Holy Disruption

June 2, 2020

Good afternoon,

" We are going up to Jerusalem , and the Son of Man [ Jesus ] will be delivered over to the chief priests  and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life. "   Matthew 20:18-19

Late last year, I bought a set of three paintings from a friend of mine. He retired a few years ago, and had taken up painting in his retirement. The paintings are considered modern art. They might be seen as just colours going everywhere with no apparent picture. My friend splatters colour onto the canvas with a brush, and then moves it around. I do not understand this type of painting, but the the colours seemed somehow calming to me, because they were bright and vibrant. There were greens, blues, reds and yellows all over the canvas. The painting is called Disruption. The three different panels are one painting. In the religious world, this is sometimes called a triptych.

At this time, I am overwhelmed with the pandemic, police violence, demonstrations and climate change. It is not coincidence, I believe, that I went to the art show where I purchased Disruption. There were probably 20 paintings in the show, and I was intrigued by this painting. I did not buy it right away, but I waited until the weekend was over. I phoned my friend the following Monday, and asked if Disruption was still available. He said it had not sold, and so I bought it, and picked it up at the end of the week. It now is on the wall of my church office, disrupting my days, and my faith journey.

In the text from Matthew, this is the third time that Jesus disrupts the disciples ideas about what it means to follow Jesus. They were hoping that the new kingdom was about to arrive, but Jesus dying would not be a way to be successful in setting up a kingdom. Becoming King and Emperor would be a better way for the disciples. Jesus tells them he will die, and he will rise again. I do not think that they heard the end of the the conversation, about resurrection.

How is your life, family, church being disrupted in 2020 ? We could not have imagined any of this during Christmas of 2019. What is God speaking to us today ? Do you find disruption in your life helpful ?

Prayer

Dear God,

Disruption can be helpful, for our faith,

but only backwards or in

20/20 hindsight,

this makes it

more difficult for us

to see what we need to do, or to be

in our world.

going forward or backward is hard when we do not know the way.

but this is blind faith, or just faith, for my

soul.

Help us in the disruption in 2020.   AMEN.

Fred

Pastor Poole Mennonite Church