Monday, March 26, 2018

The Palm Sunday Road


March 25th, 2018                   “The Palm Sunday Road”               Rev. Heather Jepsen

Mark 11:1-11

         This Sunday we gather together to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what will be his final week.  We call this Palm Sunday or the Triumphal entry, though it is hardly a triumph.  The more I think about this day, the more I imagine that folks didn’t really know what was happening around them.  Jesus was one of many entering the holy city for the celebration of Passover.  And while the crowds were riled up at his presence, shouting “Hosanna, son of David” they really didn’t know who Jesus was or what he was about.  At this point it is more likely that Jesus is simply one of the crowd, parading down the Mount of Olives and up into the city of Jerusalem that day.

         Lucky for all of us I have just been to Jerusalem and just a few days ago I was walking the Palm Sunday Road.  So let’s look at some pictures to help us imagine the scene as it was in Jesus’ time and as it looks for pilgrims today.

-       View from Mount of Olives (with me)



-       Looking at the Temple Mount.  What we see today and imagining what Jesus saw.  Both would be tinged with hope, awe, and fear.



-       Imagine Olive Groves.  Now we see graves as this is the spot where Jesus is said to return at the second coming.



-       Walking up to the gate.  Jesus would have paraded with other pilgrims down to the valley and then walked up again to enter the walled city of Jerusalem.



-       The Lion’s gate.  Built after Jesus’ time but he would have experienced a similar entry.



-       Looking back at the Mt of Olives from the Temple Mount.  Gives us an idea of the distance covered.  In Jesus’ day the hill would have been green, now it is white with graves.



-       (4 pictures) The streets of Jerusalem, some empty and some to imagine with pilgrims.  It would have been very crowded when Jesus visited since it was a festival time.  Much like my visit during Lent.



-       (3 pictures) Markets.  While the items sold have changed, the sight of markets along the path is very much the same as it would have been for Jesus.  I am sure just as many sellers called out to him and his disciples as called out to me and my group of friends.



-       Other religious sects would have been present, like these Orthodox Jews getting off the bus.



-       Religious authorities would have been present like this fellow with his big fuzzy hat.



-       And of course there would have been a security detail.  Today we see Israeli soldiers upon the Temple Mount and throughout the Old City of Jerusalem.  In Jesus’ time these would have been Roman soldiers.  Equally armed and prepared to keep the peace using whatever means necessary.  Notice this is the Via Dolorosa.

When you walk the Palm Sunday Road today, one is nearly overwhelmed with the crowds.  People gather atop the Mount of Olives by the bus load and stream down the hill hundreds at a time.  The path through the cemeteries is simply a walled in stone street.  It is a treacherous journey with a steep descent.  The stones are slippery having been worn smooth by the feet of millions of pilgrims.  Add to that the random cars that may come zipping down the road, forcing one to literally cling to the walls to avoid losing a toe, and it is not a journey for the faint of heart.

When one comes to the bottom of the Mt of Olives, it is simply a matter of crossing through traffic and then hauling oneself up the hill and through the Lion’s Gate.  The road is noisy and full of fellow travelers.  There is a constant blare of car horns as local drivers and tourist busses volley for position in the traffic congested streets.  The streets and sidewalks are dirty and the edges and corners are all full of discarded water bottles, ice cream wrappers, and other trash.  It smells, like city streets often do.  And the day I walked the road was an overly warm one. 

As sweat poured down my brow and I negotiated my way through the massive crowds I joked to my friend over the blaring traffic noises that this is just like it was in Jesus’ time.  I was kidding of course, but there was truth in my statement.  Jesus didn’t face crowds of tourists but he did face the crowds of pilgrims gathering for the Passover.  Jesus didn’t have to listen to the noise of traffic and rude drivers, but I am sure there was the noise of grunting camels and those who were trying to ride their beast of burden as far as it would take them yelling as they navigated the crowds.  I am confident it was just as dirty as it was the day I walked, as litter is certainly not a modern phenomenon.  And I am even more certain that whatever foul odor my nose picked up that morning was nothing compared to the absolute reek of Jerusalem in the time of Jesus.  While we like to imagine our Bible stories in perfect bubbles of clean happiness, the truth of the matter is that Jesus’ walk from the Mt of Olives to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount was probably as annoying as mine was.  Definitely not something I am eager to experience again.

The way Mark tells the story it appears that some things about that day Jesus had planned in advance, but with other things he really didn’t have a plan.  Mark tells us that Jesus had arranged for a colt to ride.  I have spoken before about Pilate’s entry through another gate in Jerusalem that day.  Pilate was riding a war horse and was accompanied by a military parade.  Pilate was coming that day to show the city the might and strength of Roman rule, lest anybody get any ideas about acting out against the empire.

Part of what Jesus seems to be doing here is a bit of political theatre and a counter demonstration.  He is coming into the city through a back gate, a pilgrim’s gate.  And Jesus is riding a donkey or a colt, a sign of peace.  Jesus’ followers were hailing his entry, but I imagine that many that day were simply trying to get into the city themselves.  Laying Palm branches on the road was typical of welcoming pilgrims to the city, so they would have probably done that whether Jesus was there or not.  His disciples got the crowd shouting his praise, but I am sure some were caught up in the celebration and didn’t really know what they were shouting about.  While I used to imagine Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that day as a lone event, now I imagine him being one section of a long stream of pilgrims.  Just as my group of visitors was but one crowd entering the city a few weeks ago, Jesus and his followers would have been but one small section in a long parade of pilgrims.  It is no wonder that it was of little notice to most of the people gathered there that day.

Even Jesus himself doesn’t seem to know what this day is all about.  The writer of Mark’s gospel tells us that after he enters Jerusalem, Jesus heads to the Temple Mount.  He simply looks around at everything and then turns around and goes home.  That actually sounds a lot like my visit as well.  Show up, look around, and then turn around and go back out.  What was Jesus doing there anyway?  Unless perhaps the point was simply to enter the city with the other pilgrims who had gathered there.

The next day Jesus does the whole thing all over again, minus the donkey.  Jesus comes back into the city and the temple and begins drawing attention to himself and causing a ruckus as he yells at the money changers, violently turning over their tables and driving them out.  There’s no hiding among the crowds that day, and it doesn’t take long for the religious authorities to begin to think it’s about time they put a stop to this rabble rouser.

Jesus will spend nearly a week walking the Palm Sunday Road.  Every day he will head into the city to preach and teach in the area of the temple, and every night he will leave the city behind and head back up to the security of the mountain.  As the week goes on he will celebrate the Passover with his friends within the city’s walls, and he will withdraw to the Mount and the Garden of Gethsemane to pray for peace.  He will be betrayed in the garden and arrested by the authorities.  He will be questioned by the court and declared guilty of blasphemy and treason.  And then finally he will be crucified on the hill of Golgotha, still just a face in the crowd, as more than 6,000 Jews a year were executed there accused of crimes against the state.

As I mentioned last Sunday, the Holy Land is not really holy at all.  It is simply an ordinary place with ordinary people.  Jesus was one of those ordinary people.  A teacher of the faith and a leader of a band of followers who had different ideas about who God was and who God might be calling God’s people to be.  Jesus’ walk on the Palm Sunday road was much like the walk of modern pilgrims who trek those same streets today.  And Jesus’ death at the hands of the Roman Empire was much like the unjust death of millions of people today at the hands of corrupt governments and broken systems.  The miracle of Jesus of Nazareth is not that he was someone special, someone separate.  No, the miracle is that it was in Jesus of Nazareth that God experienced the life of someone ordinary.  God experienced hope and joy, sadness and sorrow, suffering and death right along with the rest of us. 

Next Sunday we will gather to worship and celebrate the most unordinary, extra-ordinary resurrection of this man.  But today we gather to remember that Jesus was a lot like any one of us and a lot like any of those who live in the state of Israel / Palestine today.  Just an ordinary pilgrim walking the Palm Sunday Road, entering the city of Jerusalem for the Passover with everyone else.  Thanks be to God for the ordinary man that is Jesus of Nazareth and for the extra-ordinary miracle that will be Jesus the Christ.  Together with the crowds we say “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Amen. 

Monday, March 19, 2018

Reflections on the Holy Land


March 18th, 2018              “Reflections on the Holy Land”            Rev. Heather Jepsen

John 12:20-33

         I’m happy to be back with you leading worship, but imagining that I would somehow have a sermon to preach today wasn’t my best idea.  As many of you know I spent the last two weeks in the Holy Land of Israel and Palestine and I just returned late Friday night.  My mind is overwhelmed with information and ideas and my body is trapped in that strange in between space of jet lag.  I can’t wait to show you all my pictures and the treasures I collected along the way.  And I have wonderful sermon ideas for the next few weeks, but with this morning’s scripture reading I feel I am coming up short.  So, I apologize in advance for this haphazard collection of thoughts I cobbled together during a 6 hour layover in New York City.

         Our text finds us in the Gospel of John and the time is Passover.  The crowds have gathered in the city and our author tells us that some Greeks were among those gathered at the Passover.  Seeing the many levels of culture in the ancient city of Jerusalem this doesn’t surprise me at all.  Even today the city is full of people of varying religious and ethnic backgrounds.  From the people who live within the Old City’s walls to the busloads of tourists from around the globe, the city of Jerusalem is still full of people who have the same request as these folks in our scripture reading, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

         Philip and Andrew tell Jesus about these folks who wish to see him, and Jesus begins to explain that he might not be what they were looking for.  The hour is coming for the Son of Man to be glorified and it will be nothing like what the people expect.  In the convoluted language of the gospel of John, Jesus begins to speak about his impending suffering and death.  It is through this path of self denial that the Son of Man will be lifted up and glorified.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus doesn’t pray for the cup of suffering to pass from him.  Rather, he lays down his life in full control and glory. 

         These past two weeks, I found the Holy Land to be a place where people come to search for God.  And they have been searching there for centuries.  Every town that has any mention at all in our scriptures is full of churches and shrines.  In important cities like Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem churches are built literally on top of each other.  Some folks in my travel group were annoyed at their inability to get to or see the “real” place where something holy happened.  I instead saw the way people have been reaching out and grasping for God through the ages.  We are always trying to get closer to the divine, and if that means building a church within a church upon a church than we will do it.

         Of course, the Holy Land is full of tourists, and modern pilgrims reaching for the divine in their own way.  From organized catholic tour groups, to busloads of Ethiopians, to our rag tag bunch of pastors, the Holy Land is big business.  Like the Greeks in the gospel of John, these folks are all saying “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  And I’ll tell you what; it can be hard to find Jesus in the crowds of hundreds of people waiting to touch a special rock in a shrine full of icons and incense.

         Throughout my time in the Holy Land I was struck by the thought of what an ordinary simple place it really is beneath all the pageantry.  Jesus wasn’t born there because it was a special place.  Jesus was born in a normal place, just like you and me, and it is the church throughout the ages that has tried to lift it up and make it special.  The Holy Land is not really holy.  It is just an everyday land that has been populated by regular people throughout the ages.  Jesus was born there because that is where his mom was born.  Simple as that.   Throughout his lifetime Jesus would have collected a small group of followers, but the truth is that most folks wouldn’t have heard of him.  He certainly wasn’t followed by the busloads of tourists like he is now.

         At the end of our scripture reading for today, Jesus says that when he is lifted up from the earth, then he will draw all people to himself.  This seems abundantly clear to me today.  It is only in his death and resurrection that the church is born.  And it is through the church that the story of Jesus’ is spread.  When Jesus leaves Israel, in his death, is when the crowds really begin to be drawn to him.  When he is lifted up in glory, is when he draws all people to himself.  The story of Jesus of Nazareth is a local story, but in his death and resurrection as he becomes Jesus the Christ.  His becomes a story for all people for all time.

         I have so much to share with you about my trip.  I have toured the Sea of Galilee, and worshiped with Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem.  I have seen spectacular Roman ruins, and totally overdone Christian shrines.  I have heard the Muslim calls to prayer and witnessed discrimination at Israeli check points.  I have visited a Palestinian refugee camp and heard the stories of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the area.  I have swum in the Dead Sea and renewed my Baptism in the Jordan River.  I have seen the view from Masada and shared bread on the steps of the Church of the Holy Seplecure.  I have walked the streets of Jerusalem and seen the inside of the Dome of the Rock.  I have heard many stories and made new friends.  I have lots of new ideas about the Biblical Texts and lots more questions about the Israeli Palestinian conflict than ever before.

         I will work with you to plan a time to share my photos and treasures and in the months to come I am sure that stories from my visit will play a role in the sermons from this pulpit.  But for this morning I simply want to say “thank you”.  This has been a tremendous experience for me and it will continue to inform me as a person and as a pastor.  Thank you for sending me to the ordinary holy land, to gather with those people who ask “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  Amen.

        

Can Love Lead?


March 4th, 2018                        “Can Love Lead?”                      Rev. Heather Jepsen

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 and Ephesians 4:1-6

         Every year the Presbyterian Church sets aside the first Sunday in March to honor and celebrate the gifts of women in the church.  This is a church day that I have had a tendency to avoid.  I celebrated “Gifts of Women” Sunday only once in worship and it was while serving a small church in San Francisco, before I was even ordained.  Since my ordination, I have often faced backlash because of my gender, so spending a whole Sunday talking about the gifts of women just wasn’t another hurdle I was willing to jump.  Thankfully this year Cathi Truesdale asked me if we could do a “Gifts of Women” Sunday and have a special women’s choir.  I agreed, and so if you have a problem with this sermon or this service, you can take it up with Cathi!

         It can be hard to talk about the gifts that women in leadership bring to the church.  Many of you have gotten used to seeing a woman in church leadership but it is still far from the norm.  In our town of Warrensburg, there is one woman who serves part time in a small church outside of town, but there are no other full time women pastors.  When we have clergy events or meetings, I am often alone in my gender.  While some other pastors treat me with respect, many treat me as less than.  Because of my gender, I am often talked over, ignored, or simply put down.  When ministers great each other with handshakes, my hand is often not shaken.  I am simply given a pat on the back as if to say, “Good for you for trying.”  No matter how successful my ministry career may be, for many folks it will just never measure up.

         Of course, a lot of this controversy centers on issues of Biblical interpretation.  Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians that women should keep quiet in the churches.  For many this is seen as an outright ban on women in leadership.  Never mind that we are able to interpret other biblical commands such as how to deal with the sick, what kinds of clothes to wear, and how to cut our hair within their unique historical context.  Despite a long history of interpreting the Biblical texts, many see this line of Paul’s to stand for all churches for all of eternity. 

Only a minor amount of Biblical study reveals that Paul himself supports women as leaders in the church.  Paul speaks of churches within women’s houses, women functioning as teachers and deacons, and women ministering to others.  We find women as the primary financial backers of Jesus’ ministry, women as the most successful Judges in the Old Testament, and women as early evangelists in the church movement.  The first people to share the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ were women.  The gifts of women have often been lifted up within the Biblical lexicon, even if some church traditions might choose to ignore it.

         In our Scripture reading from the 1st chapter of 1st Corinthians Paul himself reminds us that the ways of God are not always the ways of the world.  The message of the cross is foolishness to the world around us.  It has always been and always will be.  Who wants to worship a suffering Messiah?  But yet, the power of God’s deep love for humanity is revealed within that cross. 

The world around us worships strength and power.  It worships those who push and force their way.  It worships those who would trample on others, before they are willing to budge in their own lives.  The wisdom of God is something entirely different.  It is a strength revealed in self-sacrificial love.   Here we find that “God’s foolishness is wiser that human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

         I see parallels to women’s leadership in this text.  Certainly the idea of women in positions of leadership still appears to be foolish in our world.  This is especially the case if women are going to use their God given gifts of love and hospitality in that leadership role.  When we see women leaders in the political sphere or the business world we often see women who have modeled themselves after men.  They have decided that if they are going to lead in a man’s position, then they must therefore act like men, and for many this is necessary for success.  Our society values the motherly traits of women as long as the women keep those gifts in the home.  Women, who lead outside the home, should lead like men.

         I too was trained to do my job like a man; to preach forcefully and with conviction, to lead with a strong will and vision, and to keep my heart out of my job.  These were all basic lessons I was given in training to be a pastor.  And yet, the more I do this job, the more I have abandoned these lessons.  I see another way to lead, a way that is biblically based and effective, and that is to lead with love.  Rather than leading the church like a business man in a board room, I lead my church like a mother with her family.  I work to share the love of God through my very heart with you, as if you were my own children; for you are all children of God, and I am your pastor.  In the Catholic Church a person in my position would be called Father; cannot I not therefore lead my flock with the love of a mother?  This is how I lead with love.

Around the table and in the session meeting, I try to work for consensus.  I don’t have an agenda to push; rather I look for the members of this family to make decisions together.  Like a mother with her home, I work to make this church a place of hospitality.  I want this to be a place of welcome and safety for all people.  This is how I lead with love.

The biggest lie I was told in seminary was to guard my heart from the people I serve.  The biggest thing I have learned in ministry is to open my heart and embrace the love I have for all of you, for the church, and for the world.  This is foolishness for many, but it is wisdom in God, for this is the way that Jesus leads his people.  To open my heart makes me vulnerable, but if I am not open to suffering with you than I cannot be your Pastor.  Jesus comes among us to suffer with us.  Jesus doesn’t guard or hide his heart.  If I am to model my ministry after Christ, then I must be willing to open my heart to all the joys and pains in your life as well as my own.  This is how I lead with love.

         Paul discusses this kind of leadership in his letter to the Ephesians.  He encourages his followers to lead a life worthy of their calling and then he clearly states what that life should look like.  We should be humble and gentle, we should be patient, we should bear with one another in love, and we should always work towards unity.  When I read this text I hear Paul telling us to lead the church with love.  And I think these are gifts for leadership that women uniquely possess.  

         I don’t want to discount the gifts and efforts of men today.  We all know that men are the ones who first built the church, men are the ones who have been leaders in the faith, and men are the fathers of our tradition.  The Bible and our history books are full of the stories of the contributions of men.  And many good men have followed the example of Jesus Christ and learned to lead with love, including such greats as Martin Luther King Jr, President Jimmy Carter, and the late Rev. Billy Graham.

         But behind the scenes it has always been women who have given life to the church.  It was women who supported Jesus’ early ministry, women who ran the house churches in Paul’s time, and women who have worked behind the scenes in many American churches throughout the ages.  Women are the ones who attend the committee meetings, sing in the choir, teach the Sunday school classes, run the small groups, serve at the potluck, and do the dishes afterwards.  Women are the ones who create an environment of hospitality, and I believe it is women who are able to lead naturally with love.

         This sermon asks, “Can Love Lead?” and I believe through the example of Jesus Christ that it can.  Jesus shows us another way, Jesus shows us leadership with vulnerability, and Jesus shows us leadership with true heart.  When we gather around the communion table we remember that Jesus leads us with sacrificial love.  Jesus shows us that love can lead.

I think women are uniquely qualified to lead with the love of Jesus Christ.  And while I may continue to face criticism and bias working as a woman in what many think of as a man’s job, I know that God has called me to this work, God has ordained me to this ministry, and I am a mighty fine pastor.  The best thing I ever did was open my heart to truly love God’s church.

Today we celebrate the “Gifts of Women” in the church and in the world, and we celebrate all of those that God has called to lead with love.  May God’s blessing be upon all who serve the church, and may God’s blessing be upon women and their unique gifts for ministry.  Amen.