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[tammyrenee]

The Clarksdale Series Part 2

The Clarksdale Series Part 2

Clarksville, Mississippi

March 17, 2020

Clarksdale, Mississippi is an interesting place. It is gritty; it is beautiful. It is a place where a five minute conversation leaves you feeling like you’ve known someone forever. Clarksdale is one of those places that reaches into your gut and holds onto a piece of you. It leaves you with more questions than answers. It is a place of music and art.…

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[tammyrenee]

Stop minimizing the suffering of the black community

Several of my friends on Facebook have shared this meme and I am sick of seeing it.

No, white people don’t still own slaves and black people are not owned as slaves but this meme is disingenuous.

There is still a woman alive today who survived a church bombing that killed her sister and three other little girls who were doing nothing but getting ready to sing in a church choir. There are still people alive today who walked through enraged white mobs while trying to go to school. There are still people alive today who had family members who were lynched. There are still people alive today who couldn’t sit at a lunch counter, sit down on a bus, drink from a water fountain, use a bathroom or vote. There are still men alive today who were beat up or arrested for looking a white woman in the face or walking on a sidewalk. There are people still alive today who were terrorized by the KKK and had crosses burned in their yards. There are people still alive today who are the children of Civil Rights leaders who were shot in cold blood for nothing more than wanting equality for the Black man/woman. There are people alive today who were beaten on bloody Sunday and who were put in jail for walking across a bridge in Selma, Alabama.

There are still white men alive who wore or still wear the hood of the KKK. There are white men alive today who wore those hoods on Saturday night and sat on a church pew on Sunday morning. There are white people alive today who think it is perfectly acceptable and not racist to call a black person a nigger. There are white people alive today who put their little white children in private school in order to keep them from being educated along side little black children. There are white people still alive today who prefer to worship in all white churches. (Don’t argue this point with me, I’ve talked to them.) There are white people today who will offend their black brothers and sisters in order to fight for a defeated flag and treasonous generals.

When southerners talk about the good old days they fail to recognize that the good old days in the south were only good if you were white. Sadly, many would love to go back to the days of Jim Crow, George Wallace and Bull Conner. I’ve heard white people use phrases like, uppity blacks or say, “they should know their place.” I’ve been in towns where black people don’t eat in white restaurants, can’t be buried in white cemeteries and aren’t welcome in white churches. I’ve been in a county (Polk County, Tn) where a bi-racial couple had a block thrown through their window , their dog hung from a noose and a black man was held for 27 days in jail without charges.

The Confederate flag and Confederate monuments aren’t about southern heritage or at least they aren’t about a heritage we should be proud of. That flag was flown in battle by an army who was fighting to defend the southern states’ rights to own black people. Those monuments aren’t about remembering history but they are about honoring history, the wrong side of history. White people in the south hang on to those symbols because they romanticize a past that was sustained by and built on the beaten backs of slaves.

This nation still commits many sins when it comes to race. We live in a time where a black man gets a longer sentence than a white man for the same crime. We live in a time where a black man gets followed by a cop for doing nothing but driving. We live in a time where black children still get mocked in school and treated different from their white counterparts in behavioral issues. We still live in a time where white people will move or complain if black people move into their neighborhood. We live in a day where black people are still looked on with suspicion for no other reason than the color of their skin. We live in a time where the president decries Black Lives Matters more than he does white nationalist.

Sadly, I must come back to a church that supported the president in overwhelming numbers. A church that can’t seem to call him out for equalizing white supremacy with being against white supremacy. Sadly, we don’t point out and define racism for fear of offending the white people sitting on pews. Sadly, the majority of the white church in the south cares more about that stupid flag and those monuments than they do the broken hearts of their black brothers and sisters in Christ.

Until those of us who are white in this country and the church face what should be yesterday’s racism that is still present in our land and our houses of worship this land will not heal, it will not move forward in wholeness or holiness.

[tammyrenee]

I’m tired...

I’m exhausted, I’m tired of the KKK, the neo-nazis, the neo-confederates and bigots in general. I’m equally tired of apathy and silence. I’m tired of the hate and the screaming and I’m tired of a president who places anti-racists on the same moral plane as racists. I’m guessing the president thinks moral plane is an airline or something since he said he wasn’t putting anyone on a moral plane while he actually was. I’m tired of a president who thinks that traitors to the nation are equal to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. I’m tired of a president who puts money ahead of the lives of Native Americans.

I’m tired of the Republican party, the party I was once proudly a part of, cowering on the issue and refusing to call out the president. There have been a few voices in the GOP call the president out but the majority choose to remain silent. I’m tired of the party of Lincoln fighting to hold onto monuments honoring the enemies of Lincoln.

I’m tired of my fellow church members choosing silence over vocal involvement in the fight against racism. While I am glad my pastor and the General Overseer made firm statements against racism and hate the majority of the pastors in my denomination remained silent on the issue on Sunday. I’m tired of going to events that stand in unity against hate and finding clergy from mainline denominations but not evangelical denominations. I’m tired of the Jerry Fallwell Jr.s of the world having the loudest mouths in American Christianity. I’m tired of a church surrendering its place in the fight of hate to a secular world. I’m tired of being one of a few evangelicals in crowds of agnostics and atheists standing for right and against the evils or racism and xenophobia. Hey Church, where in the name of all that is Holy are you in the fight against the unholy? 

We sing about being a church triumphant. We quote scriptures about being the head and not the tail but in the fight against what is becoming a larger and emboldened racist movement in this country we can’t even manage to be anywhere between the head and the tail and we are certainly not at the head.

We fail to stand against racism when our members say stuff like, “I’m not a racist but they all…” or “I can’t help it I was raised this way.” We refuse to offend the bigoted amongst us for the sake of some semblance of unity in the body. We will condemn the homosexual, the woman who has had an abortion and then tell a Black or Hispanic joke.  I’m sick of attempting to keep my mouth shut. I’m tired of pretending to respect people I would like to slap. I’m tired of a church that refuses to engage culture outside of the walls of the church.  I’m tired of it all.

It broke me to hear of Jewish congregants and black congregants gathered in their places of worship fearful of what could happen to their properties.

It broke me to watch a bunch stupid dudes carry tiki torches through the streets of Charlottesville shouting racist hate and doing it un-confronted by a bold Church marching towards them in the name of God to defend people created in the image of God.

It was great that one of the pastors in my denomination spoke at the funeral of the young woman who was killed in Charlottesville but where the heck was he on Saturday? Was he in the street? Was he standing with his fellow clergy?

 As tired as I am I am quite sure my exhaustion pales in comparison to those of my fellow Black, Brown and Jewish Americans. To my fellow Americans and to my fellow church members of color I am sorry. I am sorry that your white brothers and sister fail you over and over again. I am sorry that we remain silent rather than stir the pot. I am sorry that we give you our empty platitudes while doing nothing to help. I am sorry that for decades we have refused to stand with you and more than that I am sorry that we participated in your oppression. It is time for the church, specifically my Spirit-filled Evangelical tribe, to repent of active participation in racism or apathetic compliance. It is time that we fall to our knees and stand firm with one voice against hate and inequality.

To those of you who identify as white nationalists, white supremacists, neo-nazis, klansman, or any other racist group, you are not a part of the Body of Christ, you are not Christians so stop claiming to be Christian. Stop using my Bethlehem born, Jewish Jesus to defend your ignorant, hate filled, satanic actions. You need to search soul and find Jesus. You need to realize that you don’t reflect the views of the majority of Americans and you certainly don’t reflect the views of Christianity so please, sit down and shut up.

[tammyrenee]

Holy Week  Passion (Palm) Sunday It is the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday which makes it the Sunday before the horrifying nightmare that was the cross. Today is a day that the disciples blissfully ignorant as to what was about to happen in the week to come bask in the glow of the master who is being praised and celebrated. As you all know I wonder about a lot when it comes to this most holy week on the Christian calendar. Today I find myself knowing that Jesus knew what the week ahead would bring, I find myself wondering if he drew comfort or misgiving from the praise of today knowing that before the week is out most of the Hosannahs would turn to hate. I wonder if he glanced over his shoulder at Peter, who was probably basking in the shadow of the Teacher, and wondered if Peter could handle what was about to come. Did he look at Judas and wonder if there was a way to extract the evil seed that was taking root in the heart of the betrayer. I wonder if he glanced heavenward and breathed a prayer asking the Father for the strength, did he ask if there could be a plan B? Most of all I wonder if we, those of us who have chosen to accept the redemptive work of Christ truly appreciate what this week must have been like. Do we really grasp that Jesus, the one with no beginning and no end, the one who had lived in the splendor of heaven was about to go through the most dehumanizing trial and death so that All may know his love. Do we really grasp the ALL part of scripture? Do we really grasp that the Savior of the world left the most secure place in the cosmos to enter the dangers of this planet so that we (All of us) could know him and his love? Almost 2000 years ago men thought they were celebrating a man, Almost 2000 years ago that man was about to be revealed as the Messiah through the events of next Sunday, but there is a very long week between these two Sundays, so much will happen and I guess at the end of this day I'm left wondering how many of us would have followed from Sunday to Sunday if we had been alive and witnessed the last 3 plus years of His life. Would we have seen it, would we gotten it? Would we have made it past the celebration of this day? Monday It is late Monday night here and dawn is about to break in Israel. By now Jesus has wrecked havoc on the establishment in the Temple. Tables have been overturned and hucksters practicing their deceitful trade under the protection of the religious authorities have had their day messed up. I'm guessing this was the last straw for those pious men who saw Jesus as a threat to the status quo. According to Luke's Gospel Jesus was teaching every day in the temple and people hung onto his every word. One thing was clear though by this point, the priests wanted Jesus dead. In a few days they would get their wish, I don't think the story ended quite the way they thought it would. It is early in the week and for Jesus it had to be a very taxing day, he knew he was angering the powerful and that it would lead to his death. Between now and his arrest Jesus will continue to teach. This always leaves me in awe, how a Jesus, who was fully God yet fully man, had the emotional fortitude to continue to teach in his human strength with omnipotent knowledge that he was days from imaginable suffering. Tuesday-Thursday Today was Thursday and it is the middle it is about to be morning in Israel. Jesus did and said many things on Tuesday. He curse a fig tree, was confronted by the religious authorities and he spoke in parables and prophesied in what we call the Olivet Discourse. On Wednesday the plotting and conniving began. Luke's Gospel says that Satan entered Judas and he sought out the pharisees in order to betray Jesus. He had walked with Jesus for over three years but greed (as evidenced in John's Gospel in the story of Jesus being anointed at Bethany on Saturday.) had blinded him not only to who Jesus was but also to any sense of a loyalty to his friend. When he should have been preparing to sacrifice for Passover he was preparing to sell out the the Lamb of God. By now Jesus had eaten his last meal, had argued with Peter over washing his feet and predicted for the last time his own death and he had broken bread with the betrayer. He had also told Peter that he would betray him three times and in classic Peter fashion he argued with Jesus that he would never do such a thing. We like to pick on Peter over this, we like to think we wouldn't have done what he did but I would say most of us, especially those of us born in a place and time where we think that following the Man from Galilee is supposed to be easy, would have not done any better than Peter did. For most of us fear would override faith and the desire to live would overpower our bravado. Several hours ago he had asked his disciples to wait and pray in garden. Jesus had wept and agonized while talking to his Father. He had asked if there was a plan B. I can't imagine the loneliness he felt when he realized that at his most agonizing hour since leaving the splendor of heaven his closest friends just want to take a nap. Judas had shown up with a band of soldiers and with a kiss sold out his friend for about 5-6 weeks wages. Peter was brave for a hot minute, he cut off a soldier's ear before he ran away with rest. I think the part we often miss in this part of the story is Jesus' response. He healed the man's ear and condemned violence. {Side note: As modern day western Christians we tend to try to to explain away His response, our middle eastern counterparts (Coptic Christians) tend to get this right more than we do.} By now Jesus has stood before the High Priest and been condemned. and Right about now almost 2000 years ago Jesus is about to face pilot. The next three hours will be agonizing and brutal but will not compare to what is to come in the longest 6 hours in history. Friday Evening: The agony is over and the grieving begins God the man is dead, the cross is now empty and his body is in a tomb. It has been a long day. Jesus has hung on a cross for 6 hours. His Father had been pretty quiet, his friends were, for the most part, absent. The earth had shook, the sky went dark and Jesus had bowed his head in death. The Bible tells that John, his mother and the women who followed him were present at the cross. He had been mocked by soldiers and probably by onlookers who found Rome's brutal tactics to be entertaining. I'm sure the high priest and pharisees were feeling pretty sure of themselves right about now. The rebel rouser was dead and they could restore law and order amongst those that had followed what they probably considered a dangerous nut case from Galilee. They thought they had won and were blissfully beginning the Passover festivities. It is almost 5 pm in Jerusalem. Jesus has been dead for a couple of hours. His body has been removed from the cross and I'm guessing his mother and the women who followed him, along with John, are finishing the burial process. I wonder if the soldiers were rushing them so that they could seal the tomb. There had to be a lot of despair amongst the disciples because one thing is very clear, they had not fully grasped his words, they didn't know he was only going to hang out in that tomb for a couple of days. We look back on this with the knowledge of what happened, they were looking at a future absent of the teacher they had followed. I do believe they thought Jesus was more than just an ordinary man. I do believe they thought he was going to bring about something and that his death was a massive let down. We don't know where they are from now till Sunday morning, scripture is pretty silent about Friday night and Saturday. We know it was Passover but I doubt that the disciples felt much like participating with that. Mary was grieving and I'm sure she was thinking back on the visit from the angel that proceeded her son's death and wondering what had happened. This probably would have been a good time for another visit from an angelic being. Its going to be a long evening, God has died.

[tammyrenee]

Even in the Bible Belt people sometimes get it right.

Last week over a thousand people gathered in Coolidge Park in downtown Chattanooga, Tn for the sole purpose of standing in solidarity with refugees and immigrants. The week before that between 3,000 - 4,000 people marched in the Women's March on Chattanooga. These two things may not seem like a big deal to many but when you live in the Bible Belt, otherwise known as Trump land, taken together they are pretty big. You see, this region has a reputation for being full of Bible-thumping bigots and I'm not saying we don't have a lot of those (as evidenced by Trump's GOP primary and general election victories in the area) but there are those here who love God more than religion, political party or some misguided patriotic zeal. There are those who believe that loving God means loving people regardless of their ethnicity, national origin, religion or political affiliations. As a Christian it gives me hope that the voices of inclusion are starting to rise in the south, what has been a quiet whisper is starting to sound like a roar. The voices calling for gender equality in the name of faith are starting to challenge the old voices of religious patriarchy. The voices that fight for the immigrant are bringing tension to faith leaders who put white nationalism ahead of the words spoken by Jesus. There is storm brewing in the south and there is roar rising. Southern Christians who believe in standing up for the immigrant, the refugee, the impoverished and otherwise marginalized are starting to be heard.  Somehow I don't think this is what the religious right of my region are talking about when they say the south will rise again.

[tammyrenee]

This is what America looks like.

Last night about a thousand people gathered in Chattanooga to express support for immigrants and refugees and to express opposition to President Trump’s ban on immigrants from 7 Muslim nations, the 120 ban on refugees and  his wall on the southern border. 

My goal in capturing the event was to capture the diversity of Chattanooga and the nation.  It was truly wonderful to see people of all ages, ethnicities and religious backgrounds. Tonight Tennesseans showed that you don’t have to believe the exact same thing in order to stand with each other in defense of those who simply wish to live in peace and safety. 

[tammyrenee]

Vigils are good, action is great.

Vigils really are a good thing, I will participate in one this evening. Vigils show support for refugees still in dangers as well as the refugees who are in our country and who are afraid of the president’s actions. Vigils let people know that we are with them, that we have their backs. 

I feel like it is also important that we do something to support the work of good agencies that are doing their best to help refugees and people in conflict zones until they can be moved to safe countries, hopefully one of those countries will once again be in the United States. 

Helping refugees isn’t something we should neglect to do, as believers the people fit the category of people Jesus reached out to and he has commanded us to do the same. 

I have put together a list of organizations that are helping. Some of these groups are faith based and some are not. I did research on these organizations and how they spend their funds as well as how much of your donations go to the actual projects. Some of these groups work with displaced peoples in refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan, some assist in Europe and Some are working in countries like Iraq and Syria. Some of these organizations help with supporting refugees who have been resettled here and some help in all three of the areas mentioned. Check out their sites and consider giving. 

I’m sure someone will point out there is one missing from the list and that is intentional.

World Vision

https://www.worldvision.org/our-work/helping-refugees 

The Salvation Army 

http://www.salvationarmy-socal.org/southern-california/news/Aid_For_Syrian_Refugees

International Rescue Committee

https://help.rescue.org/donate/emergencies?ms=gs_refg_ppc_rw15_es_161110&initialms=gs_refg_ppc_rw15_es_161110&gclid=Cj0KEQiAiMHEBRC034nx2ImB1J0BEiQA-r7ctrjTuipq7CxuuIY7V2Lcl7qUd9UJcJfZ5lQF_dpPdXMaAl4h8P8HAQ#webform-component-donation

Mennonite Central Committee

https://mcc.org/stories/refugee-crisis-how-you-can-respond

World Relief

https://www.worldrelief.org/welcome

Catholic Charities

https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=8800&8800.donation=form1&s_src=GoogleSearch&s_subscr=Refugees&gclid=Cj0KEQiAiMHEBRC034nx2ImB1J0BEiQA-r7cttI8MfsPfOmPPerYswJDsXk-5rZNFz7CwTDIiB559BwaAoP98P8HAQ

Episcopal Migration Ministries

http://www.episcopalmigrationministries.org/how_you_can_help/supportrefugees.aspx

Lutheran World Relief

https://lwr.org/blog/help-syrian-refugees

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I have checked the ratings of these groups and I am familiar with or have seen the work of some of these organizations. 

[tammyrenee]

Our Jacksonian President

Presidents get to choose the paintings and portraits that surround them while they are in the Whitehouse. Presidents like to pick pictures of the presidents that came before them, particularly ones they admire. Your president chose four. Three are perfectly good and admirable men, the fourth is horrifying, Andrew Jackson. Let that sink in. He also thought it was cool that his campaign and his rhetoric is Jacksonian.

This could explain a lot. Andrew Jackson is considered by most historians, even most conservatives (educated ones at least) find him to be one of the worst presidents in the history of this country.

Jackson ran as the voice of the common man and back then it was ok to openly run as the man of the white man.

For those who don't know, Jackson committed genocide he was/is responsible for the Trail of Tears, he ignored Supreme Court Justices of the day who called it unconstitutional. If I recall, Jackson thought there was gold in the mountains and this would be good for the economy of Georgia and the United states. The Indian Removal Act was the only piece of legislation that Jackson signed in his eight years as president. Jackson also had issues with Native Americans because his mother was killed in an Indian Attack. Jackson held a grudge and made an entire people group pay for the actions of a few.

 Trump’s actions thus far are a throwback to Jackson. He has signed an order for moving forward with the Dakota Pipeline because it is good for the economy while ignoring the danger it poses to the Sioux reservation. He also signed an order barring an entire people group because of the actions of a few although those few aren’t even from the countries he banned.  

Jackson made his fortune off the backs of people, quite literally, per information obtained from the Hermitage, the Tennessee home of Andrew Jackson, most of Jackson's wealth was made off the slave trade. At the time of his death he owned around 150 slaves and over the course of this lifetime owned around 300. Jackson used the language that we hear today, it was the "elitist" the "establishment" who were trying to mess with the ways of the common man in the south, as if those slave owners were rich elitist. Jackson used gag-orders to attempt to suppress anti-slavery discussions in the congress. Jackson called abolitionist (activist) monsters and troublemakers, he called law and order and used terminology like "mob-rule" he wanted instigators found and punished. He even suggested that the Post Master could just not deliver anti-slavery materials through the mail.

He attacked the 1st amendment rights of abolitionist when he suggested to congress that distribution of abolitionist literature should be banned. He attacked the press because it went after him for bigamy.

 Steven Bannon, Trump’s chief advisor believes the press should shut up and Donald Trump wants to sue the press if they say bad stuff about him.

 Donald Trump made his fortune but screwing the common man over through not paying his contractors and use of bankruptcy laws, he and his father attempted to keep black people out of their properties by marking their applications with the letter "C". He has ranted against protesters and said he wished were the old days where you could just punch protesters in the face. Trump has outright dismissed Black Lives Matter.

 Jackson was elected by southerners by arguing that trade was bad for the American south, Trump argued that it is bad for the American middle class.

 Jackson is described by biographers and historians as being sharp-tongued and bad tempered. He took attacks personally and demonized his opponents.

 Trump feels attacked and in his words, he, “counter-punches.” He demonizes anybody who says anything about him to the point of making up or spreading baseless stories, i.e. Cruz’ father helped kill Kennedy.

 I wonder if Trump knows all this stuff about Jackson, he has said he doesn’t like to read books so maybe he doesn’t but if he does something is wrong with the fact that he brags about being called “Jacksonian.”

One thing is for sure, if reincarnation is true Jackson has returned in the form of the brash mouthed business man from New York who is currently masquerading as the leader of the free world.

 There is a quote by Jackson that I don’t think he followed too often but I wish the current president would. Jackson said, “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” It would be nice if the current president would actually think before acts and stop playing to his populist base.

On a final note Jackson couldn’t get along with a party so he founded a party. (sorry to my democrat friends, He is the father) While Trump just wrecked havoc on a party. The only hope from this statement is that eventually something good came from his actions.

 Sources

http://millercenter.org/president/jackson

https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/andrewjackson 

http://thehermitage.com/learn/andrew-jackson/ 

http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Washington-Johnson/Jackson-Andrew.html

AMERICAN LION: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert V. Remini

[tammyrenee]

Sunday - God is alive

This morning the earth shook and God got up and walked out of the tomb. When Jesus came out of that grave he brought with him hope, forgiveness and redemption. Silent Saturday had passed and it was now celebratory Sunday.

On Sunday morning God chose three women to be the first proclaimers of the Good News, the news that Jesus Christ is alive, that he is not dead, that the Redeemer is alive. He appeared first unto Mary Magdalene; can you imagine her excitement? When his followers were told by the women that he was not dead, that he was alive they didn't really didn't believe the news. Peter, James and John ran to the empty tomb. Thomas refused to believe it until he saw Jesus for himself. (This would have been me.) Then there are those pesky priests. They were right back to their conniving ways, they had to try to explain the empty tomb. Scripture doesn't tell us if the priests actually saw him during the time he remained on the earth but surely with all who did see him word had to get back to them. By the end of the day those who loved him knew he was alive. There was no more sorrow, weeping had endured for a night and a day and a night but on this day a couple thousand years ago joy came in the morning. On Sunday morning his mother ceased to grieve, the disciples found relief from their guilt and sorrow. Because Jesus got up there is hope for the oppressed and the offering of forgiveness to the oppressor. Because Jesus got up there is hope and forgiveness and redemption for all of humankind. On Sunday the words of the Job echoed from the passed and into the future, because Sunday came we can all say, "I know my redeemer lives."

[tammyrenee]

Saturday - God is Silent

Today the second person in the trinity, God who was made man, is in a grave. He had said is final words yesterday and today those who loved him are left to mourn. Mary had to be exhausted she had watched her first born be tortured and had watched him die a slow and painful death. I wonder if today she recalled the words of the angel who had come to her to announce that she was carrying the Messiah. Did she wonder if that had all been a dream and that maybe this really was the end? What about the 11 remaining disciples? Was Peter wrapped up in guilt for having denied the man he called friend and teacher? Were all of them in hiding today? What about the family of Judas? Were they looking for him? Did they know he was dead? Did they know he had betrayed the Teacher? What of his mother? While God was silent and the disciples and the family of Jesus were quiet today I don't think city was silent. It is after all Passover week. Just how in the world are the priests handling Passover while the temple is in a bit of disarray? Was their a priest standing outside of the Holy of Holies when the veil was torn from top to bottom? How was Caiaphas going to carry out his duties as high priest when the Holy of Holies was unveiled? There had to be a lot of murmuring about how to handle this? How did they explain this to the masses who were in Jerusalem for the feast? Did Caiaphas put the mess at the temple together with the death of Jesus, a death that he had called for? Then there were the earthquake and the graves busting open. Dead people were not dead anymore, they were walking around Jerusalem. I wonder what happened to them? Did they live for awhile, how long were they walking around appearing to people? This really had to cause a lot of talk and a lot of confusion. Did anybody manage to connect the veil, the earthquake and dead people walking around to the death of Jesus? Did all these things worry those who had called for his death? Did they recall his words and wonder if tomorrow they would have new problem to have to explain? Today God was silent, people grieved and some went on as if nothing had happened. Today there seemed to be no hope but tomorrow...

[tammyrenee]

Friday Part 2 - God died

. Its been a really long day. Jesus has hung on the cross for six really long hours. He hung naked and exposed, bloodied and bruised. Just getting to the cross was excruciating, He had lost so much blood, he was probably dehydrated and he had to be exhausted. While hanging there he was mocked by soldiers and those there simply to gawk. In the midst of the mocking mob stood his mother, John and the other women who had followed him. I think it is worth noting that it was the men who cut and run. Can you imagine what this had to be like for his mother. Even if she knew this wasn't the end this had to be torture for her. He was her baby. She had given birth to him, watched him take his first steps and picked him up when he fell. She had watched him grow into a man and I'm sure there were times that were hard for her but nothing like this. Nothing could have prepared her for this day. She watched him be beaten, she watched him make the journey from the Roman court to the crucifixion site. I wonder if she wondered where all his friends were. Did she feel his loneliness? Sometime around noon the sky went dark. I'm not sure what the bystanders thought when that happened. What was going through the mind of Christ as he hung there? Christ, (John called him the Word) was hanging there, separated from the Father and bearing the weight of creation. He who had no beginning was dying for the redemption of all creation past, present and future. He had been wrapped in human skin, walked this earth and now he had died. He had completed his mission and now he is lying in a borrowed tomb.

[tammyrenee]

Friday pt 1 - In the dead of night God is on trial, God is tortured.

Some time between Jesus' arrest around 1 am and 3 am the high priest and the Sanhedrin try Jesus for blasphemy. He is bloodied and bruised. A bunch of religious leaders have no clue they are torturing the Messiah, the One for whom they were waiting. They were so worried about the disruption of the status quo that they paid no attention to the things Jesus actually said. These men who studied the law and the prophecies were so blind that they could not see they were fulfilling the prophecies of their own Scriptures.

Some time between 5 am and 6 am someone must have awoken Pilot. Some time between 6 am and 7 am Jesus was before Pilot, and Pilot could find no reason to condemn Jesus. Pilot sent Jesus to Herod who quickly returned him to Pilot. Pilot tried to release Jesus; he had him beaten and tortured, but nothing would satisfy the blood thirsty crowd. You remember the crowd from Sunday, the shouts of Hosanna, the palm trees and the adoration? How quickly the cheering turned to jeering and cries of "Crucify him." After an agonizing and sleepless night filled with mockery and beatings Jesus is condemned and forced to carry his cross. By 9 am his crucifixion had begun. The Son of God was tried under the cover of darkness, condemned to die, and was hanging on a cross—and it was all carried out in less than 9 hours. Now the long and torturous six hours of an agonizing death would begin. Judas was probably dead at this point. To the best of our knowledge 10 of the disciples had scattered and were most likely hiding. Only Mary, the Mother of Jesus, her sister, the other two Marys and John are mentioned as being at the foot of the cross. Hanging on a cross, mocked by those he came to save, abandoned by those he called friends and separated from the Father, Jesus would spend the next 6 hours suffering for us.

[tammyrenee]

Thursday - God washed feet, God was betrayed and God agonized

It has been a long day. I wonder if Jesus was more quiet than usual today. I wonder what he did while the disciples gathered the supplies for the meal. Did he quietly watch these men he had spent the last three years with? Did he walk around the city, taking it all in? He knew this was his last day to walk the earth as a man. Did the disciples know something was amiss? Were they contemplating all the things he had said over the last few days about his own death? Did they go about business as usual? What about Mary? Did she know that something terrible was about to happen to her firstborn? Was she hearing the murmuring around the temple? And what about Judas, was he waiting for his moment to finish off the details of his evil scheme? And those Pharisees, were they plotting his arrest? The meal had to be confusing for the disciples. I find the meal confusing. God washed feet at this meal, but I don't think the disciples fully understood that GOD was washing their feet. What did they think when Jesus talked about the bread and wine being his body and his blood? That had to raise a few eyebrows. The part of the meal that really leaves me wondering is when Jesus told them that one of them would betray him and Judas responded with, "Is it I?" Really, Judas, really? He already knew the answer to the question he was asking. Where were the disciples during this exchange? Was it whispered or did they hear the exchange? They heard Jesus ask the question. One would think that they would have tried to stop Judas when he left. Then there is Peter. Jesus tells Peter that he would deny knowing Jesus but in typical Peter fashion he says he would never betray his teacher, says he would die first. We all know how that turned out because by this time a couple thousand years ago Peter had probably denied him at least twice. After the meal, Jesus and the remaining eleven headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. All Jesus asked of them was that they stay awake and pray for him; they couldn't stay awake. Would they really have slept if they knew what was about to take place? How did they not know? He had been pretty direct in his statements in the proceeding days. Jesus went off alone. God the son, God the man, agonized. The man wanted another solution, but the man also gave himself up to the will of the Father. I'm sure in the times that he walked back to the disciples only to find them sleeping he was hoping that they would be praying on his behalf. Surely after three years they could manage that, but, no, they slept. But yet again, we can't be too hard on the disciples. How many of us find it hard to get up for church or get up early to spend time with him? How many of us sleep when we should be interceding on behalf of those we love? Finally Jesus woke the disciples for the last time, and told them again that the one who betrayed him was about to show up. Here is the new thing that struck me this year. When Judas approached him to betray him with a kiss, an expression of affection, Jesus called him friend. Did you get that he called him FRIEND? How? Judas had just sold him. Judas had just handed him over to death and Jesus calls him friend? As the soldiers move in to arrest Jesus, one of the disciples had his first and only moment of bravery. One of them chopped off a servant’s ear. Jesus responded by healing the wounded man.  As they hauled Jesus off, the twelve men who had betrayed him scattered. Some hid, some lurked and to our knowledge only one would be at the cross. Jesus was beginning the most agonizing day of his earthly life. Before the son would rise on Friday, there would be a mock trial and Jesus would be mocked and beaten. He would go through it all alone and he would go through it for us.

[tammyrenee]

Wednesday - God is sold

Jesus had to be tired. He had spent the last few days teaching and, it would seem, trying to prepare his disciples for what was to come. On this day Jesus went to the house of Simon the leper and it is here that, for the first time, we see the true colors of Judas. An expensive flask of oil is poured over the head of Jesus and Judas isn't happy about it. I'm thinking Judas didn't know who Jesus really was; he hadn't figured it out. Once again Jesus foretells his death: he says that she has prepared his body for burial. This is where Judas should have been upset over the death of a man he had spent the last three years with and not the cost of the oil. Apparently this was the last straw for Judas because he lost his mind and sold his soul, and along with his he sold the Son of Man. I wonder how the human in Jesus felt.  He was still fully God, so he had to know what was in the heart and mind of Judas. But being fully human, Jesus had to be hurt that a man with whom he had spent over three years was now on his way to sell him out for thirty pieces of silver. By the end of the day, Jesus knew what Judas had done and Judas knew what Judas had done; the rest didn't have a clue. The Pharisees and Judas would now wait for their perfect chance to arrest Jesus. I wonder how they each handled the remainder of this day and getting through tomorrow before the deed was done. I mean, really, just how do you have a meal with a man you have sold?  This is where I know God is love: Jesus is God, and Jesus could have taken Judas out, but he didn't. He prepared to break bread with him. Don't be too hard on Judas. After all, we've all betrayed the one who died for us more than once and probably for far less than the value of 30 pieces of silver.

[tammyrenee]

Tuesday - Part 2

I don't know how late in the day it was, but by the time Jesus had left the temple he had said a lot and had upset the priests and Pharisees again. When Jesus and the disciples sat down on Mount of Olives there was a slight hint that maybe they got it, a hint that at least one of them seemed to have figured out who He was. Someone asked what would be the sign of his return. Jesus proceeds to tell of all the calamity and signs that would proceed his return. I think the disciples thought this would happen sooner rather than later. Jesus talks in parables and speaks of judgement. It is in this sermon that we see that Jesus cares about the sick, the poor and the imprisoned. He was pretty clear about it: you take care of those that most stay away from or you don't really know Him. The sheep and the goats were defined by what they did and didn't do, and this definition meant the difference between Heaven and Hell. When he was done with this long discourse, he told the disciples he would be crucified. HE TOLD THEM and they still did not seem to know what was going on in the coming days. It is easy for us to look back and ask what was up with those guys, were they dense? It is easy for us to wonder how they hadn't fully figured out who Jesus was—after all, they had been with him for three years. They had watched the miracles, three of them had been with him at the transfiguration, and they just didn't get it. As far as the Pharisees, the priests and the Sadducees were concerned, his words and actions hadn't done anything to win them over. He had made them angry. He had shown them to be hollow and prideful and they were about to get their revenge. The plotting began in earnest. Did they have any idea who they were about to kill? Did they think he was just one of the many rebel rousers or tricksters running around Jerusalem at the time? I wonder just how much hate they must have had in their hearts to hand one of their own over to Rome. By Tuesday evening Jesus had to be tired. He had talked all day while knowing what was coming. I wonder if the weight was starting to wear on him. Was the internal struggle beginning? Did he look around at his friends and wonder why he had spent three years pouring into these twelve men, one of which would outright betray him, one of which would deny knowing him and the rest who would just run and hide? If we had been there with him, would he be wondering what we would do? We would like to think we wouldn't have done as the disciples did, but we probably would have done the same things as they did. With two thousand years of history behind us, we still do the same dumb things the disciples did and nobody is threatening our lives.

[tammyrenee]

Tuesday - God talked, a lot. Part 1

I wonder if on this day Jesus was feeling the urgency. Was the week moving too fast for Him? Today was a day of challenging the Pharisees, a day of lamenting for Jerusalem and the day of his most memorable Sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.

But first, back to that poor fig tree. As Jesus and his disciples made their way from Bethany back to Jerusalem, they passed that tree. The tree became a lesson on the power of faith. I wonder if the disciples understood the lesson, I wonder if this was one of those times that they were left scratching their heads as we sometimes are. I'm thinking that, for me, this is would of been one of those times that I didn't still quite get it. Earlier in the day, Jesus had thoroughly upset the status quo who were there at the Temple, so I'm sure the disciples were thinking that returning to the Temple wasn't the best idea. I can imagine Peter asking Jesus if it was really necessary to go back to the Temple.  I don't think the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the priests were going to be happy to see him returning. Jesus didn't walk in quietly and apologetically, he walked in there with boldness and started teaching. It didn't take long before those hacked of priests started challenging him. Jesus did what Jesus did—he answered in parables. It took a few parables before they figured out that he was talking about them. The Pharisees tried to pit Jesus against Rome and were told to pay their taxes; that was probably no more popular a message then than it would be now. The Sadducees tried to trap him in a question about the resurrection only to be told that people won't be getting married in heaven. I'm sure at this point the disciples were really thinking it was time to go, that Jesus had said enough, that he was about to get them all into trouble. Jesus wasn't done. He had a series of "Woes" for the Pharisees and the scribes. He called them hypocrites and empty tombs and vipers. I'm not sure if the disciples wanted to cheer or run or both. Jesus then went on to lament over Jerusalem and as they left the temple he told the disciples of the coming destruction of the temple...and this is all before the Sermon on the Mount, which had to be Jesus' longest sermon. I don't know what time Jesus entered the temple or what time he left. Had any of us been there, had we been one of his followers, what would be thinking at this point? Would we think he had lost his mind or that he was stirring trouble? Would we be standing at his side, would we be watching his back? Would we slowly be backing away in fear of being associated with a man who people thought was crazy or dangerous or both? Would we have heard the murmuring of the religious leaders? Would we be like Judas? Maybe we would still follow him to the Mount of Olives, but by the end of that sermon, would we still be there?

[tammyrenee]

Monday - Got got hungry and God got angry

Jesus got hungry and angry, a combination that would drive most of us to sin, but not Jesus. In his hunger he did something that had to confuse the disciples, He cursed a tree for not bearing fruit, it wasn't the season for the tree to be bearing fruit. But he will come back to the tree tomorrow, Jesus never seemed to pass up an opportunity to teach his followers, but in the mean time I wonder just what the disciples were thinking. Were they wondering what the poor tree had done to be deemed unworthy of every producing again? Jesus went back to the Temple on this day and what he saw made him angry, His Father's house was being desecrated by greed and deceit . We see the humanity of Christ in the temple. He showed emotion. He got angry but he did not sin. He saw the injustice being done in the name of religion and he turned over some tables and drove off those who were profiting from those who came to worship. I'm sure this had to make the disciples nervous. I imagine Peter trying to calm him down and get him out of there before they all got into trouble. I wonder if Judas was secretly counting all that money. We don't know but I'm guessing this made everyone a bit uncomfortable. I think there is a lesson to be learned because when Jesus left the Temple there was no anger, he turned his attention to those in need. He met the blind and the lame where they were and He healed them. And on this day the children called out Hosanna to the Son of David. The Son of Man was beginning the last week of his life as the God-man, and he was starting it off with a bang. His actions made the religious leaders angry. He had been called the Son of David and had been worshiped by the crowds and he had messed up their little money making scheme in the Temple. The grumbling of the last few years went from questioning and complaining to plotting. How could they take him out? Surely this man was just a trouble maker and surely getting rid of him would bring an end to it all.