Easter VII
By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Year C, Easter VII - 20 May 2007
Text: Acts 16: 16-34 Other Readings : John 17: 20-26; Psalm 97; Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
This last Wednesday, a small group of the Hope community celebrated the feast of Jesus' Ascension here in our chapel. Next Sunday is a major feast of the year, Pentecost. We invite you to wear red—the color of the Holy Spirit—next Sunday.
Today, we celebrate the 7th and last Sunday of Easter, the Sunday after the Ascension. Our collect, the opening prayer printed on our scripture sheet, expresses well the sense of being "in between" which this day represents in our church calendar. We prayed to God a few minutes ago: "you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven." Here the collect is looking back to the Ascension just 3 days ago when Jesus rose to God's right hand. Then we prayed: "Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, & exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before." Thus, the prayer anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whose presence among us we'll celebrate with joy next Sunday.
Today, between Ascension & Pentecost, we find ourselves "in between". I'm reminded of an image I got several years ago of being in a hallway. You've probably found yourself from time to time in a long hallway in an office building or school or even in someone's home. Coming through a door at one end of the hallway, you try to determine which door will take you where you want to go. Sometimes the doors are labeled, but other times, you just guess the correct one or test to see which will open for you. Hallways are not very interesting in themselves even if they have family pictures hung in them. They seldom contain even a bench to sit on. They're just a way to get from one place to another, the sooner the better. Today is a hallway sort of day.
Still, hallways are valuable to facilitate getting to our destination, & they allow us to focus on how we spend our lives. In his high priestly prayer from John's Gospel, Jesus prays not only for his disciples but also for those brought to belief in God due to the disciples' witness. Jesus moves in a hallway from his public ministry to his Passion—his death, resurrection, & ascension—so he calls on God to empower the disciples to feel God's intimacy.
Let's concentrate for a minute on the disciples' activities in Acts. The very disciples for whom Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer are indeed going forth into the world with the Gospel. The earliest disciples think Christ is returning soon & they are living in the hallway of their lives 'till their Savior takes them to live with the Godhead. But do they sit around waiting for the end to come? Not on your life. They venture into their known world telling the good news of Christ. Their evangelistic activity is described in today's first lesson.
Paul & his companions are establishing the first Macedonian church in Philippi. On their way to a river to pray, they encounter a slave girl whose owners are abusing her mental illness forcing her to tell fortunes. Her demonic spirit recognizes the Holy Spirit within Paul & his companions & calls out to them. Her outbursts disturb her & annoy Paul, so he exorcizes the demon from within her. Paul sets her free to be the whole & healthy person God created her to be. In so doing, of course, he ruins her owners' racket, & they are furious. What right does Paul have to disrupt their money-making scheme, no matter that it is destroying a human being?
Each of us has some unhealthy but useful habit on which we rely that we don't want to give up. What would it cost us to give it up & rely totally upon Jesus & the Holy Spirit rather than our crutch or bad habit?
And the owners aren't one bit happy that the slave girl is now healthy. They attack the source of their financial misfortune. They drag Paul & his traveling buddies to the magistrates in the marketplace, their version of the people's court, I guess. Sounds like the crowd takes justice into its own hands: they attack the disciples, strip their clothing off, beat them, & throw them in prison. Lest we believe such behavior impossible today, we should remember James Byrd, the African-American man dragged to his death in Jasper several years ago or the young man injured by a pipe at a party last year just up the road in Conroe .
You would think Paul & Silas were dangerous terrorists the way they are treated in prison—placed in the innermost cell & their feet fastened in stocks. How do Paul & Silas react? About midnight , they are praising God, singing hymns, & witnessing to the other prisoners. When facing misfortune, they share the Good News of Christ with other prisoners, those who surely could use Good News.
Then there's an earthquake. The prison doors open & the chains are unfastened. Now I would probably have thought this was a miracle invitation & hightailed it out of there, no thought of the jailer, much less the fate of the other prisoners. However, Paul & Silas remain & apparently convince the other prisoners to do the same, aware that their escape would be blamed on the jailer. True heroes, truly compassionate persons, are concerned for the situations of all involved just as we saw with the rescue teams after the World Trade Towers collapsed on 9/11. Paul & Silas' actions didn't make any sense at all in human terms, but they listened to directions of a Higher Power.
And the result of their self-giving generosity? The jailer, absolutely overcome, asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Perhaps the jailer means simply saved from the magistrates' wrath, but Paul & Silas witness to him. They admonish him to ". . .believe in the Lord Jesus, & you will be saved, you & your household." Already wound up from the prayer & hymn sing as well as the earthquake, they just turn the whole place into a revival meeting & preach to the jailer & his family. Reciprocal ministry happens at this time, for after the jailer washes & bandages their wounds, Paul & Silas baptize the jailer & his entire family right then & there. How do they celebrate? They eat, of course. A banquet is prepared right there in the middle of the night & they rejoice together, giving thanks to God.
Quite a story, isn't it? Paul & Silas & the other disciples don't just stand around in the hallway waiting for Jesus to come & sweep them up into some kind of rapture meant just for them, do they? They do the work Christ set out for them to do, even when it gets them into trouble. They take advantage of even the difficulty they encounter, praising God in the prison & witnessing to others. Then they stop the jailer from destroying himself & minister to his needs instead of saving their own skins. Finally, they witness God's love & generosity to a whole family. Quite a remarkable night's work, wouldn't you say?
Our lives today are very different from Paul & Silas', but their ministry techniques & their insistence on giving thanks in all things, regardless of their circumstances, can inspire us to take seriously Christ's call to go & spread God's love to all. How can we live our lives as authentically as Paul & Silas did theirs?
As we've built community in the past two years, we've been in the hallway, poised between our new life as Hope & our accepting our mission reaching out into the larger community, not just to encourage other Christians to worship & minister at Hope but also to offer Christ's love & the gift of community to those who do not yet have a worshipping community or a growing faith. We must continue to be equipped as ministers of the Gospel in order to pass Christ's Good News on to others. We need to support each other individually & within our families to reach out to others. One way we can do that is to pray for & support our friendships, marriages, & children as we do this morning. As we witness the public renewal of wedding vows today, may we find ways to strengthen each other in our faith.
Next week, as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, we will join those being baptized by renewing our baptismal vows. Let's honor the half century of early childhood education here on the 2 nd & 3rd of June with our St. Michael's Day School reunion. Our new youth minister joins us in June to coordinate the Christian formation of our own youth as well as those in the neighborhood. Throughout May & June, let's hold those who will be confirmed & received in our prayers & join them to welcome Bishop Wimberly when he comes in late June for confirmation. As we grow into our mission, may it fulfill Christ's hope for Hope parish that we may share Hope with all we encounter.
Year C, Easter VII - 20 May 2007
Text: Acts 16: 16-34 Other Readings : John 17: 20-26; Psalm 97; Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
This last Wednesday, a small group of the Hope community celebrated the feast of Jesus' Ascension here in our chapel. Next Sunday is a major feast of the year, Pentecost. We invite you to wear red—the color of the Holy Spirit—next Sunday.
Today, we celebrate the 7th and last Sunday of Easter, the Sunday after the Ascension. Our collect, the opening prayer printed on our scripture sheet, expresses well the sense of being "in between" which this day represents in our church calendar. We prayed to God a few minutes ago: "you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven." Here the collect is looking back to the Ascension just 3 days ago when Jesus rose to God's right hand. Then we prayed: "Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, & exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before." Thus, the prayer anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whose presence among us we'll celebrate with joy next Sunday.
Today, between Ascension & Pentecost, we find ourselves "in between". I'm reminded of an image I got several years ago of being in a hallway. You've probably found yourself from time to time in a long hallway in an office building or school or even in someone's home. Coming through a door at one end of the hallway, you try to determine which door will take you where you want to go. Sometimes the doors are labeled, but other times, you just guess the correct one or test to see which will open for you. Hallways are not very interesting in themselves even if they have family pictures hung in them. They seldom contain even a bench to sit on. They're just a way to get from one place to another, the sooner the better. Today is a hallway sort of day.
Still, hallways are valuable to facilitate getting to our destination, & they allow us to focus on how we spend our lives. In his high priestly prayer from John's Gospel, Jesus prays not only for his disciples but also for those brought to belief in God due to the disciples' witness. Jesus moves in a hallway from his public ministry to his Passion—his death, resurrection, & ascension—so he calls on God to empower the disciples to feel God's intimacy.
Let's concentrate for a minute on the disciples' activities in Acts. The very disciples for whom Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer are indeed going forth into the world with the Gospel. The earliest disciples think Christ is returning soon & they are living in the hallway of their lives 'till their Savior takes them to live with the Godhead. But do they sit around waiting for the end to come? Not on your life. They venture into their known world telling the good news of Christ. Their evangelistic activity is described in today's first lesson.
Paul & his companions are establishing the first Macedonian church in Philippi. On their way to a river to pray, they encounter a slave girl whose owners are abusing her mental illness forcing her to tell fortunes. Her demonic spirit recognizes the Holy Spirit within Paul & his companions & calls out to them. Her outbursts disturb her & annoy Paul, so he exorcizes the demon from within her. Paul sets her free to be the whole & healthy person God created her to be. In so doing, of course, he ruins her owners' racket, & they are furious. What right does Paul have to disrupt their money-making scheme, no matter that it is destroying a human being?
Each of us has some unhealthy but useful habit on which we rely that we don't want to give up. What would it cost us to give it up & rely totally upon Jesus & the Holy Spirit rather than our crutch or bad habit?
And the owners aren't one bit happy that the slave girl is now healthy. They attack the source of their financial misfortune. They drag Paul & his traveling buddies to the magistrates in the marketplace, their version of the people's court, I guess. Sounds like the crowd takes justice into its own hands: they attack the disciples, strip their clothing off, beat them, & throw them in prison. Lest we believe such behavior impossible today, we should remember James Byrd, the African-American man dragged to his death in Jasper several years ago or the young man injured by a pipe at a party last year just up the road in Conroe .
You would think Paul & Silas were dangerous terrorists the way they are treated in prison—placed in the innermost cell & their feet fastened in stocks. How do Paul & Silas react? About midnight , they are praising God, singing hymns, & witnessing to the other prisoners. When facing misfortune, they share the Good News of Christ with other prisoners, those who surely could use Good News.
Then there's an earthquake. The prison doors open & the chains are unfastened. Now I would probably have thought this was a miracle invitation & hightailed it out of there, no thought of the jailer, much less the fate of the other prisoners. However, Paul & Silas remain & apparently convince the other prisoners to do the same, aware that their escape would be blamed on the jailer. True heroes, truly compassionate persons, are concerned for the situations of all involved just as we saw with the rescue teams after the World Trade Towers collapsed on 9/11. Paul & Silas' actions didn't make any sense at all in human terms, but they listened to directions of a Higher Power.
And the result of their self-giving generosity? The jailer, absolutely overcome, asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Perhaps the jailer means simply saved from the magistrates' wrath, but Paul & Silas witness to him. They admonish him to ". . .believe in the Lord Jesus, & you will be saved, you & your household." Already wound up from the prayer & hymn sing as well as the earthquake, they just turn the whole place into a revival meeting & preach to the jailer & his family. Reciprocal ministry happens at this time, for after the jailer washes & bandages their wounds, Paul & Silas baptize the jailer & his entire family right then & there. How do they celebrate? They eat, of course. A banquet is prepared right there in the middle of the night & they rejoice together, giving thanks to God.
Quite a story, isn't it? Paul & Silas & the other disciples don't just stand around in the hallway waiting for Jesus to come & sweep them up into some kind of rapture meant just for them, do they? They do the work Christ set out for them to do, even when it gets them into trouble. They take advantage of even the difficulty they encounter, praising God in the prison & witnessing to others. Then they stop the jailer from destroying himself & minister to his needs instead of saving their own skins. Finally, they witness God's love & generosity to a whole family. Quite a remarkable night's work, wouldn't you say?
Our lives today are very different from Paul & Silas', but their ministry techniques & their insistence on giving thanks in all things, regardless of their circumstances, can inspire us to take seriously Christ's call to go & spread God's love to all. How can we live our lives as authentically as Paul & Silas did theirs?
As we've built community in the past two years, we've been in the hallway, poised between our new life as Hope & our accepting our mission reaching out into the larger community, not just to encourage other Christians to worship & minister at Hope but also to offer Christ's love & the gift of community to those who do not yet have a worshipping community or a growing faith. We must continue to be equipped as ministers of the Gospel in order to pass Christ's Good News on to others. We need to support each other individually & within our families to reach out to others. One way we can do that is to pray for & support our friendships, marriages, & children as we do this morning. As we witness the public renewal of wedding vows today, may we find ways to strengthen each other in our faith.
Next week, as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, we will join those being baptized by renewing our baptismal vows. Let's honor the half century of early childhood education here on the 2 nd & 3rd of June with our St. Michael's Day School reunion. Our new youth minister joins us in June to coordinate the Christian formation of our own youth as well as those in the neighborhood. Throughout May & June, let's hold those who will be confirmed & received in our prayers & join them to welcome Bishop Wimberly when he comes in late June for confirmation. As we grow into our mission, may it fulfill Christ's hope for Hope parish that we may share Hope with all we encounter.
posted by
Hope Episcopal Church
at 9:11 PM
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