Sermon Tone Analysis

*INTRODUCTION*

It is the time of the Passover Moon, the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.

Life and growth and springtime, after the mystery of winter silence and death, are rising up from underground again, like the promise of peace.

Lift up your hearts!

Amid many current and heart-rending events, such as the Madrid train bombings, the mutilation and burning of bodies in Fallujah, the blame-finding demagoguery, the call for the death penalty, the denial of full legal and financial equality to non-traditional families, in keeping with our persistent Lenten theme at St Joan of Arc, we must “see beyond the suffering” to find a vision of Jesus embracing and healing this world, not next year or next century, but now!

Let us walk through this evolving universe and seek the mind and heart of Jesus.

A merciful and all-knowing Creator can use the suffering of believers and even of non-believers in a redemptive manner to gather all things and all souls to itself, a personal and all-knowing fire of absolute Love.

Let us hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us amid these events.

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*FIRST STATION--JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH *

*SCRIPTURE*

“Am I a bandit, that you had to come here with clubs and swords?

When I was with you day after day in the Temple, you never made a move to lay your hands on me.

But this is your hour; this is the reign of darkness.”

*MEDITATION*

This journey begins and ends in mystery.

With the eyes of faith, we can connect ancient Jerusalem with Israel of today: there are walls of separation and apartheid, suicidal desperation, revolt against domination by a superpower; same people, same Jesus, similar issues creating suffering; same redemptive action bringing grace, reconciliation and peace, without immediate visible change in the power structure or in human nature.

Parishioners of St. Joan’s have been regular peace activist visitors to Palestinian cities with the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Some were there at the time of the assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin.

Jesus says: my kingdom is not of this world.

I am with you all days even to the very end of time.

Remain in me and I in you.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am kind-hearted and grounded in the earth.

I am fully human and made from the same flesh as you.

*LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE*

“We stand as a people of faith.

We affirm our belief in a loving God who calls us to be compassionate, to love our enemies, and to be peacemakers.

We enthusiastically support all those who work to promote peace.”

SJA Parish Statement on Peacemaking after 9~/11

/music… ”Stay awake and watch with me”/ \\

*SECOND STATION--JESUS TAKES UP HIS CROSS *

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“If someone wants to walk my way, they have to put their own wishes aside, and pick up their cross daily, and come after me.

For the ones who lose their lives for me will save their lives.”

*MEDITATION*

Our journey to Cavalry has been complicated by revelations of years of sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy.

A small number of those who are supposed to *most* represent Christ have done physical and spiritual violation of the innocent and vulnerable.

Jesus says: I have suffered and died for those who are innocent and vulnerable as well as for those who prey upon them.

There is mercy and redemption and forgiveness for all, but it is not always easy for you to see it.

Can a loving and merciful God use even the suffering and craven misery of a sexual offender in a redemptive manner, to gather all things and all souls to herself, the all-embracing fire of absolute personal love.

It is perhaps easier to believe this when we call God Mother.

*LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE*

“The light shone brightly into the darkness, but the darkness *just* didn’t *get* it.

/Music . . .

“Stay awake and watch with me . . .

”/ \\

*THIRD STATION--JESUS FALLS THE FIRST TIME *

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*SCRIPTURE*

“The men who were guarding Jesus were mocking him and beating him.

They blindfolded him and said ‘Prophecy!

Who hit you?’”

*MEDITATION*

The explosions, the burning bodies, at Atocha Station in Madrid, touch us close to home.

This is an act of implacable hatred, of lust for media attention, of desperation and powerlessness and ignorance.

And it is a clash of systems and languages and religious paradigms -- and it is pure thuggery.

It is not a new phenomenon.

And the answer of Christ, which is love, must transcend its Judeo-Christian roots and its Caucasian, European and American cultural paradigms.

\\ Jesus says: I am asking you to look beyond, as hard as that is.

*LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE*

I speak to you directly, God

Not through any intermediary, priest, bishop, shaman, mullah

I speak directly with no religious filter, no original anything

All creation is good, I embrace this garden, this sweet mulch, this goodness

I am the same as the tree and the deer

I am the same as my Iraqi sisters and brothers,

I will live and die and live and die and live and die

Here on this earth, now in this good time,

together, alone without intermediary.

I breathe deeply and slip through the veil of fear

Where your light fills me and gives me rest.

I am grateful

I am ready.

.... /Fred Vagle/

/music: “Stay awake and watch with me …”/ \\

*FOURTH STATION--JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER *

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*SCRIPTURE*

“Who is my mother and my sister and my brother?

One who hears the word of God and keeps it.”

*MEDITATION*

Jesus says: \\ We are called to encounter our brothers and sisters from around the world every day here in the Twin Cities.

St Joan of Arc is host to the family of Alferd and Jaqueline Lako, who come from Sudan.

They are one family among thousands that have moved to the Twin Cities in the last ten years from all over the world.

We are creating a society that is made up of many strains and layers of our common DNA in a mixture of blood and soul that can produce wonders.

Voices of Islam, Judaism, Tibetan Buddhism, Hmong animism, Hinduism are mingled with the voice of Christianity.

For the eyes of Faith, this should not frighten or disturb us.

God can speak with many voices.

Our task is to listen and heed those voices, as we believe that the divine Word is the living voice, the way, the truth and the life which tells us to love one another.

This voice tells us to love our brothers and sisters in our multi-layered rainbow of souls that refract divine light and abide as a promise of reconciliation.

*LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE*

“While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of the light”

/Music ”Stay awake and watch with me”/ \\

*FIFTH STATION--SIMON OF CYRENE HELPS JESUS CARRY THE CROSS *

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*SCRIPTURE*

Bear one another’s burdens, and you will be fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal 6)

*MEDITATION*

Our parishioners have been active both locally and globally in the fight against AIDS.

In the U.S., 84% of the 250,000 needing treatment receive it, while in Africa, only 2% out of 4,400,000 get help.

One of the problems is the high cost of drugs and the preferential treatment received by large U.S. pharmaceutical companies, keeping affordable medication out of competition.

Imagine Simon of Cyrene as a volunteer at the two hospices founded here on our own parish ground, Grace House One and Two; or as one of the St Joan of Arc visitors to Guguletu, South Africa.