First Evening: MOSES

From Rabbi Joel Zaiman
The prevailing dynamic in Rabbi Zaiman’s talk is Moses coming up to God and going down to the People Israel.

What is at stake is the covenant, the special relationship between God and the People Israel. Moses ends up saving the covenant for God’s sake . . . and for Israel’s sake.

The movement of Moses coming up to God and going back down to the People Israel (with the covenant whole or threatened by sin) mirrors our own faith experience. Daily we go to God through prayer, scripture, study, and worship. And daily we come down to our family, our friends, and strangers, with God’s energies shaping the way we live our lives. Each of us is a witness, as Rabbi Zaiman said, exemplifying for all how we should live in God’s presence.

A burden perhaps, but at times, so lightening.

From The Reverend Flo Ledyard
Now, a burning bush that is not consumed by its own flame is a rather excellent attraction grabber for anyone . . . the cost of Moses’ curiosity was an intimate encounter with the one, holy, living God . . . "How dare you stand on sacred ground with sandals on. Take them off." Nothing must stand between God and us on sacred ground . . . All ground is possible sacred ground.

Curiosity and sacred ground. Have you ever studied modern dance -- worn tights and a leotard -- and watched yourself in a gigantic horizontal mirror with gazelle-like accomplished dancers on either side of you, stretching their sinewy arms and legs, silently sweating? Veteran dancers’ feet have learned to grasp the wooden floor. Their left foot, its toes in particular, holds the floor as they extend their right leg out and up. When jumping, the metatarsal arch and toes push off from the floor, springing the dancers into the air. Toward the end of the dance class, everyone does "run-run-leaps" from one corner of the room to the opposite corner. No matter how tired you are, during one of your leaps, the floor lifts you into the air.

You soar.

Second Evening: THE MESSIAH

From Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg
For Christians, we are speaking of the Son of God whose coming will bring radical change to the world. We Jews think of the Messiah in very human terms.

The Rizhiner Rebbe is the only Jew ever to build a castle [for the Messiah] in Eastern Europe . . . The castle has a secret room in it just for the Messiah . . . What would you put in a room built for a Messiah?

My room would include a video machine and three videos. The first video: interviews with nurses in hospitals that care for crack-addicted, premature babies. The second video: classes at The Baltimore School for the Arts -- its diversified students studying the performing and fine arts. The third video: a day in an ICJS tour of Jerusalem, during which Jewish and Christian clergy and lay people visit the Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

From Father Robert Leavitt
Without the resurrection experience and the testimonies of those who encountered Jesus in the days after Easter, the Messianic title would never have endured. Jesus would have been classified as the disciples on the way to Emmaus had classified him: a failure, a disappointment. The resurrection faith meant that the entire plot of Jesus’ career, especially his last days, was recast as a plot of victory passing through suffering and death. That’s why Christians see the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as the parable of every human life . . . Lives suspended between time and eternity, between suffering and hope.

A friend tells me the story of his mother’s last days. "For two years, Mother was attacked by battering fear that left her increasingly afraid to be alone. She told us she was wrestling with the Devil. She stopped receiving the Eucharist. A friend from the parish who had been especially kind and attentive visited Mother on a Wednesday. Mother faintly whispered to her, ‘I’ve won the battle!’ She was her old self, glowing, at ease. She asked for the Eucharist. Mother died in her sleep that Friday."

Third Evening: JONAH

From Rabbi Marc Margolius
Rabbi Margolius’ dominant image is the responsibility of return-ing the serve during a tennis game.

We stand on the back line waiting as life serves us more and more opportunities at faster and faster speeds. By the time we get our racquets back, the ball is often by us . . . You know what those serves are: the little voices that buzz in our heads . . . "I really want to call Aunt Millie this week. I heard she was in the hospital . . . " The serves are those signals God sends us through CNN and op-ed pieces . . . There are counter voices in our heads -- "Hey, it’s not my problem, let somebody else do it . . . " Ultimately, each one of us learns that we cannot hide, and that is the story of Jonah . . . [We face] God in the belly of the fish and recognize our respon-sibility in the darkness.

Extend Rabbi Margolius’ image and consider our faith in the context of a tennis game with God. The goal of this game is long rallies with God. We know we cannot defeat God. Hence, we try to keep the ball on the court, in play. We know that God returns the ball. Sometimes, God’s return is right to us. Sometimes, we must run for the ball. We return it. We hear God say, "Good shot." At other times, we run as hard as we can and can’t get to the ball. We holler, "God, you’re too good." God responds, "Let’s take a break." We answer, "Thank you. God, I really like playing tennis with you -- sometimes."

From Father Michael Curry
My Aunt Lily said, "Well, maybe the leopard can’t change his spots, but my Jesus can change the leopard . . . " The grace of God is bigger than the limitations of our possibilities. God is bigger than we are.

Until we forgive, we have no future. The past will paralyze us. Until we combine justice with compassion, there is no future  . . . That was Jonah’s dilemma. Jonah knew that God was liable to forgive those low-down, good-for-nothing Ninevites.

Unless we redeem the past by creating a new transformed future, none of us will have a future. And, there is no place God won’t go for you. Referring to a drop-off corner for dope in Baltimore City, Father Curry says, God won’t give up . . . You can run, but you can’t hide.

Father Curry concludes his talk with: May the love of that God embrace you. May the spirit of that God enfold you. May the life of that God enliven you each day. Amen.

Postscript

From going up and coming down to witnessing; from curiosity to leaping and soaring; from building a castle to watching videos about care, study, and pilgrimage; from rising from the dead to prevailing in a wrestling match with the Devil; from not returning the serve to having a rally with God; and from hiding to God finding and forgiving us -- the overall arch of the six homilies is the perpetual motion of God. God lives in our verbs. As Father Curry said in his prayer, God enlivens us.