Lectionary: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nobmre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
I’ve heard it said that loving our enemies is easy because we often don’t have to see them up close. When we think about it like that, there are kind of a lot of people we might call “enemies up close” – people who have hurt us, lied about us, cheated on us. People whose very presence sucks the life out of us. People who challenge our Christian virtue and cause our protective walls to shoot up around us.
Theologian Roberta Bondi reminds us that, “real love that sees [others] as human beings, beloved of God, and yet flawed, just as [we ourselves are flawed; and] we are to love, not just at a distance, but up close…in concrete ways, …as the Gospel requires.” That is what ministry is. It’s the love of God acting through us.
It’s food given to Lisa who is hungry due to her chronic poverty. It’s limits offered to Steven whose propensity for violence invades our safety. It’s a patient and listening ear for Sheila who has every physical ailment known to humankind and talks about them constantly. It’s hope offered to Richard who believes the lie told him long ago, that even God doesn’t love him.
As Christians, we have to stay alert to the temptation to make categories out of people because once we depersonalize them, we tend to distinguish ourselves from them. Then we can blame them, or hate them, or distance ourselves from them.
Peter understood this. He witnessed how Jesus loved first-hand, but when it came time for him to do it, he was stuck, mired down by what he had learned was right belief and right practice. In order to serve God as was he was being called to do Peter needed to be set free from all that hindered him from loving the way Jesus had loved.
And how did God set Peter free? Through a dream, a vision. God’s frequent use of dreams and visions has an honored place in our tradition. And considering the four conversations I had with members just this week about their dreams, it seems to me that God is still at it.
In his dream, Peter sees a variety of creatures being brought before him and hears a command: “kill and eat.” Oh no! Peter says. I never eat that stuff – it’s against the rules! Eat it, the voice says – and Peter recognizes that the voice is from heaven. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” the voice said, and it wasn’t just talking about food.
Immediately, three men arrived to escort Peter to the house of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and Peter went with them, ready to break the rules and be one with this Gentile community. He went not as a person of superior faith who would fix their beliefs and their practices, but as someone willing to give of his time and his gifts for their sake, so that they could come into a closer relationship with God.
Peter had no assurance that these people would receive what he had to offer, and even being there with them was a bit of a safety risk for him. But he went anyway, and gave what he had – his testimony.
Then Peter watched in amazement as the Holy Spirit filled them just as the Jews had been filled. Not only was the whole household converted, but Peter and his ministry were also converted. Peter had been set free from that within him which hindered the reconciling work of God.
I’ll bet, in this freed state of mind, Jesus’ words at their Last Supper suddenly made sense to Peter
in a whole new way: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Love one another… not just those we know up close, but those we don’t know yet - those to whom we will be led. Love one another… including those we categorize and hold safely at a distance from ourselves.
“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” It’s a harder teaching than it seems
because Jesus gave away his life for our sake, so that we could be reconciled to God.
For whose salvation would you give away your life?
I had to confront that very question in 1996. I was laid up with double-pneumonia and there were no antibiotics I could safely take at that time, so I endured six long weeks of terrible pain as I healed.
During that time, I had a recurring dream, a vision. It involved two men who seriously challenged my Christian virtue. One was my ex-husband (whom I’ll call “S”) who horribly abused my daughter and me, then stalked us for a decade. The dream happened during the stalking phase of our lives. The other was a local pedophile (whom I’ll call “B”) whose victims from the previous 20 years were in my support groups. Practically no one in town believed that “B” was an abuser and he delighted in that.
I’ll read the first and last of the dream to you from my journal. “I had been praying for S’s redemption and B’s redemption. I begged the Holy Spirit to simply breathe His love over them, knowing that God’s love is irresistible. Just one taste and they’ll turn to you, I prayed. How could they not?
Then I was standing in a white space, no environment, just white, and I was wearing a white gown. Jesus was standing before me also wearing a white gown. How sweet and loving was his presence!
Suddenly I began to experience great pain. Each pain was the experience of my small offenses, my sins – the ones too small to confess. For each pain, each sin, I was handed a stick of wood, like kindling, the for the purpose of building a fire. My life, my sins went before me, one by one, each adding a stick to the pile in my arms. The sticks themselves were dirty, sticky, sooty, and cut my arms which held them. The pain was crushing me and I fell to my knees. I tuned all around looking for someplace to put the sticks down, but there was no place – all was white nothingness. I turned back to face Jesus, still standing there full of love for me.
I called to him, ‘Lord, the weight of my sins is crushing me! I know I shouldn’t ask, but please! Can you take this load from me? I can’t bear it.’
Without a word, Jesus took the load of sticks form my arms and stepped back from me, smiling. I looked down and my arms were healed and my robe was white and unstained. With gratitude, I accepted my absolution.
The vision repeated over the three days… Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In asking for the redemption of these souls, S and B, the Lord asked me if I would give up my life for the redemption of their souls. ‘Yes’ I exclaimed, and I lept up into His embrace. ‘I love you, Lord, and I trust you.’
Without saying anything I knew I should prepare. When I came back to myself, I regretted my promise… I grieved the loss of the joys and blessings I had been graciously given in this life. I grieved at the thought of my children’s grief – would Patrick even remember me when he was grown? I grieved over Steve’s grief. I love this life. I love God! What have I done?
…On Saturday, when I was asked if I would give up my life for the redemption of these souls, I replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I would. But Lord, what if they refuse your love and salvation? Should I sacrifice so much and ask the same of my family if they refuse to accept your love? Still, Lord, if you wish it, I will do it…’
The last repetition of the vision was Sunday morning. When I was asked if I would give up my life I said, ‘Yes, Lord’, with my head down, ready to die.
Jesus reached toward me and I raised my eyes somewhat where I could see his outstretched arms and his white robe, and he said with joy, ‘Child, don’t come now. You have been purified. I can use you now. I will make you strong.’
I responded with tears of joy and a deep sigh of relief –which caused me to cough again, whereupon I returned to myself. I continued to cry for 30 minutes, thought I don’t know why. I felt very overwhelmed by love.”
Most of us aren’t asked to actually die for the salvation of someone else’s soul. We are all, however, asked to give away our lives, that is, our time, our money, our attention, our gifts, our comfort, and our compassion for that very purpose.
God is working a real awakening at Redeemer. The spiritual lives of so many of us are breaking open and coming alive in a whole new way. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
We are dreaming dreams, having visions, learning to hear the voice of God in the many ways God speaks to us - the same ways God has always spoken to God’s people. We are being asked to give our lives away to bring comfort to the suffering, welcome to the exiled, and healing the sin-sick soul.
Have you discerned the gifts you currently have? Have you listened for how God is seeking to use you to do the work of reconciliation right now – up close – here in the ministries at Redeemer?
What if you, like Peter, have to break the rules as you understand them now in order to answer God’s call to serve? Don’t worry – it’s been done before – and with pretty good results.
How do we do it? We listen prayerfully, trust God totally, and act lovingly. By this we will be known as Jesus’ disciples, if we love one another as Jesus loved us. Amen.
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