what rules are we skirting?

How are we being untrue to ourselves or to others in ways that may come back to bite us?

How are we rationalizing our rule-breaking?

In what ways is God trying to show us that doing things the right way is the best way?

Chris Yaw

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