Five Minute Friday :: Vision

• Five Minute Friday :: Vision Linkup

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them as their God; they will be God's peoples, and God will be with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Revelation 21:1-4

Like a vision board packed with pictures of the future you dream of, the not here right now you expect will manifest and you'll then testify to, scripture reveals God's visions for creation's wellbeing and provides ideas we can follow to partner with God to create heaven on earth. In my focus passage from the book of Revelation that concludes the bible, John the Revelator describes the vision God gave him.

"Sea no more" is far from ecological disaster, but picks up the code word sea or ocean that in scripture frequently denotes untamed chaos, as when Genesis 1 tells us about the dawn of creation when the Spirit of God hovered over the formless empty deep darkness. Oh, yes, the new creation does have a river with life-giving water—"enough" clear clean water along with all we need of everything else.

God's vision of the reign of the Spirit is "shalom" justice and bountiful sufficiency. Reading and studying scripture gives us plenty of practice in learning God's ways. Enough food, safe shelter, healthy community. Good work for good pay in good conditions. Abundant mercy and love. No sorrow or dying or pain. The end of war and violence. Scripture sings in the language of geography and space, because we are embodied humans solidly situated on land.

The God who calls us into new creation partnership is Jeremiah's God so near with laws so just. Along with 2 Peter, we proclaim and claim, "According to God's promise we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." [2 Peter 3:13] That's quite a vision!

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Five Minute Friday :: Fast

What a topic for a fun free ramble!

Fast cars, fast fashion, fast(ing from) food.

• Five Minute Friday :: Fast Linkup

Fast: so many meanings! Moving speedily, finishing in warp time, refraining from a certain food or drink–sometimes a particular attitude or activity. You can observe a time of fasting from food for spiritual discernment or to pray for a treasured intention. Some traditions emphasize fasting from a meal or meals and then donating the money you save to a favored cause. Maybe especially(?) Reformed Christians enjoy the feeling of no Sunday breakfast so the sacrament breaks their fast.

Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? … Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry? …Then your light will break forth like the dawn; your righteousness will go before you. Isaiah 58:6-8

In the spirit of Amos 5 earlier on, via Isaiah 58 God disses perfunctory religious ceremonies and fasts engaged in mostly for show—in fact, done so God just might notice! And then explains what to do, how to act if you want God to notice you and respond. This passage also counsels us to keep Sabbath, to trust life and sustenance as gift rather than as laborious toil.

We've seen sad evidence of some fast cars being dangerous, harmful, and hurtful. Producing fast fashion uses too many finite resources to almost no avail, and too much landfill afterwards, even though it keeps people employed to some extent. Quality, nutrition, flavor, and healthiness of fast food slowly has been improving. But fasting a while from food? Either contributing what you save to a food charity or better yet, doing doubles by inviting a friend, acquaintance, or safe stranger to lunch with you so you feed them and fellowship them, too.

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April 2022

• Liturgy and Lunch on Tuesday in Holy Week in Glendale. First time there since February 2020—more than two years! These stained glass windows on the front of the building always wow me.

• Maundy Thursday and Good Friday marked the first two acts of the three day Triduum. A Pink Full Moon on Saturday was the first full moon after the vernal equinox; let's also call it Easter Moon. I've never had a camera that can photograph the sky, so again this time I illustrated the moon. No Easter Vigil or Sunrise this year, but the concluding act three of the Triduum on Sunday morning was splendid.

• Earth Day 2022 – #InvestInOurPlanet – happened on Friday in Bright Week!

• On the second Sunday of Easter, April 24th, a neighbor's garden was part of the Native Plant Garden Tour sponsored by Theodore Payne nurseries. At least twice I've blogged pictures from visits to Theodore Payne and will try to find and tag them.

Five Minute Friday :: Run

• Five Minute Friday :: Run Linkup

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. John 20:1-4

"Run come see! The stone rolled away!" Like the first creation, the new creation began in primordial darkness, before first light of the first day of the new week. Biblical religion is fully embodied and sensory; it's a way of being we can touch, hear, see, smell, and taste. Yet both Judaism and Christianity put hearing first. We read scripture aloud; our preaching and teaching interprets scripture in ways people listen to, hopefully hear, learn, and take to heart, so like Moses' exodus assembly we will do all the Words God has spoken.

Reformer Martin Luther insisted "the eyes are hard of hearing" because we can't quite trust what we see. Therefore (among other reasons), he spent a lifetime in a monumental struggle for the primacy of God's Word written and spoken and heard, to recover the bible for ordinary everyday people—to bring back the Good Book he described as "the cradle in which Christ, the [Incarnate] Word of God, is laid."

In the evangelist John's Easter account everyone runs in a hurry to tell the good news of Jesus' resurrection. Can't wait! Don't want to be late! Maybe our legs won't carry us as fast as we'd like, but are you still ready to run and tell the world about the empty tomb? Does everyone know death is not the end? Are you running to say God's final answer always is new life? Jesus is not here! He is risen!

Run come see the stone rolled away and then run and tell everyone you see!

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Five Minute Friday :: Deny

Palms 2 Cross public domain illustration from the group we used Good Friday evening for Stations of the Cross with scripture readings Tenebrae service
• Five Minute Friday Deny Linkup

We've recently experienced seasons of Lent and Holy Week; today is Holy Saturday and tomorrow the Day of Resurrection – Easter Sunday – so I instinctively remembered 2 Timothy 2:12-13 telling us if we deny the Christ, Jesus still remains faithful. Where would we otherwise be, given our propensity to fear, thoughtlessness, and tendency to jump in with all four feet before we assess what's happening? Besides, despite sometimes doing our best to study all angles, we often need to make decisions and move on with limited information. But rather than riffing on a classic passage of scripture, I'll reflect on daily denials that lessen the quality of our lives and prevent our living fully right here and right now.

I'm writing about myself, though all humans tend toward the same traits. I'm expert at putting the best construction on unfortunate behaviors, rationalizing even when people clearly have intentionally behaved badly. Forgiveness isn't about denying the sin or offense; it's about acknowledging it so you can move on. Everyone has been in at least one bad relationship, unfortunate living situation, or negative workplace environment. It's important to exit and find something healthier as soon as possible, but one's (my, your) motivation to do so won't be very compelling if you don't admit what's happening instead of denying what's going on.

On that always there other side, when days are sunny and surprises splendid, it's easy to default into doubt and denial because – you know – how can these wonderful events even be after such a long series of disappointments? Denying God's constant gift of life? Another denial that God's final answer always is resurrection from the dead?

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Maundy Thursday 2022 :: Triduum Act 1

Psalm 116

¹²What shall I render to the Lord
For all his benefits toward me?
¹³I will take the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁷I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁸I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all his people.
¹⁹In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Five Minute Friday :: Coffee

• Five Minute Friday :: Coffee Linkup

From Main Street to Wall Street, Downtown into Uptown, coffee shops – single location indie, regional ones, globe-circling chains – offer watering spots, meeting places, and work stations.

When drinking and savoring coffee first reached Europe, many considered it an antidepressant. By the time Johann Sebastian Bach [1685-1750] reached legal majority, coffee had become a ubiquitous habit with vendors absolutely everywhere. Always responsive to culture and context, that great composer who's been styled "The Fifth Evangelist" because of his devotion to Jesus and the church Jesus founded, because of the hundred plus cantatas grounded in scripture he composed for worship, simply had to write a Coffee Cantata.

Not to worry if you don't drink coffee or tea! Emporia officially called "coffee shops" all have expanded their menus with specialty lemonades, other beverages, and snacks to accompany whatever drink's your pleasure. Anyone can enjoy one as a place to linkup with friends or colleagues, to accomplish some work on a laptop (free wifi if you don't have your own), sketchbook, or notebook.

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• Header image is one of many I've taken of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlets around town; this one's in Los Angeles' ultra-international Koreatown neighborhood. Top footer icon is via google docs with full reuse rights, so I photoshopped it for impact and interest.