Together

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
September 25, 2022

21 Proper C 

          The parish that I served in Springfield, Ohio runs a substantial food pantry on the 4th Wednesday of each month.  Because there is no room for the line inside the building, the clients line up in the parking lot starting several hours before the pantry opens.  In the summer, parishioners set out lemonade and ice water for the clients along with goodies of various kinds.  In the winter, coffee and hot chocolate are available for the clients as they wait.  Parishioners and clergy work the line, chatting with the clients, offering lemonade or water, and praying with the clients if requested.  Over the years, relationships have formed as the church works to meet a need in the community. 

One afternoon, a man passed out while in line and the emergency squad was called.  At the end of the afternoon, there was one car left in the parking lot and we figured the car must belong to the man who left in the ambulance.  The windows were down and we had no way to secure the car, so we called a police officer with whom we had a relationship.  Officer Tom came, got the license plate number, ran a check, got the name of the owner, and left to see if he could find the owner at the hospital.  He found the owner, got the keys, came back and secured the car, took the keys back, and told the owner to give him a call if he needed a ride when he got out of the hospital.  Such is the kingdom of God!

          In our gospel reading this morning, we hear about the first century version of a food pantry.  In the first century, the custom was for the poor and hungry to go to the gate of the wealthy and wait to be brought leftovers.* That is what Lazarus is doing this morning.  He is lying at the gate, waiting for the rich man, or someone in the household, to see him and bring him something to eat.  This was as reasonable of an expectation then as lining up at a food pantry is now.  The problem is that the rich man does not seem to have gotten the food pantry memo and never sees Lazarus or notices Lazarus’s hunger.  Only the dog seems to care about Lazarus, providing comfort and relief by licking Lazarus’s sores. 

          Finally Lazarus dies, presumably still at the rich man’s gate, and is taken away by the angels to be with Abraham.  In his death, Lazarus gets the comfort he never received in his life.  The rich man dies, lands in Hades, where much to his surprise, he finds himself tormented.  While he does see Lazarus now, he sees Lazarus only as someone available to meet his needs. But even if Lazarus wanted to, and we are not told whether he does or not, tending to the rich man is impossible because of the deep chasm between them.  The rich man is flat out of luck.  But he is not completely without concern for others, as he begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so they do not find themselves in the same predicament.  Abraham refuses, since the brothers have Moses and the prophets and if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be convinced by someone rising from the dead. 

          What are we to make of this?  Is the message that once we die there is a great role reversal and those who have abundance in this life will suffer in the next, and those who have nothing in this life will gain in the next?  That seems a bit simplistic.  Is the message that if we don’t listen to what Moses and the prophets say about how we are to care for the poor we won’t be able to hear that message from Jesus either?  Quite possibly.  Or is the message that of I Timothy to those who are rich where we hear “Do good, be rich in good works, generous and ready to share, thus storing up the treasure of a good foundation for the future?”  I think that is closer.  But why?

          Today we kick off our “Better Together” theme for the fall.  Among the many things we have learned over the past two and a half years, we have learned that we are better together.  We missed each other during the time we could not be together.  As we began to regather, we missed those who could not yet be with us for a variety of reasons.  We had a joyous Jubilee celebration back in May.  We have a great pancake brunch ahead of us this morning.  We have another event planned for October.  We gather for worship each Sunday with energy, beautiful music and people of all ages gathered at the altar many Sundays.  When we pool our resources, whether time, talent, or treasure, or simply our presence, we are better together.  Together, we can do more and are better than anything we can do alone.

          But Jesus reminds us this morning to have an inclusive and encompassing understanding of what “together” means.  “Better together” is not just about those of us who gather in this building to worship, pray, learn, and enjoy each other’s company.  Jesus reminds us that “together” includes people very different from ourselves.  Together includes all who gather in this building, from boy and girl scouts, to AA and Al-Anon, to Music from the Western Reserve, Job Search, and the Hudson Garden Club.  Together includes all those we serve through Habitat for Humanity, the Domestic Violence Shelter, the Akron and Hudson Food Pantries, the International Institute of Akron, and on and on.  

          Amos cautions against those who revel in fine things and do not grieve the ruin of Joseph.  Scripture is clear over and over again that all of humanity is connected, that when one person suffers we all suffer and when one rejoices we all rejoice, and that we are to care for those in any need or trouble.  At Christ Church, we are most certainly “Better Together.”  But today Jesus reminds us that we are best when we believe and live like there are no boundaries around what we mean by “together.”

                                                                                      Amen.

 

*www.workingpreacher.org  Commentary on Luke 16:19-31 for September 25, 2022 

Scoundrels

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
September 18, 2022

20 Proper C 

          Jimmie Nell Johnson was my 6^th grade teacher.  You may have heard about her in another sermon or two, such was the impact she had on my young adolescent life.  Mrs. Johnson was utterly no nonsense, but she had the ability to see and bring out the best in each of her students.  Each of us was her own special project as she worked to figure out what we were good at and make us great, or at least better.  At the end of each day, as we filed out of the classroom, she had something positive to say to each of us.  Some days, the most any of us could expect was a kind “tomorrow will be better.”  But that was not Mrs. Johnson’s way.  She would find something good to say about each of us every day about that day, and she was genuine.  Because she was utterly no nonsense in addition to being kind, we believed her and we all flourished in her classroom.

          Today we hear what must be one of Jesus’ strangest parables.  Last week we had two parables that made so much sense, about rejoicing when the lost was found, that we were called to dig for a deeper meaning.  This week we are doing to have to dig to find any meaning whatsoever.  We have a manager who is fired for squandering the rich man’s money.  That much makes sense.  The manager is desperate.  He has no income so he has no place to live, so he’s going to need some friends.  So the manager calls in those who owe the rich man money and slashes their bills so they will now owe the manager a favor.  Basically the manager is cooking the books, which is not surprising since he squandered the rich man’s money in the first place.  But to us, the manager looks like he is only digging himself in deeper and that the rich man will be even angrier with the manager.  The prophet Amos has stern things to say about such behavior this morning, mocking people who claim to be people of faith yet say “We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances.”  Any way we look at Jesus’ parable, this person is a scoundrel and likely to get what he deserves.  But instead of throwing him in jail, the rich man commends the shrewd manager and Jesus tells us to make friends for ourselves by means of dishonest wealth.   The parable goes against everything we think Jesus is about.

          So what gives? This is where Jimmie Nell Johnson comes in.  Suppose we read this parable through the lens of someone looking to find the very best in people?  What if the manager has so badly squandered the master's property that getting back 50 or 80 percent of what is owed to the master is actually a great bargain?  Instead of looking at a total loss, the rich man is getting back 50- 80% of what he is owed, thanks to the manager’s shrewdness.  Given that the manager has squandered the rich man's property, now we have a bizarre sort of win-win.  The rich man is happy to get something back.  The manager is happy because now he has friends to stay with.  The clients are happy because their debt load is lower.  Jesus follows the parable by saying "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful in very much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much."  In some really weird way, the manager has actually been faithful in a very little and will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

          I would not be impressed by this line of reasoning if not for the fact that Scripture is full of stories about scoundrels that God used to advance the story of salvation.  From Cain and Abel, to Jacob who stole his brother’s birthright, to Joseph’s brothers who sell him into slavery, to the call of tax collectors to follow Jesus, and many stories in between, God sees not just what a mess people had make of their lives, but their capacity for good.  So perhaps our parable this morning fits right in with those places in scripture, and perhaps those places in our own lives, where we have made an utter mess of things, and yet God chooses to use us and our messes for good.

          Following the parable, Jesus says “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.”  Jesus tells a lot of parables about the little becoming great.  The parable of the mustard seed, where a tiny seed creates a great shrub, the parable of the small amount of yeast which leavens a huge lot of bread, and the story of a small bit of bread and fish that fed thousands of hungry people are just a few examples Jesus gives us of something small becoming something mighty. 

          I will be the first to say that this understanding of the parable leaves a lot of questions about honesty and dishonesty, what kind of behaviors Jesus commends and doesn’t commend, and what Jesus really wants from his followers.  But at the end of the day, perhaps what Jesus promises us is that no matter how much we have messed up, God will see the best in us and work with the good, no matter how small.  Perhaps the good news is that a bunch of messed up people with even a little bit of faith can make a gospel difference in the world.

                                                                             Amen.

Numbers

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
September 11, 2022

19 Proper C 

Two parables:

          Once, after a very long time of not being able to sing together in worship due to a pandemic, a certain church that will remain unnamed was finally able to sing together.  There had certainly been music over the past many months-organ music, recorded hymns and choir anthems, but no live singing.  When the Sunday finally arrived, and singing was allowed even if masks were required, the joy was palpable.  The priest was grateful for the mask so her tears of joy would not show.  What had been lost was found, and there was a sense of wholeness again as the church sang together as one and there was great rejoicing.

          Again in that church, after many months of not being able to see one another’s faces because of the pandemic, the Sunday came when the masks could come off.  That which had once been taken for granted and lost, the ability to exchange a smile, to see each other fully, had been restored.  The smiles were huge.  The energy created by simply seeing the faces of friends was contagious.  What had been lost was found, there was a sense of wholeness again, and there was great rejoicing.

          When we hear Jesus’ parables this morning about a lost sheep and a lost coin, we understand the losing, the finding, and the rejoicing.  For once, Jesus actually makes sense and I love the thought of God rejoicing!  And yet, when Jesus’ parables make such great sense, we are often called to look deeper.

          First, the answer to the question “Which of you, having 100 sheep and losing one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one?” is probably no one.  No one is going to leave the 99 unattended and go after the one.  Then there will be one found sheep and 99 lost sheep.  Secondly, Jesus is making a rather large leap from the finding of a lost sheep or coin to the rejoicing in heaven over a sinner who repents.  Neither a sheep nor a coin are capable of repentance.  They are just lost.  Lastly, we can think that the shepherd and the woman represent God looking for the lost, but we are never lost to God.  We may feel lost.  We may act lost, rather like the people in the reading from Exodus this morning, and God may not be happy with us, but God knows right where we are. We are never lost to God.

          So what is Jesus up to this morning and how do these parables respond to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes who say “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them?” 

The answer, I believe, is in the numbers.  There were 100 sheep and 10 coins, both nice round numbers that indicate completeness.  Both the lost sheep and the lost coin belonged to a larger whole.  Without the lost sheep or the lost coin, the whole is broken.  Something is missing.  When the sheep and the coin are found, the whole is complete again.  And there is great rejoicing, not just that the lost have been found, but that the broken has been made whole.

          Later this morning/in a few minutes, we will baptize Madeline Bailey.  We can easily think that we have brought this little sheep into the fold and we will say “We receive you into the household of God.”  So, yes, we do welcome Madeline into the fold. But we also welcome her into the fold to join us in the work of making the broken whole.  Our work, as the baptismal covenant tells us, is to work for justice and peace, to proclaim the Good News in word and action, to respect the dignity of every human being, to bring wholeness to this broken world, and to rejoice when whatever is broken is made whole. 

          One last story.  Two of the Sundays I was on sabbatical, I worshipped on line with St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. In June, that church was the victim of a terrible shooting that took the lives of three beloved parishioners.  The whole was broken in a devastating way.  I took that shooting hard.  An Episcopal Church in a community not unlike Hudson where a friend of mine worships had been attacked.  On the Sunday after the shooting, the church was packed and the rector delivered a powerful sermon about being a gospel witness to the love of God even in the midst of tragedy, loss, and brokenness.  Some weeks later, I joined them again on the Sunday they reconsecrated the Parish Hall where the shooting had occurred.  Again, the church was packed.  The sermon was delivered by a former rector who is now a bishop.  The message, however, was the same.  Our call as Christians is to work for the healing of the world, to mend brokenness, and to be a force for love.  In the midst of sadness, loss of many kinds, and unspeakable grief, there was wholeness and deep joy and genuine rejoicing grounded in God’s abundant love that is without exception.  I am sure that rejoicing was not only earthly, but heavenly as well.

          On this day especially, when we remember the events of 9/11 21 years ago, and the deep losses of so many kinds on that day, and in the midst of the many losses and frustrations of our own day, Jesus’ response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes reminds us of the call of the gospel to work for wholeness.  The work of the gospel, and the work of baptism, is to restore the broken to wholeness, to work for unity where there is division, and to proclaim our faith that love heals by showing that love to the world.  The appropriate response to the restoration of wholeness and unity is not grumbling, but deep and unbridled joy-both on earth and in heaven!

                                                                            Amen.

                                                                             

Turkey

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
June 5, 2022

Pentecost 

          Some decades ago, when I was serving as the Director of Christian Education at the church where Don, the kids, and I were members, I went to the local bakery to order a cake for coffee hour on Pentecost since Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church.  I ordered a sheet cake with white icing and decorated with a dove, outlined in red so it would be seen on the white cake, descending from heaven.  When I went to pick up the cake on Sunday morning, what I found waiting for me was a sheet cake with a massive solid red creature that looked a lot like a wild turkey.  Clearly I had not communicated my desires well to the cake decorator, but I cannot imagine what she thought I wanted!

          But as I thought about that wild turkey, I wondered if the bird might not be more appropriate for Pentecost than a gentle, tame dove.  The story we hear from Acts has a sound like a rush of violent wind that filled the whole house where the disciples were gathered.  Tongues of fire appeared among them and one landed on each of them.  Fire!  This is no tranquil domestic scene, represented by a peaceful dove.  Pentecost sounds a lot like the storm last Wednesday night, with winds powerful enough to blow down huge trees, knock out power, cause fire, and leave us in utter awe of the power of nature.

          The fierce storm Wednesday night had another power though.  Once the winds and rain had subsided, I went out for a walk to see what had happened in the neighborhood.  At first, the neighborhood was eerily silent.  This is a neighborhood where folks are out walking and riding bikes all the time.  But after a while people started coming out to survey both their own damage and that of the neighbors.  Everyone I passed was checking in with each other.  Are you okay?  Do you need help?  Can I help you move that?  Have you ever seen anything like that storm?  The storm connected us in an even deeper way than our normally friendly neighborhood.  The next morning, when I was out for my usual morning walk and the neighborhood had lost power overnight, the same sort of checking in continued.  And from what I saw on social media, the same thing happened all over Hudson.  For the moment, we were one as all differences were put aside and neighbors worked to help neighbors deal with the damage wrought by the storm.

          While the mighty winds and flames of Pentecost might make me think of Wednesday’s storm, the disciples likely remembered something very different as they experienced the sound of a violent wind and flames of fire.  They had gathered for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after the first day of Passover, which is when the Jewish people celebrate their delivery from slavery in Egypt.  On Pentecost, the Jewish people celebrate the giving of the 10 commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.  The book of Exodus tells us that when Moses went up the mountain to receive the 10 commandments from God, the people experienced thunder and lightning, the sound of a trumpet, and the mountain was smoking.  I imagine this is what the disciples would have thought of as faithful Jews when they felt the rush of wind and saw the flames of fire land on each of them.

          The 10 commandments were and are a gift from God to give the people an identity as God’s chosen people and to tell them how they are to live in connection with God and each other.  They are to be in connection with God by keeping holy the Sabbath, having no other gods besides God, not taking God’s name in vain, and not making any idols.  Failure to keep those commandments harms their connection with God.  Likewise, honoring one’s parents, not committing murder, adultery, or theft, not coveting that which belongs to someone else and not bearing false witness are things that keep God’s people connected with each other.  Failure to keep those commandments breaks the fundamental connection we have with each other.  

          The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is also about our connection with God and each other.  Jesus has been clear in John’s gospel that the disciples are to be one as he and the Father are one, and that Jesus will send the Advocate, the Spirit, to teach us how to live as one with both each other and God.  The Holy Spirit keeps us connected with God.  In the reading from Acts, the people were one as they all heard the good news in their own language.  The work of the Holy Spirit that day was to unite people with each other.  Peter quotes the prophet Joel whose prophecy was that God would pour out the Holy Spirit on all people, sons and daughters; young and old; slaves and free so that all can be part of the love of God for the world.  And the reading from Romans tells us that we are all children of God, so heirs of God and joints heirs with Christ, joined together as children of the same Father. 

          In other places, the apostle Paul tells us that we are all members of the one body of Christ, yet another way to say that we are all connected.  We are all connected at Christ Church as members of this part of the body of Christ, and as a church we are connected with all who follow Jesus.  And in the book of Genesis we are told that all of humankind is made in God’s image, which connects each of us and all of us with the whole human family.  Because the Spirit gives each of us gifts for the common good and to make God’s love known in the world, the gifts of all of us are required to actually do that work.  The only way we can do the powerful gospel work we are called to do is to do that work together.

          The power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost binds us together as one and calls us to live as people who are connected with each other and God, nurturing those connections in this place with worship, education, and fellowship.  The power of the Holy Spirit connects us with the world, sending us out to both nurture those connections and make a gospel difference everywhere we can.  The power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was dramatic and dynamic, fire and wind, not a mere suggestion from God to God’s people but lighting a fire under God’s people.  Perhaps the image of the Holy Spirit as a restless wild red turkey is a more accurate image than a tame and gentle dove as Pentecost leaves us in utter awe of the power of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                      Amen.

 

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.