Lectionary: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18
Preacher: The Rev Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
I’m glad that the Psalm for today is #23. Isn’t it lovely? It’s such a familiar, comforting prayer which is why it’s almost always chosen as the psalm in our burial office, the service which marks the death of a love we held dear. The words and images in this psalm comfort and soothe us as we are reminded that there is someone always looking out for us, our Shepherd, who is God so we have nothing to fear.
At the very moment we are experiencing great loss, or the fear of a great loss, this psalm assures us that we can lack nothing because of the abundance of God who is there with us. When our world is shaken by tragedy or loss this psalm reminds us that God invites us to draw near and our great and generous host bids us to relax in the soft grass, to breathe out, and gaze upon the peaceful waters nearby.
When I hear this psalm, I picture myself laying in the grass with my head resting in my folded hands staring up at puffy clouds as they meander across a Carolina blue sky listening as the water gurgles gently over the river rocks nearby.
Life will always present us with moments that are difficult, moments that bring up pain, or fear, or anger, or resentment. Sometimes it feels like those moments might destroy us and our bodies, minds, and hearts feel weighed down. The burden is a heavy one.
Then we pray this psalm and we remember that God never left our side. God is there with us, showing us the way to healing and restoration and protecting us from whatever threatens to harm us even when it is we harming ourselves.
When the chaos of life swirls without and within us there is our Shepherd, waiting, smiling, and showing us the way to the verdant pasture beside the still waters. A flash of joy lights us up as we see the feast that has been laid out there - cooked up just for us. We hear the familiar voice of our Shepherd inviting us to come, to nourish our bodies, rest our minds, and fill our souls from the bounty of God that is there simply waiting for us to take and eat it.
I picture this tables set out on a flat area in the grass. The water runs along one side and a great green pasture spreads out on the other side. The table has a fresh, white cloth. The flames of the candles on the table dance in the soft breeze but never go out. It is decorated with vases of flowers and herbs.
The food is sumptuous and there are goblets of water and wine, already full, at every seat - and there are lots of seats - because eating a feast in the realm of God is done in community. It’s a family meal where no one is lonely, no one is left out of the conversation. Everyone has plenty to eat, our cups are running over, and joy abounds.
Then, to show us just how much we matter God anoints our heads with oil something reserved for the moment someone really important, like a king or a queen, is marked as chosen by God. At that moment, when the oil touches our foreheads, we feel the power of God’s love enter us and course through our bodies like light breaking into darkness. As the peace of God fills us, we close our eyes, lift our faces heavenward open our arms and our hearts and receive the grace God is lavishing on us.
Then we understand… We are the cup and we are overflowing. And it suddenly hits us - of course! The goodness and mercy of God will always accompany us, every moment of every day of our lives, because we are the dwelling place of God!
God dwells in us and we in God forever and for ever more.
Therefore fellow children of God, let us love, not just in word or speech, but in truth and action. Let us ask boldly for what we need then faithfully receive all that God has ready and is waiting to give us. Let us really love one another as we have been commanded to do for God dwells in us and we in God.
Listen! Hear the voice of our Shepherd calling us by name in this Holy Communion bidding us to be one body, one Spirit in Christ.
Let us pray…
Grant us, O God, to follow where you lead, remembering that we can lack nothing and have nothing to fear, because we dwell with you forever. Amen.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Easter 2, 2015: Because - the community
Lectionary: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
Preacher: The Rev Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Our readings today show us the beginning of and the means by which life in the spirit of Jesus moved from his original followers to the whole world – including us today. The letter from John describes how the Good News of the resurrection of the Christ burned like a flame in the hearts of his followers. The book of Acts speaks of the fast-growing Followers of the Ways as “one heart and soul” -
those who had sharing with those who did not so “there was not one needy person among them…” The psalm affirms that people who live together in unity, are richly blessed with life as the newly emerging church experienced with increases in numbers so huge, in the tens of thousands, that they struggled to keep up with incorporating all of these new converts.
But all of this happened because of the faithfulness of those first disciples. The gospel of John shows how the frightened, confused followers of Jesus stayed together in their breaking through from disbelief to belief, each in their own time and in their own way.
Mary, Peter, and John had been the first to visit the tomb and find it empty. Upon seeing the empty tomb, Peter believed. Mary, who was waiting outside the tomb out of respect, believed when she heard Jesus call her name. When she told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, they didn’t believe her. They believed when he appeared to them in the locked room. Thomas didn’t believe when the disciples told him they’d seen the Lord and he swore he wouldn’t believe until he placed his hand in Jesus’ wounds. But when he saw the Lord, Thomas believed. Examination of the wounds turned out not to be necessary.
This story of Jesus’ appearance to his followers in the locked room is so important…because it reminds us that unbelief is part of the life of the church. Think about it, Jesus had been telling his disciples that he would be killed and would rise again on the third day and that this was part of an overall plan by God for the salvation of the world. When it happened, not one of them remembered; not one of them believed – at first. Peter denied Jesus. The rest hid themselves away in a locked room afraid of what their own community would do to them.
Into this setting, Jesus appears, undaunted by the locked doors, and he says to them: “Peace be with you.” This isn’t just a word of comfort to them, it’s a gift of wholeness, shalom, being given to them. Jesus knows their unbelief and the fear it generates in them
so he offers them shalom which is life in harmony with one another, and the assurance that God is present and redeeming all things, all the time.
In this resurrection appearance to his followers Jesus gives the members of this new community the grace to live in harmonious unity
and he did it by breathing on them. In the same way God breathed life into the first humans, The Christ breathed new life into his followers.
But this new life wasn’t just a new way of being - it was the very substance of the Jesus’ own Spirit covering them, filling them, uniting them, making them one body, one spirit in himself. That’s why Jesus’ next statement is so important.
Since his own spirit has been breathed on them they are now empowered by that Spirit. So, he sends them out back into the world they have locked themselves away from, but he warns them that life in his spirit empowers profoundly. Whatever they forgive is forgiven in unity of God and what they hold unforgiven remains unforgiven.
It’s a warning because they now have the power to create unity or division to be partners in redemption or instruments of death.
As one commentator says, “if members of the community forgive one another their sins, those sins are forgiven and the community is living from and in the Spirit of Jesus; but if members of the community harbor grudges and resentment toward other members who have sinned against them, then those sins remain to spoil the bond of unity, and the Spirit of Jesus is no longer resident in the community." (Williamson, 283. Source: lectionary.org)
So it’s up to each one in the community to do their share building the bond of love. When one member of the community can’t forgive
the others rally around to support them until they can so that the bond of unity in the community isn’t spoiled and the spirit of Jesus continues to live in them
It’s a choice. And in the community of Christ we call the church the choice of every individual affects the whole of the community. It’s also our prayer: forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
In the early church, the members lived together as family. Since for many, becoming a follower of The Way meant being cast out from the temple community and the company of their blood-families, the church became the only family they had. Preserving harmonious relationships in this new family was paramount.
As a commentator says, “These new Christians are living as brothers and sisters––as family. They are taking care of each other––
making personal sacrifices to help each other––considering the well-being of Christian brothers and sisters above their own personal welfare in many cases. To live in that kind of harmonious community makes it possible to drop one's defenses––to assume the best of one's neighbor instead of the worst––to resolve differences without rancor––to live without fear of physical danger or financial catastrophe or personal rejection. It is a level of graceful living that humans seldom achieve. When they do achieve it, it is usually because of a common commitment to a higher ideal––or by the grace… of God.” (Source: lectionary.org)
This is living in the spirit of Jesus and it remains the goal of the church – our church - today. It’s why we gather together for Holy Eucharist. a gift given to us by our Savior. We come as individual members of the body of Christ to “let the grace of [our] holy communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ that we may worthily serve the world in his name.” (BCP, Eucharistic Prayer C, 372) And that’s why it’s important to come each week - not because it punches our “Go Directly to Heaven” ticket, but because it builds the bond of our community so that we live in the spirit of Jesus and serve the world in his name.
I close with a prayer from a devotional book I used during Lent: “We praise you, Lord, for your gift of Christian community, and we thank you as we humbly and with reverence celebrate … our communal eucharist. May we never fail to be grateful for the diverse people who make up the body of Christ and sustain our faith in each other at times when we disagree. In the face of disappointments and betrayals keep us thankful for the new commandment Christ has given us, and help us to better love each other as he has loved us, with a sacrificial and unconditional love. As we struggle with doubts and fears, help us to trust that you will always provide the nourishment we need. We as that you especially strengthen the faith of the many Christians around the world who are persecuted for daring to celebrate communion and the love of your Son Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.” Amen. (“God For Us, Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter,” Pennoyer and Wolf, eds)
Preacher: The Rev Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Our readings today show us the beginning of and the means by which life in the spirit of Jesus moved from his original followers to the whole world – including us today. The letter from John describes how the Good News of the resurrection of the Christ burned like a flame in the hearts of his followers. The book of Acts speaks of the fast-growing Followers of the Ways as “one heart and soul” -
But all of this happened because of the faithfulness of those first disciples. The gospel of John shows how the frightened, confused followers of Jesus stayed together in their breaking through from disbelief to belief, each in their own time and in their own way.
Mary, Peter, and John had been the first to visit the tomb and find it empty. Upon seeing the empty tomb, Peter believed. Mary, who was waiting outside the tomb out of respect, believed when she heard Jesus call her name. When she told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, they didn’t believe her. They believed when he appeared to them in the locked room. Thomas didn’t believe when the disciples told him they’d seen the Lord and he swore he wouldn’t believe until he placed his hand in Jesus’ wounds. But when he saw the Lord, Thomas believed. Examination of the wounds turned out not to be necessary.
This story of Jesus’ appearance to his followers in the locked room is so important…because it reminds us that unbelief is part of the life of the church. Think about it, Jesus had been telling his disciples that he would be killed and would rise again on the third day and that this was part of an overall plan by God for the salvation of the world. When it happened, not one of them remembered; not one of them believed – at first. Peter denied Jesus. The rest hid themselves away in a locked room afraid of what their own community would do to them.
Into this setting, Jesus appears, undaunted by the locked doors, and he says to them: “Peace be with you.” This isn’t just a word of comfort to them, it’s a gift of wholeness, shalom, being given to them. Jesus knows their unbelief and the fear it generates in them
so he offers them shalom which is life in harmony with one another, and the assurance that God is present and redeeming all things, all the time.
In this resurrection appearance to his followers Jesus gives the members of this new community the grace to live in harmonious unity
and he did it by breathing on them. In the same way God breathed life into the first humans, The Christ breathed new life into his followers.
But this new life wasn’t just a new way of being - it was the very substance of the Jesus’ own Spirit covering them, filling them, uniting them, making them one body, one spirit in himself. That’s why Jesus’ next statement is so important.
Since his own spirit has been breathed on them they are now empowered by that Spirit. So, he sends them out back into the world they have locked themselves away from, but he warns them that life in his spirit empowers profoundly. Whatever they forgive is forgiven in unity of God and what they hold unforgiven remains unforgiven.
It’s a warning because they now have the power to create unity or division to be partners in redemption or instruments of death.
As one commentator says, “if members of the community forgive one another their sins, those sins are forgiven and the community is living from and in the Spirit of Jesus; but if members of the community harbor grudges and resentment toward other members who have sinned against them, then those sins remain to spoil the bond of unity, and the Spirit of Jesus is no longer resident in the community." (Williamson, 283. Source: lectionary.org)
So it’s up to each one in the community to do their share building the bond of love. When one member of the community can’t forgive
the others rally around to support them until they can so that the bond of unity in the community isn’t spoiled and the spirit of Jesus continues to live in them
It’s a choice. And in the community of Christ we call the church the choice of every individual affects the whole of the community. It’s also our prayer: forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
In the early church, the members lived together as family. Since for many, becoming a follower of The Way meant being cast out from the temple community and the company of their blood-families, the church became the only family they had. Preserving harmonious relationships in this new family was paramount.
As a commentator says, “These new Christians are living as brothers and sisters––as family. They are taking care of each other––
making personal sacrifices to help each other––considering the well-being of Christian brothers and sisters above their own personal welfare in many cases. To live in that kind of harmonious community makes it possible to drop one's defenses––to assume the best of one's neighbor instead of the worst––to resolve differences without rancor––to live without fear of physical danger or financial catastrophe or personal rejection. It is a level of graceful living that humans seldom achieve. When they do achieve it, it is usually because of a common commitment to a higher ideal––or by the grace… of God.” (Source: lectionary.org)
This is living in the spirit of Jesus and it remains the goal of the church – our church - today. It’s why we gather together for Holy Eucharist. a gift given to us by our Savior. We come as individual members of the body of Christ to “let the grace of [our] holy communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ that we may worthily serve the world in his name.” (BCP, Eucharistic Prayer C, 372) And that’s why it’s important to come each week - not because it punches our “Go Directly to Heaven” ticket, but because it builds the bond of our community so that we live in the spirit of Jesus and serve the world in his name.
I close with a prayer from a devotional book I used during Lent: “We praise you, Lord, for your gift of Christian community, and we thank you as we humbly and with reverence celebrate … our communal eucharist. May we never fail to be grateful for the diverse people who make up the body of Christ and sustain our faith in each other at times when we disagree. In the face of disappointments and betrayals keep us thankful for the new commandment Christ has given us, and help us to better love each other as he has loved us, with a sacrificial and unconditional love. As we struggle with doubts and fears, help us to trust that you will always provide the nourishment we need. We as that you especially strengthen the faith of the many Christians around the world who are persecuted for daring to celebrate communion and the love of your Son Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.” Amen. (“God For Us, Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter,” Pennoyer and Wolf, eds)
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Easter Sunday, 2015-B: Our family story
Preacher: The Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
Lectionary: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18
Note: The theme of this sermon is the same as the one given Saturday night at the Great Vigil, adapted for the lectionary for Sunday.
Happy Easter everyone! And what a glorious, brilliant day it is!
We gather today as the family of God to remember how we came to be who we are, what we believe and why. We came to hear our family story.
Every family has stories… We hear them told and re-told at family gatherings: birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals – whenever the family comes together. I remember as a kid, hearing my Poppa, who came to the US from Ireland, tell how he bootlegged whiskey and was a chauffeur for the Rothschild’s to keep his family fed during the Depression.
I remember hearing the story of how my Mamacita (who died before I was born) would snap green beans in the local market to test their freshness. When the store owner would try to stop her, this tiny but fierce woman would respond with the only sentence she knew in English. It started with “Shut up you…” but it ends a cuss word, so I won’t finish it.
It doesn’t matter how many times our family stories are re-told, they fascinate, educate, and delight us.
Some of them make us laugh, others make us cry, but they all help us remember who we are, where we came from, even why we look or act the way we do.
Our family stories ground us in the present, giving meaning to our past and pointing us toward our future. It’s why we tell them over and over, generation after generation.
And that is exactly what we do every time we gather as the family of God. At every celebration of Holy Eucharist we read from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament, and a Gospel. We hear the stories of our forebears in the faith who are the source of our identity as a people of God, followers of Christ, and pilgrims on an eternal divine journey into unity.
These stories show us how those who came before us did their best – succeeding and failing in their “growing up” in the faith. They weren’t perfect, and neither will we be, but it’s OK, because God is perfect and that perfection is made most real in the world through our weakness. When we fail, God redeems and another generation witnesses it and is transformed. When we repent and return to God, we leave a legacy of faith for those who will follow after us on this eternal pilgrimage.
Each time we gather on Sundays and holy days and re-tell the stories of our faith the words and images in them become part of our very essence. Over time, they begin to live deep within us.
For example, when we hear the story from the book of Acts where Peter proclaims of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, his words: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality….” resonate deeply within us and guide how we see God, ourselves, and others. We know how hard it was for Peter to reach that understanding and it gives us hope for ourselves.
The vivid images in the gospel of John play in our imaginations like a movie: Mary Magdalene going to the tomb while it was still dark and seeing the stone already rolled away. We share with her in a moment of panic when she sees the Tomb is open and runs back to tell Peter and John that Jesus’ body is missing. We share her devastation and helplessness as she weeps outside the tomb.
We share Peter’s shock as it transforms into belief as he walks in and sees the cloths but no body – and he gets it. We feel Mary Magdalene’s surprise and joy in our bodies as she hears her Lord call her name, “Mary,” and we sigh our relief with her as she replies, “Rabbouni.”
The re-telling of our family stories Sunday after Sunday, season after season, helps us to remember how our forebears responded to God faithfully, even as they confronted events impossible to understand. It consoles us to remember that they failed sometimes too, and God redeemed anyway. It renews our hope to hear of God’s love, mercy, and desire for union with us repeated again and again as in our Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his mercy endures forever…” and “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” We believe that, but it’s good to hear it again.
And it calls us to wake up and live our lives – right now, starting today – in the divine unity Jesus made eternally real by his life, death, and resurrection.
In her book, “The Interior Castle,” St. Teresa of Avila describes this divine unity as complete and permanent, saying, “it is like rain falling from the heavens into a river or spring; there is nothing but water there and it is impossible to divide or separate the water belonging to the river from that which fell from the heavens.” (235)
Theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr describes it like this: “In Jesus, matter and spirit were presented as totally one. Human and Divine were put together in his ordinary body, just as in the rest of humanity. That's Christianity's core and central message! … Christians believe that God chose the human, the material, the physical, the earthly in which to reveal God's very Self. Two thousand years later this is still a scandal for most of the world. It just doesn't seem "spiritual" enough!
It is a simple, profound, impossible truth - and it is our family story.
So, as we celebrate this holiest of feasts today, we re-tell our family stories, as impossible as they may sound, and we remember. We remember that the Triune God, who created us out of love and delivered us time and time again from our lost-ness, entered into our human experience in Jesus, the Christ, and remains with us in the Holy Spirit, loving us and delivering us, even now.
May we walk in the steps of our forebears and respond faithfully (if imperfectly), that we may continue to shine the light of hope for those who will come after us.
Happy Easter! Amen.
Lectionary: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18
Note: The theme of this sermon is the same as the one given Saturday night at the Great Vigil, adapted for the lectionary for Sunday.
Happy Easter everyone! And what a glorious, brilliant day it is!
We gather today as the family of God to remember how we came to be who we are, what we believe and why. We came to hear our family story.
I remember hearing the story of how my Mamacita (who died before I was born) would snap green beans in the local market to test their freshness. When the store owner would try to stop her, this tiny but fierce woman would respond with the only sentence she knew in English. It started with “Shut up you…” but it ends a cuss word, so I won’t finish it.
It doesn’t matter how many times our family stories are re-told, they fascinate, educate, and delight us.
Some of them make us laugh, others make us cry, but they all help us remember who we are, where we came from, even why we look or act the way we do.
Our family stories ground us in the present, giving meaning to our past and pointing us toward our future. It’s why we tell them over and over, generation after generation.
And that is exactly what we do every time we gather as the family of God. At every celebration of Holy Eucharist we read from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament, and a Gospel. We hear the stories of our forebears in the faith who are the source of our identity as a people of God, followers of Christ, and pilgrims on an eternal divine journey into unity.
These stories show us how those who came before us did their best – succeeding and failing in their “growing up” in the faith. They weren’t perfect, and neither will we be, but it’s OK, because God is perfect and that perfection is made most real in the world through our weakness. When we fail, God redeems and another generation witnesses it and is transformed. When we repent and return to God, we leave a legacy of faith for those who will follow after us on this eternal pilgrimage.
Each time we gather on Sundays and holy days and re-tell the stories of our faith the words and images in them become part of our very essence. Over time, they begin to live deep within us.
For example, when we hear the story from the book of Acts where Peter proclaims of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, his words: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality….” resonate deeply within us and guide how we see God, ourselves, and others. We know how hard it was for Peter to reach that understanding and it gives us hope for ourselves.
The vivid images in the gospel of John play in our imaginations like a movie: Mary Magdalene going to the tomb while it was still dark and seeing the stone already rolled away. We share with her in a moment of panic when she sees the Tomb is open and runs back to tell Peter and John that Jesus’ body is missing. We share her devastation and helplessness as she weeps outside the tomb.
We share Peter’s shock as it transforms into belief as he walks in and sees the cloths but no body – and he gets it. We feel Mary Magdalene’s surprise and joy in our bodies as she hears her Lord call her name, “Mary,” and we sigh our relief with her as she replies, “Rabbouni.”
The re-telling of our family stories Sunday after Sunday, season after season, helps us to remember how our forebears responded to God faithfully, even as they confronted events impossible to understand. It consoles us to remember that they failed sometimes too, and God redeemed anyway. It renews our hope to hear of God’s love, mercy, and desire for union with us repeated again and again as in our Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his mercy endures forever…” and “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” We believe that, but it’s good to hear it again.
And it calls us to wake up and live our lives – right now, starting today – in the divine unity Jesus made eternally real by his life, death, and resurrection.
In her book, “The Interior Castle,” St. Teresa of Avila describes this divine unity as complete and permanent, saying, “it is like rain falling from the heavens into a river or spring; there is nothing but water there and it is impossible to divide or separate the water belonging to the river from that which fell from the heavens.” (235)
Theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr describes it like this: “In Jesus, matter and spirit were presented as totally one. Human and Divine were put together in his ordinary body, just as in the rest of humanity. That's Christianity's core and central message! … Christians believe that God chose the human, the material, the physical, the earthly in which to reveal God's very Self. Two thousand years later this is still a scandal for most of the world. It just doesn't seem "spiritual" enough!
It is a simple, profound, impossible truth - and it is our family story.
So, as we celebrate this holiest of feasts today, we re-tell our family stories, as impossible as they may sound, and we remember. We remember that the Triune God, who created us out of love and delivered us time and time again from our lost-ness, entered into our human experience in Jesus, the Christ, and remains with us in the Holy Spirit, loving us and delivering us, even now.
May we walk in the steps of our forebears and respond faithfully (if imperfectly), that we may continue to shine the light of hope for those who will come after us.
Happy Easter! Amen.
Great Vigil of Easter, 2015-B: Our family story
Lectionary: At The Liturgy of the Word: Genesis 1:1-2:4a [The Story of Creation]; Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 8:6-18, 9:8-13 [The Flood]; Genesis 22:1-18 [Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac]; Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea]; Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all]; Baruch 3:9-15, 3:32-4:4 or Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6 [Learn wisdom and live]; Ezekiel 36:24-28 [A new heart and a new spirit]; Ezekiel 37:1-14 [The valley of dry bones]; Zephaniah 3:14-20 [The gathering of God's people]
At The Eucharist: Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 114; Mark 16:1-8
Preacher: The Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Every family has stories… We hear them told and re-told at family gatherings: birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals – whenever the family gathers.
I remember hearing my Poppa, who came to the US from Ireland, tell how he bootlegged whiskey and was a chauffeur for the Rothschild’s to keep his family fed during the Depression. I remember hearing to story of my Mamacita snapping the green beans in the local market to test their freshness. When the store owner would try to stop her, this tiny but fierce woman would respond with the only sentence she knew in English. It started with “Shut up you…” but it ends a cuss word, so I won’t finish it.
It doesn’t matter how many times these stories are re-told, they fascinate, educate, and delight us. Some of them make us laugh, others make us cry, but they all help us remember who we are, where we came from, even why we look or act like we do.
Our family stories ground us in the present, giving meaning to our past and hope for our future. It’s why we tell them over and over, generation after generation.
And that is exactly what we are doing tonight as the gathered family of God. The stories we read tonight from Genesis through the psalms, the gospels and the epistles of our forebears in the faith are the source of our identity as a people of God, followers of Christ, and pilgrims on an eternal divine journey into unity.
These stories show us how those who came before us did their best – succeeding and failing in their “growing up” in the faith. They weren’t perfect, and neither will we be, but it’s OK, because God is perfect and that perfection is made most real in the world through our weakness.
When we fail, God redeems and another generation witnesses it and is transformed. When we repent and return to God, we leave a legacy of faith for those who will follow after us on this eternal pilgrimage.
When we re-tell the stories of our faith as we have done tonight, the words and images in them become part of our very essence. Over time, they begin to live deep within us.
For example, when we read the story of creation from Genesis, the words, “and it was evening and it was morning” reverberate within us like a heartbeat. The vivid images play in our imaginations like a movie: light being divided from darkness, heavens from the earth, waters taking shape as oceans and rivers, trees and bushes springing up on the earth, then animals and insects and “every living thing” taking its place in creation. And how soothing it is to hear over and over that most wonderful concluding phrase: “…God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
And who doesn’t love the story of the Valley of the Dry bones? God tells Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the bones.” Dismissing the practical impossibility of the request, Ezekiel obeys and as he does, God breathes new life into God’s people who have died. As life is restored we hear God say over and over, “O my people…. O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.” We believe we will! But it helps to hear it again.
When we hear the story of the women heading to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body and finding the tomb empty, our stomachs jump a little as we enter in Mary Magdalene’s experience and we hear those words: “he is not here” even though we know why. But sharing in that fright and the frustration when the other apostles refuse to believe Mary when she finally does tell them she has seen the Lord (which she does in the next paragraph of this gospel) – we “feel” the truth of this story over and over and it becomes part of us.
We tell all of the stories – all nine of them, plus the Eucharistic readings – on this holiest of nights because it helps us to hear how our forebears: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, and the women responded to God faithfully, even as they were confronted with what seemed an impossibility. It consoles us to remember that they failed sometimes too, and God redeemed anyway. It renews our hope to hear God’s promises of love, mercy, and desire for union with us repeated.
And it calls us to wake up and live our lives – right now, starting today - in the divine unity Jesus made eternally real by his life, death, and resurrection. In her book, “The Interior Castle,” Teresa of Avila describes this divine unity as complete and permanent, saying, “it is like rain falling from the heavens into a river or spring; there is nothing but water there and it is impossible to divide or separate the water belonging to the river from that which fell from the heavens.” ("Theresa of Avila, An Extraordinary Life" by Shirley DuBoulay, p. 235)
Theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr describes it like this: “In Jesus, matter and spirit were presented as totally one. Human and Divine were put together in his ordinary body, just as in the rest of humanity. That's Christianity's core and central message! … Christians believe that God chose the human, the material, the physical, the earthly in which to reveal God's very Self. Two thousand years later this is still a scandal for most of the world. It just doesn't seem ‘spiritual’ enough!” ("The Cosmic Christ" by Richard Rohr)
It is a simple, profound, impossible truth - and it is our family story.
So, on this night, the holiest of nights, as we re-tell our family stories, we remember. We remember that the Triune God, who created us out of love and delivered us time and time again from our lost-ness, entered into our human experience in Jesus, the Christ, and remains with us in the Holy Spirit, loving us and delivering us, even now.
May we walk in the steps of our forebears and respond faithfully (if imperfectly), that we may continue to shine the light of hope for those who will come after us.
Happy Easter! Amen.
At The Eucharist: Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 114; Mark 16:1-8
Preacher: The Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Every family has stories… We hear them told and re-told at family gatherings: birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals – whenever the family gathers.
It doesn’t matter how many times these stories are re-told, they fascinate, educate, and delight us. Some of them make us laugh, others make us cry, but they all help us remember who we are, where we came from, even why we look or act like we do.
Our family stories ground us in the present, giving meaning to our past and hope for our future. It’s why we tell them over and over, generation after generation.
And that is exactly what we are doing tonight as the gathered family of God. The stories we read tonight from Genesis through the psalms, the gospels and the epistles of our forebears in the faith are the source of our identity as a people of God, followers of Christ, and pilgrims on an eternal divine journey into unity.
These stories show us how those who came before us did their best – succeeding and failing in their “growing up” in the faith. They weren’t perfect, and neither will we be, but it’s OK, because God is perfect and that perfection is made most real in the world through our weakness.
When we fail, God redeems and another generation witnesses it and is transformed. When we repent and return to God, we leave a legacy of faith for those who will follow after us on this eternal pilgrimage.
When we re-tell the stories of our faith as we have done tonight, the words and images in them become part of our very essence. Over time, they begin to live deep within us.
For example, when we read the story of creation from Genesis, the words, “and it was evening and it was morning” reverberate within us like a heartbeat. The vivid images play in our imaginations like a movie: light being divided from darkness, heavens from the earth, waters taking shape as oceans and rivers, trees and bushes springing up on the earth, then animals and insects and “every living thing” taking its place in creation. And how soothing it is to hear over and over that most wonderful concluding phrase: “…God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
And who doesn’t love the story of the Valley of the Dry bones? God tells Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the bones.” Dismissing the practical impossibility of the request, Ezekiel obeys and as he does, God breathes new life into God’s people who have died. As life is restored we hear God say over and over, “O my people…. O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.” We believe we will! But it helps to hear it again.
When we hear the story of the women heading to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body and finding the tomb empty, our stomachs jump a little as we enter in Mary Magdalene’s experience and we hear those words: “he is not here” even though we know why. But sharing in that fright and the frustration when the other apostles refuse to believe Mary when she finally does tell them she has seen the Lord (which she does in the next paragraph of this gospel) – we “feel” the truth of this story over and over and it becomes part of us.
We tell all of the stories – all nine of them, plus the Eucharistic readings – on this holiest of nights because it helps us to hear how our forebears: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, and the women responded to God faithfully, even as they were confronted with what seemed an impossibility. It consoles us to remember that they failed sometimes too, and God redeemed anyway. It renews our hope to hear God’s promises of love, mercy, and desire for union with us repeated.
And it calls us to wake up and live our lives – right now, starting today - in the divine unity Jesus made eternally real by his life, death, and resurrection. In her book, “The Interior Castle,” Teresa of Avila describes this divine unity as complete and permanent, saying, “it is like rain falling from the heavens into a river or spring; there is nothing but water there and it is impossible to divide or separate the water belonging to the river from that which fell from the heavens.” ("Theresa of Avila, An Extraordinary Life" by Shirley DuBoulay, p. 235)
Theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr describes it like this: “In Jesus, matter and spirit were presented as totally one. Human and Divine were put together in his ordinary body, just as in the rest of humanity. That's Christianity's core and central message! … Christians believe that God chose the human, the material, the physical, the earthly in which to reveal God's very Self. Two thousand years later this is still a scandal for most of the world. It just doesn't seem ‘spiritual’ enough!” ("The Cosmic Christ" by Richard Rohr)
It is a simple, profound, impossible truth - and it is our family story.
So, on this night, the holiest of nights, as we re-tell our family stories, we remember. We remember that the Triune God, who created us out of love and delivered us time and time again from our lost-ness, entered into our human experience in Jesus, the Christ, and remains with us in the Holy Spirit, loving us and delivering us, even now.
May we walk in the steps of our forebears and respond faithfully (if imperfectly), that we may continue to shine the light of hope for those who will come after us.
Happy Easter! Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)