Acts 17.22-31; 1Peter 3.1-22; John 14.15-21
HAPPY EASTER!
HAPPY EASTER!
So...
perhaps you've noticed... each week as I exuberantly offer that greeting, there
seems to be a little bit less... energy. In the greeting, in the response.
We've
gotten used to being in Easter. It's been over a month now - and we've decided
we like that. Easter - a whole season. Grand.
After
all, as a friend of mine regularly jokes about Anglicans: Do something once,
it's an experiment. Do that thing twice, it's tradition!
So
on the 6th week of Easter - well, golly, things will NEVER change! Right?
Right?! Hmm.
Except...
Jesus has been talking about change for a while. And he continues that message
today. Change is going to happen.
This
message, however, is not really one that the disciples want to be hearing. "What do
you mean you're going to leave?" they seem to ask. "We've been
following you around for years! Why would that change?"
The
disciples - good and faithful as they are - have become rather comfortable with
doing things in a certain way. It's been a few years they've been following
Jesus, and a pattern seems to have evolved. Heal the sick, eat with sinners,
teach about a loving God, move to a new town. It's what they've come to expect!
It works - so let's just keep on keeping on.
And
it's not dissimilar from what we hear Paul talking about in the passage from
Acts. People of Athens are doing what they've always done: they come to their
houses of worship, they sit in the same place, they recite the same prayers,
they stand and sit at the appropriate times, they say the words they've always
said. It's predictable; it's comfortable. And yet, without an infusion of new
energy, it can become... uninspiring. Uninviting. Same old same old. They
barely need to pay attention, because they believe that nothing will change,
and that there's nothing else that can or should be done - and they are okay
with that.
Sound
familiar? Sometimes churches today can get caught in that same loop. When the
same old same old becomes good enough, when the desire to change and grow and
adapt to an ever-changing world feels like too much effort.
But
here is where Jesus does what Jesus always does: in the midst of the
"we've always done it this way" a change happens. Some external
factor comes in, and influences things in such a way that a change is
inevitable. Some force that causes the spirits of those involved to be stirred
up, and to discern how to respond in a loving, Godly way. Some force that will
lead to an infusion of sorts - a spiritual infusion of energy and enthusiasm
for ministry.
Infusion
- it's a loaded word. To fill, to pervade, to soak something in order to
extract the flavour or healing properties.
And
Jesus promises us an infusion of the Holy Spirit - forever - for all time. He
assures us - his followers - that intermingling of something new and healthy
and life-giving, so that new life can happen in each and every one of us.
And
with that infusion, we can do things more and more - because we will be
accompanied along our journey by the Advocate - the supporter - the helper -
This is an infusion of Easter energy if
ever there was one! The Spirit is COMING! To
help US! To live and adapt with the interspersed reality of Christ IN US.
The
works we do, we do to God. Because God is in Christ, and Christ is in us.
WOW.
Talk
about an external force creating change!
The
disciples are forever changed by this reality - even if they didn't realise it
or recognise it t the time. Their lives have changed, and will continue to
change, as their unique and shared ministries continue to grow and evolve.
There is no more same old same old with the Spirit!
So
Jesus makes sure that 'maintaining the status quo' is not an option after his
ascension. Instead he encourages an even stronger commitment to the mission and
ministry. To live fully. To love FULLY. To engage with the word and the Word
fully.
And
then, to rejoice in knowing that the spirit of truth - which the world has a
hard time accepting - is there.
We
are not orphaned. We are not alone. We are embraced and loved and chosen.
And
we are meant to follow the parental rules - or commandment - love God; love one
another - as Christ has loved us.
We
are not to love individuals with a sense of pride or of getting it right - but rather,
to love in community. Jesus has showed us that we are to love the people who
need to be held up and those who are holding up; to love the people who are
sick and those who are healing; to love the people who are oppressed and those
who are oppressors. This is the hard work of following Jesus.
As
Peter's letter tells us: we are to sanctify Christ as Lord, and be able to make
an accounting of our actions in the name of our God. Not what someone else did,
or what someone else said, but a true accounting for the hope that is within us
- with gentleness and reverence - and accounting of how we have lived out the
mission of God's love in the world.
So
this is our challenge. This is our lesson this week. This is our invitation
from Jesus himself: that we find new ways to love.
That
we find new ways to be with the presence of Christ that is in us, through the
power of the Spirit.
That
we find new ways to engage with the presence of the Christ that is right before
us - every moment of every day - in every person that we meet. When we want to
see it - but more importantly when we do not.
Jesus
taught us well - he loved the unloveable, the sinners, the outcasts, the
misfits. He healed the people no one else would go near; he ate with those no
one else would even look at; he chatted with those that others would spit upon.
Jesus
taught us to love, by loving us, and by showing us how to love.
And
now Jesus calls us to love.
May
we embrace the support that we will need - from the advocate who is with us
forever - and love the misfits and oddballs and unloved people of our society.
May we do our best to keep Jesus' commandment to love.
