Hope

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

June 18, 2017

6 Proper A

          “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” was released in 1999,when our sons were 9 and 12.  The debut of this film was greatly anticipated at our house, and while we did not go on opening day, we went shortly thereafter, and shortly thereafter that, and some us of went again short after that.  Over the course of a very few weeks, between the four of us, I think we had seen the film some 20 odd times.  At a mere three viewings, I was clearly the least interested. 

          I do not actually remember a lot about the film all these years later, as I never partook of the subsequent watchings once the video and then the DVD were released.  But my favorite line out of all the Star Wars movies is in “The Phantom Menace.”  The great philosopher Yoda says to young Anakin “Fear is the path to the dark side.  Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to suffering.” 

          Whenever I hear the words of Paul this morning in the letter to the Romans, I think of Yoda’s words.  But where Yoda’s warning ends with suffering, Paul begins there.  Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us.  Paul does not say that hope does not disappoint us because we always get what we hope for, but because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

          Yoda’s words somehow seem more realistic than Paul’s, unfortunately.  We seem to have evidence every day about the darkness fear, then anger, then hate can cause.  Seeing suffering as something that leads to hope rather than misery seems a little more far fetched.  Yet this morning, both the story of Abraham and Sarah, and the teaching of Jesus have something to tell us about suffering and hope.

          By the time the Lord appears to Abraham this morning, God has promised Abraham no less than three times that his descendants will number the stars in the sky and he will become the ancestor of many nations.  But in order to be the ancestor of many nations, at least one child is required.  Sarah is barren, a cause of great suffering under normal circumstances and even more so when the barrenness seems to mock God’s promise.  Sarah has taken matters into her own hands and given her servant Hagar to Abraham so he can have a child with her.   But this morning, God again promises Abraham that he and Sarah shall have a son together.  By now Abraham and Sarah are so advanced in age, that the very thought made Sarah laugh.  But Sarah does conceive and bear a son, which brings her much laughter and joy.  Her long suffering does produce endurance, and perhaps character, and certainly hope as she and Abraham now have the future God promised.

          This morning, we also hear Jesus commission his disciples.  The commissioning starts off well enough.  Jesus sends the twelve out to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.  That sounds like a pretty good time.  Then the twelve are told by Jesus not just to pack lightly, but to pack nothing.  They are to depend on the hospitality of those they serve.   The disciples have already left everything to follow Jesus, so receiving hospitality probably sounds like an upgrade.  Then Jesus tells them that they won’t always meet with success.  While the disciples would no doubt prefer a 100% success rate, we all know that most new ventures are not 100% successful.  Some of them had probably spent long days fishing and caught nothing, or had little to show for a day of tax collecting, so a bit of failure could be taken in stride.

          But then Jesus tells them that he is sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves, that they will be handed over to councils and flogged, and that they will be hated because of the name of Jesus, and persecuted.  This is not what the disciples signed up for.  They signed up to follow Jesus.  Casting out demons, and curing the sick was one thing.  Being hated, persecuted, and flogged was another matter all together.

          But Jesus tells them not to worry.  The Spirit of God will speak, and presumably work, through them.  If they can endure to the end, they will be saved.  Jesus has moved from telling them to trust in the hospitality of strangers to telling them to trust in God, which will enable them to endure.  Suffering produces endurance, which produces hope, which, Jesus promises, will not disappoint them.

          We may not face hatred, persecution, and flogging for our faith, nor we will likely conceive a child at the age of 90 or 91 like Sarah. But most of us do, on occasion, experience challenging times when suffering makes us question God’s promise to us, challenges our endurance, and leads us to wonder whether fear might be a more appropriate, or certainly easier response than hope.   The words of both Yoda and Paul ring true.  Over and over again in scripture, the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear.  Fear often leads to anger, to hate, then to more suffering and we wind up in a very dark place.  In the midst of whatever challenges we face, Abraham and Sarah show us, and Paul and Jesus call us, to trust in the promise that God is with us.  God’s presence will help us to endure, which gives us strength, which will lead us to hope.  Hope is possible all because God’s love has been poured into our hearts and will never let us go.

                                                                                      Amen.

God-With-Us

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

June 11, 2017

Trinity Sunday

          When my mother died four years ago, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the church and from my colleagues.  My mother chose the Tuesday of Holy Week to make her departure, which was a whole lot better than waiting until Maundy Thursday.   Offers came from colleagues to see how they could be of help with the Holy Week liturgies, although I was coming home and would be present for all of those services.  Kind notes poured in from so many people, and had we taken everyone up on their offers of food, we would not have had to cook again until this very day.  Walking through the liturgies of Holy Week was particularly powerful that year, not only because of the comfort of the resurrection, but also because I felt completely held up and held together by the prayers and support of the far flung yet gathered community.  If I had any doubt that the presence of God was with me during that time, the love of the people around me made that presence known.

          Today is Trinity Sunday.  Some commentaries call Trinity Sunday the one day of the church year when we celebrate a doctrine rather than a person or an event.  After all, we have come to this point in the church year via Advent, the season of waiting for the birth of Christ; Christmas; Epiphany and the revelation of the Christ Child to all people; Lent and the preparation for Easter; then Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost.  After the glory of our Pentecost celebration last Sunday, now we turn to the somewhat confusing, and perhaps seemingly irrelevant theological doctrine in which we state that we believe in one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

          Actually, I think that to call Trinity Sunday a celebration of a doctrine does the Trinity a grave injustice.  I believe that on Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the way God works in the world and in our lives.  If our readings on Trinity Sunday included even just one reading that explains the Trinity, that would be helpful.  But while no passage of Scripture explains the Trinity, our readings today do give us clues.   

          This morning, we watch as God creates the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, and calls all of creation good.  This story goes into great detail to show the God who is in relationship with all that God created.  Humans are made in the image of God and made stewards of all that God created, so we are made to be in relationship with creation, too.  As the image of God, we are to have dominion over creation the way God shows dominion in this story, by building up and recognizing the goodness in all God has made.  The psalm this morning calls creation the work of God’s fingers.  Creation is not the work of a distant God, but the God who is connected with all God has made.

          In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells the people of Corinth “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.”  Then Paul says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”   The persons of the Trinity are named, but not explained.  However, on the one hand, the hard work to which Paul is calling the Corinthians requires the grace, love, and communion of God.  But on the other hand, when the Body of Christ lives in peace, the grace, love and communion of God is reflected to the world.  The world knows the fullness of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by the way the Body of Christ treats each other.

          Lastly, we hear Jesus’ last words in Matthew’s gospel.  On the mountain top, Jesus gives a clear articulation of the Trinity when he commands the remaining 11 disciples and us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” Again, we hear the three persons of the Trinity named, but not explained.  But perhaps we have a clue in what Jesus says next.  Jesus says “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”   In the first chapter of Matthew, Joseph is told in a dream that Mary will bear a son, conceived by the Holy Spirit.  While Joseph is told to name the child Jesus, which means savior, for he will save the people from their sins, the angel also references the passage from Isaiah in which the prophet says “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’

          If we are made in the image of God, and God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perhaps the call on our lives is to reflect God-is-with-us to the world.  Genesis calls us to reflect God’s love for all God created.  In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us to reflect the grace, love, and communion of God in the way we treat one another.  And in the gospel, Jesus connects his command to make disciples by baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with the promise that he is with us always.  Certainly in the days and weeks after my mother’s death, I experienced God-with-me through the care and concern of so many people, and I know from the stories I hear that many of you have had similar experiences.  But the command of Trinity Sundays goes further than telling us to be God-with-us for each other.  The command of Trinity Sunday is to be God-with-us for the world.

                                                                                      Amen.

Many tongues and multiple accounts

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

June 4, 2017

Pentecost

          When our sons, Slocomb and Caldwell, were little boys, one of the great challenges of parenting was getting to the bottom of any particular accomplishment or altercation.  Whether something good had happened and they both wanted credit, or something unfortunate had happened and they each wanted to blame the other, getting to the bottom of what actually happened was almost impossible.  How two children could come up with such different accounts of who left the refrigerator door open, or left the den a mess, or ate the last of the cookies was one of the great mysteries of parenting. 

          In some ways, parenting prepared me well for dealing with Scripture, as Scripture often gives us more than one account of an event.  There are two very different accounts of creation in Genesis, two stories of Jesus birth and six accounts of the feeding of the multitudes in the four gospels, and four accounts of the empty tomb on Easter morning, for starters.  But we rarely hear two accounts of the same event on a single Sunday morning.  Usually, we can take the stories one at a time and hear what that particular story has to tell us.

Today is the exception to that rule as today we hear two very different accounts of how the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  In the reading from Acts, we hear of a dramatic experience that occurred 50 days after Easter on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit arrived with the sound of a violent wind and tongues of flame, giving the disciples the ability to speak in a variety of languages.  In the reading from John’s gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples on Easter night, breathed on them, and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Which story is correct?

          The fact that we are given multiple accounts of many important events in Scripture is a great blessing because it prevents us from saying “God acts this way only.”  Multiple accounts remind us that God has acted in many different ways throughout history and continues to act in multiple ways in our own lives.  If the Holy Spirit acts only through dramatic events like we hear about in Acts, many of us would conclude that the Holy Spirit does not act in our lives because nothing so dramatic has ever happened to us.  But Scripture also tells us that the disciples experienced the Holy Spirit in a quiet, gentle way, as natural as the breath we breathe.   If these two stories describe ways the Spirit is experienced, then our own stories bear witness to the Spirit as well.

What the two Pentecost stories have in common is also important.  Just before the descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts, Jesus ascended into heaven.  Jesus’ last words to the disciples were “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.”  After the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they were to go out into the world as Jesus’ witnesses.  In John’s gospel, we hear Jesus say “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  In both accounts, the disciples are given the Holy Spirit and sent out into the world.

          We also hear three different accounts of the gifts of the Spirit this morning.  The reading from Acts tells us that the gift of the Spirit is the ability to speak in languages such that everyone around us can hear the gospel in their native tongue.  The reading from John tells us that the gift of the Spirit is the ability to forgive sins.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us that the gifts of the Spirit are wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophesy, discernment, the gift of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.  What we hear in these readings is that there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit.  What the three passages have in common is that these gifts are given for the common good, not for one’s own personal use and enjoyment.   

          At Christ Church, we are blessed with an abundance of gifts.  Collectively, we have the gifts of teaching, administration, music, wisdom, cooking, flower arranging, compassion, hospitality, creativity, financial management, the list goes on and on and on.  I do not doubt for one moment that we have, at Christ Church, the gifts for any ministry to which God calls us.  Our challenge is always how we use those gifts together to build up the Body of Christ for the common good and to be people who are sent. 

          In a moment, we will renew the promises we made at our baptism.  In baptism, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever, which is what happened to the disciples on Pentecost whether with great drama or with the gentle breath of Jesus.  We will affirm the foundation of our faith in the three questions that lead us into the words of the Apostles' Creed.  Then we will affirm the way we will live in response to our faith, using our gifts for the common good and to live as a sent people.  We make those promises as individuals, but we are called to live out those promises collectively as we come together to use the many gifts we have been given to make a gospel difference in the world.

When we want to know exactly what happened and when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, so we can know for sure how the Spirit will work in our own lives, Scripture reminds us that the Spirit is not predictable and works in a great variety of ways.  When we take all of our readings together, we hear from Scripture that Pentecost happens when we are open to the Spirit, and when we use the great variety of gifts God has given us for the common good and to be God’s people in the world.  Pentecost is that simple, and that demanding.

                                                                   Amen.

                   

Waiting

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 28, 2017

7 Easter A

         

          When I was a young, newly minted priest, many years ago, I served at St. James Episcopal Church in Piqua, Ohio.   One of our traditions there was to have the children draw a picture each Sunday based on what they heard in the sermon.  The children had to listen to at least some part of the sermon in order to get an idea, and I had to preach in a way that gave the children an idea for a drawing. The children would give me their drawings after church then several of us would choose one for the cover of the following week’s bulletin.  Of course, that meant that the cover was always a week behind, but no one cared.  Some weeks, the pictures the children drew were very insightful.  Other weeks, I could not image what I might have said that prompted the drawing of a tyrannosaurus rex. 

          One Sunday, having heard the story of Jesus’ Ascension, we got a lovely picture of Jesus going up into heaven.  The stick figure disciples looked sad as Jesus left them.  Clouds surrounded Jesus’ head as he went up, so Jesus had obviously left planet earth.  The child had clearly put some thought into how this could happen because, attached to the bottoms of Jesus’ feet, propelling Jesus into heaven, were rocket boosters.

          The two most often asked questions about the Ascension of Jesus are where did he go and how did he get there.  Today is the Sunday between the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost, and while the questions about where Jesus went and how he got there are interesting theological questions to ponder, I think another question comes out of this story from Acts which is perhaps more pertinent to our everyday lives.

          Before Jesus ascends into heaven, the very last thing he says to his remaining 11 disciples is this: “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.”  Then, two men in white robes appeared with the disciples, just as two men in dazzling apparel had appeared at the tomb on Easter morning.  The men say to the disciples, in essence “Why are you just standing here?  Jesus will come back just the way he left.”  Then the disciples return to Jerusalem to wait for whatever is going to happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

          What this story can teach us is how to wait.  Waiting is a common human experience.  We wait for all kinds of things.  We wait for a long-anticipated event, like a graduation, or a vacation, or a new baby, or a new job to begin.  We wait for the more anxiety provoking events in life, like a test, or a diagnosis, or the resolution of an unpleasant situation.  On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember those who waited for news of their loved ones who were at war.  The disciples waited the 10 days from Ascension to Pentecost with no idea what they were waiting for.  They had no clue what Jesus meant or what would happen when the Holy Spirit came upon them.  So, what do the disciples teach us about how to wait?

First, we learn from the disciples that waiting is best done together.  The disciples and Jesus’ family don’t just go back to their homes after Jesus ascends into heaven, to get on with their lives and see what happens from there.  Faithful waiting is hard work, especially when we don’t know exactly what we are waiting for.  Whether we wait with excitement or with apprehension, Scripture reminds us to wait together, in community-to be there for one another as we wait for whatever the future holds.

Secondly, those who waited devoted themselves to prayer.  I wonder what they prayed for, or what they prayed about.  How, exactly, do the disciples pray after being told that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and after watching Jesus ascend into heaven?  Do they pray for the wisdom and guidance to meet whatever challenges the future holds?  Do they offer prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings of the days that they had with Jesus after the resurrection?  As much as I might like to know the answers to those questions, Scripture is silent on the content of the prayers.  Perhaps Scripture is silent because the content of the prayers does not matter.  What matters is that, as the disciples waited, they intentionally put themselves in the presence of God.  Faithful waiting involves both staying in relationship with each other and staying in relationship with God. 

Thirdly, waiting is about anticipation.  In one sense, that is the very definition of waiting.  We are waiting for something that has not happened yet.  But, faithful waiting is the anticipation of what God is about to do. The disciples probably did not have a clue what Jesus meant when he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  But they knew that God was going to do something.  Faithful waiting is not just about waiting to see what we can make happen, or about waiting to see what will happen to us. Faithful waiting is also waiting to see what God will do in our midst.  Sometimes we need a little help seeing what God is doing in our midst, which is why staying in relationship with each other and staying in relationship with God is so very important.

The disciples believed that God would act in their lives, and they waited together and they waited prayerfully.  We, too, are called to do our waiting together, and to wait prayerfully, to see how God will act in our own lives.  The disciples’ waiting came to an end at Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and sent out into the world to be Jesus’ witnesses.  Our waiting may take longer or be shorter, have a dramatic conclusion or a quiet one.  But Jesus’ promise to the disciples and Jesus’ promise to us is that God does act in our lives, and that God’s action is always worth the faithful wait.

Amen.

Tools

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 21, 2017

6 Easter A

When I was a little girl, my sister and a friend and I had a clubhouse in a closet under the stairs at my grandparents’ house.  The three of us were the only ones allowed in the clubhouse other than the dog, an elderly boxer who made a pretty good mascot.  On the one hand, the point of the club was to be helpful to our grandmother.  We cleaned and rearranged her kitchen so many times that she never knew where anything was, which didn’t matter since she had very little use for a kitchen any way.  On the other hand, the point of the club was to exclude our brother and the boy next door.  This club was strictly for girls regardless of any good works the boys could think up to help our grandmother.  We had great fun in our clubhouse and enjoyed our own company immensely.  As we grew older, we wearied of the cramped quarters, each other, and the novelty of rearranging the kitchen began to wear off.  Plus, the boys did not seem the least bit perturbed that they were excluded, and in fact, they were outside doing far more exciting things than sitting in a closet feeling superior.  So, eventually our little club disbanded and, much to our grandmother’s relief, we left her kitchen alone and went outside to play.

This morning we hear Jesus speak to the 11 remaining disciples in the context of his last supper with them, and Jesus’ words can easily sound like a tight knit insular club is being formed.  Jesus tells the disciples that if they love him, they will keep his commandments, and he will give them the Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive.  Then he tells them that when the Spirit of Truth arrives, they will know that Jesus is in his Father, the disciples are in Jesus, and Jesus is in them.  That sounds about as close knit and as exclusive as three little girls in club house closet under the stairs with their very own mascot!

What is this commandment that Jesus keeps referring to?  Just a few verses earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus has said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Then, a few verses later, Jesus repeats his commandment and says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  The disciples are to love each other, but not just for their mutual comfort and support. They are to love each other so that the world will know the love of God.  And, in another few chapters, on Easter night when the disciples do receive the gift of the Spirit, Jesus will say to them “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” 

Being sent is all well and good, but what are the disciples to do as ones who are sent?  What are we to do as ones who are sent?  The apostle Paul gives us an example of how to be one who is sent when he stands before the Areopagus this morning.  Paul is brilliant in this passage from Acts.  First, rather than condemn the Athenians for their multitude of Gods, Paul commends them for being so religious in every way.  Paul recognizes their devotion to something beyond themselves.  Secondly, Paul meets the Athenians where they are.  The Athenians are so religious, that they have an altar to an unknown god, just in case they have left out a god in the desire to worship all gods. Paul picks up on that and tells them that the god they already worship as unknown is actually the creator of all things.  Thirdly, Paul tells them the story from creation through Jesus in a way that they can understand to show them that they, too, are the offspring of the Creator of all things.  If we read just a few more verses, we hear that some people scoffed at what Paul had to say, others wanted to hear more, and some became believers. That’s not exactly a 100% success rate, but Jesus is clear in the gospels that not everyone will hear and believe.

As followers of Jesus, we, too, are sent ones. We might not be sent quite as far afield as Paul was, but the Holy Spirit does send us from this beautiful space where we do love each other, out into the world to share that love.  How are we to share that love?  In the reading from Acts, Paul gives us three tools that we can use to show the world the love of God. The first tool is engagement.  Paul engaged the people of Athens in conversation.  Actually, the verses prior to our reading this morning tell us that Paul argued with the devout Jews in the synagogues, and debated the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.  Perhaps arguing and debating are most aggressive than many of us would care to be, but the point is that he engaged them in conversation and heard what they had to say. 

The second tool is connection.  Paul connected with the Athenians by recognizing the altar to an unknown God.  Rather than dismiss the Athenian religion, he used that altar to make a point of connection with his own faith.  Thirdly, Paul was able to tell the story from creation to Jesus in a way the people could understand.  In order to do that, he had to know the story.  Tool number three is knowledge: knowing the story of our faith so that we can share it with others. 

Far from setting up an exclusive club whose members love each other and do some good works as my sister, our friend, and I did from our clubhouse under the stairs, Jesus calls us to love each other with a love that propels us out into the world.  Jesus sends us out with the tools Paul used this morning: engagement, connection, and knowledge.  And when we protest that we are not Paul and we do not have Paul’s skills or his knowledge, Jesus reminds us that we are not sent alone.  We have been given each other and the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, to guide us.

                                                                   Amen.       

Following Jesus

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 14, 2017

5 Easter A

          In our youth confirmation class this spring, we looked at a variety of difficult scripture passages.  We looked at a passage from Isaiah that challenges the mistaken idea that, in the Hebrew Scriptures, God is angry and all about punishment.  We looked at the passage from Acts in which Ananias and Sapphira kept back some of the proceeds from the sale of their property and were struck dead.  We asked questions of Scripture, using the image Episcopal priest and well known preacher Barbara Brown Taylor describes as “looking for the splinter” in the passage, and we learned to use some of the same skills we use to look at other pieces of literature to address those splinters.

          Had I been thinking ahead, the class would have worked on the passage from John that we heard this morning. Then they could have written this sermon!  Today’s gospel lesson has several splinters.   Our youth would have wondered what Jesus meant when he says “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Does that mean that our friends and loved ones of other faiths, or no faith, are destined for hell?  And what about Jesus claim that “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  I guarantee you that our youth would not take that promise lightly.

          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 day break, he will have denied Jesus three times.

          So, this morning, the scene with the disciples and Jesus is 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 and 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 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.  They will have the ability to carry on his work in the world, demonstrating the power of God’s love to even more people than Jesus did.

          At the end of the day, this gospel is neither about who is in and who is out, nor about a promise that 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.   When Bishop Williams lays hands on those being confirmed or received today, he will not be conferring special power, righteous judgement, or exceptional privilege upon those who kneel before him.  He will be confirming their commitment to following Jesus, which is about humility, servant hood, and reflecting God’s love.  In other words, following Jesus is about following Jesus.

                                                                             Amen.

Handful

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 7, 2017

4 Easter A

          When I was on sabbatical several years ago and traveling by myself, I needed something to read at night to keep me company.  A friend, whose reading recommendations I trust, had posted on Facebook that she had just read the novel "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd.  I have read and enjoyed the author’s other novels so I downloaded the book onto my Kindle for what I thought would be some light bedtime reading.  With a name like "The Invention of Wings," I figured the story line must be about butterflies, or aviation, or birds, or something similar that would make for gentle reading.  I was so wrong.  "The Invention of Wings" is the brilliantly written yet awful story of Sarah Grimke, the abolitionist daughter of a slave holding family in South Carolina, and a girl named "Handful," the slave Sarah was given as a gift for her 11th birthday.  The chapters of the book go back and forth between chronicling the life of Sarah and that of "Handful."  The first agonizing and sickening description of the torture endured by slaves at the hands of their owners comes just pages into the book.  I could only read a chapter or two at a time before I had to put the book down, able to stomach no more, and reading before bed was out of the question if I wanted to sleep.  Sorrow and pain are woven with hope and courage throughout the story, which is told masterfully, but the read was difficult.

I cannot help but think about Sarah and Handful when I read the passage from I Peter that we heard this morning.  On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear the wonderful description of the early church from the book of Acts.  We say the beloved 23rd psalm.  The gospel reading tells us of Jesus the Good Shepherd.  And we hear a reading from I Peter that tells us that it is a credit to endure pain while suffering unjustly.  The intent of this passage was to tell first century Christian slaves that it is a credit to them when their non-Christian masters beat them unjustly.  Is the writer of I Peter condoning the kind of cruelty inflicted on Handful and her mother by Sarah's parents?  How many people have endured violence because Scripture says that it is a credit to them if they endure pain while suffering unjustly?  What are we to do with this reading from Scripture?

Fortunately, the other three readings this morning give us a context for hearing the passage from I Peter.  These readings make it clear that God's will for humankind in no way includes being victims or perpetrators of violence. In the reading from Acts, we hear about a community of Christians who held all things in common so that no one would be in need. In the 23rd Psalm, the psalmist describes God as the shepherd who walks with God's people even in the valley of the shadow of death.  In the psalm, the shepherd protects the sheep, guides the sheep, and comforts the sheep.  Lastly, the gospel lesson contrasts the thief who comes only to steal and destroy, acts of violence, with the Shepherd who comes to give life, and give it abundantly.  The Shepherd calls the sheep by name, and the sheep follow him.  The sheep will run from a stranger because they do not know the voice of strangers.  Again, the Shepherd protects the sheep and gives them life.  Jesus is that Shepherd, and Jesus leads the sheep into abundant life, not into deliberate suffering.

          Not only do these three passages oppose violence and injustice, but the overwhelming evidence of Scripture is that these actions and the suffering they create are abhorrent to God.  The God who led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt is not likely to condone slavery for another group of people.  The prophet Micah called upon God's people to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.  Isaiah implored the people to maintain justice and do what is right.  Amos said "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."  Jesus preached in the beatitudes that "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled" and drew on the words of Isaiah to launch his ministry saying that he has been anointed to proclaim release to the captives and to let the oppressed go free.  The clear call of Scripture is to engage in the work of ending injustice and violence in the world. Any use of I Peter to justify violence or to expect anyone to endure unjust suffering to gain God's approval or build character is simply wrong.  Having said that, however, is there anything constructive we can take from I Peter?

The reading from Acts describes an idealistic Christian community.  The psalm describes the Shepherd as the one who will spread a table before us in the presence of our enemies, and the gospel describes Jesus as the shepherd who has come that we may have life and have it abundantly.  However, the sad fact is that Christian slaves in the first century and American slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries, did not have tables being spread before them in the presence of their cruel masters.  No one was sharing all that they had with them, and if they were going to have life and have it abundantly, it would most likely be in the next life, not this one.  The sad fact is that people today suffer unjustly for a variety of reasons, whether the unjust distribution of food and other goods of society, or because of unjust employers, or because of violent family members, or because of human trafficking, or in other parts of the world, because of ethnic cleansing, genocide, the kidnapping of young girls, and not hunger but starvation.  The list goes on and on.

Given the overwhelming evidence in Scripture that God opposes injustice and suffering and calls us to work for justice and righteousness, and given that we know that injustice and suffering occurs in every age, in it's own odd way, I Peter provides hope for people in unjust situations that seem utterly hopeless.  Whatever the cause of undeserved suffering, I Peter reminds the reader that unjust suffering connects the sufferer with Christ's suffering which makes that suffering holy.  Not good, or desirable, or painless, or beneficial, and certainly not pleasing to God, but holy. To those who suffer unjustly, I Peter proclaims the Good News that nothing, no matter how unjust, has the power to separate a person from the love of God.   For the rest of us, the mandate of scripture is clear.   We are to reflect the love of God by making this world a place of abundant life for all people.

                                                                                                                  Amen.