Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
April 21, 2024
4 Easter B
In January 2016 when Don and I came for my interview at
Christ Church, we stayed at the Hudson Guest House right across 303 from the
Rosewood Grill. Some of you have heard
the story of my surprise and delight to find a care package that had been left
at the Guest House by the Search Committee.
The basket included some of my favorite comfort foods. There were scones, chocolate, my favorite yogurt,
not-quite-ripe bananas, which is just the way I like them, and my favorite
strawberry preserves. While I should probably
not let on that this priest can be bought for a blueberry scone and some
chocolate, the truth is that the basket of food was a sign to me that I just
might be home, that maybe I really did belong here. Comfort food is a very real thing!
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, which is the 4th
Sunday of Easter each year. On this
Sunday, we always hear the 23rd Psalm, which is comfort food for our
souls. We read the psalm at almost every
funeral to console the grieving. The promise
of the psalm is that God will be present with us always, even if we walk
through the valley of the shadow of death.
God will have our backs when we are confronted by our enemies. God’s goodness
and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will have a home in
the house of the Lord forever. Those
words are comfort food for us when we are running sad or scared or lonely.
Likewise, baptism can feel like familiar comfort food as we
bring new people into the household of God and mark them as Christ’s own
forever. The music, the water, the oil,
and the joy all bring comfort and hope to our souls. Later this morning/in a few minutes, we will promise
to do all in our power to support Gehrig in his life in Christ and we will renew
our baptismal covenant together with him.
Comfort food is not an end in itself, however. A care package sustains the recipient for the
work ahead. The 23rd psalm is
intended to provide the strength to move forward that comes from trusting that
God is our shepherd. And baptism is most
certainly not an end, but the beginning of a life of following Jesus, the Good
Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
But what is the work ahead? What
does the life of following Jesus, the Good Shepherd, look like?
The reading from 1 John calls us to love, not in word or
speech, but in truth and action. Our
baptismal covenant spells out for us what love in truth and action looks like
for Christians who identify as Episcopalians.
After we affirm our faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit, we are asked if we will live our lives as people who believe what
we have just professed. We answer each
question with a hearty “I will with God’s help.” Even though we say “I will” we make these
promises together because they are big promises and we need each other as well
as God to keep them. But the words only
have meaning and truth when they are followed by action.
We promise to continue in the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. The apostles worshipped every week. Always.
Even in the summer. Even when it was
not convenient. Even when it was a gorgeous day outside. They worshipped out of gratitude to God for
all that God had done for them in the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus. They worshipped together as the
body of Christ to empower themselves for their work in the world. We promise with our words to do likewise with
our lives.
We promise to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we
fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.
Baptism does not make us perfect. Baptism means that we are called to
come home no matter what. We promise
with our words to do likewise with our lives.
We promise to proclaim by word and example the Good News of
God in Christ, to seek and serve Christ in all people, to work for justice and
peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We talk a lot about ways to do that in the
world through our hospitality and our many outreach programs, and that is
essential. But be attentive to seeking
and serving Christ in each other in the weeks and months ahead. Proclaim the Good News to the leadership of
the congregation by supporting them with truth and action during the
interim. Work for justice and peace and
respect the dignity of every person by listening, really listening, to those
with views different than the ones you hold.
That will be incredibly important
both as you engage the search process for a new rector and as you move into
what will likely be a divisive political season. We promise with our words this morning to do
this challenging work with our lives.
Comfort food, whether in the form of a care package, a
piece of scripture, or a sacrament, has great power. The power, however, is not just to
comfort. The power is to move us forward
into more fully being followers of the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life
for the sheep, and was raised to bring us all with him to new life. That new life calls us to more fully love in
truth and action, using our lives to bring meaning and truth to our words.
Amen.
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