March 24, 2024
Palm Sunday – Year B – George Yandell
Every year the assigned readings for Palm Sunday split the day between the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem then move to the passion gospel and Jesus’s crucifixion. I’ve had problems with that program for a long time. So today we’re going to focus on Jesus entering Jerusalem and leave the crucifixion to Good Friday.
Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in 30 CE. It was the beginning of Passover week, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession demonstrating the Roman Empire’s occupation and domination of Jerusalem and Israel. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives cheered by his followers. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth, his message was about the kingdom of God, and his followers came from the peasant class. My friend and colleague Bowlyne Fisher would have called them ‘the great unwashed.’ Jesus and his companions had journeyed from Galilee, 100 miles going south to Jerusalem. [The above adapted from The Last Week: A Day-by Day Account of Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem, Borg and Crossan, Harper San Francisco, 2006, p. 2]
Mark’s story of Jesus and his kingdom of God movement has been aiming for Jerusalem. It has now arrived.
On the opposite side of the city, coming from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea,
March 17, 2024
Lent 5 Year B – George Yandell
I’ve been mulling over what I can offer you as we prepare for my retirement. I keep coming back to how grateful I feel being with you at Holy Family since August 1, 2010. It has been an incredible blessing to serve with you and my clergy colleagues. I’ve asked them to send me some of their recollections.
When Susan and I were in town house-hunting before I started as priest-in-charge, the clergy invited us for a meal at Byron and Anne’s house. Susan recalls that Scott and Katharine drove us with Ted and Debbie to the Tindall’s. I had some apprehensions about being the new kid on the block with a team of clergy that devoted themselves as volunteers and had kept worship and pastoral care alive after Mary had left. We were so delighted as we talked and shared a wonderful meal- I thought as we were going home- what a tremendous gift to have such sharp and devoted colleagues! And in the years since that first engagement, I’ve only grown in my respect and love for you all.
Byron offers these recollections:
Approximately 14 years ago, the Search Committee at Holy Family was in the process of interviewing priests for the position of priest-in-charge of our parish. As “retired” clergy and members of Holy Family, Katharine, Ted and I were afforded an opportunity to have some private time with each of the candidates.
March 10, 2024
Lent 4 – Year B – George Yandell
I like the word ‘oxymoron’. It means expressing two contradictory things at the same time. The word itself is an oxymoron – it’s a compound made up of two Greek words meaning “sharp” and “dull.” So oxymoron = sharp/dull. Some good examples are: bittersweet, original copy, jumbo shrimp, and a true Southernism—“pretty ugly”. I have often thought that having a firm handle on the concept of an oxymoron is vital to understanding the Christian faith. Is God oxymoronic? Does the Bible express truths about God that are mutually contradictory?
Dom Crossan has said: You can read the Bible all through and find evidence for two quite different, conflicting ways God acts. [How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian, Harper One, 2015, p.17] In one way – God is harsh, judgmental, strict; a god of law and punishment, of revenge and retribution, even violence; a god who keeps a careful tally of our sins and metes out appropriate penalties. In the other way – God is gentle, loving, forgiving, and indulgent; a god who condemns violence and loves us with a prodigal, spendthrift love. [Adapted from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Delmer L. Chilton on The Lectionary Lab, March 15, 2015]
How do we hear and respond to the dialogue of Jesus with Nicodemus in today’s gospel? In shaping our responses, key words in today’s gospel demand some decoding and recasting.
March 3, 2024
Lent 3 Year B – George Yandell
When Jesus went onto the temple courtyard, he erupted in violent anger when he saw the Court of the Gentiles desecrated by the traders who set up shop there. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and threw them out. Why? Because they filled their pockets by ripping off the poor. He screamed at the vendors of sheep and cattle and doves. Anger coursed through him, he was outraged. What was Jesus really doing? Jesus might have waked up one morning, walked out of his house, seen the poverty and the hunger of all those around him and said, “This Stinks!” He was enraged at those perverting the true worship God intended.
What was the worship God intended? Jesus seemed to be channeling the great prophets’ teachings: Amos 5:21 ff., speaking God’s word to the people of Israel 750 years before Jesus: “I hate, I despise your festivals…. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them… Take away the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the melody of your harps… But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” Isaiah 1:17 “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Hosea 6:6 “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Micah 6:8 “[God] has told you….what is good;