Blessing

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
June 11, 2023

5 Proper A 

          Anita and Michael Dohn were medical missionaries from the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio to the Dominican Republic for over 14 years.  They are both physicians, now in the Cincinnati area, who heard the call of God, packed up their 4 young daughters ages 4 to 14, learned Spanish, and moved from Ohio to the Dominican Republic with a lot of faith and few resources to set up health clinics and train health workers in that impoverished country.  From time to time they would come back to the U.S. to raise money to continue their ministry and to connect with their supporters.  These are not hypothetical people.  These are people, Episcopalians, who I know, whose work the church I served raised funds to support, people who heard God say “Go” and they went.  And they were a huge blessing to the people of the Dominican Republic.

          So I think of Anita and Michael and their family when I hear God say to Abram “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”   Abram hears God say “Go” and hears the promise that God will bless Abram and make his name great, so that he will be a blessing.  And Abram goes.  But I have questions.  Where, exactly, is Abram to go?  How will he know how to get there?  What is this blessing that God will bestow?  And what does Sarai think about all of this?  When God tells Abram that God will give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring, of which there are none so far and Abram is 75, how does God think the Canaanites are going to feel about this property transfer?  So very many questions, and so very few answers.  Yet Abram is utterly undeterred by this lack of certainty.  He keeps putting one foot in front of the other, following where God leads.

          I also think of Anita and Michael when I hear Jesus say to Matthew “Follow me.”  Matthew is sitting in his tax booth when Jesus calls him.  Jesus is not issuing Matthew an invitation, nor was God offering Abram an invitation.  In both cases, a command is issued, “Go” in the case of Abram and “Follow me” in the case of Matthew.  In the case of Matthew, at least there is Jesus, a living breathing human being, to actually follow.  Jesus leads Matthew to a dinner party where many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples.  I wonder if Matthew felt more like one of the tax collectors or like one of the disciples.  Then the disciples, and presumably Matthew, followed Jesus to the home of the leader of the synagogue where the leader’s little daughter had just died.  But on the way, as the disciples followed Jesus, they witness a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years touch Jesus’ garment and be healed from her suffering.  The disciples and Matthew saw the woman’s great faith.  And when Jesus arrived at the leader’s house, he took the little girl who was thought to be dead by the hand and she got up.  Matthew has followed Jesus and in following Jesus he has experienced table fellowship with fellow tax collectors and sinners and witnessed two healings. 

          Sometimes God calls us to follow into unknown territory with nothing more than the promise of blessing to go on.  Anita and Michael Dohn are examples of such a call in our own time, following God’s call to a place where they could be a blessing but not knowing when they set out exactly how that blessing would play out.  But they, like Abram, were faithful and trusted God. 

For others of us, God calls us to follow Jesus into our own everyday lives, nothing exotic, but to follow Jesus rather than anyone or anything else. Rather than chasing selfish ambition or friends or popularity as we move through life, Jesus says “Follow me.”  The first place Matthew landed after getting up and following Jesus was at a dinner party after all!  But the guests were not friends, or influential people, or anyone Matthew might have chosen. The guests were other tax collectors and sinners.  And then Matthew and the other disciples followed Jesus as Jesus brought health and healing to those who were sick.

          Sometimes God calls us to do great and amazing things, like move to the Dominican Republic to make a difference in the lives of impoverished people there.  And sometimes God calls us to follow Jesus into our own ordinary lives so that we see what Jesus sees and respond with love to human need around us.  I think Anita and Michael would remind us that those are not mutually exclusive calls.  Wherever we are called, when we follow Jesus we are able to see as Jesus sees, and see the gay teen who thinks there is no place for him in a church, or the woman with mental illness and no place to stay, or the people in Hudson who have trouble paying the bills and putting food on the table or detergent in the washing machine, or the person who is job insecure or battling addiction.  We will witness great faithfulness, like the woman who touched Jesus and was healed, as well as great need, like the little daughter of the leader of the synagogue.  When we follow Jesus, wherever Jesus leads, whether to an impoverished country or down to the coffee shop, we are able to see as Jesus sees, be a blessing to the world, and, in my experience, receive a blessing as well.

                                                                                      Amen.

Tom Marks

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
June 10, 2023

Tom Marks 

          “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more.  The sun will not strike them or any scorching heat…he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  These are words of comfort today as we gather to celebrate the life of Tom Marks.  Those words could also include “They will no longer forget and will remember all that they are told.  They will not tremble but stand firm and move quickly.”  The writer of Revelation promises us a time when suffering and grief will be no more.  But that time is not here yet, so we gather to celebrate a life well lived and to mourn the loss of that life.

          As much as the reading from Revelation gives us hope to hold onto, the reading from Isaiah reminds me so much more of Tom Marks.  The reading from Isaiah is the same reading Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth to describe his own ministry, a ministry of healing, encouragement, comfort, and gladness.  Today we celebrate the life of a man whose actions followed the pattern Jesus set for us.  Tom’s courage in the face of Parkinson’s, his quiet perseverance, his friendly welcome when he served as an usher at Christ Church, and his kindness and encouragement to his family, friends, and neighbors mirrored the words of Isaiah in Tom’s own way.  There is a passage in the letter to the Ephesians that also reminds me of Tom.  “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”  In my experience, those are words Tom lived by.  Tom was a faithful member of Christ Church for over 70 years, longer than any of our other parishioners, and Tom remembered serving as an acolyte in the chapel before he went to high school at the Academy and during his years there.  That would have been in the early to mid 1950’s as Tom graduated from the Academy in 1956.  Throughout Tom’s life, his persistence, his courage, his kindness and his faithfulness have shown us something of the steadfast presence of God.

          So we gather today to celebrate Tom’s life, to give thanks that he has been released from his suffering, and to think about the impact his life had on us.  But we also gather to mourn his death as the time has not yet come when there will be no more grief and God will wipe the last tear from every eye.  Scripture tells us that Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus, so we have no shame in shedding our own tears when we lose our loved ones.  Tom, however, would want us to hold together in our grief, to comfort and encourage one another, and to build each other up.  We honor Tom’s life when we live with the same kindness, encouragement, and patience that Tom showed throughout his life.

          In the reading from John, Jesus says “I am the resurrection, and I am the life.”  On this day that is full of joy at having known Tom and sadness that he has left us, on this day that we gather to celebrate Tom’s life and mourn his death, as Christians we gather primarily to proclaim Jesus’ victory over death.  In his baptism so many decades ago, Tom was joined with Jesus in his death and resurrection.  In his death on April 28, Tom was joined with Jesus in eternal life, in that place where there is no pain or grief, but life eternal.  Tom does not belong to death.  Tom belongs to life and for that, we join with all the angels in the reading from Revelation who sing God’s praise “‘Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever!”

                                                                             Amen.

 

Image

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
June 4, 2023

Trinity Sunday

          Anyone who has spent longer than a nano-second in my office knows that I am deeply in love with four small humans. My desk is filled with their photos which you see as soon as you poke your head in.  The oldest is Evelyn who just turned four and looks a lot like I did at that age. Her little sister is Sabrina, who is 8 months old and bears a strong resemblance to her mother and maternal grandmother, except for the rare occasion when she looks like our son.  Collins just turned 3 and has my mother’s round face, but her ringlet curls are a complete mystery.  Collins’ brother Banks is a new one year old and looks so much like his maternal grandfather.  And of course, whose image they bear is only part of the equation as we wait to see whose personality traits and interests they might also bear as they grow ever more fully into their own person. 

          Looking for the ways family resemblances and traits are passed down from one generation to another gives us some insight into who we are as members of a family.  This morning, in the reading from Genesis, we hear that we humans are made in the image of God.  “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  In today’s gospel reading we hear from one of the few passages that mentions the three persons of the Trinity in one breath.  Jesus says to the disciples “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.”  On this Trinity Sunday, our readings call us to think about what it means that we humans are made in the image of one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer and to think about how we reflect that image back to God and to the world.

          First, as we are made in the image of God who is Father or Creator, we are called to be people who are creative and who see potential.  God looked at the formless void that would become creation and God saw tremendous possibility.  God took that potential and turned it into reality.  God’s people have always been called to be creative, especially in difficult times, whether they were finding their way through the wilderness to the Promised Land, or figuring out how to be a nation, or learning to be God’s people while in exile, or figuring out how to be the church coming out of a global pandemic, or how to work for justice and peace in a conflicted world.  We don’t always get that right and sometimes the image God sees back is probably quite amusing.  But we are called to be God’s creative presence in the world.

          Secondly, being made in the image of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit means that we bear the image of Jesus who came to redeem the world.  We promise to seek and serve Christ in all people at every baptism, but we also reflect the image of Christ to the world.  Redeem means taking something that is broken and making it whole.  Can the world understand redemption by our words and actions?  There is clearly no lack of brokenness in need of healing.

          Lastly, we are made in the image of God the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer or Comforter.  The work of creativity and making the broken whole is challenging work, and we are in this work for the long haul.  But we are not alone.  We have the very breath of God, the Holy Spirit, which was blown into us on Pentecost to sustain us.  When the work of living as one human family is hard, when the going gets tough and the temptation is to give up, the Holy Spirit sustains us to press on in the work of living as the image of God in the world. 

          I think back to a Friday night almost exactly three years ago when many of us and hundreds of others gathered for an Interfaith Vigil for justice and peace in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.  We moved from the Clock Tower, to Christ Church, to First Congregational, then to Temple Beth Sholom stopping each time for prayer and reflection.  Finally we ended on the Green, gathered in candlelight and silence.  The mood was somber as we were called to realize the deep and dark ways we are broken as a human family, and the changes and hard work ahead in order to create something new, to bring wholeness and healing where there is pain, division, and fear, and to sustain the momentum and passion we felt in that moment. We were gathered as Christians, Jews, and Muslims, people of no faith and other faiths.  We were gathered as one human family, longing for a world in which the color of one’s skin does not make one exponentially more vulnerable to violence and death.  That event has become, for me, a parable of what can happen when we put aside all that divides us and live as people made in the image of one God.  At Christ Church, our Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, our work with First Serve as we gather with people of many faiths to make a difference in Akron’s North Hill, our efforts to figure out new ways to serve those in need, and our studies about racism are all part of living as people made in the image of our creative, redeeming, and sustaining God.  Trinity Sunday reminds us as Christians of our fundamental call to understand the human family as one, as God is one, and be people of creativity, radical and inclusive healing, sustained by the Holy Spirit to make a difference in the world. 

                                                                             Amen

Fear

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 28, 2023

Pentecost 

          As I read through today’s scripture readings, two images from the past week came to mind.  The first is last Sunday’s celebration.  We gathered in the Parish Hall for a great meal to celebrate how far we have come together in the past year.  So many people with such a variety of gifts have made this past year possible.  We have worked together as the Body of Christ to be the church, just as the reading from 1 Corinthians describes.  And as we sang, prayed, ate, and had great conversation that helped us get to know each other better, the Holy Spirit clearly moved among us, energizing us and calling us forward.  I will hold the memory of last Sunday in my heart for a long time.

          The other image is harder.  On Tuesday, there was a terrifying threat against the 6^th graders at Hudson Middle School, serious enough to cancel their field trip and for many of their parents to want their 6^th graders at home.  Many of our youth group are 6^th graders and at Hudson Middle School.  I cannot imagine the terror the 6^th grade parents felt, nor the relief when some answers were found and the situation was resolved.  I thought about the 6^th graders when I read about the fear the disciples had as they hid behind locked doors on Easter afternoon.  The text tells us that they hid for fear of the Jews, which is a reflection of the deep tensions between late first century Christians and Jews.  These words should never be taken as a reflection on our Jewish brothers and sisters or cause any harm to come to them in any way.  The reading from Acts reminds us that the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem as faithful Jews for the Jewish feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them, so John’s gospel does not have the final word on first century Judaism.  The point of the passage in John’s gospel is that, in the midst of their fear, Jesus appears to them and does not just offer them peace.  Jesus gives them peace and breathes the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God, into them.  Jesus does not ask them what they need, or condemn their fear, or make any suggestions about how they might move forward.  He gives them peace and breathes new life into them.

          How are we to live as Pentecost people in a world, a country, filled with gun violence, an ongoing pandemic, climate change, racial injustice, and economic uncertainty, where there is more than enough to fear?  How does Jesus speak peace into our deepest fears, whatever they may be? 

          First, Jesus puts us into community.  On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all together in one place when the Holy Spirit descended upon them.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we are each part of the body of Christ.  With our various gifts and differences, we are knit together as one.  And in the reading from John’s gospel, the disciples, minus Thomas, were together when Jesus appears to them.  Jesus’ gift of peace and Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples when they were together.  None of us has to find peace on our own.

          Secondly, Jesus gives us the promised gift Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to be with us and to guide us.  That gift gives us the courage to be bold and to speak out and work to make this world more closely resemble the kingdom of God just as the disciples did.  How do we do that in 21^st century America?  In the Episcopal Church, the Baptismal Covenant guides us in that work.  In the Baptismal Covenant, which we renew at every single baptism, we promise, with God’s help, to be faithful in worship, to repent from evil, to seek and serve Christ in all people, to work for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being, and to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ with our words and with our lives.  That work takes courage and we cannot do that work without the gift of the Holy Spirit.  But imagine what a gospel difference we can make against the fearsome forces in this world, when, guided by the Holy Spirit, we truly live into those promises.    

          Lastly, in addition to placing us into community so that we face nothing alone, and giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us in making a gospel difference in the world, Jesus calls us to claim the gifts we have each been given by the Holy Spirit and to use them for the common good…not just the common good at Christ Church although that is certainly part of the call, but the common good of all of humanity.  Jesus will never call us as individuals or us as a parish to do anything for which we have not been given the gifts to accomplish.  Jesus sets us up to succeed at whatever Jesus calls us to do. 

          Jesus did not tell the disciples not to be afraid.  Jesus gave them the gift of peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, then Jesus sent them out as God sent Jesus out.  Jesus does not tell us not to be afraid, either.  But Jesus does call us to believe that the Holy Spirit is present with us, to claim the many gifts we have been given as a congregation and as individuals, and then sends us out to make a gospel difference in the world.  The disciples did just that in Jerusalem in the reading from Acts this morning and Jesus expects no less of us now.

                                                                   Amen.

What are we waiting for???

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 21, 2023

7 Easter A 

          One of my favorite stories about the ascension of Jesus, a story some of you have heard before, comes from my days as a newly minted priest when I was serving St. James Episcopal Church in Piqua, Ohio.  St. James was a small congregation with maybe 50 on an average Sunday.  But there were several families with children and while we had Sunday School before church, we had nothing for the children during church.  So each Sunday, the children were given paper and crayons and invited to draw a picture of the sermon.  This meant that the children had to listen to the sermon and I had to preach in such a way that I inspired creativity in the minds of 5 year olds.   Each Sunday after church we would chose one of the children’s pictures to be on the cover of the bulletin the next week.  The cover never matched the readings for the day, but no one cared in the least about that.

          I remember two of the bulletin covers quite clearly.  One I have framed in my office all these years later.  The picture was drawn by a little boy named Alex on my last Sunday at St. James.  It is a picture of our family-Don, Slocomb, Caldwell, and myself.  The other is a picture a child drew of the ascension of Jesus.  Jesus’ head is up in the clouds, so he has clearly left planet earth.  There are some sad looking stick figure disciples watching him leave.  The child had given serious thought to how Jesus managed to ascend as there were rocket boosters on the bottoms of Jesus’ feet.  Honestly, that’s as good an explanation of how Jesus’ ascended as any I have heard.

          We can easily become consumed with the “how” and “where” of Jesus’ ascension.  How did Jesus ascend and where did he go are natural questions.  But they are questions I will leave to your imagination this morning.  Today I am more curious about the two men in white robes who appear with the sad stick figure disciples and say “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”   The two men seem to be saying “Why are you just standing here? What are you waiting for?”  Jesus had told the disciples before he ascended that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and that they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and all Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  But there is no indication that the disciples had a clue what Jesus was talking about.

As we have emerged from the pandemic, a process that is ongoing, not complete, we have done a lot of waiting.  We have waited for things to get back to normal, whether the plexiglass shields to come down at the check out lanes at the grocery store, or to feel completely at ease in crowded spaces, or to no longer need masks at any time in any place.  We have waited for our life together to get back to normal, to do all the things we once did.  We have waited for postponed vacations, memorial services, family gatherings, and other events.  We have waited and I do not think I am the only one here who has little patience for waiting.

          Together, we have waited to become the church we once were, whatever your measuring stick for that might be, whether 2019, 2010, 2000, or the days of the legendary rummage sale.  But we are not sad little stick figures gazing up into heaven as Jesus departs with no clue what Jesus meant when he said “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”  Next Sunday, we will celebrate Pentecost, that day when the Holy Spirit came as promised and landed on the disciples, turning them and us into a powerful witness to the Gospel. 

          So, here is the magic formula for becoming the church we are waiting to be.  I can tell you story after story about how this has worked at other churches and how this has worked over the decades at Christ Church.  Here is the formula in three simple words: Be that church.  Be the church we want to become.  Just trust the Holy Spirit and be that church. 

          Today is Celebration Sunday and we are celebrating our work together to be the church we want to become.  We are celebrating a church that wants our children and youth to be involved and in the past year we have seen our youth group flourish, added youth lectors to our Sunday worship, and brought back Lego Church in-person with dinner.  We want to be a church with a vibrant music program and through the generosity of several parishioners, we were able to make Mario full time and expand the music program.  We want to be a church that meets the needs of others and we revived the outreach ministry team, started a peanut butter and jelly ministry, made lunches for Open M, and had an outreach ministry fair.  We have added adult education offerings and many fellowship opportunities.  We have worked to become the church we want to be, full of life and joy, making a difference for those in need, and nourishing the faith of our children. 

          The two men in white robes say to each of us as individuals and to us as a congregation “What are you waiting for?”  All that we have done this year has been accomplished by people who have stopped waiting, stepped up, and made things happen.  To all of the people who stepped up, the vestry, staff, and I offer you our heartfelt thanks.  To those who, like the disciples, have been waiting to see what happens, please look around and see and feel the joy and the energy and stop waiting.  For all that we have accomplished this year, there is not one single ministry at Christ Church that does not need more people involved so that we can continue to do new things and lighten the load for those who do so much.  From Vacation Bible School to coffee hour, to Habitat for Humanity, to Sunday School, to peanut butter and jelly, to helping with the building, to simply praying, showing up, or writing a thank you note, there is no need to wait. 

          We are not sad stick figure disciples who wait for things to happen.  We are Pentecost people who make things happen.   Let us be the church we want to become.

 

                                                                                      Amen. 

 

          

Directions

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 7, 2023

5 Easter A 

          On Wednesday, I found myself in a downtown Akron parking garage with very confusing directional signs.  The first sign said “Parking” with an arrow straight ahead.  But not fifty feet further, a sign said “Do not enter” with those bumps in the pavement that meant business.  So I turned around.  Then a sign said “No left turn.”  Fine, I won’t turn left.  But when I got to the turn not many feet later, left was the only option and the exit sign pointed left.  The garage was filled with contradictory signs and directions that I am sure made sense to someone, but not to me.  I felt like I had escaped a maze when I finally found the exit.

          The disciples are also experiencing some contradictory directional signs this morning.  In the previous chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus told the disciples that he is with them only a little longer, and that where he is going, they cannot come.  But now Jesus tells the disciples that there are many dwelling places in God’s house, that Jesus will come and take the disciples there, and that the disciples know the way to the place where Jesus is going.  But they don’t!  They don’t know where Jesus is going and they certainly do not know how to get there.  Any directions Jesus has given them up until this point are not directions to a dwelling place in God’s house.  What Jesus has said in the passage just before this one is this: “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.”  Jesus will repeat this commandment in the following chapter when he says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” But that is not going to get them to the place where Jesus is going.

          Or is it?  When Thomas says “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus responds “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Does that mean turn left, turn right, or do not enter?  As is so often the case in John’s gospel, the disciples would like some clear direction and all they get are more questions. How is Jesus’ response going to get them anywhere?

          The next verse is problematic.  Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me” which sounds like exclusive privilege for those who follow Jesus.  However, Jesus has been clear since the beginning of the passage that there are many dwelling places in God’s house and he is going to prepare one of those dwelling places for his disciples.  Other people, people they don’t know and can’t imagine, will occupy the other rooms.  Also, back in chapter 10 of John’s gospel, Jesus said “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.”  And, of course, in John 3:16 Jesus said “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  God sent Jesus so that everyone might believe in God, and throughout John’s gospel, Jesus’ mission is to be a sign that points to God with Jesus’ very being.  So, I find it doubtful that this passage is about who is in and who is out of God’s house and even if it is, Jesus gets to decide and we don’t.  Jesus is actually talking about how we are to follow him, not about how to get a room upgrade in the divine dwelling place.

          At the very end of our gospel reading, Jesus says “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  And once again, it looks like the disciples have exclusive privilege as Jesus will do whatever they ask in Jesus’ name.  But the works Jesus has done have not been about exclusivity.  The works Jesus has done have all been to show all people the glory of God and to serve others.  When Jesus promises the disciples that they will do even greater works that his, it is because they will have more time, the power of the resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to help them use their lives so that the whole world can know the love of God.   

“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  What the disciples have seen in Jesus’ ministry is the Way of love, the Truth of God’s love for humankind, and the Abundant Life that comes from abiding in God’s love.  The very clear directions for being where Jesus is are to walk in that way, proclaim that truth, and live that life. 

          In a world filled with gun violence, racial strife, and the inability to have civil conversation with those who differ from us, Jesus is challenging the disciples and us both as individuals and as a congregation to use our lives to show the world what Presiding Bishop Michael Curry continually describes as the Way of Love.  While we would all like more precise instructions, Jesus has been clear.  “Love one another as I have loved you.  But this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  The passage from 1 Peter tells us that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, not for special privilege or power or place, but so that we can proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Jesus calls his followers, not to follow a set of instructions, but to follow Jesus on the Way of Love.  That love will change the world.

                                                                             Amen.

Abundant Life

 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 4^th 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 23^rd 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 23^rd 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.