Sermon - Easter 6 Year A

I'd like for you to think back to the start of this year.  Imagine if, on that first Sunday of 2020, I had said to you: "GREAT idea friends, you're going to love this. Let's intentionally start having coffee DURING church!"

I can expect there may have been a bit of resistence - keeping the building clean, garbage, etc.

So if I had said "YEAH! BUT let's also do it in comfy clothes. Pyjamas even! PJ worship!"

Now, we're an easy-going group, but I expect that I may have started to feel some hesitation from folks... PJs for worship is fine for a youth night, but maybe not the message we're trying to send on a Sunday morning.

So. Then had I said "BEST YET! Let's stay apart, each at home, and I'll lead our collective worship from the rectory dining room. Every Sunday! With dog interruptions and inconsistent internet and hey - you won't even know if I'm in sweat pants!"

Now. At this point - because I know how much love there is here. I think the collective reaction would have been for an intervention... maybe send me on a retreat... deep conversations....

Because a few short months ago, we couldn't even begin to fathom that this is where we would be. It would have been absurd to consider changing how we lived and worshipped and ministered - so much change, so fast.

Nope.

It's not comfortable. It's not what we want. It's not... US.

And yet. Here we are. Changed. Entirely. Irrevocably.

So it's not too hard for us to imagine how the apostles were feeling that day with Jesus.

            Because Jesus - though he's been talking about change for a while - 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... a little stale, perhaps. To a newcomer, it may feel 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, Jesus is giving them a heads up that change is inevitable: and it doesn't have to be scary. In the middle of the "we've always done it this way" a change happens. An external factor comes in, and influences things in such a way that a change is unavoidable. 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!

         And Jesus is inviting us to that same space here - today - now - in our comfortable homes, with our PJs and coffee, with a different way of being the church. Jesus 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.

         EVEN in the midst of our lock-down, physical distancing. Especially in the midst of our locked-down distancing.

         Because the church - the church of God - is being continually empowered and strengthened and inspired into ministry. It is taking the call to worship and rejoicing 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 - now as much as ever before, and as much as ever will be - to love God; love one another - as Christ has loved us. To love in community, in ways that we couldn't imagine a few months ago, that will change the world. We can 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. This is the good work of following Jesus.

         Peter's letter reminds us that 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, or what we used to do: 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, to seek the presence of God in our lives, to engage with the reality of the resurrected Christ that is before us every moment of every day - everywhere we are, and with everyone we connect.

            Jesus taught us well - to love, by loving us, and by showing us how to love.  And now Jesus calls us to love. May we be infused with the Spirit who guides us this week - into love.