Do You Hear What I Hear?

Homily, Easter 3c, April 14, 2013

John 21:1-19 with Acts 9:1-20 in bg.

Some time ago an airplane crashed at YVR. As it burst into flames a number of people, who a few seconds earlier had simply been minding their own business, jumped out of their cars and raced towards that burning plane. With little or no consideration for their own well being and at great risk, they were attempting to rescue those trapped inside the plane. Now this occurred in Richmond/Vancouver, where frequently people hardly say hello to anyone they don't know. Why did those people do that?

 

A second story. A young boy was attending summer school. He was then a young boy who sometimes struggled with his expressive and written language. But as you will hear he has a heart of gold and faith that will be shared by him. One day this young boy comes home from his summer school. He mentions to his mom that his friends there did not know about God., about Jesus or the Holy Spirit. So, his mom asked, "What did you do, Son?" Without so much as a second thought he mentioned that he told them, about God, about Jesus and the Holy Spirit... Why do you think this young boy took the "risk", the opportunity to tell his new friends about Jesus?

 

And lastly a third story. An older woman takes a bus for 45 minutes 5 days a week to visit people in a nursing home. Initially she knew only a few of them. But now after months if not years of visiting she knows all of them. Patiently she sits beside them, occasionally speaking their name. If they are open to her touch, she reaches out to them. Sometimes she hums a tune, one that she knows they will appreciate. At other times she sits in silence particularly with those who no longer can speak or with those who no longer know their own names. At snack time she helps them with the snacks, the cracker or cookie, the cheese or fruit. Again names are spoken, eye contact is made, smiles are not only part of her repertoire but an integral part of who she is. So this woman gives of herself day after day – to others, many of whom have no one or at most only an occasional visitor. Why does she do this – through rain and sun, spring, summer, fall and winter, travelling on a bus – now herself in her early 80's?

 

Today we hear the epilogue of John's gospel. Jesus has appeared at least three times, some would say four times to them, already. But Jesus isn't done appearing yet – not by a long shot. The disciples have been through much: their leader has been executed. Most of them have abandoned him. Peter denies him – not once, but a number of times. Still, Jesus keeps showing up – offering them peace, even commissioning them to a living way of forgiveness and hope.

 

But they are slow on the uptake. Maybe they're a bit like us: we who are given forgiveness, love, life – the fullness of what the church calls salvation – deliverance to life and love and hope. But then we forget or judge another, or even spew venom. Sometimes we even  fear generosity and mistrust God and others. The disciples like us are slow on the uptake.

 

But Jesus doesn't give up on them. Not at all. Even when they go back to what they know after several of his appearances following his death. Can they be blamed for going back to what they likely are good at? Peter comes up with the idea. The others along. They work all night – BUT NOTHING. And then at daybreak when they are ready to draw in their empty nets – there is a figure on the beach. He calls out to them. Cast your nets – on the other side. Amazingly they do. Their catch is phenomenal – more than ever before. Their nets, so full, are literally straining.

 

One of them now recognizes the figure on the beach. It is the Lord! And Peter, God bless him, as impulsive, as ever plunges into the water, thrashing towards his risen Lord. Isn't it interesting that they aren't looking for Jesus?

 

What's "going on" for you these days? Work/school? Raising kids, grandkids? Attempting to be a good friend? Simply attempting to survive another day? Trying to find meaning in all of the stuff that's going on within you, around you? Is it possible that the risen Jesus approaches you – calling you to listen to him, or perhaps even to try something different, to put your nets on the other side of the boat you have been working so hard in/at? Maybe it's possible that the risen Christ through the Spirit of God either in a dream, a vision, a new intuition is calling you to keep at it, that which you have been doing and may be tired of.

 

We are joined to a body, the very body of Jesus Christ, the risen One. He is alive! Through the Holy Spirit this risen One moves, speaks, directs, encourages and loves. This is a radical conviction. Some seek to limit Jesus to back there – His life and death some 2 millenia ago. Nevertheless Jesus is alive. Just as He does with those early disciples, He continues to approach,  us – often right where we are. His approach continues even though sometimes for many different reasons we don't recognize him.

 

Sooner or later day breaks. He calls out to us, yet again. He nurtures and feeds us. And then as we are strengthened and being equipped, like Peter long ago He calls us to tend, to care for, to feed his sheep, the people and creatures of this world, to care for the whole creation.

 

We need to know, such caring isn't easy. Peter experienced opposition. There came a time when others took him where he didn't want to go. But in part this was a result of him doing what Jesus called and continued to call him to do – to love his sheep, feed them and tend them. What Peter does in response to Jesus' command is so GOOD!

 

That was then. This is now. The risen Christ reaches out to us – asking, "Do we love him?" This is an important question. A living response necessitates a deep care and concern for others – all others with the gifts God has uniquely entrusted to us.

 

May God help us to see and hear the risen Christ in our midst. May we then with joy, courage, and much anticipation, obey - for the love of God who so deeply loves the world. Amen.

 

Beyond Unless to Blessed

Low Sunday, Easter 2 c, April 7, 2013

Texts – Acts 5:27-32 (we must obey God rather than men – witnesses to repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins)

Revelation 1:4-8 – Greetings – not alone; but God is the Alpha and the Omega (here and wherever). Be careful about other realities that seek to claim our allegiance as the alpha and the omega.

John 20:19-31 (a) – Peace be with you, breathed on them the Holy Spirit, sends them out as afraid and as imperfect as they are to be sent as he was – to reveal God – then forgiveness and retention of sins (careful here)

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Do you believe that?

 

On that first Easter morning Mary Magdalene tells the early disciples, "I have seen the Lord!" But they don't or can't believe her. We know this because that very evening, the very night of the day that  she has told them that she has seen the Lord, they are behind locked doors. They are paralyzed by fear. They may have heard the words, "I have seen the Lord". They may have even registered mentally that Jesus who was dead is alive. But what that means for them, hasn't registered. They are so afraid, that her words have had minimal impact upon them.

 

Perhaps they were afraid for their lives. That may be difficult for us to understand. Or maybe they were afraid because if it was true, if Jesus is alive, who knows what he might ask them to do, to be? Look where his teaching, his love, his honesty regarding God, himself, and others had gotten him! They are afraid.

 

But what about us? What are we afraid of? What causes us to lock our doors – to shut other people out, to cement our minds, to attempt to close ourselves off from what God may be up to? Are we afraid of not having enough – of losing our job, of losing the relationship with  our kids, grandkids or friends? Do we just try to fit in, to not be noticed? Are we skeptical, perhaps even fearful of change, of what's happening in society, our Church, our families, our schools, our country, even the world?

 

It's not silly, nor is it illogical to be afraid. Horrendous things do happen. Even small children aren't safe in some daycares. Our homes may be broken into. Due to the uncertainty of the world economy, jobs can be lost. If we live long enough we realize that people are not always (some would say usually) dependable. People do change. Promises made, may not be kept. Whom can we trust? How shall we then live? It's no wonder then that we lock our doors, install our alarm systems and are very reserved to hide certain things about ourselves from almost everyone.  

 

This is true not only personally but collectively. Entire provinces and nations are hesitant to be honest about themselves, about whom they really trust – and what truly matters to them. This lack of trust, this hesitancy to be honest, to share values, hopes and dreams and acknowledge fears prevent us from loving, from caring, from sharing, often from having the abundant life that God wills for us and this world in Jesus Christ.

 

But – and here is some exciting, good and frightening news. But, the risen Christ, the One who knows about our fear and brokenness, our yelling, screaming and blaming when we are afraid, our amassing arms because we want so desperately to be secure and safe – this One can penetrate any and all locked doors.

 

I'm not sure exactly how God does this. But for those earliest disciples the crucified and risen Lord comes through their locked doors. He shows them the reality of His wounded body. In doing so He extends to them a peace  beyond understanding that includes a commission. Such peace shapes the way they are to relate to One another. Whether or not they are in agreement, whether or not they understand one another, they are united by Him to him and to each other. Whether or not they feel like loving the world, they are called to care about and for the world, by bearing witness to this Jesus, to His love and His willingness to forgive, to the truth that death, hatred, the significant powers of evil are not God, are not as the book of revelation shares neither the beginning nor the end. Only God is! In Jesus we glimpse God's very heart.  

 

As Jesus shows those early disciples his hands and side and speaks to them, He does the most radical thing. Echoing an early creation account, He, this (to use John's language) Word of God breathes on them giving them God's very Spirit. Then Jesus tells them that they are sent into the world even as the Father has sent Him.

 

Now their barriers are beginning to come down. They are beginning to tell a few, that they too have seen the Lord. Not everyone can accept that, at least initially. Nevertheless these disciples are to keep on telling.  Eventually they do – again and again and again. By God's grace, through their witness and the work of God's spirit, we are here.

 

Experiencing God's peace then doesn't mean that we won't ever be afraid. Experiencing, being gifted with God's peace doesn't mean that we won't try to lock the doors to our lives from time to time. But experiencing God's grace, sharing Jesus' body and blood, hearing a Word that sometimes stirs us, even causing our hearts to burn within us, means that we are called by God, to share good news with those around us – right where we work and play, in our families.

 

This crazy, mixed up, horrible and wonderful world is created by and loved by God. So many people, don't know this, often don't experience this. That's why we are among those who are sent – to reflect the love of God in Jesus Christ, to be examples that there can be new beginnings every day, that forgiveness is real and makes a difference, that everyone has value – that no matter how dark things are, there isn't just a light at the end of the tunnel – but there is light with us shining into the darkness.

 

This is both exciting and scary at the same time. Often if not always there will be opposition from without and within. There are forces and voices seeking to convince us that this isn't true, that we haven't seen the Lord – that evil is so powerful, that there is nothing we can do.

 

But also hear the voice of God, the voice of the risen Christ calling our name. Mary does.

 

Feel the breath of the risen Christ giving us His Spirit again and again in water, wine and bread so that our eyes may be opened to see the Creator creating, the Redeemer, delivering time and time again. It is the Spirit who stirs up faith, even in us, we, imperfect, occasionally  so messed up people. See Thomas. His "unlesses" give way to, "My Lord and my God." Tradition has it that Thomas eventually takes the good news of Jesus to India.

 

So I ask you – "Where is God calling us to shine?"

 

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

My Lord and my God, our Lord and our God, help us to "see", to believe, to tell and to show. Amen.

Through Darkness to "Mary"!

 (John 20:1-18)

Easter, March 31, 2013

Mary was weeping. Who could blame her? Jesus, this One who had helped her so much, in whom so many of them had hoped, had been crucified. And if that wasn't enough, now on the third day since it had happened, Mary had screwed up her courage and was approaching his tomb in the darkness. Do you know such darkness? It's a deep darkness, not merely the absence of sunlight – but rather the absence of any light or warmth. Such darkness is an emptiness that cuts to the core of our being, our very soul. Such darkness more than fills us. It can consume us, driving us to the point where we cry and cry and cry, even convulse inwardly or outwardly until we can't cry anymore. And still that's all there seems to be, this darkness.  So, Mary had been weeping.

 

She arrives at her destination, that tomb, to do what she had to do. But the stone has been rolled away. What has happened? Someone, some people, THEY must have taken, NO STOLEN HIS BODY. Mary begins to run. She has to see Simon Peter and that other disciple, the One whom Jesus loved so much. The words race out of her mouth as soon as she approaches them. Her words fall with a thud. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb...and WE DO NOT KNOW where they have laid him."

 

Mary's darkness is deep. . . Can we identify? I weep. We weep, inwardly, outwardly at injustices: at what is happening to common ordinary people in Syria; at people who beat or do even more horrible things to their children; at death claiming infants and children and mothers in their 30's who have so much to live for, so much love to give and who are taken before their time. We weep, inwardly and outwardly at the potential for so much good, that somehow gets derailed and ends up in the pockets of greed, while so many starve, die, languishing in pain, emptiness, loneliness. At times our darkness is deep. Then, even the music, the entertainment, the constant rushing can only push the darkness out of our consciousness for so long.

 

We get caught up like Mary. Upon speaking to Peter and the other disciple she follows them back to the tomb. They enter. They have their own experiences there. But Mary remains outside. Her pain is so intense, it is almost unbearable. Eventually bending over, weighed down with grief, she glimpses two beings in white. They are sitting where the Lord's body had lain. They ask her the most ridiculous question, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

 

The words cascade from her mouth, such personal words. "They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him."  She turns, still weeping. Upon turning she sees someone, a man. He asks her questions, "Woman why are you weeping?" And then a deeper one, "Whom are you looking for?"

 

Mary must do something. She addresses the man, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I     WILL TAKE HIM AWAY."... If she only, she could do something, anything for him, HER DEAD LORD.

 

Now the man addresses her, calling out her name,  "MARY!"

 

And she – she can't believe that she has heard her name. Only one person speaks her name  LIKE THAT – MARY. The man before her is not a gardener. Her LORD is no longer DEAD! Whirling,  she  speaks to him tenderly, with a title, that she reserves only for him, "RABBOUNEE." Then she reaches out seeking to grab, even cling to him. Again, who can blame her? She has lost him before. She had been sure that it was... forever.  Now Mary holds onto her risen Lord  with something akin to a death grip.

 

But even death's power is limited! Jesus tells her in effect,  do not hold onto me. Instead go and tell my brothers and sisters what you have seen and heard...

 

And so she does. I suspect that she is running, with shock, and joy beyond comprehension. Upon seeing the others she keeps telling them again and again what he has said to her. Her darkness is lifting, being transformed into light. Her weeping may continue, but now her tears are OF JOY!  

 

What does this mean for us? We people who are not strangers to weeping. We are people who are told again and again that only seeing is believing – that truth can be, must be proven. What do we with this word of Mary even as we are surrounded by so many voices of supposed logic – decrying that any and all of this "resurrection business" is mere superstition, archaic simplicity, – some would even call it an IDLE TALE, delusion.

 

Dare we follow Mary's footsteps – to have the courage to actually deeply love someone? In that experience of life and love will we have the courage to enter and even encounter whatever darkness may come?  Make no mistake, death in all its forms is no delusion, no idle tale. Moreover death is much more than the cessation of breathing, the end of brain activity, the stopping of a heart. Death can be devastating. It's darkness can be suffocating.

 

But there in such times, those moments, in the very midst of such swirling power, even as we weep, ache and are swept away – God approaching. So  please, don't only see the tombs of our lives, the urns of our loves' ashes.  But also dare to speak to the Gardener.

 

As it turns out, the "gardener" even knows our name. The gardener is the One who births light into the darkness and gives life to the world,  beyond any and all human capacity. His work is beyond proof, defies human understanding, and is better than good. As we hear our name we may want to cling to him, but it is far better to hear him.  For in His intimate love and knowledge of us and the world He has work for us to do.

 

We are to go and share, to go and love, to go and forgive, trusting against any and often all logic that the walls of separation and hatred can fall down, that violence and despair can be transformed into love and hope and finally that death - is neither the final nor the lasting word.

 

Who knows – in whatever darkness we may find ourselves right now,  we could still just hear someone intimately speak our own name -   for CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED! HALLELUJAH!

 

Beyond Death's Stop

Good Friday Sermon (John 19:1-42)

A while ago in a large city, in a different country, a very young woman stopped and sat on a bench across from a church. From that vantage point she could see clearly. Funeral cars were outside the church curb side. But everything and everyone else outside that church kept on running as if nothing was even happening. The young woman wondered to herself, shouldn't the reality of death stop us, if even for a moment?

 

There are times when death literally paralyzes us.  I remember a farmer who accidentally drove over his 3 year old son with their tractor. My God, how his life and the life of his wife, family and friends changed in that death. Sometimes death literally stops us!

 

But at other times death and its many forms simply run over us like water upon a roof, spilling over our "sides" and then seemingly away. On the next day or in a week, we go on as if nothing has happened, as if it never "rained". But who can measure the long term effect of such denial of death?

 

Shouldn't death stop us? After all, what is death? Death isn't just the cessation of breathing, the lack of brain activity, the decomposition of one's body. Death is much more than any and all of that. Death's marks can include hatred, the paralysis of fear, the immobilization of apathy. When we walk right past people without even seeing them, doesn't death have a grasp on us? When as followers of Jesus we are so paralyzed by our fear so that we don't even speak to those whom we don't agree with, doesn't death have a grip on us?  When millions and millions of human beings don't have enough: enough food, enough water, or severely limited access to education or health care while other millions of humans beings have so much that they require lypo suction or weight watchers or need a gym pass just to burn their excess calories, isn't death having its way with us? Finally, when the Church is so divided that she at times doesn't witness first and foremost to the power of the love of Christ, isn't death's grip tightening?

 

God is not a stranger to death. God sees the power of death. God subjects God's own self to death, not in a random way nor cursory manner-but specifically on behalf of all humanity, for all creation. We must know this! Daring to look by the grace of God, we can see God taking in and on death this afternoon. We worship at the foot of a cross, Jesus' cross.

 

When Jesus says, "It is finished", he isn't merely referring to his earthly life. He is speaking of his very reason for being, the purpose of his life. He comes among us to face death in all its forms. He comes to seek out and rescue all who are lost – including you and me. In taking on death Jesus comes to rescue all humanity and creation from ourselves: from our apathy, our fear, our violence, our obsession with death, our inability to be honest about any and all of this.

 

Watch Jesus move toward the cross. In John's Gospel He purposely moves toward the cross. Observing him we also see other people: the chief priests, the temple police, Peter, the Mary's, the disciples. As we watch them, it's like gazing in a mirror and seeing, OURSELVES. Aren't we sometimes terrified of losing our status, our "place" whatever that may be? Aren't we sometimes caught in the mind set of our time, occasionally doing that which is good and even wonderful, but then at other times falling far short. It's so easy to think that we must have this or that  to somehow be "secure". 

 

At times we are willing to stand/sit/weep, be silent with those who are struggling even though it is so difficult for us. But at other times we put off, delay, even attempt to deny in order to escape such pain, loss and grief.

 

God knows. Jesus knows our human condition. In love for us, Jesus hangs on the cross. Nearing death He says, "It is finished". At first glance we might think "it's all over". Certainly that's what the earliest disciples believed. But because of Jesus' action- in the midst of the horrendous power of death, there are new beginnings! On him have been laid the iniquity of us all.

 

And this dear people is the mystery of faith, the holy, total love of God in the face of any and all opposition, especially unbelief. Dare to see him, to know that in Jesus' obedience, in Jesus' suffering and death is our hope. His, "it is finished" is the truth of new life, love and forgiveness that encounters and wills to guide any and all through death who have eyes to see, ears to hear, that faces and lives through death for everyone and anyone, with eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to be stirred.

 

To be sure death sometimes should stop us. But Christ's death is intended to lead us even through death to new possibilities.                     Amen.