A Gospel Difference

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 29, 2022

7 Easter C 

          Six years and some weeks ago, I stepped into this pulpit for the very first time and preached on the exact same readings that we heard this morning.  When I realized a couple of weeks ago that I would get to preach on these readings this Sunday, I began to think about the past 6 years we have shared together and what I might say.  How have we lived into Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that they may all be one?  How have we lived into the gracious invitation in the reading from Revelation that ends the entire body of Scripture?  How have we prayed and sung hymns to God in the dark times, like Paul and Silas?

          And while reflecting on the past 6 years might have made for a pretty good sermon, today I find myself wondering what demand these readings place on our lives in the aftermath of the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Laguna Woods, California; and Uvalde, Texas over just the past 2 plus weeks.  What do these readings say to us in our heartbreak over the senseless loss of life that includes 19 elementary school children?  What do these readings say to us in the midst of the questions that just keep coming and seem to have no clear answers?

          Today we stand between the feast of the Ascension, which was Thursday and marks Jesus’ ascension into heaven after the resurrection, and the day of Pentecost which is next Sunday and marks the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples giving them the gifts, courage, and strength they needed to be the Church.  In between those two events, I imagine the disciples wondered if Jesus had abandoned them.  I wonder if they felt somewhat at a loss for what to do and who they were.  Today’s scripture readings speak into that time of uncertainty and confusion, an uncertainty and confusion we may be feeling as we grapple with the hate and violence of the past few weeks.

          When we meet up with Paul and Silas this morning, they have healed a young girl with a spirit of divination, costing her owners a lot of money.  Paul and Silas are unjustly accused of disturbing the city, then stripped, beaten, and thrown into the innermost jail cell where there was almost certainly no light.  And what did Paul and Silas do in the darkness of that  jail cell? They prayed and sang hymns to God. They sang and prayed in the midst of the darkness because that is what people of hope do.  That hope was not just wishful thinking that they would be set free.  That hope was the conviction that God would act and that their lives and their witness would bear fruit even if the current circumstances would seem to indicate otherwise.  An earthquake releases the two men from their shackles, and long story short, their jailer sees their faith and he and his family are baptized.  We can sing and pray today even in the midst of the darkness, not as wishful thinking that things will somehow get better, but because of our conviction that God will act through us and our lives and our witness to God’s love will bear the much-needed fruit, even and especially in the darkness.

          In the gospel, we hear Jesus pray for his disciples, and by extension, his prayer for us.  His prayer is that his disciples will be one as Jesus and the Father are one.  Jesus prays that the disciples may be bound together with the same love that binds Jesus and the Father together.  Jesus does not pray that the disciples will always be right or even that they will always agree.  Jesus prays that they are one.  Living as one is easy when we are raising money to buy Chromebooks for refugees settling in Summit County or celebrating Jubilee or singing glorious hymns.  But Jesus also calls us to be one and to love each other when those commands are hard-when we are dealing with issues of racial injustice, or when we agree that gun violence has to stop but disagree profoundly about how that should happen.  Jesus never told his disciples that being one would be easy.  Jesus told them and Jesus tells us that those who follow him are one, just as he and the Father are one, and he expects our lives to bear witness to that truth.  Only together can we do the difficult work Jesus calls us to do.

          Lastly, all of scripture ends with the magnificent words we hear in the reading from Revelation.  Times were dark for the people to whom Revelation was likely written.  They were being persecuted for their faith and were no doubt experiencing confusion, fear, and even despair.  Jesus never said following him would be easy.  To those who are broken, to those who are grieving, to those who are confused, frustrated, or angry, Jesus says “Come.”  All of scripture ends with the invitation to come.  As the body of Christ, Jesus calls us to summon up the hope that is within us, to live as one body, and offer the gift of the water of life to all who thirst for a better world, a world which more closely resembles the world God created us to be.  Even the words to “America the Beautiful” which we will sing in a few minutes to honor those who gave their lives to defend our freedom call us to be better than we are and asks God to mend us.  In the second verse, we will sing “America, America, God mend thine every flaw.  Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.”  In the midst of whatever darkness we might find ourselves, and in the darkness of the current time, Jesus not only calls us, but expects us as his followers, to sing and pray as one, offering the water of life to the world, in the conviction that God will use us to be a light in the darkness and to make a gospel difference in this broken world. 

                                                                                      Amen.

Shirley Veale and Nancy Styer

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 7, 2022

Shirley Veale and Nancy Styer 

          We do not often have the opportunity, the privilege, of celebrating two lives at the same time.  Yet today, we celebrate the lives of both Shirley Veale and Nancy Styer, who were equally sisters and friends.  Both gave generously of their time to a variety of organizations, including their churches.  Both had tremendous senses of humor and loved bridge.  Both had friendships that went back for decades.  They were both deeply devoted to their family, and, I would say, their family was deeply devoted to each of these women to the very end of each of their earthly lives. 

          As we gather to celebrate the lives of Shirley and Nancy and to commit their eternal lives to God, to hear powerful readings from scripture and sing some of the great hymns of the church, I am reminded of the way we gather on All Saints Day in November of each year.  On that day, we celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us.  We try to notice what we have learned from our loved ones and the saints of the church about being the people God calls us to be, both as individuals and collectively.  Today, as we gather to celebrate Nancy and Shirley both individually and together, what might we hear about the people God calls us to be?

          In the reading from Isaiah, we hear about the feast God will make for all people.  Later in Isaiah, we are told that God will draw people from the north and the south, the east and the west, from all over the earth.  God’s desire is that we go through life in community with other people, connected with family and friends, as well as the whole human family.  So much of Shirley and Nancy’s life was about that connection.  Humor binds people together, sometimes in ways too deep for words.  Bridge is not played alone but in community with others.  The generous giving of their time to their family and the organizations and churches that were important to them connected them with both friends and people beyond their immediate circles.  The reading from Isaiah reminds us that in a diversity of people coming together, we experience a taste of salvation, or as the reading from 2 Corinthians puts it, a taste of the mortal being swallowed up by life.  In their love of family, their love of friendships, their love of a good laugh, and their love of drawing people together, I believe you experienced that taste of salvation.

          Nancy and Shirley both lived long, happy, loving lives.  There is so much to celebrate and you have many stories to tell.  But we also gather to grieve this double loss.  The reading from Isaiah also promises a time when God will wipe away the tears from all faces and will swallow up death forever.  But that time is not here yet.  Mortality has not yet been fully swallowed up by life.  You, Shirley’s and Nancy’s family, have lost two women that you have known your entire lives, who loved and nurtured you in good times and hard times, and through whom you experienced something of the love of God.  Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus, his friend.  So we have no shame in shedding our own tears at the loss of loved ones, no matter how long, or rich, or full the life.  We gather to grieve together just as you have gathered to mourn other losses together and to celebrate so many things together.  Shirley and Nancy taught us the power of being together.

          Lastly, we have gathered as people of faith to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and to give thanks that in their baptisms decades ago Shirley and Nancy were joined with Jesus in his death and resurrection and have now been raised to new life in him.  In the gospel reading, we heard Jesus say that he is going to prepare a place for us, so that where he is, there we may be also.  In their deaths, Shirley and Nancy have joined Jesus in that place, together.  The challenges of recent years are over.  What was mortal has finally been completely swallowed up by life.  For that, we give God thanks and praise.

 

                                                                             Amen.

Audacious

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 1, 2022

3 Easter C 

          On Sunday, April 10 of this year, our Outreach Ministry Team launched the Christ Church Easter Chromebook Challenge, with a goal of raising $5000 in two weeks to purchase 25 Chromebooks for the International Institute of Akron and their work to resettle refugees in Summit County.  I said at the time that this was an audacious goal.  However, audacious is what we do at Christ Church.  Less than 10 years after a major disruption in the life of this church, we took on a significant building project, completely renovating our parish hall and creating new restrooms.  The construction itself was begun and completed during a global pandemic.  And these are just a couple of examples. Big challenges require big responses and as a church, we generally rise to those challenges. So, with a goal of raising $5000 in two weeks, by working together with gifts of all sizes, we raised $5470.  Audacious goal, check!

          This morning’s Scripture readings are all about God doing big, audacious things.  First, there is Saul’s dramatic experience of the Risen Christ while traveling on the road to Damascus.  One moment, Saul is storming into the city to arrest the followers of Jesus.  The next moment he is blind and has to be led by the hand into Damascus.  After three days, Saul is healed and converted through the ministry of Ananias.  Through out the rest of the book of Acts, the man now called Paul takes the gospel to all of the known world. 

          In the reading from Revelation, God gives the writer a tremendous vision in which the elders sing a new song, and they sing together with all the angels in a choir thousands of voices strong “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”  At the end, the elders are so moved, so transformed, having experienced something so utterly beyond themselves, that they fall on their faces and worship. 

And in the gospel reading, after Jesus has been crucified and has risen, the disciples figure they had best get on with their lives, so they go back to fishing.   However, the disciples do not seem to be very good at fishing, since they worked all night and caught nothing.  When an apparent stranger suggests in the morning that they cast their nets to the right side of the boat, low and behold they catch 153 fish and recognize the risen Lord in their midst.  Jesus cooks them breakfast on the grill at the beach and there is no doubt in their minds that they are with the risen Lord.

In each story, the main character is God.  The stories are about God’s work in the lives of Saul, the writer of Revelation, and Peter and the disciples.  In each case, God does something big and audacious, and while these are incredible stories, they can leave us feeling a bit unsettled if God has never acted in our lives in quite such a dramatic way. 

There is another human character, however, in the story from Acts who deserves our attention.  That character is Ananias.  Ananias, we are told, was a disciple who lived in Damascus.  Ananias was just a regular guy, minding his own business when the Lord calls his name in a vision: “Ananias!” 

God tells Ananias to go and lay hands on Saul of Tarsus so that he might regain his sight.  Ananias knew all about Saul, and from Ananias’ perspective, a Saul without sight who was neither eating nor drinking was to be preferred.  But God is insistent.  So, through the quiet ministry of Ananias, Saul’s sight is restored, and much to Ananias’ great surprise, Saul is baptized, and he begins to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying “This is the Son of God.”

Ananias was a regular guy but through the simple act of a single person who was open to God, something big happened.  Saul was converted to Christianity.  Saul needed someone, some person, to be the hands and voice that made the experience of risen Christ life changing and real.  God chose to work through the prayers and action of a single ordinary individual to make the word of God known to a broken world.

As a church, when God asks us to do something hard, something clearly audacious, we rise to the challenge.  But sometimes God choses to work through us in less dramatic but equally important ways to make the presence of the risen Christ known in the world.  We are called to be the ones who notice the light, who see the stranger feeding the hungry, who recognize the longing and the experience of something beyond ourselves, and name the Risen Christ in our midst for those around us. We are called to simply show up, for God and for each other, week in and week out, never knowing when our presence and a kind word or thoughtful gesture will make a life changing difference for someone.  We are called to form ourselves and our children as people of faith so that we are open to God’s call on our lives as Ananias was open.  What God will choose to do when we offer ourselves is beyond our wildest imagination. 

If we believe that the only time God is at work when we take on some crazy, audacious goal, and that our simple presence day in and day out, the love of God spoken through our sole voice, and the everyday gifts and dreams that we each have do not matter, we are fooling ourselves and hindering God’s work in the world.  Ananias reminds us that God will use each of us and all of us, as God has used people throughout history, in ways large AND small, for the audacious work of making the good news known in the world.                                  

 Amen.

Marilyn Hansen

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
April 30, 2022

Marilyn Hansen 

          “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”  The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a time and place for everything, and the writer gives us a fairly exhaustive list-from planting and plucking to weeping and laughing to tearing and sewing- most of which Marilyn could have accomplished by lunch time.  So long as the activity was in some way about serving others, Marilyn would take it on.  She was on the Woodridge School board for 42 years, caring deeply for students, faculty, and staff.  She was a swimming instructor for 20 years, and on ski patrols for over 60 years.  She served in countless ways at Christ Church doing everything from serving as treasurer to running the dishwasher after funeral receptions.  She donated 49 gallons of blood during her lifetime.  For reference, there are about 1.5 gallons of blood in the human body.  Marilyn was passionate about the employees at Hudson Extrusions and I cannot tell you how many times she stopped in my office with a new idea for helping other people.  At the age of 88, Marilyn Hansen had amazing energy for getting things done, as well as getting down the ski slopes.  Even from her hospital room in her last weeks, she showed up on Zoom to pray for peace with us, kept up with the church project to send brownies to our college students and made sure we did it right, and ran Hudson Extrusions.  When we would exchange text messages, pretty much up until she was sleeping all the time, she would always end with “Have a great day.”  I don’t think she was just being nice and hoping I had a great day.  Those words were a command to have a great day and I took them as such.

          So we gather today to celebrate this remarkable life, lived to the absolute fullest until just days before her death.  I think Marilyn would agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes who wrote “I know that there is nothing better than for them to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in their toil.”  Marilyn wanted to make sure that everyone can feed their families.  And Marilyn could find happiness, even joy, in some great challenges, challenges that would floor most of us, and she took pleasure in all of her toil.

          As much as we gather to celebrate, we also gather to grieve.  Even though Marilyn was 88 years old, her death came as a shock to most of us and maybe even to Marilyn.  The reading from Revelation promises us a time when God will wipe away every tear and death shall be no more. But that time is not here yet. So we wipe away each other’s tears, comfort one another, pray for each other, and remember that even Jesus shed tears when his friend Lazarus died.  We gather to be together as we live into this new world where Marilyn is no longer physically present with us. 

          As much as we can say about all the things Marilyn did and accomplished during her life, as much as we can say about her courage and tenacity and the way she worked to change the world around her, the most authentic thing we can say about Marilyn is that Marilyn was a person of deep and abiding faith.  She was in church on Sunday and at Bible Study on Monday like clockwork- unless she was away skiing. Whenever we at the church were up against a challenge, Marilyn would encourage us to have faith that everything would work out.  And, typically, everything would work out.  We gather today to proclaim that faith, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and bear witness to our belief that, in the words of the gospel reading, where Jesus is, there Marilyn is also.  In her baptism all those decades ago, Marilyn was joined with Jesus in his death and resurrection.  In her death on March 7, Marilyn was raised with Jesus in new life.  In the reading from Revelation, God says “See, I am making all things new.”  Today Marilyn would want us to find comfort in our faith that she has been made new in the death and resurrection of Jesus and she is in that place where there is no pain or grief but life eternal. 

                                                                             Amen.