Howard's Sermons and Article Clippings.

Howard's Sermons and Article Clippings.

About Me

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Im a Mainline protestant minister who loves serving in multicultural and urban contexts. I'm very interested in how liberation theology and existential-humanistic psychology are applied to the praxis of pastoral care and counseling. My most profound encounters with God come as we sojourn as brothers and sisters seeking the inbreaking of God's reign, here and now.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Our Mentally Ill Should be in Treatment not Prison

Some of you may have been the recent PBS program on the Mentally ill in Prison.
Please lobby your State and Federal legislators for mental health funding and volunteer with the group homes in your community.

The only way to break this cycle is for our communities to embrace our mentally ill brothers and sisters with love and compassion. Prisons should not be the new asylums.

The stigma and fear still keeps many of us from reaching out to the least among us.
On medications, the mentally ill are not dangerous. Sometimes, the media focus can skew reality. I'm grateful for PBS and Frontline coverage of this issue.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/
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Frontline: The New Asylums (1995)


Once released from prison, mentally ill ex-offenders are faced with the challenges of reintegrating into their communities. Those who do not make a successful transition relapse and return to prison. But across the country, community groups and prison and mental health officials are working together to break this cycle.


In 1999, New York City was routinely releasing its mentally ill ex-offenders into impoverished neighborhoods between 2 and 6 in the morning with only $1.50 in cash and two subway tokens. In a class-action suit against the city, several inmates claim that without provisions for continuing treatment of their mental illnesses or help finding housing, psychiatric care and government services, they were more likely to psychologically decompensate, become homeless, relapse into criminal activity, and return to jail. Though this case was settled out of court with the city pledging to provide services for its inmates after their release, variations of this story are being played out across the country.

In 2004, some 630,000 prisoners were released back into their communities, many of them with mental illness and co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse. Studies have shown that 60 percent of released offenders are likely to be rearrested within 18 months, and that mentally ill offenders are likely to be rearrested at an even higher rate. Experts claim that a major cause for recidivism among the mentally ill is the "epidemic" shortfall in community-based mental health services. "While offenders have a constitutional right to receive mental health treatment when they are incarcerated, they do not enjoy a similar right to treatment in the community," writes Lance Courturier, chief psychiatrist of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Experts and corrections officials like Courturier believe that the solution is to directly link prison mental health services to services in the community. The Consensus Project, a coordinated effort by the Council of State Governments to improve services for mentally ill offenders, recently released a report that recommends planning for post-release services almost from the day they arrive in the justice system. A successful system for reentry would coordinate efforts among specialists in a range of services, integrate treatment for mental illness and substance abuse, combine primary healthcare with mental healthcare, create and improve housing resources for the mentally ill, involve families and the community with the offender's treatment, and ensure that people with mental illness are accessing the full range of government entitlements for which they are eligible, such as Social Security Disability Insurance.

Across the country, communities and organizations are taking up this call, in some cases beginning services a year before an inmate's release and continuing them for as long as those services are needed. One such program, operated by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh, has reduced recidivism to less than 10 percent. It helps mentally ill offenders apply for social services, arranges for their temporary housing, supplies them with bus passes, and sets up appointments with community doctors so they can continue to receive their medications. In addition, the program also provides more personal services, such as arranging for someone to pick up offenders at the time of their release and take them shopping for $200 worth of clothing and toiletries.

Compassion, Compulsion and the Mentally Ill

By E. FULLER TORREY
The debacle of deinstitutionalization continues to worsen with each passing year. In 1955, there were 559,000 individuals in America's state mental hospitals. By 2005, there were only 47,000 state hospital beds left in the country, a number that continues to fall. Numerous studies have documented the tragic effects of releasing hundreds of thousands of seriously mentally ill individuals from state hospitals while failing to ensure that they receive treatment.

The latest, carried out by Jason Matejkowski and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, found that individuals with serious mental illnesses are responsible for 10% of all homicides in Indiana. That translates into approximately 1,700 out of 17,034 total homicides in the U.S. in 2006. Over the past 20 years – during which time the public mental-health system has progressively deteriorated – that would mean 38,000 of 388,311 total homicides.

The University of Pennsylvania study examined the records of 723 individuals convicted of homicide between 1990 and 2002 in the Hoosier state. The results were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Examples of such homicides include Joseph Corcoran, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, who shot four people in Fort Wayne because he thought they were talking about him. And Frank Salyers, also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, who killed a policeman in Goshen after his parents tried unsuccessfully to get treatment for him at a local mental-health facility.

Although the Indiana study is the largest research of its kind in the U.S., two earlier but smaller studies reported that seriously mentally ill individuals were responsible for 10% of homicides in Contra Costa County, Calif., and 29% of homicides in Albany County, N.Y.

Most of these homicides were preventable, since the perpetrators in most cases were not being treated. Nontreatment, a past history of violent behavior and substance abuse are strong predictors of potential dangerousness in this population. We have proven options for decreasing such violence, including outpatient commitment. These programs require mentally ill individuals at high risk for violence to continue taking medication as a condition for living in the community.

Kendra's Law, passed in New York state in 1999, established one such program. A 2005 study by the New York State Office of Mental Health showed that physical acts of violence – as well as suicide attempts and arrests – by patients compelled to undergo treatment under Kendra's Law dropped dramatically in just six months; a similar reduction in violent behavior was shown in a North Carolina study.

Despite such data, assisted outpatient treatment is seldom used in the 42 states in which it is available and does not even exist in the other eight states. Even in New York, only a few counties use Kendra's Law widely. Why not? One reason is the reluctance of mental-health professionals to mandate treatment, even for patients with a history of violence and noncompliance with treatment.

Another is the misconception that such programs are expensive. In fact, it is our failure to use such laws that is expensive. Repeated hospital readmissions, incarceration costs, and the costs of homicides and other associated violence take a far greater toll on local, state and federal coffers.

The societal cost of not treating the seriously mentally ill is staggering. They constitute at least one-third of the homeless population. Unable to defend themselves because of their disabilities, they are often exploited and victimized. Approximately 5,000 commit suicide each year – one-sixth of all suicides. An estimated 230,000 are in jails and prisons, 10% of all incarcerations.

According to a 2006 study by the U.S. Justice Department, 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners and 64% of local jail inmates suffer from mental illnesses. In fact, there are now more individuals with a serious mental illness in state prisons than in state mental hospitals.

In the end, involuntarily treating people with serious mental illnesses – who, because of their illnesses, are not aware they are sick – does not infringe on their civil rights. The fears of civil libertarians notwithstanding, the paramount civil right of someone who is severely mentally ill should be adequate treatment.

As Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in 1999: "It must be remembered that for the person with severe mental illness who has no treatment, the most dreaded of confinements can be the imprisonment inflicted by his own mind, which shuts reality out and subjects him to the torment of voices and images beyond our powers to describe."

Dr. Torrey is the author, most recently, of "The Insanity Offense: How America's Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens," out this month by W. W. Norton.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Shalom: Peace Be With You

Shalom: Peace be With You


John 20:19-31


19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.




When I visit synagogues I enjoy the greeting we extend to one another, “Shabbat shalom.” When I visit a mosque, we exchange, “ Salaama Laka, Laka Salaam.” Every Sunday we share this peace with one another, “peace be with you, and also with you.” This is significant that peace is such a central part of how the children of Abraham interact with one another.
This world shalom is a Semitic word for peace, but it also means wholeness. Jews say shalom and Muslims say salaama. When we pray for and extend shalom to one another, we work to transform our world into the way God intended it to be. When we pray and mediate on our journey to the New Jerusalem, we remember that the name of our future home is the City of Peace.
For several months, I have been interpreting peacemaking through interfaith dialogue. We are so painfully aware of how little peace there is between the Children of Abraham who share Jerusalem as their spiritual home. The room was full at Mt Zion last month for the Interfaith Passover Seder. God’s shalom moved in our hearts and minds as Jews, Muslims and Christians gathered to remember God’s promise to us. If we are to have peace in our world, we must find and foster peace among the children of Abraham.
Several weeks ago, Professor Reiter was here to reflect on this image in Isaiah 2. This vision of God’s Holy Mountain, where the wolf shall lay down with the lamb. Where swords become ploughshares, and spears become pruning hooks. This is a key passage for us to meditate on when we live out our calling as peacemakers. We remember Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
How radical this vision of Jerusalem is when we consider the state of our world. For decades, our global community has been struggling to find peace in the City of Peace. Professor Reiter has invited me to join him this summer while he facilitates conflict resolution sessions with Israelis and Palestinians. This is an honor to work with the former Arab Relations advisor to three Israeli Prime Ministers. When and if, we finally achieve God’s shalom in Jerusalem, I know Professor Reiter’s work will have made a substantial contribution.
Our goal is to reach interim agreements on how the holy sites will be managed and monitored. These holy sites that are to be sources of peace and reconciliation have too often been thwarted into instruments of conflict and violence. As a Christian, I want to join our fellow Children of Abraham in our common quest for God’s shalom in the City of Peace.
In times of fear and anxiety, how we need the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding! With our economic crisis, and life in a post 9-11 world, how we need to know and find this peace. Sometimes we forget that we have been through difficult times before, but we made it through the rain. Don’t worry I will spare you a Barry Manilow karoke moment.
We find courage and a sense of groundedness when we remember how Jesus breathed his peace on his frightened disciples huddling together behind closed doors. A week after Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus moves through the walls and locks to find his scattered flock. It can be hard for us to fathom how scared and anxious these disciples must have been. Whose next? Will they come and pick us all up?
When we think of frightened people behind closed doors we remember the Jews in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Many of us know Anne Frank’s diary. She is one of heroes of the 20th century. She gave voice to millions of Jews who had to go into hiding. Jews in Europe living under the looming threat of Hitler could understand what the disciples were going through these first weeks after Good Friday. There is an entire discipline of holocaust studies where scholars examine the letters, memoirs and narratives of holocaust victims and survivors. In this research, we see the resiliency of the human spirit in the midst of the darkest of days.
Victor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy was a holocaust survivor. While in captivity he helped facilitate small groups in the camps. People would lead others in visualizations of some the redeeming moments in their lives, hikes in nature, and memorable milestones in their lives. These stories enabled others to transcend the horror they faced day after day. I hope and pray that they found God’s peace, God’s shalom in the midst of the tragic chapter in human history. God’s peace was present with them, breathing through them peace in the midst of their fear, anxiety and despair.
Our Loving God is a God of promises. God does not direct the cruelty and hate that persists in our world. God loves us enough to give us free choice. As human beings we walk on this razor edge of good and evil, because God makes us in his image. We have the gift and awesome responsibility of choosing whether to live in the image of God or to choose to defy walking in his path. We should put on God what really rests with us and our poor choices.
When we find our brothers and sisters locked behind closed doors living with fear and anxiety, God is not the source of this oppression. Rather God is the healing peace that comes to us beyond the locks and chains. Our Good Shepherd seeks out his sheep when we have taken shelter from the wolves and thieves of this world.
Who are the frightened children of God who are huddled behind lock doors today? We remember the persecuted Christians who lived under communist rule. Today, there are still Christians risking their very lives under theocratic Muslim rule. We should not take for granted the freedom we have here in America. Nor should we use our privileged position to oppress and marginalize others.
Many of our Muslim brothers and sisters have struggled to live here after 9-11. Just this week, Somali women in Minneapolis had to endure racist slurs as they walked to classes at the U of M. Many Muslims in America are living in fear and isolation. May we be instruments of God peace blowing and blessing them with a sense of God’s shalom in our communities.
We practice what Jesus taught us. We must turn the other cheek; we are to love our enemies. As faithful disciples of Christ, we do not return the hatred and intolerance that some fundamentalist have resorted to. We need to remember that all children of Abraham wrestle with this temptation to presume to have the Truth and then oppress their fellow descendants of Abraham. The CNN God’s Warriors effectively makes this point.
Another community among us who lives in fear behind locked doors are the 12 million people who live out of status with INS. We have families in our congregation who endure this fear and anxiety. The Cameroonian government is controlled by the French speaking region. Many of our English speaking Cameroonian brothers and sisters have been oppressed by the government because they seek to know and see God’s justice in their homeland. If they are to go home they face political persecution and the very real threat of torture. Lady Liberty’s torch still burns, and she embraces our Cameroonians brothers and sisters and their quest for liberty in their homeland.
Instead of being intolerant and lumping 12 million people together, we need to take the time and open our hearts and minds to hear each person’s story. Bearing a compassionate witness to their testimony, we are vessels of God’s peace blowing. As we learn more of their stories, we call for compassionate and just resolution to the immigration problem. Our brothers and sisters must be able to come out of the shadows. Most are merely trying to put bread on their table for their children. May the peace of Christ blow in their lives.
Our compassionate Shepherd comes to us in our places of fear and anxiety and blows his Spirit again. These words are shared among us again, “Peace be with you.” God has been assuring us everyday, “Do not be afraid, I am with you. I will give you my peace to sustain you.”
From the locked rooms, Jesus sends us out with the Holy Spirit to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are huddled in fear. Together, we seek to find the courage and wisdom we need to break the chains and open the doors. Many times these locks are on our hearts and minds.
God’s Holy Spirit is the key that breaks every chain and picks every lock that keeps us from being one. Jesus’ ministry of peace and reconciliation sends us into many upper rooms. Peace be with you, come with us and go out into this daunting and frightening world with courage. Hold on and trust that Jesus Christ will blow his breathe of peace on us and give us strength and hope.
Breathe deep God’s peace and share it with others. May the closed doors and locks in our hearts and minds be opened. May God’s peace blow through us and give us his eyes and ears of Grace. God give us hearts of compassion for the people who live in fear today behind closed doors. God, may our witness to your Shalom give others the courage to walk out into the streets with us. Together, we profess and proclaim your Peace. We breathe your eternal Spirit and let it flow to all of your children.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Washington Post Editorial: AIDS at Home

AIDS at Home
The Obama administration starts to combat complacency in the United States.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009; A16



WHEN IT comes to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, there is an alarming complacency among Americans. Perhaps it's the success of antiretroviral drug treatments. In the eyes of many, those drugs have transformed the disease from one with no cure to a manageable ailment. Or maybe it's the view that AIDS is more of a worry in Africa or Southeast Asia. But it's not just happening "over there." And the Obama administration took a first step last week to remind people that it's happening right here, right now.

"Act Against AIDS" is a five-year endeavor announced last Tuesday with the mission to snap us out of our somnolence as the epidemic rages around us. The $45 million effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services will highlight the fact that every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the United States becomes infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. A multimedia ad campaign will direct people to the Web site http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org, which is a portal to a wealth of information on the epidemic, how people can protect themselves and their partners, and where they can seek testing and treatment.

The initial targets of this focus are African Americans. According to the CDC, while blacks make up just 12 percent of the population, they account for "roughly half" of all new HIV infections and AIDS deaths. The agency reports that the disease is the No. 1 killer of black women age 25 to 34 and the second-leading cause of death among black men age 35 to 44. Those frightening statistics are part of a troubling larger story of AIDS in America. Last year, the CDC estimated that 56,300 people became infected with HIV in 2006. The previous estimate was 40,000. The agency defines the epidemic as "generalized and severe" when HIV/AIDS affects 1 percent of the overall population. Last month, the District's HIV/AIDS Administration announced that 3 percent of the city's population has HIV/AIDS.

We applaud the administration for bringing together 14 African American civic organizations to help highlight the importance of testing and treatment among their memberships. But more needs to be done. Many, most notably Robert C. Gallo, one of the scientists who uncovered HIV as the cause of AIDS, have called for a domestic version of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has been successful in sub-Saharan Africa. President Obama has charged Jeffrey S. Crowley, his director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, to craft a national AIDS strategy over the next year with three goals: lowering the rate of HIV infections, increasing the number of people in care and reducing disparities in care. For the sake of the nation, we hope the administration maintains its focus on this domestic challenge.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

We Are A Resurrection People

We are a Resurrection People Easter Sunday 2009

Gospel Lesson

John 20:1-18

20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Sermon

He is Risen. He is Risen indeed! All the power and pain the world threw at his Jesus could not keep him down. We are a resurrection people, a people of eternal hope. We know our Messiah has conquered death, once and for all. In a world where jaded pessimism is the order of the day, we must hold fast to our calling as a resurrection people. We gather every Sunday to remember that Easter morning when the stone rolled away and Mary hears Jesus’ voice again.
Billions of our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world have gathered today to celebrate and praise our Risen Lord. Can you see the rainbow of God’s children, with tears and smiles of joy? People who are enduring their own personal Good Fridays are holding on to hope that a resurrection day will come. God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. Yes, all things work together for good for those who love God.
On Easter Sunday, and every Sunday we gather to be nurtured and equipped as a resurrection people. Part of witness to the Gospel in our world is to tend the flame of hope. We remember this definition from Hebrews: “Faith is the assurance for things hope for, the conviction of things not seen.” In Paul’s letter to the Roman’s he reflects on the faith of Father Abraham, who hoped against hope. In our Gospel lesson, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the beloved disciple need to see with their own eyes what has happened. It can be that Jesus has risen. Someone must have stolen his body. Later Thomas will need to place his finger in Jesus wounds to believe. As a resurrection people, we need to hope and believe with our mind’s eye, with the eyes of our heart. Deep within we can see a new day dawning in spite of the pain and suffering that surrounds us day in and day out.
This is our unique Christian mandate and calling to interpret what is means to be a people of hope. We don’t turn our heads or lower our gaze. We hold on to find the glimmers of hope and the testament to the human spirit. We know that in time this Good Friday will pass and Easter morning will come. Like Mary Magdalene, we keep vigil at the Empty tomb waiting to hear the voice of our Risen Lord speaking through the gardners of our day.
Over the centuries many scholars and poets have reflected on this theme of hope and how critical it is for us to preserve our humanity.
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” A. Pope
“If it were not for hope our hearts would break.” John Ray
“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.” Piny the Elder
Our people will perish without hope.

Hope is a poignant theme in many of our urban churches, where people of color are the majority of the residents and congregants. Unemployement, drugs, gangs and violence pervade the streets, but on Sundays we gather to lay our burdens down and breath deep God’s Spirit of hope. In spite of all we have seen this past week, we know that change is coming. Many of us are going through a Good Friday cruxifixion, but we know God will see us through to the empty tomb. Many of these hardships were never part of God’s plan for us, but God the Good Shepherd is always with us in these valleys. We hold on to hope and the faith that God will see us through.
As a Resurrection people, we resonate with our African American and Latino brother and sisters who do their part to foster this flame of hope. At the end of one of my favourite PBS programs Tavis Smiley closes every program with, “Keep the Faith.” Throughout the 80s, Rev Jesse Jackson’s anthem was “Keep Hope Alive.” Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are familiar with these two adages, at many gatherings people chant is Si Se Peude, “Yes we can” and “Hope dies last.”
People of color who have had to endure far too many Good Fridays, have a deeper and more profound hunger for the hope that our Risen Lord brings on Easter and every Sunday worship.
In our Gospel lesson, like many other moments in Jesus' life and ministry, the women are present to faithfully to tend to Jesus. In Jesus’ life and death, we see how central women are. We remember the alabaster of oil, the washing of Jesus’ feet with tears and the drying with her hair. The women in Jesus’ life keep vigil at the foot of the cross. When Jesus felt betrayed and isolated by his disciples, the women in his life never left his side. This is the eternal truth of the church. Many of our sisters in the church continue to teach us how to focus on the majors not the minors. Let’s keep our egos in check and stay focused on our call to sacrificial service. The women in Jesus ministry had a lot to teach and model for the disciples and the same is true for today.
In the midst of this crisis, the gospel writer makes it a point to note who was winning the race to the tomb. Doesn’t it seem weird to focus on such details at this point in the story? Who cares who get’s there first? Men and their egos! Everything seems to boil down to a competitive sporting event. I hope the beloved disciple did not intentionally trip Peter.
Many scholars have noted this conflict between Peter and the Beloved Disciple. Was this Lazarus? This competition between these two could be a window into the conflict playing out in the early church. Peter represents the growing hierarchical authority of the apostolic tradition and the Beloved Disciple represents the more grassroots, egalitarian church. There is this tension and anxiety in John’s gospel that the church does not turn into the very Pharisees and temple authorities they have been challenging.
One of the telling pieces of this story is that Peter and the Beloved Disciple come and go. It is only Mary Magdalene who stays to keep vigil in her grief. Blinded in her grief she can not hear what the Angels have told her. The folded clothes mean nothing. Until she knows that her Lord’s body is able to rest in peace, she will not leave. Mary is tenacious in holding on until she finds an answer. When Jesus appears to her she thinks it’s the gardner, and pleads with him too.
Many of our brothers and sisters in pain and grief cannot hear the messages God sends them. It is only when we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd speaking directly to us that we understand that our Good Friday is finally over. Like Mary, many of us will encounter the voice of our Risen Lord. Our wrestling with angst and doubts clear away in an instant, when we hear God’s voice calling us by name. All Jesus had to say was Mary, and she knew it was her Rabbouni, her teacher.
On Friday, I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend the Hubert H Humphrey Lecture Series. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman President throughout the African continent gave a speech. When she walked on stage and thousands of Liberians sang their national anthem this brought many tears. The wave of hope that filled the Northrup auditorium was phenomenal.
Liberia is a testimony to hope and the resiliency of the human spirit. Out of the ashes of Civil War and far too many Good Fridays, they are in the garden and celebrating hope as a resurrection people. We have 10-15k Liberians here in the Twin Cities. Just last week President Obama granted an extension for their visas. We can be proud of how many our Minnesota communities have embraced our Liberian brothers and sisters. We walk with them through these Good Fridays to joyous Easter moments.
Yes hope is alive. The Iron Lady of Liberia and the Liberian Christian Women’s Association have continued in the path of Mary Magdalene. They would not leave until they got the answers they needed. They held on with faith and hope in what many people would dismiss as impossible. Resurrection people hold on to hope!
Hearing the roar of the audience brought me back to South Africa, and the Durban stadium in 2002 when we cheered for Nelson Mandella’s entrance for the inauguration of the African Union. Mandella and President Johnson Sirleaf are modern day prophets who bring their people hope, and foster peace and reconciliation.
Like Mary Magdalene, we are a resurrection people, we need to keep vigil in the garden and listen for how God is calling his sheep by name. Every Sunday is an Easter Sunday. We gather at the empty tomb again to remember God’s victory over evil. We don’t need to cling to Jesus, we can hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. Jesus sends us out from the empty tomb every Sunday to bear witness to the hope in the impossible. Our Risen Lord has conquered death. Nothing in this world has a hold on us. We are freed captives!
Hope is alive. We humbly walk beside our brothers and sisters who still have not heard the voice of our Good Shepherd. Could we be a gardner in their lives. Maybe we could be the angels assuring them that yes He is Risen. Each of us have been casted into this eternal production of Resurrection Hope. We witness to our world that the storm is over. No matter how dark the skies may turn, No matter how great the odds may seem against you, these Good Fridays are not the end but only the beginning. Our Lord is victorious. Listen for the voice of our Good Shepherd. Hold on to hope and trust in him.