Easter VI

By The Rev. Martha Frances
Year A, Easter VI
27 April 2008
 

Text:  John 14: 15-21

Other Readings:  Acts 17: 22-31; Ps. 66: 7-18; I Peter 3: 13-22

 

       Once again in this passage in which John reports Jesus' farewell address to his disciples, Jesus is talking about love, the heart of his teaching to them & indeed to us.  Jesus assumes the disciples' love for him as he explains what is going to happen as he leaves them.  A preacher named Angela Askew suggests that Jesus is saying, "It's not so much 'if you love me, you will obey' but 'in loving me, you are obeying'" particularly the love commandment, divided into 2 parts:  loving God totally & loving others just as Jesus loves us.  

We've been looking at the greatest commandment for the last several weeks in terms of Jesus' preparing his disciples for his Ascension which we will celebrate this Wednesday evening at 6:30.  Jesus feels a particular urgency in his leave-taking of these followers to whom he is entrusting the spreading of the Gospel in the world so they grasp the centrality of love as the heart of Jesus' message—Jesus' very being among them.  It's not so hard to see why Jesus felt he had to reiterate the need to practice his love among themselves & others if we simply read the epistles which Paul & others wrote to the churches in subsequent years to see all the ways Christians over the centuries have managed to twist this love commandment to their own devices.  Here in the Hope community, our expressions of love toward God & each other can get pretty out-of-balance at times, especially when we have different ideas of how that love might be played out in our midst.

       Jesus makes a promise, however, as he continues that he will ask God for an Advocate, this translation says, to come & be with the disciples then & indeed with us at Hope today & forever.  The Greek word is "Paraclete" which really has 4 meanings, all of which can help us understand the breadth of the gift Jesus leaves us.  As in this translation, the first meaning is "aAdvocate" or one who comes alongside, much as a legal counselor who defends a person in court.  Don't we all need a capable someone walking alongside us at times?  An extension of this meaning is also judicial:  one who entreats or makes appeals for another, sort of like Perry Mason for those of us who are old enough to remember him.  Those of us who pray intercessory prayers at each Eucharist surely value the Great Intercessor who speaks for us when we are in need.

       Two non-judicial meanings of "paraclete" enrich our appreciation of this gift for whom Jesus prepares his disciples.  A familiar translation is "Comforter," one who consoles us & who teaches us how to console others.  I just love that in English those fluffy, warm bed covers which surround & warm me & make me feel safe are called "comforters."  Now that's an image of the Spirit I can really get into, as they say!  In addition, a less usual translation of paraclete is one who proclaims or exhorts.  Since a large portion of Jesus' time on earth was spent teaching & showing us how to live life to the fullest, doesn't it make sense that he would send a "Proclaimer" to continue to show us the way to live abundantly, just as we explored last week?  

       Jesus names this "other paraclete" the "Spirit of Truth," who continues to reveal the truth about Christ to the world & who Jesus says will be with us forever.  Certainly, Jesus is the first paraclete.  Jesus tells us this is not just any spirit but one who comes from God the Parent through himself, the Son; can only come if Jesus departs from the earth; & is sent by Jesus' request & in Jesus' name.  Clearly, then, this Spirit of Truth is to be a continuation of Christ beyond Jesus' earthly or even resurrected state because we humans need the continual

re-creation readily available to us through the Spirit.

       Jesus goes on to say those whose values are worldly will not be able to accept or fulfill the commandments of love which the Spirit continues to convey to the disciples, but that the Spirit's strengthening will be available to us because the Spirit will abide with those who keep the commandments of love.  "Abide" is a fascinating word.  It really means that we live in God's presence, we make our home with God so completely that whatever we ask will be God's will.  We don't just drop in for a visit when it's convenient.  We "abide" in God's presence.  We're invited into sit at the kitchen table & have a cup of coffee.  Or, often, we are privileged to be the hosts, & God—the ruler of the universe who created heaven & earth—deigns to sit among us, to share with us as advocate, intercessor, comforter, and proclaimer.  Awesome, isn't it?

       Jesus recognizes the depth of emptiness the disciples will feel when he leaves them, for he tells them he will not leave them orphaned.  Few words have as much as sense of desolation as "orphan."  Throughout the Hebrew & Christian scriptures, special concern is to be shown for orphans, those in society then & now who are most vulnerable.  Even in our sophisticated society, we all know horror tales about those who are placed in foster care, so even now, none of us wants to feel orphaned.  As we move through the waning days of the Easter season & embark upon the Feast of Pentecost—both the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit among us & the birthday of the Church—it is particularly appropriate for us to consider Jesus' admonition for us to fulfill his commandment to love God & to love our neighbors just as Jesus loves us.

       In a limited way, I can relate to the desire Jesus had in these last days with his closest followers to assure them of the Holy Spirit's presence among them & to focus them on the core of his teachings, in fact, the heart of his gift to them:  that of love.  Beginning in June, I will be going on a sabbatical which will last through the summer.  I want to assure you that the Diocese has responded favorably to my request that Hope be cared for in my absence by a trained interim priest, not a series of supplies, & your Senior & Junior Wardens are arranging such with the financial help of the Diocese.  In addition, diocesan coach Reb Scarborough who guided our original visioning & mission & goal setting will be working with the parish in my absence & upon my return to do the re-visioning that was recommended to us by the diocesan representatives who came to visit with us in February.  Michael Fahey, our senior warden, will be updating you on plans as they are solidified.  Such a time will provide me with some needed rest & recuperation which I have needed ever since my husband's death & will give the congregation an opportunity to refocus into the future.  

       As tempting as it is to want to provide the congregation with lots of tidbits of advice I feel is essential in my absence, today's Gospel reminds me that Jesus' admonition is sufficient.  Loving Jesus is exhibited in our choosing daily to love God lavishly & to love our neighbors as fully as Jesus himself loves us all.  We have been given a paraclete—advocate, intercessor, comforter, & proclaimer—to guide us.  For the next month, we will celebrate—with Eric Law to guide us next week, the Feast of Pentecost the week following, with the Bishop's visit & confirmation near the end of May, and then, on the first of June, with the celebration of teachers & students & with the Trinity Jazz Ensemble leading our worship.  In worship & love, we go forth as Easter people.  Alleluia!

Easter V

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter V

20 April 2008 

Text:  John 14: 1-14

Other Readings:  Acts 7: 55-60; I Peter 2: 2-10 & Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16 

      "I am the way, & the truth, & the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  A deceptively simple answer to Thomas's question.  A quote so familiar that we have all heard it dozens of times.  It's the inscription on the crosses on the grounds of Camp Allen, our diocesan church camp.  Of all the "I am" statements in John's gospel, perhaps it's the one most central to John's community's understanding of its own identity.

      "I am the way, & the truth, & the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  A statement of faith for a small, oft-persecuted Christian community in the first century after Christ's death & resurrection.  A statement which described succinctly the new relationship with God which John's community of faith came to understand because of their encounter with God incarnate—the human Jesus Christ. 

      Also, unfortunately, a statement which oft well-meaning Christians have used as a bludgeon in very unchristlike ways toward others throughout at least the last ½ of the 20^th Century.  Let's explore what these statements had to say in the community of John the evangelist in order to discover how they are good news to us & to those inside & outside our communities today.

      By the time John wrote the Fourth Gospel, the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed by the Romans, both the Jewish & Christian communities had been scattered throughout the known world, Christians had opened their self-understanding to include Gentiles as well as Jews, Christians had struggled with their relationship with the mother Jewish faith & had usually been ousted from synagogues, & Christians were facing persecution for their "dangerous" beliefs thought to be both contrary & insurrectionist to the Roman authorities.

      "I am the way, the truth, & the life" is, therefore, the joyful affirmation of a religious community who believes God is available to them most decisively in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  Since their Jewish beliefs had been that no one could see the face of God & live, for Philip even to be able to ask Jesus to "show us the Father, & we will be satisfied" is to recognize the magnitude of the corner around which the disciples had turned.  So radical was the concept Jesus reiterates here—"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"—that it took regular reminders for the disciples to "get it":  Jesus as the embodiment of God in their very midst.

      Christianity's first name was "The Way" because of the guidelines for living which Jesus refined from his & his followers' Jewish background, insisting that his disciples go beyond the letter of the law to its intent.  Jesus had preached & exhibited an attitude of living in which the life-giving truth of the Gospel was summed up in 2 commandments: love God wholly & unreservedly, & love one's neighbor as fully as Jesus himself did. 

      And Jesus the Christ, whose life & ministry was one of such radical truth-telling that it threatened the status quo of both religious & political leaders enough that they executed him, this Jesus embodied in his enfleshed, incarnated life the image of God which the patriarchs & prophets had testified to before him.  Jesus was indeed the way for them best to see God as Father, as "Abba," the Aramaic word which we can best translate "Daddy," so each one of John's disciples was called to enter into the life of the community of faith through an intimacy with God which Jesus showed was as close as to a loving Father.

      So this small religious community learning how to be faithful & to withstand the onslaughts & persecutions of the outside world proclaimed bravely through its sacred story that Jesus was the way, the truth & the life for them.  This is not the triumphalist cry of victory by a major world religion as it has sometimes been proclaimed in the world since & even today.  This is not the arrogant threat of "be like us or be damned" with which modern-day Christians sometimes approach adherents of other world religions, resulting in violence & standoffs like we observe in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, & the whole of the traditional Holy Land today.  Actually, our own infighting within our Christian denominations, within our Anglican Communion & Episcopal Church, & indeed even here at Hope, is a sad commentary on the great                                                                                                                       dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions as the prayer for the unity of the church states in our own Book of Common Prayer.  John is speaking of his own community's experience, partially to encourage them to withstand whatever temptations & persecutions they may encounter.

      What may this affirmation of the way of life through Jesus Christ say to us today?  First, it may remind us that what we have to give in proclaiming the Gospel is to share the experience, strength, & hope of Christ's transforming power in our own lives.  Unfortunately, to Episcopalians, the word "evangelism" is a 4-letter word, so we are often reluctant to witness to others as to                                                                                                                    what Christ has done to transform our lives.  If we have a story which intersects with the Sacred Story in intimate relationship with God, then we are called to offer that story to all who are open to it.  None of us has a corner on a private relationship with God, individually or as a community, but we can judge the legitimacy of the relationship we DO have by how closely it resembles Jesus' companionship with his "Abba Father."

      In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus repeatedly describes his interrelationship with God. He speaks of life with God as a house with many rooms or dwelling places, so we don't have to be cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all to share space with God.  If our lives have been transformed as surely as these early Christians' lives apparently were, then we can't NOT share the story.  It becomes infectious.  And we share the story of transformation most effectively by telling the story not only with our lips but in                                                                                                         how we live our lives—are we true to our word?  To God's Word?

      Since Palm Sunday of 2005, we have been traveling on The Way as an intentionally multicultural congregation in this part of our Diocese.  During the first year, we went about forming a blended community & getting to know one another.  For two years we've shared joys & sorrows, celebrated marker times & established women's & men's groups, hired a youth minister who has done wondrous work with our middle school youth, & reinvigorated the day school.  Small groups have cropped up for prayer & study & needed tasks, & we've begun to learn how to love & care for one another.  Recently, two of our own have taken on the joyous task of inspiring our choir to lead us all in a wider range of music to God's glory.  Within the past few months, several of us have started training toward a deeper, more fully inclusive community, some of which we'll be sharing on a diocesan level in the next several months. 

      Some of our traveling The Way together has not borne fruit as immediately as we had hoped.  The condition of our half-century-old facilities has been a continual drain on our energy & budget, & has failed to draw the younger families we would love to see here, especially when we had air conditioning issues.  We have not grown as we would like numerically or in our financial ability to better provide for our own community or the larger one.  Although we have offered leadership training opportunities on a local & diocesan level, few have chosen to engage at a deeper level & long-time leaders have, quite frankly, grown tired. 

      We have turned to the diocese for guidance & support, & several efforts have begun.  In your April Hope Happenings, Michael Fahey's Senior Warden's report gives an overview of some of our efforts for renewal and resurrection which are so appropriate at this Easter season.  Our vestry is in process of establishing priorities, all of which you will be hearing more about in the near future & contributing to.  Remember that each step of "the way" which we are journeying together must be underpinned by prayer, a gift we all can give to each other.

      In Peter's first pastoral letter, he invites us to develop a united community with an identity in Jesus Christ.  St. Peter commands us to "Come to Jesus. . . & let ourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."  What kinds of sacrifices must we make in order to live into the promise which Peter offers?  In what ways can we accept the gift which Christ hands us to be "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people"?  The gift is already available to us; we don't have to earn this grace.  However, for us to embrace the life abundant which Christ offers us, we must truly believe & act on the gift God has given that "Once we were not a people, but now you are God's people;  once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy." 

      As Episcopalians, rebirth and resurrection is first & perhaps foremost seen in our worship.  We have exciting opportunities in the upcoming weeks to celebrate as Easter people, so please plan to be here every Sunday.  On the 4^th of May, the Rev. Eric Law who has authored most of the multicultural material we are introducing will be here for Adult Formation class & to preach for us.  The 11^th of May is the Feast of Pentecost so please wear red & come to hear the story of the Church's learning to listen more closely to one another.   Bishop Don Wimberly, our Diocesan bishop, will preach & celebrate on the 25^th of May as well as confirm several of our young people who have been diligently studying & growing in the faith.  Would you please offer a prayer daily for their deepening commitment to The Way?

      And speaking of listening, the 1^st of June at 9:00 am, we will be privileged to experience worship with the Trinity Jazz Ensemble with whom our own Dwight Ward sings on a regular basis.  Dwight has arranged the funding & commitment for them to bring us an exciting experience of worship on the same day that we will be celebrating Education Sunday, honoring all students & teachers including those in our own Day School. 

      God has wonderful plans for Hope Episcopal Church, & my prayer is that each of you will commit to reengage in the journey of The Way in the Hope community in the next few weeks & months & will invite others to join us in this exciting journey.

Easter IV

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter IV

13 April 2008 

Text:  John 10: 1-10

Other Readings:  Acts 2: 42-47; I Peter 2: 19-25; Psalm 23 

      "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want," today's psalm begins, & here from the Hebrew Bible we have the image of the Shepherd who fulfills all our needs if not our wants.  We opened worship today with a prayer desiring to hear the Good Shepherd's voice calling us each by name, that we might know him & follow where he leads. Shepherds were very familiar characters in Bible times, unlike today when we would be more accustomed to hearing about the latest basketball star, oil baron or airline executive with mega-salary, or office-seeker.  How many of US have ever been shepherds?  Even KNOWN a shepherd?  Here in Texas, sheep are raised lots of places, yet sheep-herding is foreign to most of us city-dwellers.  Throughout the Bible including in our scripture readings today as well as much of our music, this familiar image of a shepherd caring for the sheep of his own fold as well as other flocks comforts us & assures us of God's ever-presence regardless of our circumstances.

      Peter tells us in the today's epistle that sheep go astray.  That's why the shepherd's crook, from which our bishops' croziers are copied, has a curved hook on the end.  Sheep can be yanked back on the path when they wander off into the underbrush which they often do.  Actually, God's guidance as a shepherd leading the sheep is exactly what we often need, isn't it?

      When we feel battered & beaten by the world around us, how good it is to know that God our Shepherd revives our souls, guides us along right pathways, spreads a banquet table before us, & anoints our heads with oil.  It's comforting to know that God our Shepherd knows us each by name, walks ahead of us, & shows us the way.  So perhaps both the toughest & the most timid among us can relax & feel safe in the care of our shepherd God. 

      Closer attention to the Gospel passage reveals that Jesus doesn't separate sheep into different groups yet only warns all the sheep that they should follow when he calls their names.  Jesus clearly provides true access to God, & that access is offered to ALL the sheep.  ALL are invited to live life abundantly.  ALL are urged to follow the Shepherd's voice to come & go & find pasture.

      Furthermore, we're supposed to go out into the world to gather those people together who are scattered like lost sheep & share the joy of the in-breaking reign of God with others who are yearning to be invited out of lives of quiet desperation or meaningless frenetic busyness. 

      This weekend 6 Hope parishioners joined me at Palmer Church for a diocesan conference on multiculturalism in music & liturgy.  What a refreshing gift we who attended were given including the opportunity to experience 3 different worship forms that will help us in planning meaningful worship for Hope!

      A quote from noted Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor reminded me of a gift of leadership Jesus offers, particularly in this Easter season for those of us willing to let Jesus be the Shepherd & us to be the sheep.  As we move into a new phase of discerning God's call to Hope, may we have the courage to embrace Taylor's challenge to us:

      The only thing we cannot do is hold on to [Jesus].  He has asked us please not to do that, because he knows that all in all we would rather keep him with us where we are than let him take us where he is going.  Better we should let him hold on to us, perhaps.  Better we should let him take us in to the white hot presence of God, who is not behind us but ahead of us, every step of the way.

      [At 8:00]  As 7 of us from Hope experienced the workshop & worship this weekend, we considered how Hope could pattern ourselves after the 1^st Christian community we heard about in our passage from Acts today.  Here is some of my musing:

      We Episcopalians say that so we worship, thus we form & develop our beliefs, so our corporate worship is at center of our life together in community.  Luke tells us in Acts we must spend much time together, both at church & in each other's homes, with glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the good will of all the people.  How could our community be transformed if every person at Hope were involved in a weekly small group Bible study, not only breaking open the apostles' teachings to see what they meant in their original contexts but also what they invite us to do, be, or change in our lives?  How many of your sisters & brothers in Christ have you invited into your home, met for a cup of coffee, seen a movie with followed by a discussion of its relevance in your lives, or shared other fellowship like families do?  When we break & share the bread & drink the wine at our Eucharistic table on Sundays or Wednesdays, do we pray for those at table with us?  Do we actively look for those with whom our sharing of a family meal, a church family meal, or the Eucharistic meal would be a step toward more abundant life?  After all, each of our meals as well as our communion table is sort of an appetizer for the heavenly banquet which Christ prepares for us in eternity.  Sounds like abundant life to me, meant to be shared with folks like Jesus chose to share meals—the folks who were politically incorrect but who truly needed family.  And finally, for whom do you pray daily?  Your family, your friends, your church community (even those here at Hope who really make you feel uncomfortable), those who may not ever find a church community unless you invite them?  What can we do to put feet on those prayers? 

      [At 10:30]  I asked five of your fellow parishioners to think outside the box in light of their learning & experience of the past 2 days to dream—to wonder—how Hope could pattern ourselves after the 1^st Christian community we heard about in our passage from Acts today.  They will share with you briefly their preliminary observations of how we at Hope might devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching & fellowship, to the breaking of bread & the prayers, & spend much time together becoming community with glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the goodwill of all the people. 

      Testimonies from Michael, Ladelle, Dorothy, Sherley, & Rob

      Michael Fahey:  I wonder if in the future we could visit other churches & see & hear what they care doing to learn the apostles' teachings.  The emphasis might be different, & their perspective might enrich our own.  We need to walk in other persons' moccasins.

      Ladelle Hyman:  Fellowship means being family & sharing where needed.  A whole group of us met here at the church to go down to help after Hurricane Katrina.  Yesterday, four of us left the meeting to walk to the hospital to visit Jackie.  Mike & Rob stepped up to the plate to lead our music when there was a need.  Families do things together & share the burden with one another.

      Dorothy Miller:  We share the breaking of the bread at the communion rail but at other times also, like when representatives of the congregation take communion to others.  It is in this place but also every time we visit with others.  It includes being in community with each others in the morning, at noon, & in the evening, sometimes with formal or informal prayers.  In ancient times, the sharing of a meal was a great honor;  even enemies sat at table with no hate or animosity.  Hope needs to be open for all to come & share.

      Sherley Holden: I have asked God to teach me how to pray.  There are many ways.  We pray here in worship & at home , meditate, & some pray with music.  How did the early church pray?  How would it look for us to do it differently from our usual way?  I wonder. . . .

      Rob Burchfield:  I was really moved yesterday.  If you can imagine a song being sung in 5 languages simultaneously, it gives you a sense of the larger world.  Yesterday we did just that, & we could understand each other through music.  In the last days of Jesus' life, h e crossed borders & showed us how to make disciples.  We had an amazing opportunity to learn yesterday a little about communicating the love of Christ to this community.

      Mother Martha:

      Our sisters & brothers, God has begun a good work here at Hope in growing our Church together & welcoming others into our church community.  Here as we begin our 3^rd year as family, we must let go of Christ the Good Shepherd for him to lead us to where he is going.  My prayer for each person today is that you open your mind & heart & imagination to dare to dream, always aware that the Good Shepherd is present to strengthen, to guide, to correct our tangents on our journey, & to rejoice in our faithfulness.  Come, let us journey together. 

Easter III

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter III

6 April 2008 

Text:  Luke 24: 13-35 & Acts 2: 14a, 36-41

Other Readings:  I Peter 1: 17-23 & Psalm 116: 1-3, 10-17 

      On this 3^rd Sunday of Easter, we continue to celebrate the event which is the bedrock of our faith:  Jesus' resurrection.  From now until Pentecost, we light the Paschal or Christ candle every time we worship, just as we do at baptisms & funerals whenever they occur.  Last week, we recounted two successive Sunday evenings in the Upper Room with the closest disciples as they encounter the risen Christ.  This week's scriptures I visualize as 3 acts in an Easter drama through which we gain strength for our own church's life by glimpsing several parts of the journey Jesus' 1^st followers made toward spreading the Good News throughout the known world.

      Now we return to Easter evening but venture out to accompany disciples otherwise unknown—Cleopas & perhaps his wife—as they return from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem to Emmaus & are joined by a stranger who seems not to know about the events of the previous days yet has spiritual wisdom which warms their hearts.  But I get ahead of myself. . . .

      These 2 disciples return from Jerusalem to a nearby suburb—Emmaus.  These companions of Jesus have witnessed Jesus' triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, then perhaps the dinner & footwashing in the upper room the night before his death followed by the horror of the arrest, trial, the crucifixion itself & then Jesus' burial.  They waited through the longest day they'd ever seen on Saturday, only to be astounded early Sunday morning by stories that the tomb was empty & Jesus had risen. 

      So intent are Cleopas & his companion as they walk along, perhaps in reevaluating the story the women told this morning as they returned from the tomb, they don't recognize the stranger who joins them & asks what they're discussing. The stranger's apparent ignorance gives them a chance to chronicle the happenings & declare their belief that Jesus was a prophet who preached persuasively & demonstrated mighty deeds.  The depth of their disappointment & grief is clear as they reveal the lost hope that he was the one to redeem Israel.  Jesus breaks open the Word to them to reveal those Hebrew scriptures which point to his own death & resurrection.  Like any Jewish rabbi, he appeals first to Moses' law & then to the prophets as he tells his own story, but they still don't see Jesus for who he is. 

      Then, as they come to their home & Jesus appears to be continuing his journey, they offer good Middle Eastern hospitality to him & invite him in for dinner.  I'm reminded of the prayer from our Evening Prayer service based on this story:

      Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand & the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, & awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture & the breaking of bread. 

      And that's exactly what happens.  Part of the miracle is that the guest at their table is no longer the guest.  He is now the host who takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, & gives it to them.  The scripture says their eyes are now opened so that they recognize their rabbi, Jesus the Christ.  What an amazing moment when these otherwise-unknown disciples realize that God has found them! 

      Is this a Eucharistic meal?  How can we see it as anything other than the Eucharist foreshadowed in the feedings of the multitudes & the Last Supper celebration?  Perhaps these disciples remember he told them to share such a meal as often as possible in remembrance of him.  Here, in this story, we have the 2 essential elements of the worship we offer each Sunday—the breaking open of the Scriptures for our intellectual nourishment followed by the breaking open of the bread—now become Christ's body for our physical & spiritual nourishment.

      Before we go on to Act 2 of our drama, let us follow these reenergized disciples hurrying back to Jerusalem.  They must now return to their friends, the larger community, to relate their story, to share with the 11 apostles & their companions that Jesus has made himself known in the scripture conversation on the road & in the breaking of the bread.  We, too, are called to respond to Christ's call to us as a community of disciples who must go & tell the Good News of our risen Christ.  During Easter season, we are called to reach out much more effectively to those in our neighborhood & beyond who may not treasure these resurrection stories.  Further, we are challenged to pattern our own community after those early ones of the disciples.

      Our Act 2 comes from Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts.  Peter lands quite a punch as he reminds the crowd they are responsible for having crucified the man God has made Lord & Messiah.  The crowd is cut to the heart & wants to know how to respond.  Peter then gives the famous altar call:  Repent.  Be baptized.  Receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for those in his hearing on that day but also for those "who are far away," he says.  Salvation is available to all, even those of us in future generations.  You did not have to be present at the first Easter or the first Pentecost to win!  We are called, over & over in our lives, to repent, fulfill our baptismal vows, & welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit.

      This passage from Acts describes elements important to the first community who responded to Christ's offer of salvation to continue, to remain steadfast, & to grow the faith, even after Jesus' ascension.  The description of the new Christians' activities has become the first question after the creed in our baptismal covenant:  "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching & fellowship, in the breaking of bread & in the prayers?"  And we all respond vigorously, "I will, with God's help." We at Hope model our gathered worship & prayer life on this promise.  If you do not currently study the Bible with others weekly, we offer Bible studies on Sundays at 9:00 & Wednesdays at noon.  We worship at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings also.  God's help is still with us, & we still need to pray for that help daily.

      What are the expected results when we grow in faith & gain the strength to share it with others?  Continue the Acts passage.  The early Christians were awed because of the signs & wonders the apostles were capable of doing with the power of the Holy Spirit.  They shared their possessions & gave the proceeds to those who needed them.  They worshiped together in the temple.  They broke bread & ate their food with glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the good will of all the people.  And God added many who were being saved to their community.

      Sometimes when the going gets tough, we assume that those early Christians who had known Jesus in the flesh or who knew the first apostles got along great in community because the Holy Spirit hovered among them so closely.  Act 3 of our drama takes us to the present day & to near northwest Houston where God is doing a new thing in us.  If one of those first apostles could just be here to help Hope work out the rough spots, we'd be great!  Right?

      Even a glance at Paul's letters to the Corinthians or Galatians tells us otherwise.  The first Christians were an unruly & quarreling bunch with frequent disagreements about almost every aspect of their corporate life.  Our 2^nd reading hints at similar difficulties encountered by even the super-apostle Peter with the congregations he oversaw.  He reminds them they have been ransomed from their futile ways with the precious blood of Christ.  It doesn't take much imagination to guess what some of those futile ways were.  Peter recognizes that coming to faith is a process when he says that through Christ they have come to trust in God.  We also come to trust one another by daily turning our pains & disappointments, our self-will run riot & our determination that the way we've always done it is the best way over to the care of our loving God. 

      Peter reminds us that the Holy Spirit will purify our souls if we are but obedient to Jesus Christ.  We don't have to do it by ourselves.  In fact, we can't do so.  We need each other.  The outcome of our willingness to be obedient, to remain flexible & teachable, is the genuine mutual love that Peter exhorts us to.  He calls us to love one another deeply from the heart & that, in so doing, we will be born anew. 

      At Eastertime, we proclaim that Christ is arisen & that as the new comes, the old passes away.  Experiencing the passing of what has been as well as what we wish could have been & never was is sometimes excruciating & always involves some pain.  We still must call upon the Holy Spirit to sustain us as we continue to experience the birthpangs of being born anew in a transformed community of Hope.  As we grow in grace & love at Hope, we worship a loving God, a God who calls us each by name, takes us by the hand to walk with us, & continues to purify our souls so that we may develop genuine mutual love, loving each other deeply from the heart.  This is the Easter season & we are Easter people.  May we celebrate the transforming love of God, trusting that God's power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever & ever.  Amen. (Ephesians 3: 20-21)