Station Three - Jesus Falls

photo by Jim Forest / flickr

" He became like his brothers

(and sisters, too) in every

way."
         --Hebrews 4. 15


This third station is our station. 

Jesus falls. Before the journey is over he will fall three times.

And so do we. 

We don't intend to fall--but we do.

Sometimes the weight of it all just gets too great. And we can't carry it another moment.

Arthur Godfrey, entertainer from another era, flew over New York City one night. He looked out at all the glittering lights and told the pilot. "You know what gets me. Fifty years from now all that will be going on down there and won't be around to enjoy it. It makes me so damn mad."

Godfrey was talking about limits. His limits. Ours, too. Everybody's. And if we ponder this Station very long it makes us damn mad, too.

Donald Trump, speaking of John McCain's long ordeal as a hostage said, "I don't like John McCain. I don't like losers. He was a loser."

Behind every bully's braggadocio  lurks really a fear. Nobody wants to be a loser. But we all are. That is the third station of the cross.

Why did the church place this station so early in his journey? 

Because it doesn't take long when we start out to stub our toes or be humiliated or have them stand by laughing when we are face down.

We put up statues for the winners. But there are no monuments for the fallen. And here Jesus is one with all the unnamed ones. All those that have had to sell a house in short sales or take bankruptcy or file a Chapter 11 or sit in  some Doctor's office already knowing the report looks bad. All those who still go to the cemetery and find the name and weep.

The heroes stay on their feet. Too smart--or like the banks--too big to fail.

Well, maybe not. Falling is part and parcel of our humanity. Everybody's.

Limits and bad lab reports and aging and failures are all part of what it means to be human.

The monks lived up on the hill behind stone walls. The old farmer was intrigued He asked a monk: "It must be wonderful living up there away from all the problems and temptations we have to face. Praying and loving God. What does your day look like?" And the monk said: "We fall down and we get up and we fall down and we get up."

Jesus will not stay face down on the ground suffocating under his splintered cross. No. He will get up and continue his journey.

And so will we. Thanks be to God.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

Politics--We Need to Remember our History

I saw this display at a bookstore in Montreal of all places.
So I couldn't resist taking this picture. RL

Everybody I know is shaking their heads over this election. When I was Pastor of a troubled church one time somebody told me: "Look at it this way. It is as if the bus went by the mental hospital loaded up all the inmates and let them out at the church and they are running all over the place." Why do I remember this story right now? Hmm.

Whenever we get down over the state of the nation and all these candidates--just remember our history--the crazies don't always win.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

Stations of the Cross - 2: Jesus Takes the Cross

photo by Jim Forrest / flickr

"Jesus was led away,

and carrying the cross by

himself,

went out to what is called the 

 Place of the Skull." 

(in Hebrew, Golgotha)

     --John  19.17





Standing here looking up as Jesus takes the cross
I remember that story that Victor Hugo told in Les Miserables.

"She had only one thought, to fly; to fly with all her might, across woods, across fields, to houses, to windows, to lighted candles. Her eyes fell upon a bucket...She grasped the handle with both hands, She could hardly lift the bucket.

She went a dozen steps in this manner, but the bucket was full, it was heavy, she was compelled to rest it upon the ground...She walked bending forward, her head down, like an old woman: the weight of the bucket strained and stiffened her thin arms.

                                    .             .           .           .          .

Arriving near an old chestnut tree which she knew...the poor little despairing thing could not help crying: 'Oh! my God! my God!'

At that moment she felt all at once that the weight of the bucket was gone. A hand, which seemed enormous to her, had just caught the handle, and was carrying it early. She raised her head. A large dark form, straight and erect, was walking beside her in the gloom. It was a man who had come up behind her, and whom she had not heard. This man, without saying a word, had grasped the handle of the bucket she was carrying.

                             .             .            .              .           .

There are instincts for all the crises of life.
the child was not afraid.

Later, Victor Hugo wrote, the child learned to call him father and knew him by no other name."*

As Jesus carried his cross I remembered this old story. I wonder why.*


"Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested." --Hebrews 2. 17-18

*I first discovered this story in Carlyle Marney's, Faith in Conflict (New York: Abingdon, 11957) pp. 41-42

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

      

Happy President's Day--Republicans!

photo by mehlem / flickr

""He (the President) shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court..."
  --Article II, Section 2, Constitution of the United States


After Judge Scalia's untimely death things got embarrassing. Even before the man's funeral the power forces were at play. Whatever happened to manners? Mitch McConnell, then Senate Minority Leader made a promise promise the night President Obama was first elected. He said:  "We will make sure that Obama is a first-term President."  He vowed to lead the fight to make sure that none of the new President's plans would pass. Now seven years later he is consistent in his mean-spiritedness. He has joined the ranks of those that say that the New Supreme Court Justice should be nominated by the newly elected President. 

McConnell and his minions fail to remember that the President was elected twice by the people of this country. He has one more year left in his eight-year term. Whatever one feels about this President it would be a serious mistake to try to thwart the will of the people who spoke loudly in two separate elections. Opponents of the President are saying that we should let the people have a voice in this matter. The people already have a voice--his name is Barack Obama. And he is still the President of this great country.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

Stations Of the Cross I - Behold the Man

We look up like those other pilgrims 

photo by Jim Forest / flickr

through the years.

"Behold the Man" Pilate said to the soldiers, the crowd, the destitute disciples. 

He hoped word would trickle back to Rome. He wanted them to know he had not lost his touch.

And so, we too, behold the man.

What do we see?

A man. 

Pilate was right. 

A man weaving to and fro from a night of beating and scourging.

Surely Caesar would take note of Pilate's toughness.

Behold the Man. 

Blood-soaked...,near naked...stripped of whatever dignity he had.

No wonder the church kept this first station. 

Whoever has known torture or injustice or unfairness or PTS or the memory of a blood-splattered torn-up tank or just the burden of being human can find it here.

No wonder the church began the journey with Jesus standing before Pilate.

We look up. He really is like us.

Shining through the pain--even Pilate must have glimpsed it.

Standing before him helpless and weary
There was a grandeur about him.

Behold the man!

"There was a Man

who dwelt in the East

centuries ago

and now I cannot look

at a sheep or a sparrow,

a lily or a cornfield,

a raven or a sunset, 

a vineyard or a mountain

without thinking

of Him."

--G. K. Chesterton

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

Donald Trump...Anger... Jesus and Politics

photo by Bart / flickr

 The political candidates have done invaded our state! South Carolina. I am almost afraid to leave the house. But last night I heard Donald Trump was speaking about 4 miles away down a black-top road that led to a large auditorium. I dragged my friend and we were late but we thought it might be fun to see the big man and Lord knows I need some pointers. Somebody to let me in on refugees, Muslims, Veterans (by a non-veteran), Obama not being a valid President (the birther-Kenya thing)--Hillary, Sanders, Cruz and Rubio. Just about everything including his love for the Holy Bible with his name on it and that "little cracker" that he took at his Presbyterian church.I particularly wanted to hear how not to forgive anybody from a man that claims he never had to.  I've been missing something all along.

So we drove through the evening at break-neck speed to get to the rally. When we got there--it was a traffic jam. You had to park close to a mile away--and it was cold, cold. I have never seen so many cars. We parked, got out and decided to brave the cold. After all it isn't everyday that Pendleton, South Carolina has been graced by anybody as famous as Donald Trump. Well maybe after John C. Calhoun anyway. As we finally got to the auditorium people were leaving. "He's already gone." So we turned round and headed back. It was still freezing. I knocked on this woman's car door and asked her if we could ride to the main road. After my buddy told her I was a Reverend she cleared off the back seat and reluctantly let us in. 

"Who are yaw'll gonna for.Trump I hope,.." My buddy looked at me. Since it was thirty degrees outside we punted. "Well...we're just not sure." "Not sure! The only one that can help this screwed-up country is Donald Trump. He can do it. We can win again. He's gonna tear this Obamacare thing apart and get us on the right track. I like it because he speaks so straight. And being a Christian--I think he is just wonderful."

I didn't mention the three wives, the bragging about his adulteries, his money, the ugly way he has talked about women and Muslims and Mexicans or his foul mouth. "He's gonna be at Bob Jones along with Rubio and Cruz on Friday--hope yaw'll will go. I love the fact he is going to build a real wall to keep all them Mexicans out." As we started to get out of the car a man came by selling tee-shirts. HE'S GONNA KICK THE S....OUT OF ISIS! it read. We didn't buy.

We didn't say much except thank-you when we left the car and found my buddy's truck. Maybe just hearing this woman was worth the cold. I don't know. I am still wondering where all the rage comes from and why so many evangelicals are standing in Trump's line. Maybe they never heard the dirty talk. 

Cal Thomas. columnist and not one of my favorite people wrote in today's Greenville News  an article I am pushing on everybody.This syndicated writer has written a pretty common-sense piece I recommend. He wrote that all this God-talk from political candidates should have no place in this election. They are all trying to out-Jesus everybody else. Must be hard work.

Anyway--read Mr Thomas article, "Put focus on policy, not God." It's good for a change.The old ship of state is in some scary choppy waters. Don't forget we've been there before and we'll be there again. We'll need some Captain that will help us all and care for us all which seems is a pretty good job description for a President.

Do  not lose heart. Vote. Pray. Raise your voice. Remember American belongs to us all--even the non-believers, the atheists, the socialists, the liberal Christians and the Evangelicals. 

photo by Quinn Dombrowski / flickr

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com

The Stations of the Cross--We Begin...

photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.

For years now as I turn away from Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent--I wash away the cross-smudge on my forehead. But even with this mark gone--I still remember those old words: "We are dust...and to dust we shall return." More than that I remember that cross that was on my forehead and cannot be washed away quite so easily from my heart. 

And so during the Lenten season for several years I have, like pilgrims through the years, pondered the Stations of the Cross. You can find them in almost any Catholic church and in other denominations as well. The Stations of the Cross have been called several different names: Via Dolorosa--The Way of Sorrows. Often these stopping off places have been called simply, The Way.

The Stations date back to the Medieval times when the world was dark and sickness was every-present and the world was a difficult place. And somewhere in that dismal time the Church erected the Stations. Some pilgrims had visited the holy places which portrayed the last days of Jesus' life. But most folk could not travel to Jerusalem. So--we thank St. Francis of Assisi who began the stations as a devotion time for believers. Early they called these stations depicting the last week of Jesus' life--halting places.

 Franciscans began in the 15th and 16th centuries  to build a a series of outdoor shrines in Europe to duplicate their counterparts in the Holy Land. The number of Stations varied from eleven to thirty. But somewhere the church settled on fourteen stations.

The object of these Stations is to help the faithful meditate on the chief scenes of Jesus' sufferings and death. Catholics and some Protestants have taken to walking these Stations particularly during the forty days that lead to Easter.

As I look out at our world it is so different from those Medieval times  which were so crushing to the human spirit.--I think we, too need these Stations. Like other times in our history--there is ugliness and prejudice and hearts so hard we really cannot even open the doors and let any of those millions of refugees in. We battle cancer and alzheimer's and drugs and depression and anger so deep and far-reaching that it is scary. The main-line church seems to be stuck and millions of former-pilgrims would rather read the newspaper on Sunday than go to church. And so maybe we, like our brothers and sisters in the Middle Ages, can look up and find in him  enough to keep us going.

Walk with me this year and look up and ponder that once upon a time there came one who stretched out his arms and his brave heart and gave himself unreservedly for the likes of 
us . No anger there. No rage. Just love for all--not some. For all.

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? 

Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow..."

Walk with me by these fourteen stations on the Way of Sorrows and remember.

photo by elycefeliz / flickr

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com