Joyful Anticipation

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 16, 2021

7 Proper B 

          Last week, we entered yet another chapter in the ongoing waiting game aspect of Covid-19.  We have waited for the shut-down to end, for schools to reopen, for supplies of toilet paper and Clorox wipes to appear on the shelves.  We have waited to see our loved ones.  We have waited for a vaccine and for in-person worship.  We are still waiting to hug and to sing.  Now we enter yet another liminal waiting time as the CDC has lifted the mask mandate in most cases for people who have been vaccinated, and the governor has done likewise.  Because we are an Episcopal Church and under the authority of our bishop, we wait for his directives about how we will live and worship together as restrictions begin to be lifted.  But I think what most of us are really waiting for is for life to get back to normal.

          The disciples are also waiting this morning.  Last Thursday was the feast of the Ascension when the 11 remaining disciples watched as Jesus rose into heaven.  After ordering the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, one of the last things Jesus said to the disciples was “‘This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  A few verses later, immediately before his ascension, Jesus said “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  However much the disciples might have wanted their lives to get back to normal, this is a pretty big clue that “normal” is not going to happen.

          So, the disciples wait.  They do not know what they are waiting for, other than to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but they don’t have a clue what that means or how their lives will be changed.  But the way they wait can teach us a lot about how to wait faithfully, even when we don’t know exactly what we are waiting for, or when whatever we are waiting for will happen, or what the new normal will look like. 

          First, the disciples watched to see where God was at work, even as they waited.  They looked for the way scripture was being fulfilled in their midst and how God was using even unfortunate circumstances, like the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, to do something new in their midst.  What is God doing in our midst as we wait for the days of Covid-19 to end?

          Secondly, the disciples did not wait passively.  There was no grass growing under their feet as they waited for whatever the ascended Jesus had in store for them.  They got to work choosing a disciple to replace Judas so the twelve could get about the work of witnessing to the resurrection.  The believers prayed and cast lots, choosing Matthias as the new disciple.  What work is God calling us to do while we wait?

          Thirdly, the disciples prayed.  In the case of this morning’s reading from Acts, they prayed about who to choose to replace Judas. They did not rely on their own judgement to make decisions while they waited.  They knew they could not see everything God had in store for them, what they would need going forward, or how they might be called to witness to the resurrection.  They prayed and sought God’s guidance.  For what do we need to pray during this time of waiting?

          The disciples are not the only ones who prayed in our readings this morning.  As Jesus approaches his crucifixion in the reading from John, Jesus prays for his disciples.  Jesus’ prayer is long and elegant, but what his words boil down to is this.  Jesus prays that the disciples will always know to whom they belong.  They belong to God.  They are sent into the world, as Jesus was sent, to show the world what belonging to God looks like.  The world will not always understand or appreciate their efforts.  But they belong to God. 

          The disciples came together to watch for what God was doing in their midst, to do the work God was calling them to do even while they waited, and they prayed.  They did all this together.  Jesus’ disciples were together when Jesus prayed for them.  They were not together waiting for life to get back to normal, however.  They were together waiting for the new life God had in store for them.  They could trust God with that unknown future because they knew they belonged to God, which meant they could wait, not anxiously, but with joyful anticipation. 

As we wait for whatever our new life will be like post-pandemic, what the new normal will be, God calls us to wait together, to watch together for what God is already doing in our midst, to witnesses together to the power of God’s love while we wait, and to pray as we discern what God is calling us to do and be as we move forward.  But most of all, God calls us to remember to whom we belong so that we wait with joyful anticipation for whatever the future holds.

                                                                             Amen.

 

 

Joy

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 9, 2021

6 Easter B 

          Markie was the mother of one of my dearest friends.  She would have been 100 years old this year and was an incredibly faithful, joyful, loving person to the very end of her life.  Markie always treated me like part of the family when we were together, and she had an abundance of love to share.

          The last time I saw Markie was at her daughter’s funeral in 2008.  Markie was such a radiant person that one could easily think that she had born no grief and carried no sorrow.  Yet nothing could be further from the truth.  In addition to losing her daughter, Markie had been widowed three times over the course of her 90 years.  So much loss, and yet Markie was never without a genuine smile.

          I asked Markie once how she could keep on loving as she did when she had experienced so much loss.  She answered with her characteristic smile. The joy and the love outweigh the pain of loss and once that has been proven true the first time, you know you can trust that love in the future.  I am also sure that the joy and the love sustained her through each loss as well.

          I think about Markie and her joy when I hear Jesus say to his disciples “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love….I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  Abiding, love, and joy.  What could be easier?

          Jesus’ words this morning come from what is called the Farewell Discourse in John’s gospel.  Despite his impending betrayal, trial, and crucifixion, and all the challenges that are ahead for the disciples, Jesus tells his followers that they are to love one another as he has loved them so that his joy may be in them and their joy may be complete.  Clearly, given the circumstances, joy is not the absence of hardship or suffering, nor is Jesus talking about the kind of joy that wears off after a while, like chocolate joy, sunshine joy, covid-vaccine joy, or even holding a baby joy or finally spending time with loved ones joy.  If Jesus’ joy is to be in the disciples, that joy must have something to do with being connected to Jesus.  But what?

Jesus also says to the disciples “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”  What Jesus has commanded the disciples is that they love one another.  At that moment, Jesus’ command probably sounds pretty easy.  Why would they not love each other?  But what the disciples will soon learn is that obeying Jesus’ command means loving each other even on the worst day of their lives as Jesus is crucified, loving Judas despite his betrayal of Jesus, and loving each other as they figure out how to make a gospel difference in the world without Jesus’ physical presence in their lives. 

But what does Jesus mean when he says that the disciples are his friends?  Clearly the disciples are not Jesus’ peers, nor are they just some fun people that Jesus hangs out with.  Jesus is calling the disciples his friends in the deepest sense of the word.  The disciples are the people with whom Jesus can bare his soul and be vulnerable.  Jesus can speak to the disciples about abiding in his love, not as a master demands his servant do something, but as a friend implores someone to do what is best for them.  The disciples are now connected to Jesus in a new way, as trusted friends rather than as servants.

The joy Jesus wants for his disciples is the joy of being fully connected to Jesus.  That joy is not the absence of pain or suffering, but instead is a joy that makes us vulnerable to both God and the world and willing to risk pain, just as Jesus was willing to be vulnerable.  Jesus’ joy is a joy that takes risks for the gospel as Jesus did.  We see Peter, one of the disciples, taking a risk for the gospel this morning in the reading from Acts as he orders the baptism of all on whom the Spirit has fallen, whether they are Jew or Gentile.  While that action may seem fairly obvious to us, the baptism of Gentiles was a bold and risky move at the time, one that spread God’s love in new ways and expanded the horizons of Jesus’ friendship circle in ways that were not always comfortable. 

This morning, we will baptize Ashton and Stratton Parker.  The joy and power of baptism does not mean the absence of any pain or suffering.  The joy of baptism means being washed in the deep abiding love of Jesus so that these boys can abide in God’s love and experience the kind of love and joy that my friend Markie knew-the love and joy that is worth the risk of vulnerability and pain, and the love and joy that will see them through whatever life sends their way.  Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he loves them so that Jesus’ joy could be in them and their joy could be complete.  Our promise as the church, as those who say that we will support these children in their new life in Christ, is to obey that command and be that love, to abide in that love as a community, and to be deeply connected with Jesus.  Through our love for each other, and the way our loves spills out these doors and makes a gospel difference in the world, we will show Ashton and Stratton the power and joy of abiding in God’s love.

                                                                             Amen.

Fruit

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 2, 2021

5 Easter B 

          Last weekend, two fully vaccinated long-time friends and I got together for the first time in many months.  Lisa lives in Cincinnati and Cathy lives in Columbus so the three of us span 1-71 in Ohio.  We are not childhood friends, or even college friends, but we have been friends long enough to complete each other’s sentences and generally know what the other is thinking.  During the pandemic, we have texted, talked by phone, emailed, and zoomed.  But while all of those ways of communicating kept us connected on one level, aware of what was going on in each other’s lives and able to both see and hear each other, being physically present with each other nourished our souls well beyond what any zoom call could, as wonderful as those were when we could not be together in-person.  Being together last weekend was a reminder, as if we needed one, of how we are nourished and sustained by our deep connections with each other. 

          Jesus is talking about even deeper connection this morning when he describes the way he and God are connected as vine and vine grower, and the way Jesus and his disciples are connected as vine and branches.  Jesus states this as fact.  “I am the vine.  You are the branches.”  Jesus does not say “You are the branches once you have earned being a branch or once you prove that you can bear fruit.”  Being a branch of the Jesus vine is simply who we are as Jesus’ disciples.  The intensity of that relationship is described when Jesus says “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”  Nothing.  Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.  But if we abide in Jesus, we will bear much fruit.

          So, how do we bear that fruit? 

          Jesus tells us that if we abide in him, as the branch abides on the vine, we will naturally bear much fruit, just as the branches do.  Yes, some fertilizer, pruning, and other gardening-type tasks help the branches bear more and better fruit, and we do that by nourishing our relationship with Jesus.  Prayer, Bible study, worship, and our additional spiritual disciplines, whether done together or individually, all nourish our relationship with the vine.  But the fruit comes naturally because bearing fruit is what the vine just does.

          What is the fruit that we are to bear as followers of Jesus? Our readings from 1 John this Easter season are pretty clear that the fruit we are to bear is love.  I John picks up on Jesus’ words this morning when the writer says “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”  1 John comes down very hard on those who do not love their brothers and sisters, their fellow human beings: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”  Love is the fruit of the Jesus vine.

          Neither Jesus nor 1 John is talking about either sentimental love, or selective love.  If we want to know what the fruit of the Jesus vine looks like, what the love of someone who abides in God looks like, we need look no further than our reading from Acts this morning and the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip, at the urging of an angel of God, travels a wilderness road he had not planned to take.  Philip sees the Ethiopian and, at the angel’s urging, does not walk but runs up to the chariot where Philip hears the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah out loud.  Philip is in no hurry to be on his way and takes time to explain the scriptures, leading the Ethiopian to desire baptism, which Philip does.  Then Philip is snatched away by the Spirit, and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. 

This odd little story teaches us much about the kind of radical love that is the fruit of those who abide in God.  First, that love will often be inconvenient.  Following the wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza was not on Philip’s agenda when he woke up that morning.  But Philip went, obedient to the urgings of the Spirit, and gave generously of his time to explain the scriptures to the Ethiopian.  Secondly, the love that comes from abiding in Jesus does not discriminate.  The Ethiopian, while a trusted member of the Queen’s court, was nonetheless an outsider in society because he was a eunuch.  Philip does not blink when he is told by the Spirit to go over to the Ethiopian’s chariot and get in, nor does he hesitate to baptize the Ethiopian.  And thirdly, Philip knows his scripture so well and is so nourished by the scriptures that he has no problem explaining the passage to the Ethiopian.

Jesus reminds his followers that our connections with God, each other, and the whole human family are a fact which is why, during this pandemic, we have missed being together in person so very much.  But Jesus also reminds us that as deep and wonderful as our connections with each other may be, those connections are not an end in themselves.  They are designed to bear fruit that will last.  That fruit is love-love that will sometimes be inconvenient, love that transcends any differences between or among human beings, and love that needs to be nourished to be healthy.  That kind of radical love is impossible for Jesus’ followers if we are not nourished by our attachment to the vine.  Jesus is the vine.  We are the branches.  When we abide in Jesus, and are nourished by the vine, we will bear love that will last even and especially as we see our way through our current challenges.

                                                                   Amen.