Seasons. An Advent and Lent Podcast By Willow Park Church

The Great Gardener. John 20:11-18 And so on Easter Sunday, our Holy Week Journey with Jesus has come to an end. Today, we begin with the first day of the new creation! The day that Jesus rose from the grave!   Our journey ended yesterday with Jesus laid to rest in a new tomb within the walled garden of Joseph of Arimathea near Golgotha. History and archeology suggest to us that in the time of Jesus, Golgotha was an abandoned quarry used as a garbage dump.  So we could say it this way: Jesus, the stone rejected by the builders, was crucified in a quarry-turned-garbage dump, but he was buried as a seed within a verdant garden.  When Jesus is first seen alive in that garden on Easter morning, Mary Magdalene mistakes him for the gardener. But, in fact, it’s no mistake at all. Jesus is the gardener who turns garbage dumps into gardens! Jesus is not a conductor punching tickets for a train ride to heaven. Christian hope is not about getting from earth to heaven; it’s about getting heaven to earth. Jesus is not a lawyer to get us out of a legal jam with an angry judge. God is not mad at sinners. Jesus told Mary to tell his disciples that his Father was their Father too! Jesus is not a banker making loans from his surplus righteousness. Jesus is a gardener! A gardener cultivating resurrection life in all who will come to him. The conductor, lawyer, banker metaphors are mostly false, giving a distorted view of salvation. The gardener metaphor is beautiful as it faithfully depicts the process of salvation in our lives. A gardener’s work is earthy and intimate. Gardeners have their hands in the humus. (We are humans from the humus.) Conductors, lawyers and bankers are concerned with abstract and impersonal things like tickets, laws, and money. But gardeners handle living things with living hands. Jesus is not afraid to get his hands dirty in the humus of humanity.   I promise you that your life is not so shattered that Jesus can’t nurture you into something beautiful. The empty tomb is the open door that leads us away from the ugly world and back into the Garden as God intened.  Not many have captured the idea of Easter as the inauguration of a new world with Christ as the gardener better than G.K. Chesterton “On the third day the friends of Christ coming at day-break to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of a gardener God walked again in the garden, not in the cool of the evening, but in the dawn.” –G.K. Chesterton   Music by, Allswell, Simon Wester.

Holy Saturday And so on Holy Saturday, our Holy week comes to an end. Our journey ends with Jesus laid to rest in a new tomb within the walled garden of Joseph of Arimathea near Golgotha.   As we begin today, I want to reflect on the work of Paul Zach as he writes about Holy Saturday. After the cross has been carried After the weight is laid down After the body is buried Down where the darkness surrounds After the end of the violence After the sky has gone dark Now there is nothing but silence Broken by the beat of our heartsHe's goneAfter the last words are spokenWe lay him down in the graveAfter our hearts have been brokenHave all our hopes been betrayed? He's gone Here at the tomb with our spicesLove from our hearts is not goneWatch 'til the breaking sun risesWhat will we see in the dawn? Paul Zach   As we listen to Luke Parker, sing Sweet Surrender, let us take a moment to appreciate the freedom that comes on the death and resurrection of our Lord. The full presence that we have from the sweet surrender that Jesus gave on the cross.   Todays reading comes from John 19:31-42   31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d] The Burial of Jesus 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Holy Saturday is a time of both absence and presence. Still your body and mind as you invite Jesus to be with you in this midway place. Asking for the courage to stay in the ‘valley of the shadow of death’. how have you been able to sense God’s presence during this challenging week? What thoughts, desires or feelings have arisen within you as you prayed with this week’s Scripture passages? Many Christians bypass Holy Saturday, leaping from the sorrow of Jesus’ death to the triumphant celebration of his resurrection. The church's ancient creeds invite us not to do that, but to stay with a sense of his absence, as his disciples felt it. Why do you think that is? How does the story of Jesus’ suffering and death leave you feeling? Lord Jesus, on this holy day of quiet rest, we await your resurrection, but we don’t want to rush by; we want to wait beside you in that sweet surrender. Music by Luke Parker, Salt of The Sound, Dear Gravity, Simon Wester.

Luke 22:14-29, John 13:1-17 Today is Maundy (or mandate) Thursday, the day when Jesus at the Last Supper gave his disciples a new and supreme mandate to love one another.    At the Last Supper Jesus re-appropriated the ancient Passover meal commemorating Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt, giving us the sacramental meal of Communion by which we commemorate the Lord’s death and partake of his body and blood.    Of course, the disciples didn’t know this was the last supper before Jesus’ suffering and death—they were still anticipating the arrival of the kingdom of God in the way of conventional conquest. Yet Jesus was explicit about this being the last meal of an old age, telling his disciples that he would not eat or drink again until the kingdom of God had come. And thus we see the significance of Jesus eating and drinking with his disciples following his resurrection! Sadly, the poignancy of this final meal was marred by a dispute among the disciples over who would be regarded as the greatest in the coming kingdom. Once again, for the last time before his death, Jesus stressed to his obtuse disciples that what is counted as greatness in the empires of the world is not what is counted as greatness in the kingdom of God.  Now that we have heard of the dispute among the disciples lets take a moment to hear what else happened at the last supper from John’s account of the event. Let’s read about Jesus washing his disciples' feet from John 13:1-17 As we hear from this portion of the evening picture, the events are taking place. How do the actions of Jesus contrast the attitudes of the disciples who are arguing over who would be the greatest in the coming Kingdom? Caesar and all his successors measure greatness by power—power to kill, power to obtain, power to control. But in the kingdom of Christ, greatness is measured by love, humility, and service. Jesus modelled this kingdom version of greatness when he washed his disciples’ feet during the Last Supper. Despite the disciples’ inability to fully grasp what he was saying and doing, Jesus spoke warmly about how they had stayed with him through his trials. As a result, they are to eat and drink at his table in his kingdom.   As we finish today, take a moment to imagine what it was like to be a disciple having his feet washed. Now take a moment to place yourselves in the seat of the disciples. See Jesus washing your feet. What is your response to this situation? Lord Jesus, as we partake of your body and blood on this holy day, may we be your flesh and blood presence in the world, and may our presence be characterized by love, humility, and service. Amen.  

Jesus Predicts the Denial by Judas. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.   These imploring words, which have been sung for centuries are a reminder of the inexhaustible mercy of God and of God’s unfailing compassion and forgiveness. As we enter into our time today, I want us to take a moment to ready ourselves before God by confessing that we come to him only by his great mercy that he lavishes on us. As we listen to Salt of the Sound sing When I Survey, let's take some time to place ourselves into the care of a merciful God who loves us, even when we have chosen a different path than the one that he has intended for us. Hearing this story with the Knowledge of the situation that we have, allows us a vantage point that was not afforded to the rest of the disciples. How would it feel to be any one of the characters in the story? Judas, Peter, the beloved disciple, or the others. What words or feelings come to you as you relive the scene? Jesus loves all his disciples, including Judas. There is a Judas, a Peter and a beloved disciple within each of us represented in our lived response to Jesus. We have all betrayed Jesus, broken promises to Jesus, or sat close to Jesus, reclining in his presence. What does it feel like to know that he loves us despite the dark fragments of our own, broken story? What does it feel like to know his mercy extends to every part of you? As you listen to part of this reading again, notice what stays with you and why. Can you face hearing Jesus’ words and meeting his eye? If not, why not? If so, what desire arises within you?  Each of the three disciples named here has a personal story of the response to Jesus that subsequently unfolds. What is your response as a participant in this scene?  As we finish today, Let us read a prayer of mercy that we can take with us when we are tempted to cast judgment.   Mercy triumphs over judgment. When you can blame…have mercy.When you can shame…have mercy.When you can criticize…have mercy.When you can condemn…have mercy. When you have a political disagreement…have mercy. When you have a theological disagreement…have mercy.When you are certain you are completely right…have mercy.When you could exact your revenge and get even…have mercy.So that when you pray, “Lord, have mercy on me”—There will be a large reservoir of mercy for God to draw from. Lord, have mercy.Christ, have mercy.Lord, have mercy. Music by Salt of the Sound, Dear Gravity, Simon Wester.

Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany John 12:1-8 Yesterday. we spoke of our need for God’s presence to be with us in our journey throughout the ups and downs of this life. As you begin this Holy Week journey, let us take a moment and become aware of the presence of Jesus with you now as we step forward this week. Take a moment to lay out the plans you have for the upcoming day and week, and invite the presence of Jesus to walk with you throughout your time this week. If ever there was a Gospel scene that invites prayer with all our senses, this is it. Mary touches Jesus in love and sorrow and fills the house with the scent of her precious oil. Her passionate generosity contrasts with the hardness of the criticism she receives from Judas’.   Judas seems to scold Mary for her extravagance angrily, saying that the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii, and the money was given to the poor.”   If we are honest with ourselves, and had we not known the We would probably be saying the same thing for the rest of the story.   The money would be better spent on feeding and clothing the poor rather than wasting it on a single moment of outrageous worship. We might be inclined to agree that this kind of worship is a misspent endeavour. But we would be wrong. Jesus defends Mary by calling what she did a beautiful thing. This leaves us with much to ponder. Is it not true that there is no higher priority than doing good works of justice? Jesus indeed teaches us to provide for the poor—this is part of the second commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. But the first command is to love God with all of your heart. If we love God with no evidence of us seeking Justice in his name, do we truly love God? And conversely, Justice that is not rooted in the worship of God has no coherent foundation. So Jesus endorsed the extravagant anointing that Mary bestowed upon him. When you read this story from Mark's account, he says, "wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” This emphasizes that the gospel is not a salvation formula but the entire story of Jesus. The physicality of Mary’s sorrowful actions becomes the model for Jesus’ symbolic act of service to his disciples at the Last Supper. How would it feel to be Mary in this dramatic scene? What feelings and thoughts would you want to convey to Jesus in this loving gesture?

Luke 19:28-42 Today is Palm Sunday and the first day of Holy Week.    This week, more than any other week on the Christian Calendar is a week that we can set aside some time to try and understand the significance of what Jesus did on the cross.   The expectations of the people of Israel were at a feverous pitch. The crowd grew on all sides of Jerusalem.   These people had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, feed the 5000, and come into Jerusalem alongside Jesus, wanting to see more. The religious watch-hounds were perusing Jesus relentlessly - looking to rid the threat to their comfortable and detached religious system. The crowds who were already in Jerusalem were desperate for a king to lead them in a revolution against their roman oppressors. All the while Pontius Pilate was riding into Jerusalem on a war horse, coming to grant a pardon to the one prisoner who the people saw as worthy of release.    The Hopes that the people of Israel had for Jesus were real and significant, and everyone in the crowd had expectations about what Jesus was supposed to do. Still, almost all of them had no idea what was coming next, nor did they know what they truly needed.    You could say that the people of Israel were forming God in their image.    Unmet expectations are real, and they can range from a slight disappointment with little consequence to life-shattering circumstances that lead us to break away from our community and doubt the existence of God altogether.      As we read the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey, we read a story of Jesus meeting our significant needs, not our expectations.     The people wanted a King to rise like the great kings of Old, but what Jesus brought was much better.  Repaying evil for evil only brings more pain and suffering, but repaying conflict and hatred with peace and love will stop the cycle of pain and replace it with healing.  Luke 19:28-42 If we are honest with ourselves, we all have unmet expectations.    At one time or another, I would say that most of us have had unmet expectations from God.  We may think that our life should have turned out differently than it did.    Perhaps our health isn't what we expected, or we are grieving the loss of someone we loved.   Maybe your career hasn't turned out the way you expected or Perhaps your marriage never had that fairy tale ending, or maybe you never did meet your forever partner in the first place.      As we take a moment to sit and reflect, take some time to share with God the disappointments of your unmet expectations. Take time to share your heart and your disappointment. Perhaps even confess the times you tried to create God in your image.     This life is painful, and there are times that we all wish we could take over and change the outcomes of our life circumstances.  The reality is that God doesn't offer us a Parachute, but he offers us his presence.   A parachute would help us avoid all that this world has to throw at us, but that isn't what God has given us.  God offers us his presence in his Son Jesus rather than a parachute. We would all prefer an exit strategy from the hardships of this life, but what God gives us is genuinely something much better.     God gives us his peaceable kingdom filled with his love and presence to walk us through this life, not just so we can get to the other side but so we can live a full life with him here on earth. 

Advent day 27. Our Friend. Music: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Performed by Salt of the Sound The Pilgrimage Series, Written and Performed by Dear Gravity. Advent and Christmas are seasons of song—without our carols, it just wouldn’t be Christmas. Looking back to my early Christmas memories, many of them revolve around song. Singing in the church Christmas pageant, singing silent night at a Christmas eve candle lit service or even carollers singing in the streets. Christmas is marked with song. Songs are poetry set to music, and poetry is how we express the indescribable. The precision of style has its place, but it cannot properly speak of the transcendent. Language that aspires to describe the divine is best done as poetry. By poetry, I don’t necessarily mean rhyming verse, but language that prioritizes form over function, and beauty over utility. The power of poetry to speak of the divine is why Genesis opens with poetry, why the Hebrew prophets were mostly poets, why the psalms are all poetry, and why so much of the best of the New Testament is poetic: The Beatitudes, the prologue to John’s Gospel, Paul’s ode to love that is I Corinthians 13, and the majestic anthems of praise found in Revelation. Perhaps you don’t see yourself as a poet, but there are times when the only thing you can do with your deeply divine thoughts is to scribble them down in a journal or notepad. On Thursday we looked at Mary’s revolutionary song, the Magnificat and today we have Zechariah’s song before us—a song composed at the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Zechariah’s prophetic song might be described as a poetic meditation on salvation. What a beautiful song of salvation! Zechariah’s poem says that through Messiah we are saved from enemies and hate, fear and foes, placing our feet on the path of peace. And isn’t that all we really want—to be set free from fear and to walk in peace? But throughout history, we have seen, time and time again, that the desired path to peace is through conquering those who stand in the way of peace. War and vengeance will no more lead to peace than drought will lead to a bountiful harvest. We must not make the mistake of thinking that this salvation can come by the way of the world. A world under the sway of the wicked one says we’re saved from our enemies by destroying our enemies; that we’re saved from those who hate us by hating them even more; that we’re saved by fear by placing the highest priority on security; that we can only walk in peace when we have eliminated every possible threat. The Messiah won’t play the devil’s game of trying to conquer fear by fear, hate by hate, violence by violence. Messiah will be the saviour who guides our feet into the way of peace. The kingdom that Jesus brings to us is a kingdom that this world has never seen before. One of peace, love, hope and joy. The contrast of the advancement of the kingdoms of this world and the advancement of the kingdom of God couldn’t be more clear. This kingdom is known to some as the Upside-down kingdom. We can see a very clear statement of Jesus proclaiming the upside-down kingdom in John chapter 15. Here Jesus famously says: Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Advent Day 26. The Birth of John. Music written and recorded by Simon Wester. Today we continue our Journey to Christmas day through the book of Luke by looking at the life of John the Baptist. One that was marked with humility of his place in history, as well as adulation for the message of the coming Kingdom of God. First, the country priest, Zechariah, encountered an angel while offering incense in the Temple. Then his long-barren wife was found to be with child. Now upon the birth of the child, and after nine months of enforced silence, the mute priest speaks for the first time. It is clear to the people that knew the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, that this child will have some sort of important role in the story that is unfolding before them, but they couldn’t know how important he would be. Perhaps a priest? The new King? Let’s jump ahead about thirty years and try to answer their question. What John did not become is what most people would have expected—he did not become a priest like his father. Instead of following Zechariah into the priesthood, John retreated into the wilderness. Luke says it like this, “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until the day he publicly appeared to Israel.” (Luke 1:80) At some point, maybe in his teen years, John left his home and began to live in the rugged Judean wilderness. Perhaps his elderly parents were already dead by then. Of course, we don’t know. What we know is what Luke tells us: that John lived in the wilderness becoming spiritually strong until he began to preach and baptize at the Jordan River in the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius (AD 28). John was the prophet who, as the angel Gabriel told Zechariah, would “come in the spirit and power of Elijah.” (Luke 1:17) But John was more than a prophet, he was the forerunner foretold by Isaiah and Malachi. It was his prophetic task to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John did this by preaching a message of repentance and baptizing the penitent. John's sermons were filled with themes of justice—calling the rich to share their wealth and the police to stop employing violent tactics of intimidation. (See Luke 3:10–14) John’s preaching was wildly popular with the masses and drew huge crowds from Jerusalem. But, predictably, John’s ministry had little or no effect on the Temple establishment. The apex of John’s meteoric ministry was to baptize Jesus. Once that was accomplished, the crowds began to leave John and follow Jesus instead. John the Baptist took his diminished role with humility and grace, telling his disciples, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) A few months after he had baptized Jesus, John was arrested by Herod, and not long after that, he was executed. Jesus himself delivered John’s eulogy in advance, saying, “Among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (Luke 7:28) Jesus was indicating that John was the culmination of an era that began with Abraham, but now a new age was dawning with the coming of the Son of Man. John's willingness to decrease in importance shows an unusual humility. John shows us that the ultimate message of Christ reaching those who are hurting is more important than any accolades that we this side of eternity. Devotional Adapted from The Anticipated Christ. 

Advent Day 25 Music. May I Recieve, Written and recorded by Allswell. Wooden Starlight, Written and Recorded by Dear Gravity.  The Magnificat Our reading today is a song that has become one of the most frequently prayed passages of Scripture in Christianity. Song of Mary is most commonly known as the Magnificat which is Latin for Magnifies. As significant as Mary is in the Christian story, we only hear her speak four times: to the angel at the Annunciation, to Jesus at age twelve in the Temple, to Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana, and here in the Magnificat. The Magnificat is certainly a hymn of praise, but it’s also a subversive revolutionary anthem. What you may or may not notice about the  Magnificat is that it is an adaptation of Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. Hannah became the mother of the prophet Samuel. She had been barren and was bitterly tormented by her husband’s second wife, but Hannah conceived after making a vow to dedicate her firstborn son to the Lord. Her song is a hymn of gratitude and triumph that speaks of how God intervenes on behalf of the unfortunate. Part of Hannah’s song goes like this: He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap, He makes them sit with princes. In comparing the songs of Hannah and Mary we see how the New Testament is dependent upon the First Testament. And what stands out about both songs is how revolutionary they are. As we hear the Magnificat, Think of how subversive these words were in the context of Mary’s time—the time of King Herod. Luke 1:46-55 Mary’s Magnificat anticipates what will happen when her son grows up and begins to proclaim the good news of the new peaceable kingdom. It will be a message welcomed by the poor, the sick, the downcast and outcasts who are open to Jesus’ message while the rich and powerful will mostly resist it. What we should learn from the Magnificat is that the grace of God flows downhill toward the lowly places in our lives where we are humble, weak, and poor. There may be places in your life where you are strong, successful, and rich. And this can be a blessing. But be careful and always remember that grace flows downhill. In our contemporary context, we need a Christianity formed by the Magnificat. In the western world, we are typically inclined toward ideas of success and anthems of strength. But the grace of God does not run uphill toward the pinnacles of success and strength, it rolls downhill toward the low places of humility and trust. Advent is not just about waiting, but about waiting in the right place. The right place to wait for the grace of God is the lowly ash heap of your barrenness and brokenness. This is where the grace of God will appear. Before we listen to ready yourself in a place of worship, as we hear Mary’s song, let it be our continued prayer for the Peace of God’s kingdom to come this Christmas. Perhaps you are feeling near the bottom of the hill and are in need to grace to run to you. As we finish today we will hear the beatitudes. If you are hurting, lonely or otherwise downtrodden take comfort in knowing that this Christmas, we await the King of Kings, the creator of the all thigs, who comes to this earth to bring you comfort, peace, hope and joy.

Music: Gabriels Message, Salt of The Sound Simon Wester, Dear Gravity  As a teenager growing up in Calgary in the 90’s, most days I would travel home from school on city transit. My High school was an inner-city school and we lived on the outskirts of the city.  Travelling by two busses and a train, my daily journey would last about an hour and a half. Quite often, on those journeys home, I would ask God if he would like me to speak to anyone. I had numerous fascinating conversations with various people that would often last the entire route and lead to some deep and meaningful connections. Little did I know, that in those little moments of trying my best to listen to the Holy Spirit, I was playing my part in being a God-bearer. In today’s Christmas story, we meet THE God-Bearer of the Christmas story, Mary. It was through a young and poor Jewish maiden named Mary living in the backwater Galilean village of Nazareth during the Roman occupation of the first century that the Word of God, took on flesh and became God and Man. In Christian theology, we call this event the Incarnation and Mary is known as the Theotokos—the God-bearer. The Incarnation of Christ through the one who bore God is one of the most sacred confessions and sublime mysteries of Christian faith. It’s the story of how through the cooperation of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit the Divine-Eternal became a human. And it begins with the Annunciation—the Announcement. In the sixth month of her relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel came to Nazareth to tell an engaged, but not yet married, virgin that she will conceive and give birth to a son named Jesus and that he will be the long-awaited Messiah whose kingdom will have no end. When Mary questioned the angel saying, “How can this be? I do not know a man?”, the angel simply responded, “The Holy Spirit.” This is the enduring pattern by which God brings redemptive newness into the world. How? The Holy Spirit. Mary as the mother of Christ is the entirely unique Theotokos. But on another level, Mary is the universal archetype for all who yield to the Holy Spirit and say with the Virgin, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be unto me according to your word.” As a teenager on the bus ride home from my innercity school I was learning how to say yes to the Holy Spirit, O became a lesser theotokos through whom God can bring something holy into the world. This Christmas we see the partnership between the trinity and humanity come to an uttermost peak.  God, coming to this world as a human, brought into this world by a human who simply said yes to what the Holy of the Holy Spirit asked of this young lady from Galilee.