Barabbas

This week in Sunday School we will continue our exploration of Power & Passion in the passion narratives. We will focus on Barabbas.

Last week you all named people who have power – the President of the United States, the pope, your parents, your teachers, etc. You also named some of the characteristics common to many kinds of leaders. Making allowances for a variety of contexts, what are some of the ways in which you think people might respond to domination? I’m not talking about the kind of power your teacher exerts by giving you homework, or your parents display by grounding you. I’m thinking more of the context in which the Gentiles were oppressed by the dominant Roman culture. What are some possible ways that they might have responded?

Barabbas and Jesus’ names mean the same thing. “Bar” means “son” and “abba” means father. Thus, Barabbas = son of the father. Jesus also means “son of the father.” So Jesus and Barabbas are called the same thing. How are they different? Who are they?

Why does it matter that Barabbas was chosen by the people instead of Jesus? Who does Barabbas represent for us today?

Welcome, Lent

Below is today's blog posting from Bishop Andy Doyle of the Diocese of Texas. He offers a beautiful invitation at the beginning of this Lenten Season. I pray it will help you to consider what this Lent holds in store for you.

"As we enter the season of Lent I would like to draw our attention to the call of a particular Lenten discipline: prayer. We are called to a holy Lent which is the result of a number of disciplines--the first is prayer and the last is meditating on God's holy Word - Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures (BCP 264ff). I believe it is through the discipline of prayer and meditation that we are transformed and may better serve and bear witness to God's mercy in our lives.


I have a long and winding prayer journey with God and with Jesus. I first learned to pray the Lord's Prayer as a child. I remember that most of my prayer life as a child was as a petitioner and was most likely egocentric; but those are the beautiful prayers of children. I can imagine that God smiles at these prayers.

Adolescence brought prayers of sadness, joy and gratitude as I lived a somewhat difficult teenage life. These would lead to prayers of discernment about ministry. I learned to pray the Daily Office while in college and was introduced to daily mass. I studied prayer for a semester under an American Orthodox seminarian. He taught me meditation and contemplation. We read and sat together quietly. His name escapes me now but his ministry and mentorship provided a life-long lesson of sitting still with God.

I also was introduced to private confession during this same time, which has continued. I experienced the discipline of daily chapel and Morning Prayer in a deeper sense while I was chaplain at St. Stephen's School, Austin. This was reinforced at Virginia Seminary and today the Daily Office is my daily companion. When I left seminary I toyed with the Franciscan tertiary order but eventually landed on the Society of St. John the Evangelist as a support for the prayer life on which I had come to rely. I began to develop a rule of life, which I continue to this day.

Today, this takes the form of sitting quietly daily before I read Morning Prayer. I follow the ordo (liturgical) calendar of the Society of St. John, so I am praying within community each day. I pray for the clergy of the diocese by name throughout the week. I pray for my staff, along with a list of concerns given to me. I pray a prayer based upon the ordination service for a bishop and read (along with the scripture appointed for the day) a portion of the Archbishop's reflections on the ministry of bishop.

My prayer life has been healthy and sometimes it has not. There is an ebb and flow as I look over the years; however, as I get older my dependence on this daily routine continues to become more deeply rooted. I am out of sorts when I do not follow my daily feast of quiet, intercession, thanksgiving and meditation on God.

As I think back, I think the most difficult work of prayer begins after the conversation has gone quiet--meaning when I have forgotten to pray. After long periods of silence from my end of the connection, or in those times of deep questioning, I find it so difficult to know just what to say. I also remember how difficult it was to begin prayer. I remember it was hard as a child. I remember it was hard as a young adult. Perhaps we place too many expectations on prayer. I guess it is a human thing, but I can get so focused on praying "right" that I forget the sustenance of prayer, which is most often in the deep well of silence or in the questions themselves. I wonder if you find this true as well.

It seems so many people, ordinary people like myself, have a hard time knowing how to begin to pray. Richard J. Foster in his book entitled Prayer, offers a useful reminder for us all. "We will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying. In fact, it is in the very act of praying itself--the intimate, ongoing interaction with God-- that these matters are cared for in due time. What I am trying to say is that God receives us just as we are and accepts our prayers just as they are."(R. J. Foster, Prayer, p. 8) So, I encourage you to begin or to begin again for the first time.

Find a comfortable, quiet place where you might pray daily. Write down a list of those for whom you would like to pray. Will you use written prayers from a book, the Prayer Book or other sources? Place them near by. Will you use a rosary? An icon? Set up your place and make it your deliberate place to be with God. Then go there each day. Go and be with God and open your heart to his companionship in your life. Sit quietly. Use words of prayer. Pray the Lord's Prayer. Pray a portion of scripture.

I encourage you to sit and be with God. Begin again, perhaps for the first time, a conversation with God. If you have a rule of life, dust it off and recharge it with committed time to follow its precepts. Pray, pray, pray. For it is in praying that we are truly transformed to be a witness of Jesus Christ. It is in prayer that we are humbled by the abundance of God's grace.

One of the prayers that I pray every day is the General Thanksgiving prayer at the end of Morning Prayer II, (BCP, 101). Along with thousands and thousands of Christians around the world each morning I pray, "give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service…"

I hope you might join me in daily prayer and service this Lent and, with me, rediscover our conversation with God."

Somethin' Fishy

This week's Gospel text comes to us from the book of Luke. It's a fairly well-quoted passage because it has very specific implications for ministry. I think there are some fundamental issues at stake that are worth addressing.

First, I have to admit that I know NOTHING about fishing. I know that I enjoy eating fish that someone else has caught. I know that fishing boats smell fishy. I know that fishing happens largely before and after sunrise, and that it's very hard work. I think it's also interesting that I do not personally know anyone who is a professional fisherman. It is not as common as it used to be back in Jesus' day. Fisherman like Simon Peter, James, and John were responsible for feeding their families and often their communities. Meaning - many people relied on them for a fruitful day's work.

The fishermen had been working ALL night long, and had not caught a thing. When Jesus meets them on the shore, he invites them to put out their nets one more time. They didn't just catch a few fish - they filled BOTH boats to the point that they nearly sunk. This is a very clear indication of God's abundance. How have you experienced God's abundance in your life?

I think it's very significant that James, John, and Simon Peter put down their nets and decided to follow Jesus. Fishing was their livelihood. It was their communal means of sustenance. It was no small matter for these fishermen to follow Jesus out of town. Hearing God's call for our lives is not always an easy matter, nor something to be taken lightly. What would it take for you to hear God's call in your life? Do you think you would be as willing to drop your nets and follow Jesus that quickly? Do you remember a time in your life when you specifically responded to God's call to you?

Gospel for Sunday, February 7: Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.