Nothing

The Rev. Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 21, 2020

Ascension Day

            On this Ascension Day, we might expect to hear the story from Acts where Jesus is lifted into the heavens as the astonished disciples look on.  And we will hear that story on Sunday.  But the reading appointed by the lectionary for Evening Prayer on Ascension Day is the story of the Great Commission from Matthew’s gospel.  This is the last scene in Matthew’s gospel and while we don’t get to see Jesus being lifted into heaven, this passage has the same effect of bringing Jesus’ time on earth to an end. 

          In some ways, I prefer Matthew’s account of the end of Jesus’ time on earth.  We are not left with the questions of “Where did Jesus’ go?” and “How did he get there?” and “Where, exactly, is he now?”  While good and interesting questions, those questions can distract us from the main question, which is “What are we as Jesus’ disciples to do now?”  And because I am a person who likes a good set of instructions, Matthew’s story is much more helpful to me.  When Jesus meets his remaining 11 disciples on the mountain, he gives them very clear instructions about the path forward. 

          First, let’s note who is there.  Matthew does not refer to the disciples generically, saying “Now the disciples went to Galilee.”  Instead, Matthew tells us that the 11 disciples went to Galilee, reminding us of Judas’ betrayal and that this is a broken group of disciples going to Galilee to meet Jesus as Jesus had directed them.  The disciples had heard that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had appeared to the women as they fled the tomb.  The story flows like this is Easter night, but the distance from Jerusalem to Galilee is not walkable in an afternoon or even a day.  So my guess is that they were a broken and confused band of dirty and tired disciples who made their way to Galilee and to the mountain for whatever awaited them there.

          Then, when the disciples reach the mountain and see Jesus, they worshiped, but, we are told, some doubted.  So, to broken, tired, and probably confused if not scared, we can add doubting to the adjectives describing the group of disciples that encounter the risen Christ.

          To this motley crew of followers, Jesus says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  This sounds a lot like me saying to our sons with they were children: “I’m the mom. Don’t argue with me.”  Then Jesus tells the disciples to go and make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded them.  They are to go, not huddle on the mountain.  We are to go, if not physically at the current moment, then online, via email, phone call, text message, or snail mail.  We are to go outside of our comfort zones, which may or may not be a physical place.  The disciples and we are to make disciples.  Disciples, it turns out, don’t just happen.  They are made, which takes effort.  In case we are unsure about how to make disciples, Jesus tells us.  Baptize them-bring them fully into the household of God, and teach them to obey Jesus’ teachings, most of which are about how we are to love each other and the world.  If not simple or easy, at least Jesus is clear.

          The last thing Jesus says is perhaps the most important.  To this weary, broken, and doubting band of disciples, and to us in our weariness, frustration, loneliness and doubt over the current challenging situation and whatever other forces we may be dealing with, Jesus says “And remember.  I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  We do nothing alone.  We don’t leave our comfort zones alone.  We don’t make disciples alone.  We don’t try to obey everything Jesus taught by ourselves much less try to teach others alone.  We don’t have to deal with Covid-19 alone or the many ways the tentacles of the virus reach into our lives.  The message of Easter, the message of Ascension Day, and the message of Pentecost 10 days from now is the same.  While there is much we are called to do and be in this world as followers of the crucified and risen One, there is nothing we must do or be alone.  Nothing.  

                                                                             Amen.

At All Times

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 10, 2020

5 Easter A

          When I was a child in elementary school, Physical Education class had to be my least favorite part of the week.  The teacher had a passion for team sports.  She would choose two captains, one for each team, and the captains would take turns choosing kids for their team.  Obviously the athletically gifted kids were chosen first.  My best friend Laurie and I were chosen last Every Single Time.  We were both somewhat klutzy and not athletic in the least.  Finally, the teacher decided to try something different. She would choose the team captains who would then chose the kids for the other captain’s team.  So now, Laurie and I were chosen first.  We might have been klutzes but we were not stupid.  First or last, no one wanted us on their team.  There were insiders and outsiders, and we were definitely the latter.  I understand from my sports consultants, Will and Ben Bixby, that counting off by twos is more generally the way teams are chosen these days, which, while random, certainly seems more inclusive.

          This morning, Jesus appears to be the captain of the team and choses the members.  Jesus says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Does this mean that our family and friends who follow other faiths or no faith wind up in hell?  Then Jesus goes on to say “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  How on earth do we understand that claim when the world is being ravaged by Covid-19 in spite of our prayers?  If our prayers do not seem to be answered, does that mean Jesus has not chosen us?  This passage raises a lot of questions about who is in and who is out.

As with most passages of Scripture, knowing the context of the passage is helpful.  In the passage just before our gospel reading, Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, and told the disciples that they should do likewise for each other, serving each other as Jesus has served them.  Having one’s feet washed is a humbling experience in which one person becomes vulnerable to another.  Jesus is describing how the disciples are to be in community with each other.  Then, Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray him.  Next, Jesus tells the disciples that he is with them only a little longer, and where he is going, the disciples cannot come.  Then Jesus tells Peter that before daybreak, he will have denied Jesus three times.

So, this morning, the scene with the disciples and Jesus is understandably quite somber.  The disciples were likely sad, confused, and feeling rather hopeless.  Jesus is encouraging the remaining 11 disciples when he says “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Jesus promises his followers that he is going to prepare a place for them and will come back to get them.  Jesus is not abandoning them.  In fact, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life so that they know the path to the Father.

          Taken out of context, this passage makes it sound like only those who follow Jesus have access to God.  However, a few chapters earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus said “I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.  And I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  Jesus will bring his other sheep into the fold.  Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples are called to witness to the world through their love for each other, so there is a healthy, loving fold waiting for the other sheep.  What this passage, and much of John’s gospel insists, is that Jesus’ followers love each other with the same love Jesus has for them.  That love will spill out into love for others so that the world experiences God’s love.

At the end of the passage, Jesus tells the disciples that they will do even greater works than he has, and that if they ask for anything in his name, he will do it.  This is after Jesus has changed water into wine, fed thousands of people with a bit of bread and fish, raised Lazarus from the dead, walked on water, and healed many people of their infirmities.  Really?  Jesus thinks we can do that?

          If we read further, Jesus will tell the disciples that he will not leave them orphaned.  He will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with them forever.  While having the Holy Spirit available to do whatever we like would be lovely some days, Jesus is not promising us that.  This is not God as Santa Claus.  But Jesus is promising us that the Holy Spirit will give us what we need so that we are able to show God’s love to the world at all times and in all circumstances.  Jesus is giving his sad, confused, discouraged disciples their mission.  Those disciples include us as we are called to show God’s love in the midst of a pandemic when the burden of that pandemic falls unequally across the country and around the world, in a country that proclaims liberty and justice for all but where young black men like Ahmaud Arbery cannot go out for a run without fearing for their lives, in a place where the wounds of a university mass shooting are still deeply felt fifty years later.   Jesus promises the disciples and us, that with the Holy Spirit, we will have the ability to carry on his work in the world, demonstrating the power of God’s love at all times and in all places to even more people than Jesus did.

          At the end of the day, the question this gospel reading answers is not who is in and who is out, nor is the question about how we, too, can raise the dead to life.  The reading from 1 Peter says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”   Jesus is telling us how we are to be that chosen race and royal priesthood and proclaim God’s mighty acts.  We are to proclaim the mighty acts of God by word and example, demonstrating the love of God at all times and in all places, like Jesus did.  We are to follow Jesus by making ourselves present to the Holy Spirit so we can make God’s love known in whatever situation we find ourselves.   Following Jesus is not about figuring out who is on the team and who is not.  Following Jesus is about humility, servant hood, and reflecting God’s love.  In other words, following Jesus is about following Jesus.

                                                                   Amen.

Abundant Life

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 3, 2020

4 Easter A

          On Friday morning, I woke up to a text message from my sister.  Sarah had sent me a link to a real estate listing for our grandparents’ old house outside Princeton, New Jersey.  When we were young, we spent many happy hours and days playing there, but I must say the house was a bit shabby then, with a musty smell, two bathrooms that were pretty sketchy even by 7 year old standards, and a kitchen that left a lot to be desired.  Now someone has completely remodeled the whole house and there is no trace of shabby or sketchy by any stretch of the imagination.  But looking through the photos of the house on Friday, I could clearly hear my grandparents’ voices in my head, even though they have both been gone over 25 years.  Their voices called our names to bring us inside after an afternoon of play in the expansive yard, or offered to take us to the nearby town to buy candy, or tucked us in bed.   We always felt safe, secure, and loved in that house and the memories the house holds for us are precious.

          This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday, which is always the 4^th Sunday of Easter.  Today, we hear Jesus call himself the Shepherd of the Sheep and tell us that he calls his sheep by name and leads them out.  The sheep follow the Shepherd because they know his voice.  Jesus also tells us that he is the gate for the sheep, and he has come that the sheep may have life and have life abundantly. 

          This passage alone tells us a lot about the Christian life.  First, Jesus tells us that he leads the sheep out and the sheep follow him.  The sheep are not meant to stay in the sheepfold but to follow Jesus out, where there is plenty of pasture to graze and move about.  Secondly, Jesus has come that the sheep may have life and have life abundantly.  Jesus has not come to steal, kill, or destroy, but to give abundant life.  And thirdly, Jesus tells us that he is the gate for the sheep.  No one else gets to decide who is in the sheepfold and who is not.  Later Jesus will give the disciples a new commandment-that they love one another as Jesus loves them.  The criteria for sheep is that they love one another as Jesus loves them.  While that is far more difficult than it sounds as first-after all Jesus lays down his life for the sheep-that is the sole criteria for being a sheep.

          Combine this passage from John with the beloved 23^rd psalm and the familiar words “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” the image of a table being set for us in the presence of those who trouble us, and God’s presence with us even in the valley of the shadow of death, and we have a comforting image of the Shepherd who calls us by name and will keep us safe, in whose presence there is fullness of life.  Add to that the passage from Acts where Jesus’ followers all seem to live together in perfect harmony, sharing all things in common, and spending their days devoted to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers, and we could easily have a very pastoral image of following the voice of Jesus who calls us by name and leads us to a life of safety, security, and love as well as peace and harmony.

          The reading from 1 Peter stops us short, however. I Peter was written to encourage faithful Christians who were suffering unjustly at the hands of their masters.  No one was setting a table for these Christians in the presence of their enemies.  I Peter was not written to glorify unjust suffering, much less condone it.  I Peter was written because unjust suffering was and is a fact.  The letter was written to encourage those who were suffering unjustly by reminding them of the unjust suffering Christ endured, and the teaching and witness of Jesus not to repay evil with evil.

          There is much unjust suffering in the world.  Right now, some populations are hit harder than others by Covid-19 through no fault of their own, but because of poverty, poor nutrition, sub-standard housing, and the inability to shelter-in place.  There are victims of human trafficking, children who are separated from their parents at the border, and people more likely than others to be incarcerated due to the color of their skin.  The list goes on and on.  I Peter puts such suffering right smack in front of us.

          On Good Shepherd Sunday, if all we hear is the part about verdant pastures and Jesus calling us by name and giving us abundant life, then we have missed the point.  The reading from Acts tells us that the early church made sure everyone had what they needed and they lived with glad and generous hearts.  What some people need is food, clothing, health, shelter, or freedom.  The psalmist says “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”    When we stand up to evil, we are promised that God will be with us.  The gospel reading tells us that Jesus calls us by name and leads us out of the sheepfold into the world to follow his voice where he goes.  And where Jesus goes is to bring love and justice where there is suffering and cruelty in the world.  If Good Shepherd Sunday is about safety and security and being protected by the great Shepherd of the Sheep, this Sunday is about that safety and security for all people and Jesus’ call to his followers to work for abundant life for everyone.

                                                                             Amen.