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Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 16, 2010

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Beth Crane

Easter 7C RCL May 16, 2010

 

Acts 16:16-34

Psalm 97

Revelation 22:12-14; 16-17; 20-21

John 17:20-26

 

This Sunday we look in on Paul and Silas as they continue their ministry in Philippi. There are two dramatic encounters. The first is with a slave girl who has a gift of divination. Her gift is very accurate. She names Paul and Silas as representatives of the most high God.

 

The problem is that her owners are using her for their own selfish financial gain. Paul antagonizes her owners by removing this gift so that they can no longer grow rich by keeping her as a slave.

 

This causes a general uproar. The crowd beats Paul and Silas, and they land in jail, securely bound, even placed in the stocks. Paul and Silas sing hymns and pray to God, and the prisoners listen to them. Around midnight there is an earthquake, the doors are opened and the chains are unfastened. But Paul does not want the jailer to be blamed for an escape, so he and the other prisoners stay.

 

When the jailer arrives, he thinks the prisoners have escaped, and, in shame, he is about to kill himself. Paul stops him. Although the earthquake is a natural event, all present clearly attribute it to God. Paul’s concern for the jailer and and the fact that the prisoners  have not fled touches the jailer’s heart deeply. He washes the prisoners’ wounds. He is so compelled by the prisoners’ faith in God that he and his family are baptized immediately. In a wonderful and moving paradox, the prisoners, by not escaping, free the jailer and welcome him into newness of life. This is yet another account from the Book of Acts of the powerful work of the Spirit in the early Church. It is so important for us to remember that the Holy Spirit is just as active today in our own lives and in our world.

 

The gospel for today is once again from Jesus’ high priestly prayer just before he goes to his death.

 

Barbara Rossing, of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, writes of this passage, “We should read this text, first of all, as a prayer, a window into the very heart of God. How powerful it is to know that Jesus has prayed to God on our behalf. There is no one for whom Jesus did not pray on his last night.  Like the prayer of the parent overheard by the child for whom one intercedes, what this prayer reveals is Jesus’ deep love for his disciples and his deep trust in God as he prepares for his death. Love is at the heart of this prayer.” Rossing, New Proclamation, Year C, 2001, pp. 65-66.)

 

Jesus is praying that we may be one as he and the Father are one. This is a prayer for every Christian community and for all Christians around the world.  Beyond that, I believe this is a prayer for the whole human family. We all know that the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are deeply committed to ecumenical and interfaith work. Possibly because we are the via media, the middle way, we are open to all the expressions of the Christian faith as well as to other faith expressions.

 

This unity does not mean uniformity. This unity is not of Christians walking in lockstep. It is unity amidst great diversity and richness founded on the kind of love which is rooted in respect for each other as children of God.

 

It is the kind of unity we see in the blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Each person of the Trinity is  distinct and unique, yet they are one in the love which they share and express to the world. It is that quality of love which Jesus calls us to share in our own faith community and beyond. And he promises that he will abide in us, and we in him. Jesus is in us and we are in him.

 

We see that quality of love and trust in Paul and Silas and their company as they sing and pray, as they rest in faith and complete trust in God, even to the point of staying there in prison so that they can reach out to their own jailer and set him free.

 

May we always remember that Jesus abides in us.  Jesus is in us. May we have the kind of faith that can set us and others free. May we all be one as Jesus and the Father are one. And may we remember that the Holy Spirit can work just as powerfully now as two thousand years ago.

                                                           Amen.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2010

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Beth Crane
Easter 6 Year C RCL May 9, 2010

Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10-22:5
John 14:23-29

Once again this morning in our reading from the Book of Acts, things are moving at the pace of a rapid-fire news account. Paul and Silas are in Troas, and Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia who says, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” So Paul and his companions immediately head for Philippi.
When the Sabbath comes, they go to look for the Jewish community and they find them in a place of prayer, possibly a synagogue, by the river. There, they speak to a woman named Lydia, who is worshipping with a group of women. She is a dealer in purple cloth, which means that she sells fabric to the wealthy. She is also wealthy herself and has high standing in the community. In response to Paul’s proclamation of the Good News, she and her household are baptized and she offers her home as a base for Paul’s work in the area. Lydia is one of several women who served as leaders in the early church.

Just as Cornelius the Centurion was the first Gentile convert, Lydia is the first European convert. The new faith is rapidly spreading into new territory.

Today’s gospel comes from what is called Jesus’ farewell discourse to his followers. He has just washed their feet and shared the Passover meal with them. Judas has just left. Jesus is telling them and us that he must go to the Father. The Feast of the Ascension comes this Thursday, so his departure is clear in our minds. These are his marching orders for us. This is his last chance to tell us what he is about. He is gone and we are left here to carry out his mission.

The first point he makes is about love. “Those who love me will keep my word and the Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Jesus calls us together in love. He does not order us around. He is among us as one who serves, and he calls us to be servants. He does not compel us to follow him through guilt, or coercion, or manipulation. None of these things. Just love. To love Christ is to live a life rooted in compassion, and, if we love Christ, we are one with him and with God. Love is the force that binds together the members of the Body of Christ. Later in this gospel, he will say that he is the vine and we are the branches. The love is the vibrant life force, the current, the energy, which keeps the Body not only alive but growing and thriving. And it is that love which prompts the Body, each arm and leg and eye and ear and cell, to reach out in love to others.

The next part is about the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us at another point that he has much to teach us but we cannot bear it all now. So he will send the Spirit to guide us into all truth. And it is not a black and white, limited, concrete, hard and fast truth. It is a truth filled with mystery and ambiguity, a constantly unfolding truth, as the Spirit leads us into more and more fullness. It is a truth rooted and grounded in love and compassion. So the Spirit is constantly nudging us to see new things, to learn more and more about the wonder and beauty of God’s creation.

Finally, Jesus talks about peace. But this peace, this shalom, is not simply a static state of calm or stillness. Herbert O’Driscoll writes, “The word shalom, usually translated by the English word peace, is a far wider concept than what we usually mean by peace. Shalom has many levels of meaning. It can mean the coming together of all things, the resolution of many conflicting aspects of human existence and indeed of all creation. In that sense, shalom has intimations of unity, resolution, reconciliation, a clarifying of our perceptions. All this may come after a period in no way peaceful in the ordinary sense . Shalom may be reached after much conflict.” (Child of Peace, Lord of Life, p. 67.)

The shalom of Christ, the reign of God, is the restoration of the garden, the knitting together of the creation into the ultimate harmony which God intends for it. It is what the seer named John envisioned in the coming of the new Jerusalem. Here we are, arms and legs and eyes and ears in the Body of Christ, called together to do his work, to spread his vision of love, to share his hope and healing as Paul and Silas and Lydia and others have done over all these centuries.

We are called to keep in our minds and hearts the vision of shalom. God is at this very moment working in the creation, working in us and in everyone, to bring this vision to completion. Even when we cannot see it happening, and often we cannot—it is like leaven in the flour. It is like treasure hidden in a field. Even when we cannot see that it is happening, we are called to trust that the shalom of God is growing.

In her book, A Wing and a Prayer, our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori writes that she signs her e-mails with the word shalom as a reminder of what she is supposed to be about. She says that there had been a series of letters to the editor about a Muslim student who had left her high school because of how she was treated. These letters were from students at a local high school inviting this young woman to join their school, “where they believed she would be welcomed.” She notes that such an attitude is in harmony with our baptismal vows to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

She adds, “That’s the kind of work each one of us has agreed to do: to use every resource at hand to build the reign of God—to use the gifts we have, the ones we think we might have, and the ones we haven’t discovered yet, to be willing to speak aloud about our vision of peace, whether in the newspaper or in the halls of Congress, and to dedicate our lives to making that vision come alive, to give our hearts to it, to believe in it, with every fiber of our being.

Building the reign of God is a great and bold adventure, and it is the only route to being fully alive. If we don’t set out to change the world, who will?”

Amen.

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Welcome to Summer Music at Grace

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Beth Crane

Join us for inspired music in the acoustically dazzling, aesthetically pleasing performance space of Grace Church. Our season runs from approximately the end of May through September. Concerts start at 7:30 PM unless otherwise noted.

Please call Beth Crane 802 326-4603 if you would like further information about the series.

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Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 2, 2010

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Beth Crane
Easter 5C RCL May 2, 2010

Acts 11:1-18

Psalm 148

Revelation 21:1-6

John 13:31-35

As someone has said, the Book of Acts often seems like an action-packed newspaper account of events in the early Church. Let’s fill in a bit of history leading up to today’s portion of Acts.

We begin with Peter. At first, he is convinced that the new faith in Jesus is to be shared only with the Jewish community. But one day at about noon, Peter goes up on the roof to pray and he has the vision which he summarizes in our lesson. He sees the heavens opened and a huge sheet comes down and on that sheet are all kinds of animals, those which one can eat under the Jewish law and those which are forbidden. A voice says to him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat,” And Peter says, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” And the voice, which, of course, is the voice of God, says to Peter, “What God has made clean you must not call profane.” This happens three times, and then the sheet is taken up into heaven.

Meanwhile, a Centurion by the name of Cornelius, a Gentile, also has a vision. An angel of God instructs him to send people to Joppa to find Peter. So, as Peter is puzzling over his vision of the sheet, which is clearly a vision of inclusiveness, the Spirit says to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” A more exact translation, scholars tell us, would be, “Go with them without discrimination, for I have sent them.”

The next day, Peter and the three men set out for Caesarea, where Cornelius lives. When they get to Cornelius’ house, Cornelius comes out and falls at Peter’s feet in worship. But Peter makes him stand up and says, “Stand up, for I am only a mortal.” A large group of Gentiles has gathered at Cornelius’ house, and Peter goes in and speaks to them. “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” Peter continues, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but that in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Peter goes on to tell the story of Jesus’ life and ministry—the Good News.

And then an extraordinary thing happens. As Peter speaks, the Holy Spirit falls on all of them, Jews and Gentiles. The people speak in tongues and praise God, and, since the Spirit is already with them, Peter orders that all of them should be baptized.

God has made it abundantly clear that the new faith is for everyone.

Back in Jerusalem, however, the Jewish Christian community is hearing about all this, and they can’t understand why Peter has been associating with Gentiles. So Peter explains step by step everything that has happened. At the end of his explanation, the community realizes that the new faith is not to be confined to the Jewish community. They praise God, saying, “God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to eternal life.”

Our passage from Revelation emphasizes this theme. God says, “See, I am making all things new.” The Spirit blows where it wills. God’s love and healing cannot be confined.

In our gospel for today, Jesus is with his friends. Judas has just left. It is nighttime. The darkness of betrayal is unfolding. But the light shines in the darkness. Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Charles Cousar writes, “In Jesus the disciples have a concrete, living expression of what love is. Love can no longer be trivialized or reduced to an emotion or debated over as if it were a philosophical virtue under scrutiny. Jesus now becomes the distinctive definition of love.” (Texts for Preaching, Year C, p. 310.)

Jesus is telling us that a Christian community is one in which all persons are loved. In addition to the Ten Commandments, there is this new commandment, that we create new communities in which all people are loved, no matter what. He gives us the blueprint for how to do that, and that blueprint is his own life and ministry.

Peter had a very clear vision of a sheet coming down from heaven, and that vision changed his entire world view. It also changed the course of the new Church.

The Holy Spirit is still at work in us and in the world. Just as in the Book of Acts, the Spirit can expand our vision and stretch the horizons of our hearts and minds. May the Spirit continue to bless us with visions of loving and inclusive community and the will to make such communities a reality.

Amen.

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Fourth Sunday of Easter – April 25, 2010

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Beth Crane

Easter 4C RCL April 25, 2010
Acts 9:36-45
Psalm 23
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10: 22-30

This morning we begin with the story of Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, a name meaning “gazelle.” This is one of the passages assigned in our new Revised Common Lectionary. Tabitha is a disciple; she is known for her ministry to widows in the congregation at Joppa, modern Jaffa. She has helped many of these widows, and they have formed a community around her to do the same for others which she has done for them, sewing clothes, sharing money and resources and support.

Tabitha has died, and Peter is called to minister in this situation. Peter goes to the room upstairs, and the widows are heartbroken at the loss of their leader. They are weeping and showing examples of the clothing which Tabitha has made. Peter puts them all outside, as Jesus often did, so that there can be quiet. Then he kneels down and prays. Peter then turns to the body and says, “Tabitha, get up.” This parallels many of the healings of Jesus. When he raised Lazarus, for example, he called, “Lazarus, come out.” And Lazarus walked out of the tomb. When Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus, he took her hand and said to her, “Little girl, get up.” And she did just that. Now Tabitha opens her eyes, sits up, and Peter takes her hand and helps her to stand up.

Saul has just been converted to the new faith, and now Peter has healed a man named Aeneas and Tabitha. All of these events show us that the new community of followers of Jesus was growing and continuing our Lord’s ministry with works of healing and new life.

We continue our glimpses into the Book of Revelation with the vision of the multitude gathered before the throne of the Lamb. They come “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” There is a multicultural multitude that is beyond counting. Scholars tell us that the ordeal referred to is persecution by Roman emperors. These people have survived the persecution and now “they will hunger no more and thirst no more.” Their suffering has ended. The Lamb has now become their shepherd, and “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In our gospel for today, Jesus has already described himself as the Good Shepherd. He has said that he knows his sheep and his sheep know him. In this passage, he is being questioned by the authorities, who are trying to entrap him as usual, and he tells them that they do not belong to his sheep. He says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Jesus is talking about the very close relationship which he has with each of us and with all of us as his flock. In biblical times, the shepherds would put their flocks together for safety at night. In the morning, when they were ready to lead the flock out to pasture—the biblical shepherd went ahead of the flock—each shepherd would call his sheep, and the big flock would split into the several flocks because each sheep knew its shepherd’s voice. Each sheep would follow its own shepherd.

Jesus is our shepherd. Each of us knows his voice. We know when he is calling. We can tell when he is nudging us to follow him. We have had a long and strong relationship with him, and we know that we can trust his leading. He is not going to lead us into danger. He is not going to let us perish. He is not going to let something or someone snatch us out of his hand. He is going to lead us to good fresh water and wonderful lush grass. He is going to take care of us.

He knows each of us so well. He knows our gifts and our strengths, and he knows our weaknesses and our places of vulnerability. He knows that we are human. And, most of all, he loves us; he cherishes us. And that leads us back to the fact that he will take good care of us. The biblical shepherd goes out ahead of the flock, scouting out danger, finding the good water and the best pasture. The good shepherd will give his life to save the sheep from wild animals or other dangers.

For us, the spiritual journey can seem full of unknowns and places of confusion, and, for us, it is. Because we do not know the mind of God. But we do know that God is full of love for us. God walks ahead of us and beside us. God surrounds us with love and protection. All we have to do is trust in God. Jesus says in this part of the gospel that he and the Father are one. This means that God has gone through all the experiences that Jesus went through. God knows what it is to be born in a stable in Bethlehem in less than the best circumstances. God knows what it is to be scorned and marginalized and, finally, to be nailed to a cross and to go through agony and to feel alone and totally rejected and to be buried and to rise to new life. Our God is as close to us as the best shepherd is close to his or her flock, knowing each of us intimately, calling to us, and keeping us safe through all the challenges of the journey. May we listen for the voice of Jesus. May we follow him faithfully. Amen.

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