Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
April 30, 2023
4 Easter C
When I was in college, I went to St. Michael’s Episcopal
Church in Little Rock, a very small church of perhaps 25-30 people on a Sunday. St. Michael’s was deeply committed to
outreach and dedicated 50% of their budget to those ministries. The church was active in the community and
the diocese, never giving thought to their small size when taking on a project
like hosting diocesan convention. The
members were close-knit and did pretty much everything together from worship to
campouts to ministry in the inner city and on and on. The Annual Meeting each year took a whole
day, not kidding, as there was much ministry to discuss and each person got a
chance to speak. At length. As much as the congregation was vibrant,
generous, and loving, the building itself was perhaps the ugliest thing I have
ever seen in church architecture. Actually,
I’m pretty sure that building did not qualify as church architecture. It was an old pool hall that had been contorted
into a church. The congregation grew and
flourished and they bought the laundromat across the street and converted that
into a church. Not only could they see opportunity
for ministry everywhere they looked, they could see potential for a church in
the oddest and ugliest of buildings. I
was deeply shaped by this small congregation in so many ways, from finding
potential and opportunity in less than desirable circumstances, to generosity
of time and spirit as well as money, to my conviction that 30 minutes is plenty
of time for an annual meeting!
St. Michael’s makes the description of the earliest church
in our reading from Acts come alive for me.
The people in the earliest church were devoted to the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. Those words may sound familiar because they
are the exact words of the first question in our baptismal covenant. The earliest church had glad and generous
hearts, holding all things in common and selling their goods and giving to the
poor. They spent much time together in
homes and in the temple. And the church
grew in numbers. This passage gives us a
model of what the church is called to be, following Jesus with deep faithfulness
in worship and study, glad and generous hearts, an outward focus that cares for
those in need, and living in a way that invites others in.
Today is the 4th Sunday of Easter which is
always Good Shepherd Sunday. In addition
to the description of the early church, we hear the comforting words of the 23rd
Psalm which promise God’s presence with us to provide us with rest, guidance,
courage, protection, and an eternal dwelling place. We hear the words of John’s gospel in which
Jesus tells us that he has come that his sheep may have life and have it
abundantly. There is also polemic
language in this passage which compares those who came before Jesus to thieves
and bandits, which reflects the tensions between first century Jews and
Christians, but there is no need for that to be our language or our attitude to
those who believe differently. Our energy
is better focused on what Jesus means by “abundant life.”
Along with the thought-provoking and challenging description
of the early church, the comforting words of the 23rd Psalm, and the
promise of abundant life in John’s gospel, we hear a disturbing passage from 1
Peter. The passage seems to condone
unjust suffering by comparing that suffering to the suffering of Christ. “If you endure when you are beaten for doing
wrong, what credit is that? But if you
endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval.” Passages such as this one have been used for
centuries to justify the cruelty of slavery, to prevent perpetrators of domestic
violence from accountability for their crimes, and to justify other forms of violence. But some context tells a different
story. 1 Peter was written to encourage
faithful Christians who were suffering unjustly at the hands of their
masters. The unjust suffering was a
fact, not a goal or desirable, or pleasing to God. No one was setting a table for these
Christians in the presence of their enemies.
No one was offering them abundant life.
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.
But why would we hear this difficult passage
on Good Shepherd Sunday, in the context of the three other lovely, encouraging
readings?
There
is much unjust suffering in the world. There
are families who are suffering the unjust loss of their children to gun
violence. There are victims of human
trafficking, and people more likely than others to be incarcerated due to the
color of their skin. There are people
who are suffering devastating illnesses or who fear for their lives because of
their sexual orientation. The list goes
on and on. On Good Shepherd Sunday, as
we hear Jesus’ promise of abundant life, I Peter puts unjust 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. Jesus calls us by name and leads
us out of the cozy 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. We follow Jesus by living with glad and
generous hearts, shaped by faithful worship, that are moved to meet the needs
around us. When we do the work of the Good
Shepherd and work for abundant life for everyone, sometimes that will involve standing
up to evil. Psalm 23 promises that in the
midst of whatever we do and wherever we go, God will be with us. Good Shepherd Sunday calls us to follow the
Good Shepherd where he leads and make Jesus’ promise of abundant life a present
reality for all people, now.
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