Good Shepherd Sunday

©David Sanger | African Art, Sculpture, Jesusthe Good Shepherd

In our assigned lectionary readings this morning, the images of shepherd and sheep are unavoidable.  Hence, this fourth Sunday of Easter by tradition is called Good Shepherd Sunday.

The faithful of the 8:30 ‘encouraged’ me to keep the sermon to no more than 5min… so the 10:45 folk get benefit that distillation as well as the opportunity to expand on it into some more conversation together.

As hard as it might be for some of us to admit, we are like sheep.  Catching all sort of stuff in our outer coats as we graze seemingly mindlessly on whatever is in front of us, we end up carrying around a lot of debris if not groomed periodically.  Left to our own devices, we don’t seem to have a great sense of direction (look at how we’ve ‘evolved’ or not throughout history), instinctively preferring to travel with the herd even if it’s headed in the wrong direction, and getting easily lost if we wander off on our own.  We’re prone to follow whatever voice seems to have the most seductive authority.

There are ‘bad’ shepherds and predators in this valley in which we graze who can and will lead us astray – separating us from each other so that we’re easier prey.  Some ‘shepherds’ are less concerned about our well-being and more intent on using us for their own purposes.  They will not guide and protect us toward a common good.  They will abandon us in times of trouble.

by Fr. John Giuliani

There are also good shepherds (thanks be to God) who work with self-sacrificing, protective care towards us.  Yes, they will sheer and fleece us of our protective coatings now and then, leaving us ‘clean’ albeit more vulnerable.  Ultimately, though, they are interested in keeping us healthy and nourished.  Such shepherds are vigilant in keeping watch out for dangers that we might not notice and keeping us gathered together – even searching out for those who have wandered off and gently guiding them back into group.  Haven’t you known at least one of these good shepherds in your life?

This was all true in the time Jesus and it’s still true for us today. 

Two questions to ask ourselves this week:

1.    How are we discerning which voices to follow – are we following the Good Shepherd?

2.    How are to participate in good shepherding of others, working with Christ, to bring all sheep into one fold, a unified flock.

Consider the well-known Psalm 23 that we’ve heard again this morning.  Perhaps the initial emotional images that are conjured up resemble the popular pastoral image of a gentle Jesus walking through a pleasant meadow carrying a clean, cute little lamb over his shoulders… puffy white clouds in a blue sky, etc..  Indeed, particularly in the midst of a disorienting crisis (like acute grief) that image is, and should be, comforting. 

And, if we go deeper, when combined with our other readings this morning, we also hear themes of want/longing/hunger, the risks and perils of getting lost (wandering off the safe path), fear of evil, accusatory judgments of others - those that trouble me, rejection, personal sacrifice, and the shadow of death.  So below the surface of that peaceful pastoral image of smiling shepherd and the docile lamb, we also have emotional undercurrents of danger, fear of abandonment, protection from predators, longing to be healed and/or taken care of, issues of intimacy, security, trust, and surrender (and the list goes on). 

These emotional undercurrents are the fields in which we are to tend to love itself.  With God’s help, we are to shepherd each other through these shadows into greener pastures together, gathered in Christ’s name.

The Scriptures tell us over and over that God’s love it constantly seeking to draw us out shadows and back into light – to liberate us from bondage and to find us when we’re list,  bringing us back into the holy fold where we can graze kindly and safely with our neighbors. 

As some context for the images in our lectionary readings today, hear what the prophet Ezekiel said to our ancestors about God’s response to the bad shepherds who were scattering and scaring the flock for their own purposes (this is Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Ezekiel 34:10-16 in The Message):

¹⁰ "'Watch out! I'm coming down on the shepherds and taking my sheep back. They're fired as shepherds of my sheep. No more shepherds who just feed themselves! I'll rescue my sheep from their greed. They're not going to feed off my sheep any longer! ^11-16 "'God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I'm going looking for them. As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I'm going after my sheep. I'll rescue them from all the places they've been scattered to in the storms. I'll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries, and bring them back to their home country. I'll feed them on the mountains of Israel, along the streams, among their own people. I'll lead them into lush pasture so they can roam the mountain pastures of Israel, graze at leisure, feed in the rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I'll go after the lost, I'll collect the strays, I'll doctor the injured, I'll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they're not exploited.

And, as particular context for the Gospel lesson we heard, hear how Jesus prefaced his words that we heard this morning – the first ten verses of John 10 (again, from Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase The Message):

 ^1-5 "Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he's up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won't follow a stranger's voice but will scatter because they aren't used to the sound of it." ^6-10Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. "I'll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Indeed, there are shepherds that lead us astray, putting our lives in danger… and there are good shepherds who seek us out and lead us back into safety and health together.

How do you discern which shepherd you’re following? 

It’s not that hard really – look up from your grazing and determine if you’re in the lush green valley, without as many fears… or if you’re more often in want and fear of the shadows that lurk perilously close.  Are the waters more often still around you?  Or, are you made to feel anxious at their rushing pace?

If you’re not in good pasture, it’s time to listen anew for the voice of Christ this Easter season.  And, look around to see if there’s a flock that appears to be more in the sunlight than the shadows… a flock that appears non-anxious and healthy.  Make your way to be close to them and learn to recognize the shepherd that they follow. 

If you’re in a healthy and lush pasture now, good for you.  Remember to help lead others there are well (sheep are prone to follow each other, remember).

God, we pray that you will help us each and all recognize and listen to the voice of your Son, or Savior, and follow where he leads us.

In this telling of another time that the risen Jesus appeared to some of his disciples (John 21:15-17), the author of John writes that some of the disciples had gone back to fishing but were not able to catch enough for their breakfast.  Jesus appears and helps them gather more food than they were doing on their own and then he breaks bread with them again, opening their hearts and minds, and instructs them…

¹⁵When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”¹⁶A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Feed my lambs.  Tend my sheep.  Feed my sheep.

The instructions are pretty clear.  Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, expects us to model his good behavior toward others.  We’ve heard this before and we’ll continue to hear it as we listen to the Scriptures.  Love others as Christ loves us.

Our Lord says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me…. 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.” (John 10:14-16)

How is St. Andrew’s here in Emporia calling the flock together and tending to the needs of all the sheep gathered in Christ’s name? 

Our call is clear and consistent with voice of our Good Shepherd, no?

At St. Andrew’s you are welcomed as you are and wherever you may be on your journey. As part of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Christianity, we share a long tradition of making room for a diversity of religious, political and social positions while always maintaining that the Risen One, Jesus Christ, is sovereign of all. Whether you are a lifelong Christian or just curious about the Christian Faith, you are welcome here. Whether you are a conservative, a liberal, or something in between, you are welcome here. Whether you are wealthy or broke, you are welcome here. Whether you are black, white, yellow, married, single, divorced, straight, gay, male, female, introverted, extroverted, young or old, you are welcome here. (http://standrewsemporia.org/about/)

And, as lambs and sheep gather here, we are feeding them - quite literally on Saturdays… and in more subtle and sublime ways during the rest of the week.   This is good news, indeed.

And, just as all good shepherds must remain alert and vigilant while the gathered sheep graze in the green pasture, we must remain mindful not to let the love of God fall back into the shadows as a mere feeling or sentiment – we must continue to live it out through our actions toward each other and toward those not yet of our flock.  We are to help others learn to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd what we do.

As we’ve heard in the Epistle lesson this morning:

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth…. And, this is [God’s] commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:18-19, 23)

AMEN.

Vocational Venn diagram

If anyone out there has the appropriate original citation for this Venn diagram, please let me know - I'd like to give credit where credit is due ;-)  And, here's hope that we all come to know that sweet spot of 'bliss'

Word & Table: re-membering both to believe into new life

Are you hungry?  If you’re not already, I imagine you will be by the time the homily is done.

“You are what you eat”  Originating from French and German writings on diet and health in Europe in the late 19^th Century, and then emerging in English here in America in the 1920’s for catabolic diets and then again in the 1960’s in advocacy of macrobiotic wholefoods, this phrase has literal and metaphorical truth.

This morning, let’s consider the metaphor in light of our lectionary lessons for this third Sunday of Easter. 

Jesus’s mission was all about nourishment – feeding people’s hunger and healing and restoring people so that they could take-in the truth of the new kingdom he was proclaiming and live into a new, better body. 

Jesus enjoyed mealtime and food – he turns water into wine at a wedding (transformation), he multiplies fishes and loafs (abundance), he enjoys meals with folk considered otherwise unenjoyable (redemption / reconciliation), he tells parables using banquets and feasts as images for the new kingdom, and he leverages the symbolism of the paschal meal (body broken and blood sacrificed for restitution and freedom) to institute what we still celebrate today in our Communion meal together.

In today’s Gospel lesson from Luke (24:36b-48), our risen Lord uses ‘word’ and ‘table’ to feed people, restore their sight, and fortify them for mission in his name.

To get a clearer picture, it’s important not only to consider the verses we heard this morning (24:36-48) but also the verses immediately preceding them (24:13-35).  In Luke’s telling, early on third day after the crucifixion, the women were first to see the empty tomb and be told by angels that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Then Peter went to verify their story and saw the strips of limp linen and the empty tomb for himself.  In neither case is it clear that they understood fully what had happened or what it meant.  Like newly hatched birds, they were gasping, mouths agape, for worms but the mother bird had yet to return to the next to feed them… and then kick them out of that nest as encouragement to fly.

It’s on that same day, however, Jesus, at first appearing as a stranger, approaches two of his followers who are walking and talking on their way to Emmaus about all that has just transpired.  It’s clear that they’re still in shock and grief is setting in – their prophet and hoped-for messiah has been killed and they’re wrestling with the news that some of the others have reported that his tomb is empty and that angels have said that Jesus is indeed alive, not dead.  Bewilderment, suspicion, doubt, fear, cynicism… who knows all of what might have been in their hearts and minds at this point. They are so consumed by this swell of emotions that they don’t recognize Christ in their midst.

Jesus meets them where they are – literally and figuratively – and walks alongside them – listening to their pain, anguished concerns, dreams, and hopes.  Having heard their cries and aware of what they’re hungry for, Jesus feeds them with wisdom from scripture.  He leads them through the prophetic wisdom of their ancestors and encourages them to reconsider all that has happened in context of new vision and new hope.   But prophetic and comforting words are not enough to fully open their minds and hearts to the truth. 

Aware the talk about scripture, no matter how inspired, is necessary but not sufficient to meet the depth of their needs, he seeks to feed their deeper hunger through actions in the literal breaking of bread with them.  Christ embraces a divine hospitality that endures in them amid their grief and comforts them with familiar actions at a table (taking bread, giving thanks, breaking it, and giving it to them) that finally enable them to remember – to see again – who he is, who they are, and the power in this community of faith. Their eyes now fully open, they re-cognize (they have a transformation in their perception and understanding) this stranger as Jesus.  Now restored to hope and sight by both word and table, they are compelled to go tell the others the truth.  It’s here that this morning’s passages pick up.

While Cleopas and his companion are sharing what they’ve come to know with the other disciples still huddled fearfully together in Jerusalem, Jesus again appears.  Aware that they fear that they are seeing a ghost (hey, he does appear to walk through walls and such!), he tells them that he is real… but simply telling them to believe is not enough.  (emphasis: simply telling someone about the good news is not enough).  Jesus asks them for something to eat – they share a meal together.  And, Jesus has them consume again the wisdom of the scriptures.   Word and table – Jesus uses both to nourish them, opening their minds and preparing them to receive the Holy Spirit that will equip them to witness and work in his name.

We are what we eat… or, we might phrase it, we are formed by what we take in, digest, and absorb.  What we consume becomes the basis of who we are.  They quality of what goes in forms the foundation of strength that enables us to go out.

What were our ancestors able to take in, digest, and absorb about the reality of their risen Lord and implications of his resurrection to the messianic mission in his name into which they were now being commissioned?  Apparently, with God’s help, they ate a lot, were well nourished, and strong enough to spread the good news of redemption through the resurrected Christ far and wide.

And here we are this morning, with word and table, going through the same actions that our ancestors have for nearly two millennia.  Each time we come into this space together, Christ in Spirit meets us on our road to Emmaus, encourages us to hear something anew as the scriptures are opened, and invites us to break bread together at this table in order that he be revealed in our shared meal.  Hopefully, our minds and hearts are open to all of what we’re being fed by the Holy Spirit – not only in what we’re hearing (because we know that telling and hearing are necessary but not sufficient for a full meal) and in what we’re partaking of together at this table/altar, but also what we’re taking in, digesting, and absorbing about the reality of all of us making up Jesus’s resurrected body… about us being his eyes, mind, heart, feet, and hands in the world.

In what we do here every time we gather for worship in his name, we are very truly re-membering (putting back together and reanimating) the very body of Christ and preparing to take this re-membered, resurrected body into a world in need of good news, redemption, and salvation.

On a personal level… Consider the totality of who you are today.  Can you not see evidence of what you’ve taken in, digested, and absorbed throughout your own life?  Perhaps some ‘bitter herbs’ here-n-there… perhaps some essential ‘fortifying vitamins’ yield from life experience… and undoubtedly plenty of ‘junk food’ along the way.  How is your health based on what you’ve taken in?

Perhaps some of us, now well separated from our Lenten fasts and coming down off the Easter Sunday high, might be backsliding into consumption of things that we know only make us more anxious, unhealthy, and dis-eased.  Fear not. 

And, as Paul reminds his fellow Jews in this morning’s assigned passage from Acts (3:12-19), there is still time to repent (turn-around), wipe out our sins in Christ’s name, and be refreshed.

As the writer of 1 John told us last week and reminds us in our assigned lesson this week (1 John 3:1-7), although we occasionally fall into sin (and should admit that to each other and repent / turn-around from it), we are fundamentally destined to be without sin through Christ and should be always oriented toward doing what is righteous (following Christ’s example).  For, as this writer reminds us, “beloved, we are God’s children now… and all who have this hope in him purify themselves…. Everyone who does what is right is righteous.”  And, “what we will be has not yet been revealed” – in other words, we’re still works in progress, becoming all that God intends for us.  Consider Easter time for spring cleaning and an opportunity to shape up.

(ANECDOTES: WORD + TABLE + ACTION, E.g., campus ministry meals; “Happy Kitchen” community breakfast program; sharing prayer and meals together in Kenya; thelo! mission experience eating with ESS/Venture House clients and at Lord’s Diner)

What are you most hungry for?  How are you discerning the hungers of others around you?  What are we doing to feed each other?  Are we feeding each other with all of what Christ offers?

“You are what you eat.”  Jesus’s mission was all about nourishment – feeding people’s hunger and healing and restoring people so that they could take-in the truth of the new kingdom he was proclaiming and live into a new, better body. 

May our hearts and minds remain open to all that the Holy Spirit is helping us take in, digest, and absorb from regularly feasting on the living Word here in this community and nourishment at Christ’s table so that we are strengthened to go forth from here witnessing through our words and actions the good news of new life in Christ, feeding those who are hungry (in all senses of that phrase) and inviting them to join us at the table loving fellowship at the heavenly feast. 

AMEN

Living for who we believe in beyond closed doors

Let's begin with a brief moment of prayer.  God, we are thankful for all the early alerts and preparedness and that there are so few reports of injuries or death.  And, we know there has been property damage.  Now that the sun has risen, we’ll get more accurate assessments of these damages.  We pray for each person impacted by these damages – perhaps they no longer have a place to live, perhaps they won’t be able to get to work, perhaps this storm has only added to the adversity they’ve been facing in their lives.  We pray for the conviction and motivation of everyone who will be offering relief and repair in these situations – may your grace and compassion surround them through the Holy Spirit. 

Here we are together in the second Sunday of Easter.  Note that I said of not after – Easter Sunday brings us into a whole season of Easter.  For the next six weeks, we’ll be consider what it means that Christ, our Good Shepherd, is risen and we’ll end the season by

concentrating on some of his final lessons and instruction to us before he left his earthly ministry.  We’ll also be hearing about the growth of the early church and wisdom from the apostles during this evolution.  Our Paschal candle remains burning throughout this season as a sign of the light of Christ in our midst – a call to ‘see’ things new and to follow him from the bondage of sin into liberation in the new kingdom. Our Easter season culminates this year in
the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost on the last Sunday in May – the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Each year on this morning, on what is traditionally considered the 8^th day of Easter (the conclusion of the Easter octave), although our other lectionary readings vary according to the cycle we’re in, our Gospel reading is always the same – John 20:19-31 (Jesus’s appearances to his disciples in the upper room, with a focus on the initial unbelief of Thomas).

There is much to explore in what we’ve heard this morning.

In Acts 4:32-25 we hear about the unifying power of the Holy Spirit brining thousands of early believers into such communitarian harmony that they’re compelling to share their resources in common compassionately, assuring that “there was not a needy person among them.”  We could explore this in more depth, consider when, why, and how long that lasted and ask ourselves what it means to us as a community today. 


In 1 John 1:1 - 2:2, we hear about the conviction that a common life in the light of Christ

calls us to admit to and confess our sins against God and neighbor and seek cleansing forgiveness and atonement in the blood sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us.

And then we have our Gospel reading, that some people simply summarize as the reading about ‘doubting Thomas.”  Surely many of you have heard the story many times.  In fact, as we discovered when we explored this Gospel reading together in our campus ministry program at K-State this past week, for some of you it might be one of the most memorable or meaningful stories in scripture.  There’s so much more going in this passage that simply one person doubting that Christ is risen… and more to consider as relevant to our life in Christ today.

First, however, let’s just address this matter of ‘doubting’ Thomas head-on.   Rather than forever cast Thomas as the great doubter, recall that there’s more to this apostle – in fact, we might say Thomas is more perennially faithful than doubting.  This is the same apostle who boldly suggested that the group travel with Jesus back to Bethany after the death of Lazarus even if it meant they would be stoned to death with him (John 11:16).  This is also the same rather practical-minded Thomas who chose to ask out loud what others might have been wondering silently - “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way” - when Jesus was being rather indirect in his comments about not being with them much longer.  And we can only imagine that in the grief and fear of that week following his lord’s cruel execution, he was understandably a little incredulous when told something so unbelievable by the other apostles who were still huddled, hiding in the upper room.  Thomas wasn’t asking for anything that the others hadn’t already received – some sort of credible proof that he could believe in.  We might say Thomas was a kinesthetic learner – he needed to actually feel the risen Lord rather than just hear about him.  Many of us can put ourselves in Thomas’s sandals if we’re honest.  And, this is the same Thomas who, after encountering the risen Christ on his own terms, offers us one of the most pithy confessions of faith in all of the New Testament (verse 28) – “My Lord and my God!”  Furthermore, tradition tells us that Thomas might have traveled farthest of any of the apostles in this eventual preaching the Gospel to people in India.  So, let’s give Thomas a bit of a break.  He has been a strong believer and (pardon the pun) no doubt yearns to believe what his friends are telling him… but the stakes are so high in this case and he doesn’t want to be duped… believe in a concept isn’t enough, he needs a personal encounter to stoke his belief in a person - the risen Christ – in order to be released from his fear and suspicion – how many of us can relate to that?

Jesus tells Thomas, and everyone else (including us), to believe.  He goes further to call blessed all those of future generations who will not have seen his pre-Ascension resurrected body personally (i.e., “those who have not seen”) yet come to believe. 

This is not about our belief about something (like the resurrection), it’s about our belief in someone, in this case the risen Christ.  Follow me – there’s an important distinction here.

Belief about something is not the same as belief in someone.   

In Latin, the word credo means “I believe.”  Some interpreters say that the word connotes  ‘something to which I will give my heart” (belief as deep, emotional conviction).  Other analysts of the word’s etymology say that a more accurate denotation would be “something or someone we are willing to trust and commit ourselves and our resources to.” (see discussion on Ship of Fools: http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=008881)

I can say that I believe that many of you got yourselves here this morning, chose to be here rather than somewhere else, because you’re convicted about Christ and desire fellowship with others who are like minded.  That’s belief in the intellectual sense – something based on assumptions, induction, observable data, etc.

Or, I can say that I believe in you. What’s the difference?  What does that imply that’s more

interpersonal and emotional?

The most compelling aspect of our faith is not based on intellectual knowledge (i.e., what you can know with your mind) so much as it is a procession from the experience of compassionate love and the experience of holy grace (i.e., what you come to know through your heart through experience with other real people).

Now back to our Gospel lesson and what the Spirit might be calling to re-consider / re-conceive in our lives this second Sunday of Easter…


The men didn’t believe the testimony of the women that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  They didn’t believe it.  They were huddled in fear behind a locked door hoping to avoid judgment, persecution, and suffering.  The resurrected Jesus came to them offeringpeace, acknowledging the evidence in his body of his brutal execution while breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, authorizing them to forgive sins, and sending them out beyond the doors to live more freely.  They were so moved by the personal encounter that they began to testify

to what they’d seen.  

But, not everyone (particularly not Thomas) believed in what they were saying.  Jesus did something to help release belief from the grips of suspicion and fear – he makes another personal appearance to meet the doubter where he his and to provide him something he can see and touch.  It’s through the intimacy of this personal manifestation that the doubter is able to believe in the person standing before him.  He previously didn’t believe it, but he now believes in him, proclaiming “My Lord and my God!”

We’re called to believe in a person and the truth of the examples he has given us, not in a statement of faith or a religious concept.  And, this real person sends us out, beyond the closed doors, to proclaim what we’ve seen… and more importantly, what we’ve come to know in our hearts about the good news he has shown us.  Our belief – our mission in faith – is not about ‘facts’ that we are to think about; it’s all about relationships that we are to experience.

“…When God comes, we will recognize God’s presence in those moments when peace is offered, in those moments when life’s most brutal violence is honestly acknowledged, and when, in the midst of this bracing honesty, we realize that we are not alone but have, in fact, been always, already found.” (Serene Jones, President, Union Theological Seminary, NYC)

What does this mean to us today? 

First we might ask, is the risen Christ someone we are willing to trust and commit ourselves and our resources to?  If you’re
not there yet… if you have doubts…  if in your heart you’re not a firm believer in Jesus as resurrected and living Christ, that’s something to explore this Easter.  Let’s talk.  Engage in some intimate interpersonal conversations with those who believe.  Work alongside some of us in the charitable, community service work we do. Come along on some pastoral visits - watch and pray with us as we encounter Christ in personal healing and restoration of wellness and relationships.  Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you toward coming to know something new this season in your heart.

If you do claim to ‘believe’, we might want to explore this Easter how you’re living out your belief.  Talk with others about your shared life in Christ.  Check to see if you/we are hiding behind any closed doors.  Beyond what any of us can say about our beliefs, what are we doing interpersonally to live out examples of Christian faith and belief in action so that others can ‘see’ and ‘touch’ the fruits of life in the light of Christ.    


As we continue into Easter, what will you choose to see and believe in the world around you?  What life-giving possibilities will you live toward with the help of God?  What will your actions help others perceive about our risen Lord?  What life-affirming, loving choices can you make each day that might bring someone from darkness to light such that the eyes of their heart are opened and they are compelled to proclaim,  “My Lord and My God!”  AMEN. 

Resurrection: guaranteed revitalization and a permanent promise

“God of life, we thank you for the mystery planted in us, the paradox of life from death and community from scattered disciples.  We praise you for the dying which save us from death and for the rising which brings us to life.”  “What was dead shall live; what was dark shall shine; what was forgotten shall be remembered, for the Lord is risen and walks among us…. Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! ” (adapted from Intercessions for the Christian People edited by Gail Ramshaw. Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN.)

Good Easter morning!  Who’s here this morning (some show-of-hand questions)?  Welcome to the Church of the Covenant (in Junction City, KS).  We want to get to know you and invite you to get to know us.  We’re all on the journey of developing deeper roots in faith and we hope that you’ll join us.

It’s Easter and we should begin with a smile.  Perhaps you’ve heard this joke before.  I just heard it this past Wednesday while I was at a convent (Congregation of St. Joseph) in Wichita for spiritual direction.  The woman who told it to me had just delivered a lunchtime lecture on non-violent resistance in remembrance of the assassination of Martin Luther King (April 4, 1968) and also spoke a bit about her ministry to people on death row and national advocacy against the death penalty.  Her name is Sister Helen Prejean – she’s the nun featured in the story Dead Man Walking (she was played by Susan Sarandon in the film version).

On the way to Easter services, a man who very much loved living things was driving on one of our country roads and saw a bunny on the side of the road ahead.  Afraid that the rabbit might jump in front of the car, he began to slow down quickly… but wasn’t able to completely stop in time before the bunny did, in fact, jump in front of his car.  The main cringed as he heard the thud, terrified that this was probably the end of the bunny.  After getting out of his car, he was moved to tears when he saw the rabbit lying there motionless in front of his car – clearly dead.  Emotions built up during Holy Week as well as his grief over having witnessed the bunny’s demise overcame him and he began to sob against his car.  Then, as if out of a cloud, came a smartly dressed woman, in Easter bonnet with white gloves and all, approached the man as he continued crying against his car and she asked, “What has happened?  Why have you stopped and why are you crying so?”  He replied, pointing to the dead, motionless rabbit in front of his car, “I’ve killed this Easter bunny on my way to church.”  Without missing a beat, the woman beamed and said, “Fear not, honey. All will be well.  It’s Easter after all and I’ve seen what’s possible - I have just the thing for this.”  She reached into her purse and drew out a can which she proceeded to shake with glee before pointing it at the rabbit and spraying out all the contents.  Miraculously, the rabbit jumped up from the pavement and began hopping about.  As it hopped a few steps, it turned around and waved its little foot at the alarmed man and the woman smiling beneath her bonnet.  It hopped a few more feet and turned around again and waved at them again.  As the rabbit hopped to the top of a nearby hill, it turned and waved a third time before hopping safely to the other side.  Amazed, and slightly scared, the man looked at the smartly dressed woman and asked, “What just happened?  What’s that you have there?”  The woman smiled a confident grin and responded, “Come and see – this does just what it says it does.”  The man read what she had in her hand, “Hairspray: Guaranteed to revitalize your hair and ensure a permanent wave.”  

Sappy as it is on one level, this tale actually presents some important elements to ponder on this Easter season.  Consider this morning where you are in this tale of the resurrected hare… or, if you dare, where you are with resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Like the women in our Gospel lesson this morning, or the man in this joke, it’s understandable if some of us are so awe struck or afraid that we’re not yet able to speak. 

It’s one thing for us to ponder life after death in the abstract when we have the leisure to do so.  But to face resurrection from the dead?  For anyone here who has experienced the death of a loved one, imagine what it would be like to return to where the body should be to offer one final act of loving remembrance, only to find the body gone and a radiant being telling you that it has been raised and that your loved one is now traveling ahead of you to share the good news of this resurrection. 

To be absolutely clear, amid all the beauty, flowers, and music this morning we’re not celebrating a church teaching or the moral instructions of a parable… we’re standing in glorious awe, perhaps with a bit of holy fear, at the power of God and the triumph of God’s love over death.  As one commentator put it, Jesus “did not give us ‘Seven Keys to Spiritual Riches’ or ‘Ten Laws for a Successful Life’ or any other simplistic teaching. Jesus came ‘to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us’ to God. He came to offer himself, ‘a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.’”  (The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia)

And through the next fifty days of this Easter season, the Spirit calls us to consider the implications of this resurrected love in our own lives today.

Many of us, and I count clergy in this too, have become expert in saying lots of things about our church with almost smug confidence – this is what we say here, this is what we put over there, this is when we’re supposed to kneel, this is when it’s appropriate to join in that sacrament, this is how it works, etc..  But how many of us have really become confident in speaking clearly about our belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, our Christian faith, and why this is good news to those who haven’t heard it?

Back to the seeming joke…. an unreasonably happy person, in the midst of your despair, has shown you the reality of something that revitalizes even what was thought dead.  Would you rush in here and share that good news with all of us with conviction and confidence?  Perhaps some of you would – praise be to God.  I suspect that some of you, however, like me, would arrive here still a little amazed at what you had just witnessed and a little terrified to tell anyone what you have seen for fear of judgment or ridicule.

And there it is… the crux of our Easter opportunity and challenge.  Once we’ve absorbed the awe and wonder of this moment, we should gather with friends to share the story and then, as God’s messenger told them / tells us, “go, tell” the whole world.

What the woman in the bonnet is carrying with her is the good news we are called to share with the world – God’s grace is guaranteed revitalization and God’s love is a permanent promise… that death can not kill.

Although portion of the Gospel we heard this morning (Mark 16:1-8) ends with the women fleeing in terror and amazement and saying nothing to anyone, we know that they eventually did tell people what they had seen… just as Peter tells Cornelius and others what he has seen and just has Paul later tells many, including those in Corinth, what he has seen – they’ve encountered the risen Christ in their lives, have been transformed through this experience, and are compelled with love to share this good news of hope, forgiveness, and salvation with love to others.

Let’s sit with this a moment.  Had the resurrection never happened, the women and others would have grieved the loss of their mentor and friend as well as some of their hopes and dreams about redemption and restoration with God... and the intensity of their grief would have eventually faded with time and focus on other things.  Perhaps some of them would have secretly been relieved that the controversy of his message and demands of their discipleship would now be relaxed and perhaps forgotten by those who were so disturbed.  


But… Jesus was resurrected.  Jesus lives!  His message is true and we can never deny or ignore his teachings and commands of us.  


Indeed this is exciting and worth celebrating this morning!  …and, if we take this to heart in our own lives, it can be terrifying as well, as we dare to go around proclaiming that resurrected life is possible, particularly as we approach people who are still in the grips of despair.  And yet, that’s precisely what a Lord did and what we’re called to do.

A quick reminder about the season we’ve now entered before we proceed.  Easter is not just a day – it’s an entire season of our church year which lasts fifty days.  You see here the lighted Paschal candle.  Had we shared the Great Vigil experience together last night, we would all have been reminded what is represents – light coming back into the world to guide us from bondage to freedom.  Symbolic of the great pillar of cloud and fire that guided the Israelites in their exodus journey, it also represents for us the light of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It will remain burning throughout our Easter season, all the way through the Pentecost when we’ll celebrate the Holy Spirit being given to us as a gift.  You’ll see this candle come out again for baptisms and funeral masses to be a visual reminder of the promise of life from death.  Over these next fifty days, each time you see this flame, be reminded that in Christ we are guaranteed revitalization and that God’s love is a permanent promise… death cannot kill what never dies.

Living Lord, whose love displaced the gravity of stone; you entrusted women, who loved you beyond death, with news of the resurrection: we praise you for the open gospel which ends where Easter faith begins.  Accept our fear, our disbelief and take us into this new world led by the risen Son, granting us the wisdom and confidence to speak through our own amazement so that others who need to hear the good news can be resurrected with us, through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the [formerly] dead. Amen.  Alleluia! (adapted from a prayer by Steven Shakespeare in Prayers for an Inclusive Church. Church Publishing: New York)

What Did Jesus Do On Holy Saturday?

A video offering from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, AZ:

An article by Daniel Burke:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/jesus-holy-saturday_n_1398224.html?ref=religion

By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

(RNS) Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday?

That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as St. Augustine and prodded some Protestants to advocate editing the Apostles' Creed, one of Christianity's oldest confessions of faith....

(for the rest of this article, please view it on Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/jesus-holy-saturday_n_1398224.html?ref=religion)

Can we trust seemingly foolish, paradoxical, self-sacrificial love?

(opening remarks from Campus Missioner to congregation of St. James, Wichita)

• Thank you for your on-going support of diocesan campus ministry through your mission share apportionment and for hosting our Fall 2011 retreat in the fellowship hall 
• Thank you for your support of our Wichita-area ministries through your offering a monthly meal, nurturing young-adult leaders, and supporting the other adults who sustain these ministry efforts
• Thanks to Deacon Jeff Roper, Tristan Holmberg, and Ashley Petty
• Hannah Clayton is a PM at K-State… speaking of which, we’re looking for a campus ministry intern in-residence there

Who is here on this Tuesday night? (show of hands and some questions)

I’m going make an educated guess that, by your making it a priority to be here tonight, you’re serious about Holy Week and want to go deeper in your journey with the Jesus to the cross… and beyond.    

In conversations last night with young-adults gathered in one of our campus ministry programs, we talked about how it’s so much easier to simply come to church twice a year to revere and worship the superhero Jesus – the radiant, magical little child or the ascended, triumphant one floating in the sky.  But to flesh-out this Christianity thing the rest of the year… to really consider the earthly, incarnational, visceral life of Jesus, and to take seriously what he teaches, demonstrates, and expects of us is much more challenging.  And, in fact, can seem foolish.

The fact that we’re all here this week, remembering stories about a rural rabbi who, over two thousand years ago, dared to challenge the ways of his world and the rulers of his day… who built up great expectations among many people who were low on hope… who chose to buck the system in order to reach out to those who were considered lowly and untouchable… whose closest friends failed to be faithful when the going got tough…  who eventually let himself be humiliated and brutally executed… that we’re here imagining this guy as a king or lord and taking seriously the counter-cultural, self-sacrificial love that he calls us to exhibit toward our neighbors, particularly those we might not like so much or who don’t’ like us… well… that’s down right foolish, isn’t it? 

Have you ever tried to explain your faith or convictions to a friend, family member, or colleague who is critical of this whole organized-religion endeavor?  Have you ever been challenged about why you believe in such mythology?  Has anyone ever teased or actually faulted you for believing in the folly of ‘turning the other cheek’, the naivety of ‘loving your neighbor’, the simple-mindedness of more radical sharing or the economic problems with charitably re-distributing wealth, or the silliness of the notion that the weak and meek shall ever be given priority? 

Indeed, as we point toward this Jesus as our Lord, and to two crossed timbers upon which he was executed, as a sign of our hope we can certainly look, and perhaps sometimes feel, like a ship of fools. This has been the case among us Christians for a long time.

Excluding situations of clubby Christian identity in which people perceive that they’ve been afforded societal privilege or protection in proper society by ‘belonging’ to the right church, for most of our history as a people Christian faith, we’ve struggled with trusting in and acting earnestly on the seemingly foolish wisdom of Christ. It was certainly the case among our ancient communities who, by choosing to live the Good News, were often separating themselves from the societal norm and risking ridicule from the peers and even at times death. 

In our excerpt tonight from Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth (1 Cor 1:18-31), we hear him addressing head-on the seemingly foolishness of the paradoxical teachings and ideas that form the foundations of our faith.  What Paul is pointing out is well worth our meditation and prayer this Holy Week as we walk with Jesus through the final days and hours of his earthly ministry.

Paul tell them - tells us – that the good news of Christ – the message – will appear foolish to those who remain wrapped up in and dependent upon the warped ways of this so-called rational world for their sense of identity and purpose.  God’s wisdom and mercy doesn’t comply with indifferent logic or our own self-centered reasoning – it surprises in its economic favoring of the lowly and despised and its unreasonable and outlandish generosity, particularly toward those who have seemingly gone far astray.  The very notion that the mighty creator of everyone would humble himself to a humiliating death on a cross is a joker’s wild card in the deck of life that trumps everything most of us think we know about this game called life.

Get in touch with the potentially confusing and confounding truth here.  Bring to mind a super hero of your youth, or perhaps a leader today in whom you’ve invested great expectations and hope.  Now imagine witnessing that person willfully surrendering to brutal and violent public humiliation and cruelty to the point of death, all the while looking you in square in the eye and saying that this is how it is to be – we must die, sometime even a violent death, in order to truly live.  What?!

And, yet, here we are tonight hearing this type of paradoxical proclamation from Jesus.  The Spirit is compelling us this Holy Week to radically reexamine our attachments to this life – or at least our way of living it - and what it can mean to die with Jesus in order to embrace new life in the resurrection with Christ.

In tonight’s Gospel lesson from John (John 12: 20-36), Jesus is transitioning from his public ministry into the final days of more intimate instructions to his closest followers. The Passover festival has attracted not only faithful Jews, but curious Gentiles (Greeks) as well.  Jesus is speaking to them all – the mission and wisdom is no longer just for the Jews. It is heading into this holy celebration, with all sort of people gathered, that Jesus lays down one his most challenging lessons: each single grain (including himself) must die in order for the vine to grow and bear greater fruit for the new kingdom.

On one level, this makes sense – we understand the basics of this agricultural metaphor.  We plant seeds and things grow.  But the implications of this in our lives are profound.

Go deeper.  We must allow ourselves to be planted and for the boundaries of our shells to be broken open as we surrender the form that has kept us in tact for so long.  What we believe has held us together must be let go of in order to embrace the kingdom.

When we let go and break open, it’s messy and disorienting as the truest essence of who we are begins to combine organically with others around us going through the same process (think of the actual birth process, or the organic nature of composting).  Our former selves essentially die in this process of becoming something new – something that can grow taller and provide nourishment beyond ourselves.

In order to become part of Christ’s vineyard, we must again and again let go, surrender, and plant ourselves in fertile soil where a process of death is allowed to cleanse and redeem the life-generating essence of who/what we’ve been created to become.

Too abstract?  How about this… think of who you are today – what comprises your identity; where your pride is rooted; what keeps you feeling self, secure, and sanely contained in this otherwise chaotic world. 

Now look around at the needs in the world around you.  See specific types of people who struggle… struggle to survive with even basic dignity in a system that may never afford them opportunities that you and I take for granted.   Where do you sense unfairness and even exploitation occurring – hidden suffering that benefits others who’d prefer not to think about those who can’t seem to help themselves. Perhaps look no further than this city of Wichita… or maybe even in your own family. 

What would it look like, sound like, feel like if you were to step off the conventional merry-go-round of your seemingly predictable and stable life in order to venture forth to touch and help those in most need.  Not just occasionally, but every day. What would you have to give up in order to really speak your mind about what you sense is wrong with our way of doing things?  What might happen to you and your livelihood if you dared speak ‘truth to power’ and consistently speak out and advocate for the underdog, the unpopular, and the untouchables?

What if you lived your life like this every day?  How foolish would that be?  How foolish was Jesus for living this way?  Do you really trust in the ultimately redeeming power of his self-sacrificial love?  Are you willing to go near the cross yourself – do you trust in what’s on the other side?

As we walk the way of the cross this week, preparing for the Triduum ahead – Maundy Thursday’s last meal and intimacy of wash each other’s feet, Friday’s violence and death, and Saturday’s silence and waiting – let’s pray for the Spirit to help us absorb, digest, and be willing to live with foolish-faith into Jesus’s words:

"The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

AMEN.

Fools, Forsaking and Forgiven

Greetings, St. Bartholomew’s.  Thank you for inviting me back for Palm Sunday again.

Palm Sunday this year happens to fall on April 1^st – April Fool’s Day.  This is deliciously ironic in the sense that what we’re up is kinda foolish, no?  We’re re-enacting and remembering something outlandish that happened over two thousand years ago and supposing that it still has relevance to us today.

Too often, I fear, we half-heartedly process with palms (not quite sensing the celebration) and then proceed right into the powerful Passion narrative a bit numbed (not delving into despair of the story) – we’ve heard it all before and we’re just kinda going through the motions. 

As I said last year, after such powerful lectionary readings on this day, it’s hard to know what to say.  Witnessing our adulation of our Lord and king with palms as he rides into Jerusalem in one moment, and only shortly thereafter hearing ourselves deny, condemn, mock, and shout to crucify him in the next… and then to imagine the suffering Jesus endured and to hear him cry out with a last breath to God, “Why have you forsaken (abandoned) me?” – the turn of events… the turn of heart… it turns my stomach, to say the least.   

This Palm Sunday morning, rather than offer a traditional homily, let’s engage in some conversation about what we’ve just heard and experienced.  Let’s bring the stories to life for ourselves in a way that invites us into the journey of Holy Week. This Palm Sunday morning, let’s get into the emotions a bit more and connect them to our current relationship with Jesus and the way of the cross. 

This is an opportunity to engage our imagination and see what the Spirit shows us.

GUIDING QUESTIONS
(distinguish between the procession experience and the Passion narrative)

1. Imagine that you were present (for the procession and then the Passion) – where were you, what perspective do you have on what’s happening, what do you see and hear going on

2. What is happening to you as you witness/experience these events?

3. How is this affecting your relationship with God?

4. This morning, what might the Spirit be calling you re-consider and do differently this Holy Week as we prepare for Easter?

SEEDS FOR DISCUSSION:

a)    How do you compare/contrast the different processions into Jerusalem that day? Which procession are more often attracted to / compelled to join? (toward crown or toward cross? pride, winning, and control vs. humility, service/sacrifice, and surrender)

b) What has this Jesus from Nazareth been doing that has everyone all stirred up? (the common folk as well as the establishment leaders)

c) In Mark’s telling, Jesus cries out, quoting the first line of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – who has abandoned/forsaken whom?

Examples from them that still apply to us:

• We sleep rather than stay awake with Christ, choosing our needs rather than his.
• We are willing to betray our friends for the sake of short-term profit.
• We are quick to violence, even after Jesus has made it clear we are to ‘turn the other cheek’ and forgive.
• We are quick to condemn someone who speaks truth to power, for fear that we might be also seen as sympathetic to a counter cultural new vision of common good.
• When pressed by accusers in the popular crowd, we sometimes shy away from, or outright deny our true Christian identity and convictions.
• Sometimes we choose to kill ourselves, rather than humbly repentant and believe that new life if possible through forgiveness and grace.
• When caught up with the crowd, we’ll even choose known evils, things that we know are bad of us, rather than stick up for the innocent underdog, the marginalized, the outcast.
• While one of us might occasionally step forward to carry the load, how much more often to the rest of us stand on the sidelines quietly thanking God that we don’t have to carry the burdens of others… maybe even believing that their misery is their own fault.
• And, how quick we are sometimes to test God, boldly demanding that God demonstrate proof for our faith – losing faith because God doesn’t perform just as we want God to when we want God to, as if God is under our command.

In Mark’s telling, Jesus cries out, quoting the first line of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


Please turn to page 611 of your Book of Common Prayer and let’s read (antiphonally – alternating sides of the congregation by asterisks) the final third (verses 21-30) of the 22^nd Psalm that Jesus began to recite from the cross:

I will declare your Name to my brethren; * in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

Praise the LORD, you that fear him; * stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; * but when they cry to him he hears them.

My praise is of him in the great assembly; * I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: * "May your heart live for ever!"

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, * and all the families of the nations bow before him.

For kingship belongs to the LORD; * he rules over the nations.

To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; * all who go down to the dust fall before him.

My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; * they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.

They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn * the saving deeds that he has done.

Despite our forsaking God, God has not forsaken us.  Despite our foolish abandon into our own self-concerns and ambitions, Christ does not abandon us.

Though we will remember this Holy Week how our Lord, even after doing so much good, was betrayed by one of his closest friends and made to suffer public humiliation and a painful death, we know that on the horizon in a week, there is redemption, hope, and new life through our risen Lord.  

AMEN.