Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Trust God in Hard Times
E. L. Doctorow wrote a novel years ago called Welcome to Hard Times. Now that's the kind of greeting I'd say "No thanks!" to.
The title's "hard times" refers both to the town name of an 1800s settlement in the Dakota Territory and to the kind of existence its settlers had to endure out there in the middle of nowhere.
I suppose most every community, family, or individual goes through its own hard times at least once in a while. I know that the past couple of years have made life harder for all of us than we'd been used to. And some of us have endured the real hardship of lost jobs, barely payable bills, loss of homes and health insurance and retirement security. On top of that, around all that, the proverbial wars and rumors of war chill our hearts and darken our minds.
Though our 21st century technology multiplies our capacity for destruction (including self-destruction) and accelerates our communication for better or worse, these kinds of woe are really nothing new.
In Mark 13, Jesus shocks his disciples and us by stepping out of character to prophesy gloom and doom and mass destruction. We're so used to him telling human interest stories to embody lofty values and gracious attitudes. And here he is whamming and bamming the world with apocalyptic warnings.
Well, that's the first part of his Mark 13 message. It's as if he's saying, "Now that I have your attention..." For the rest of what he says assures us that God knows all about, and has a purpose in, the hard times of prophetic "last days" and the hard times of everyday life as well.
That's the keynote of apocalyptic literature, which was so popular around the time Jesus was born. The writers described nightmarish visions of cosmic warfare, not to promote scream-fests as slasher movies or vampire romances do, but to assure believing people that their faith in God was worth believing with all their hearts and minds and strength.
The thematic thread through all their horrific visions was: Trust God even in the hard times; Trust God especially in the hardest of times.
To hear what I had to say about that on Sunday morning...
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
6:06 PM
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Power of Generosity
 Psalm 127; Mark 12:38-44
In the midst of their busiest week ever, while official opposition came ever closer to the boiling point, Jesus decided it was time for his disciples to do... absolutely nothing.
Right out there in Jerusalem's public square, he sat them down to stop, look, and listen a while. To simply pay attention.
Who else was there? What were they all doing? Any clues about why? Or where it all might lead?
Located as they were across the way from the Temple, they observed priests coming and going, worshipers on their way to and from the prayers and sacrifices, and various people putting money in the offering box.
Rich folks made a show of their giving, maybe unavoidably so. For no such thing as a bank check had been invented. So a sizable contribution would involve a lot of cash, which could take some time to stuff into the container.
And then, up stepped one poor widow, and she dropped in two small copper coins. Clink, clink. That's all she had to give -- 2 cents -- and give it she did.
At that Jesus spoke up. "This woman's gift was the biggest offering of the whole day," he said. "For she gave God everything she had!"
Why? What do you suppose was going on in her life that particular day, to motivate such a generous donation? That week, or that season in her long and lonely life?
Whatever it was, what she did with it moved Jesus and his disciples to grateful praise. You and I, too, should sing her praises if we've been paying the least bit of attention.
Brother David Steindl-Rast may have had this story in mind when he wrote, "The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves."
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
5:37 PM
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Lazarus: Life Leaps Up
Psalm 24; John 11:32-44
Here's a piece of Bible trivia that might win you a little money some day. Or at least the admiration of impressionable friends.
The shortest verse in the Bible is... John 11:35.
"Jesus wept," it says.
You can't imagine what great good news that was to me as a ten-year-old sidewalk theologian. My parochial school buddies and I, a Protestant pupil in the public school, would compare notes from time to time on all things religious. This verse thoroughly jazzed all of us across all denominational lines.
Wow. You mean we didn't have to always be strong or smart or brave? If Jesus could lose it like that, then we were in the best of company come the time when we might fall apart.
That amazing verse comes in the middle of one of the Bible's most tender stories about Jesus, in the one Gospel that pays careful attention to his intimate relationships with God, his disciples, and a few other lucky people along the way.
Imagine, for example, how great you would feel if it was your house that Jesus called his home away from home. To be the host with whom he felt free to simply be himself -- off duty, no obligations, no expectations.
That's how it was for three good people in the village of Bethany, about two miles outside Jerusalem. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus would stay at their house on the way to and from Jerusalem for the holy days.
In John 11, Jesus hears that his friend Lazarus is dying. He shares the news with his disciples, adding "He's not going to die." And he proceeds to do absolutely nothing about the emergency. Harsh, that.
Two days later he says, out of the blue, "Lazarus is dead. Let's go there now." His disciples are surprised, confused, angry, and scared. But off they go with Jesus to see what they will see.
And what they see turns out to be first one sister, then the other, challenging Jesus with the same lament. "Lord, if you had only been here..."
To Martha, the no-nonsense pragmatist who waves an accusing finger at him, he makes the astounding claim, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will never really die!"
To Mary, a sensitive soul who sobs her complaint through tears, he responds with tears of his own.
"See how he loved Lazarus," buzz the friends and neighbors who've come over to grieve with the family. And they've got it exactly right.
Next thing you know, Jesus has someone open up the tomb, braces himself, and calls out, "Lazarus, come out of there!" Pregnant pause... All eyes on the tomb... What next? How long?
Shazam! Out comes the dead man -- eyes wide open now, grinning ear to ear, then laughing out loud, now dancing some holy kind of two-step.
"I'm alive!" he shouts. "It's Jesus! And Mary! Oh, and Martha, too! Hallelujah!!!"
Let the party begin. This that was lost has been found! He who was dead is now alive!
If that last bit sounds just like the climax in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, well why not?
For I believe this episode in John's "intimate gospel" not only describes the incredible power of Christ's love to resurrect his dead friend Lazarus. It's also a living parable about the spiritual state of every one of us, and of Christ's amazing power to bring us all to life as we've never lived before.
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
3:56 PM
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