Marching on Jerusalem

Lent begins on Wednesday. As unbelievable as it might seem, Ash Wednesday is this week. Shiloh Church will recognize the change of liturgical season with a special evening Ash Wednesday service, which will start at 7:00 p.m. in the church's sanctuary.

 

Because Ash Wednesday is this week, Shiloh is suspending its Bible @ Boston's program for a week. There will be no session on February 13. The program will resume on the 20th, with an examination of I and II Timothy, followed on the 27th, with study of I, II and III John. The two-year chronological walk through the books of the Bible will come to an end on February 27. Thanks to all who have taken part, to Dave Boston, who allowed us the back room at his bar, and to people bold enough to think about and allow Bible study in a bar.

 

But Lent is upon us. Throughout the season, we will walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem, where he will sacrifice himself for the salvation of people everywhere and throughout time. This year's Lenten theme is "Marching on Jerusalem." By using the term, we mean to suggest that Jesus' march on Jerusalem is about the liberation of God's people from the dual powers of sin and death. It is the ultimate act of liberation.

 

Because we are in year "C" of the Revised Common Lectionary, and because I choose, as a personal and professional discipline, to follow that lectionary, our focus will remain on the Gospel According to Luke. Written sometime after the fall of Jerusalem in 70, probably during a time of persecution, like that under Domitian, in the 80's and 90's, Luke's Gospel is written to a Gentile community. Its agenda is the recruitment of Gentile followers for Christ. Its Christology is unique among the Gospels. in Luke, Jesus is superhuman, sent from God to serve as Savior of all humankind, universal and cosmic.

 

Luke's Gospel is also concerned with social justice and civil rights. This Gospel is as much about the equality of those who had been systemically rejected in Jesus' day, as perhaps now, as it is about the reformation of the synagogue and Temple. Jesus seeks in Luke to change the people and systems that reject the lame, the blind, the oppressed, the prisoner, the poor and the genetically "other." Luke's Jesus leads us on a march on Jerusalem, where we demonstrate concern and care for those who suffer at the hands of our systems and cultural prejudices.

 

Join us each Sunday through the Lenten season. March on Jerusalem with us, and with Jesus. Be a part of the movement that claims equality and justice for the invisible and unmentionable populations of our age. Come and walk beside us, as we accompany Jesus in the work of universal liberation.

 

See You Sunday!