The slow gathering of community, many strangers, some feeling anxious and cautious about others washing their bare feet, but taking the risk. It is a beautiful scene to watch, even if you choose not to participate.

Now I cannot speak for you, gentle reader, but the Sunday school boy in me has always thought of Judas Iscariot as the quintessential villainous traitor. But John’s wording in this brief passage awakened my ears and eyes to a surprising possibility that Judas Iscariot of all Jesus’ beloved disciples had just been tasked with perhaps THE MOST DIFFICULT MISSION OF ALL: to betray his Lord and Master so that all that had been prophesied would be set into inexorable motion and the scriptures would be fulfilled. “Thy will be done”.

This past Sunday we were shouting “hosanna hosanna” and singing “All glory laud and honor to thee redeemer king”. And then just five days later we were shouting “crucify him!” What’s going in here?

As perversely logical as their plan for Lazarus was, it simply hadn’t dawned on me that they would deem it politically necessary to kill him, too. So that very fact heightened my understanding of how truly great a threat they perceived Jesus to be.

As we move toward herd immunity via vaccination and the end of Lent, there is cause for joy and hope. In the words of the psalmist, “You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, you have restored the good fortune of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people and blotted out all their sins.”

He would much rather have kept his mouth shut, and he tried to, but the truth burned inside him until he had to let it out. He had to refute the falsehoods that were being spread by others.

I would venture to say that God has moved in mysterious ways in all our lives at one point or another, although we may not always recognize it at the time or even afterwards. Sometimes these “mysterious” things are obvious and life-altering, and many involve name changes of one kind or another.

I can recall times in my life when I longed to tell someone the truth.

How can this story or tradition guide me as I work my way from my head down to my heart-home? Lent, especially, is a time where I find myself wandering along with Israel in its journey from captivity to freedom; and with the early followers of Jesus in death to life, from despair to triumph. And sometimes back again.

What door are you looking at that might have you missing the light? What light can you let in as the world wakes up from the cold dark winter, and slowly from this year of being apart.

As I look to the waves glistening on the horizon, it’s not fear and uncertainty in my heart, but gratitude for the joy and happiness that is only more extraordinary in reflection.

Today’s readings bring me back to something I wrote on Ash Wednesday: this season can I lay down what I think I know and let God drive me into the wilderness with Jesus?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Having grown up in a large, Irish Catholic family in the Tipperary Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, NY, where everyone was a communicant of St. Patrick’s Church, and where St. Patrick’s Day has always been a major day of celebration, it’s been especially interesting for me to be thinking about St. Patrick this year while in the midst of the St. John’s course, Guides in the Wilderness, Journeying with the Saints through Lent, which has been fascinating.

I think much of religion over the centuries has been too rooted in the "Thou shalt not" rather than the positive actions of its members. I know this is why so many say they are against "organized" religion. I truly think that this is one of the reasons I found a home in St John's. We don't seem overly bound by dogma but more about praying with our feet, as Anne has so often reminded us.

When I look back I see one constant woven through my life. The thread of God’s love and mercy. When I think of a hope for the future I hold tight to the same thread. It’s God’s gift. The gift that we all have to hold on to as we navigate the inevitable transitions in life.

For over 20 years i divided my season of Lent between the latter and with a Jewish Family at their Seder table while enjoying traditional food and singing centuries old songs.

Are we listening?

Taken out of context, this is a perplexing passage. Within the Gospel context, Jesus follows these words with examples that reveal what “fulfilling the law” would mean. It’s not just outward obedience to the law. It’s an inward transformation of the heart from anger and hatred and self-seeking to a heart filled with love and forgiveness and generosity.