Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
What a week it’s been!
There was a bombing in Boston, an explosion in a fertilizer plant in Texas, an earthquake in China, the Hubble telescope captured an image of the Horsehead Nebula 1500 light years from earth in the constellation Orion, and my former diocese, WMI announced its slate of candidates for bishop which includes two women and two men: one is African American and two are gay.
Fullness of life. What a week it’s been!
As the events of the week unfolded, I found myself invited into many pastoral conversations – most of them having to do with people trying to find peace or hope as they watched the news about Boston and Texas. In general, I was proud to witness so much true Christianity being expressed – especially by Redeemer folks online and at special services and vigils that were held at the church. This mattered to me because as news came in about the Boston bombing-brothers, many self-proclaimed Christians began to spew judgment and hate and seemed to forget our basic beliefs.
I saw a remark on Twitter made a remark that hurt my stomach and broke my heart, so I responded. I don’t know this man (who is a priest, by the way) personally, but he is much loved – even a celebrity. I have to assume he meant to be pastoral and maybe I misinterpreted his words – so few words are used on Twitter that it can happen.
Here’s what he said: “…How do young people become terrorists and harbor the hate it takes to commit such a horrible crime? Wasted life”
His question is a good one – how does anyone, but especially a young person, become so filled with hate and we don’t notice or intervene until it’s too late? But what hurt my stomach, what broke my heart, was that last comment: “Wasted life”
I’m sorry – but there is no such thing as a wasted life. All life is sacred – created by God, beloved of God, and part of the plan of God’s redemption of the whole world.
If this life can’t be redeemed, then where is our hope? If we can’t gather into collective prayer for the redemption of this life, then what is our purpose?
Justice belongs to God and may not be what we have in mind. We are, of course, at liberty to execute justice as belongs to our land, but Christians live in two worlds at once – heaven and earth.
Our gifts are meant to work together to bring the will of God as it is in heaven also on the earth. Each of us who is breathing has been created by God for a purpose, and gifted specifically for that purpose. Then we are led by the Holy Spirit of God into the company of one another and God waits while we discover by prayer, that is, by divine inspiration of ourselves and our community, how our gifts fit together for the purpose God had in mind when God brought us together.
This past week as our choir met to practice, I watched this very phenomenon happen. I watched as the gifts of our choir director, our accompanist, and our members came together in the anthem. What happened was so beautiful, it gave me the chills: heaven happened in our choir practice.
It’s happened before here too… in many ways and in many times. We often touch and taste the Divine here when we worship together.
This is not bragging – it’s owning and appreciating the process God uses of creating us, gifting us, then leading us together to use those gifts to manifest the kingdom of heaven on earth. Redeemer has many examples of this: our Holy Eucharist, The Shepherd’s Table, the Community Garden, Adult Christian Formation, The No-Judgment Zone discussion group, The Rosary team, the Altar Guild, Stewardship, the reverent ministry of our acolytes… to name just a few.
N.T. Wright, Bp. of Durham, says, “there are no individual Christians.” We are as Christians, by definition, a body – the body of Christ in the world. What we do and how we do it has an impact in heaven and on earth.
Why? Because, as Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” This was the statement that got Jesus accused of blasphemy. This was the statement that got Jesus killed. “The Father and I are one.”
It is also a basic tenet of our faith: that God is Trinity in Unity. God is not just one in substance or person, but one in activity. What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing.
It is also our Easter reality: by his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus reconciled us to God -- eternally. That means we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
Think about that for a minute. It’s a powerful truth with powerful consequences for us and for the world…. we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing – in and through us. And this comes with a pledge of security. Jesus says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” No one, no thing, no event can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That is our hope and our truth.
We are eternally in the presence of God. Heaven is here on earth – in us!
No, there is no such thing as a wasted life. The life of this surviving bomber is already being used by God for the redeeming of others and for the waking up of the body of Christ. Can’t you hear God reminding us to pray and work for the redemption of this and other lost souls?
There can be wasted potential – but only if we waste it. What if someone has been so criticized or so abused that they can’t see their gifts anymore? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone sees themselves so useless, so ugly, so unimportant that they believe they have no purpose? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone becomes so filled with darkness and hate that they can no longer see any hope, any light? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
It’s a hard thing to do – enter someone else’s nightmare. And it’s scary at first – until you witness the power of God’s redeeming love – then nothing is ever scary or impossible again. Isn’t that what Peter showed us when he raised Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead?
When we live like we believe in the power of God’s redeeming love, then we are those who have come out of the great ordeal, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and every nightmare, every darkness becomes a place where the Light and the Truth that lives in us can shine. We are the place where heaven illumines the earth!
We can fear no evil because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” God KNOWS us and calls us to go where our gifts and God’s purpose for us will be fulfilled. When the path gets rough (and it will get rough), we trust that God will supply us all we need to keep going: peace, safety, the company of our community of faith, and the prayers of the whole communion of saints to uphold us.
When the voice of our Lord calls to us, our faithful response is to listen prayerfully. And as Episcopalians we do that in two ways: in private prayer (at home) and in corporate prayer (at church).
Then, having listened, we go wherever God leads us, knowing God will be there with us, guiding us, loving us, and blessing us all the days of our lives. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment