Year A - 20 Pentecost (Proper 24) - October 18, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders 

St. James Episcopal Church 

Greeneville, TN 

Year A - 20 Pentecost (Proper 24) - October 18, 2020

Isaiah 45:1-7
Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22

It’s no secret that this world values money… money from trade (the buying and selling) drives the economy and the economy drives wealth and world position and from wealth and position comes power. And if I could quote Voltaire, or possibly spider-man (who knows) “with great power comes great responsibility.”

Money is the world’s scorecard or marker, and people that don’t have it, want it… and people that have it want more of it. No wonder the scripture says, "where your treasure is… there your heart will be also." We tend to spend money on the things we value, the things that are important to us, the things that we need, and even the things we think we need. 

I helped lead a youth retreat some years back and it had pictures of people from different places in the world posed out on the front lawns of their homes with all their possessions. It was shocking to say the least,  to look at pictures from impoverished countries that had a few bowls and pots a bedroll and two goats and a bedroll… 

And then you look a the family from the United States… with so much STUFF in the yard, you couldn’t see the family…

Money and possessions, drive some of the biggest political issues and cause some of the biggest arguments and problems of our day.  Money and possessions and fighting over control of money and possessions cause war and violence and hatred… 

Money and possessions… No wonder how you use or treat money and possessions is mentioned over 800 times in Holy Scripture. Yet, the way some folks argue about what is in scripture and what isn’t you would think that sex or something else would top the list.

Jesus is confronted by 2 groups this morning, the Pharisees and the Herodians… The Pharisees we know are the religious elite. They were the ones who walked around “holier than thou” and thought they were keeping every letter of the law. They actively opposed the Roman Empire…

The Herodians on the other hand worked within the Roman Empire and supported Herod, who was the Jewish King but was basically Caesar’s puppet… The two groups were ideologically and politically opposed to each other, but had one thing in common… they both were out to get Jesus…

So they come up with a scheme to try to get Jesus to use his words against himself… After buttering Jesus up with praise for his regard for truth and no partiality they ask Jesus a question to try to trip him up…They ask, "is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" They thought they had him… but Jesus quickly catches onto their scheme…

And Jesus tells them that they are being hypocrites and he asks them why they are testing him… So Jesus asks to see the coin that is used to pay the Roman tax and they produce a Denarius… Then Jesus asks whose head is on the coin and who’s title… and they said the Emperor… Jesus then says, very confidently, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

It’s interesting that this scripture passage over the years has been put forth as Jesus acclamation that good Christians should pay taxes… but that’s not exactly what it’s saying. The reason it’s so confounding to both the Herodians and Pharisees is that it’s a deep dive, both politically and theologically into the aspects of paying and giving…

Paying and giving both to the Emperor, Caesar, (or what we give power in this world) and Paying or giving to God (who doesn’t trade in Caesar’s currency.)

Jesus’ question of whose head and whose title are on the coin has us look at some of the theological aspects… The image of a head or a person’s likeness that to whom you give power and authority with the title, “Caesar the divine” written on it, is none other than idolatry… So why not return the scorecard of this world to the tyrant that has his head plastered all over it. Jesus’ argument makes perfect sense.

But you can’t look at what Jesus says about the Emperor’s coin and ignore what he says about God. Remember he also says, "give to God the things that are God’s. Both the Herodians and Pharisees would know, as we well know and have been taught from the beginning that we belong to God.

We are made in God’s image and we walk around this earth and bear the image of God. So, are we giving to God those things that are God’s? 

As I said, God doesn’t trade in Caesar’s currency… Now, Cindy Painter and Doug Temple are both going to hate me saying this… right here in the middle of our pledge season. God doesn’t want your money! God doesn’t need your money. God wants you! God wants your life and love. God wants your praise and adoration. God wants your thankfulness and your attention. God wants your souls and bodies.

If everything in this world was created by God and every human being bears the image of God then God already owns it all. What we do with our life, our money, and our stuff, is how we show this world that we are trading with different currencies in a different market... That we are investing in eternal things (heavenly things) and not earthly things. The currency of God’s kingdom is radically different from that of Caesar’s.

When I was in the Diocese of North Carolina we had a saying that embodies this idea… It was our diocesan stewardship statement… see stewardship isn’t about just money… it’s about how we use our time, what we value, how we are accountable for the things we are given and the things that we earn, and how we use our passions, skills, and abilities to help usher forth God’s kingdom. 

The saying in North Carolina was simple, say it with me… Stewardship! All that we are! All that we have! All the time! It’s a very simple message to understand…

So there are some things for us to think about today… into these coming weeks and months and into the coming year… What do we value? To whom or what do we give power and authority? Who are we? and who’s are we? What are we thankful for? To Whom or to what do we give praise? In what currency do we trade? - knowing that we have to live in this world and prepare for God’s kingdom? How do we use that which is entrusted to us for the spread of the redeeming message of Jesus and the building up of God’s kingdom in this world?

All that we are! All that we have! All the time!

Year A - 19 Pentecost (Proper 23) - October 11, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders
St. James Episcopal Church 
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 19 Pentecost (Proper 23) - October 11, 2020

Isaiah 25:1-9
Psalm 23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14

I heard a story a few years back about a small parish that had just called a new priest to lead them. They were so happy to have a young and educated pastor to help them grow and do the Lord's work in their community. The first week the pastor gave a fantastic sermon and everyone was so pleased. After Church they greeted each other and they told the priest how pleased they were that he accepted the call to serve their small parish. The second week the pastor delivered the same sermon. (you know they say, that all great preachers... they only have one sermon…) The people were still happy that they had the new priest and they didn't mind too much that he repeated the same sermon from the previous week. Again, on third Sunday the pastor gave the same sermon. The parish was now wondering if this guy was a complete dud, after all he delivered the same sermon three Sunday's in a row. So, the vestry decided to speak with the priest about his lack of performance in the pulpit. On the fourth week right after the service, and after hearing the sermon four times in a row the vestry met with the priest. They told him how wonderful it was to have him there and how they enjoyed him and his family and were so pleased that he had accepted the call to come to their community. However, they also said that they were a little upset… Upset that he had delivered the same sermon now four weeks in a row. While smiling he looked at them and said, "Well, I'll change my sermon when you all start listening!"

During the past few weeks we have heard some powerful and inspiring lessons from the gospel of Matthew. And they all point towards our response to the Lord’s invitation. Through the gospel lessons we learned that we are called to be the Church and live a life of faith and obedience… We are called to react, to forgive, and to witness to others what we believe. This has been the theme that has been repeated over and over and over again during these past few Sundays.

Today we were presented with Jesus telling us the parable story of a wedding banquet which a king gave for his guests. In scripture, a wedding banquet is often used as a metaphor for the great messianic feast, the kingdom of heaven, that we all have an opportunity to be a part of. In the Revelation to St. John the divine, we are told that at the end of times... after all the wars, tribulation, destruction, and rebellion takes place... The Lamb of God, who is Jesus the Christ, will come down from heaven, and be seated on his throne with all his angels in all his power and all his glory. The scripture says that he will be dressed like a beautiful bridegroom who is awaiting his bride. His bride, the Church.

The bride of Christ is the Church, which is adorned in all her beauty and splendor, just like a bride is dressed on her wedding day. And that is why the Church is always decorated with elegance… with beautiful vestments and sometimes gold and silver, revealing the God's beauty and glory. And then the marriage feast of the Lamb will take place, the feast of feasts, and all will be invited to the supper.

However, we have to make sure that we have our wedding garment. It is our baptismal garment that becomes our wedding garment, our entry pass… as we are part of the body preparing for the arrival of the bridegroom… If we don’t have the wedding garment, we will not be able to join the party. 

As we heard in the lesson this morning; a man was at the party that did not put on the wedding garment that had been provided and was thrown out of the banquet into the street. At baptism we were baptized into Christ's death and then raised with him (re-born in him) in order to walk in new life. We were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit through the anointing with Holy Chrism. In most churches the newly baptized wear a white robe which is symbolic of our new life (our wedding garment), and we are given a candle which is the light of Christ. We are then walked down the isle, and make our first procession into the Church as a member of the body of Christ, as we were welcomed into the household of God. And then we were invited to the Lord's Table to feast on the bread and wine, that spiritual nourishment for our journey which is the body and blood of Jesus.

This invitation didn't just go out one time but continually goes out week after week after week, as the Lord wants us to share in his hospitality. Whether we respond or not is our responsibility.

I said a few weeks ago, that what we do in response to God’s grace in our lives is up to us… God has given us a grand opportunity, to be part of a community that worships, learns, and fellowships together… But it takes more then us just showing up to the feast… It takes action… action to honor our great host by donning the wedding gown of salvation… because the wedding garment doesn't do us any good, if we don’t put it on…

I am not talking about what you wear, or don’t wear to church, I am talking about what you do in response to the invitation that you are so freely given… Do you accept the salvation (the wedding garment) that you are offered? And when you do, what do you do in response, Do you put it on?

Our Lord expects us to continually answer the invitation daily, to live out our baptismal vows to seek and serve him in all persons and love our neighbor as ourself and strive for justice and peace and uphold the dignity of all people. And Jesus says that he would be there with us…

He wants us to come and sit at his table and feast on the food of eternal life, the food that nourishes our souls… The Lord offer us an open invitation which was given to us at baptism, and he continually invites us to worship, to learn, to our share faith and fellowship with one another. But, as I said, it goes further than us just showing up for the feast…We have to be willing to put on the wedding garment, the garment of salvation… and live our lives in response to God’s love for us. 

We do this by witnessing to his love in the world… by living our lives in a way that testifies to his love…It’s not about going out and babbling scripture at other folks… expecting them to understand and to be “converted” or “saved” from hellfire and damnation. It is about living your life in such a way, that others realize that you have something special going on... You have that something so special that it radiates forth from you... and they are interested, and they ask you about it… Then you have the open opportunity to share with them the invitation that you have received, and invite them…

It is all in how we respond… It’s all in how we live… Some people respond to this invitation and others don’t… However, as we heard in the gospel reading from Matthew, if we don't respond, God will invite other people who will respond... others who "want" to respond.

Perhaps our gospel lessons for the past few weeks have been a bit repetitive on purpose. Perhaps we are not listening to what Matthew is telling us. Sometimes when we hear the scriptures read in church or anywhere else, we tend to hear what we want to hear and then forget or ignore the rest. We like to pick and choose bits and pieces of the gospel, rather than listening, hearing, and accepting the whole gospel.

Today we are once again invited to hear the gospel's call to faith, and to be the church in the world – living out our baptismal covenant by loving God, loving one another and witnessing to the truth… Let us be constantly striving to don our baptismal garment, to live out our response to the salvation so freely given to us… So that on that day… we will be prepared to sit at the table of the Lord, and be partakers of that heavenly banquet... That Great Wedding feast that has been prepared for us!

Year A - 2 Pentecost (Proper 6) - June 14, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 2 Pentecost (Proper 6) - June 14, 2020

• Exodus 19:2-8a
• Psalm 100
• Romans 5:1-8
• Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

When I was growing up, I was never really a sports enthusiast. I liked sports some more than others. I played football in the neighborhood on the vacant lot with friends, but was never on a peewee football team. I never was on a baseball team though I played softball for a short period of time. Sports wasn’t my thing until I got to High School and found wrestling.

I enjoyed wrestling. I know it seems sadistic, but I enjoyed wrestling practice and drills sometimes more than I did matches. It was about practice and repetition and conditioning to build endurance and physical strength.

Those techniques are taught in basically every sport than I can think of. Perfect practice makes perfect performance. Right practice makes right performance…

It is possible to practice wrong, but then you end up needing to unlearn the things that weren’t good for you. It takes more than a desire to win in sports, it takes conditioning and training. In sports, work, practice, and sometimes pain produces results – you’ve probably heard that adage "no pain – no gain."

In the letter to the Romans, for Paul, hope isn’t wishful thinking, he knows that the Christian life is going to be tough. But he is absolutely certain about the outcome because it is grounded in God’s faithfulness to keep his promises. That is, what God will do for the believer in Christ is grounded on what God has done for the believer in Christ.

Through their tough training (suffering, ridicule, and persecution) that lead to endurance, and endurance that produced character and character that produces hope and hope does not disappoint us... He says that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

You’ve heard me say this before. You ever wonder why we pray the prayers, and practice the routines and rhythms of the prayer book daily office? It’s funny, but I’m ashamed that I couldn’t answer that question until I was way out of seminary... Until I had some experience under my belt. Until I had been through some things in my life that pressed me to connect with God in ways I never had.

Anyone who has ever trained for a sport, should be able to understand this. Anyone who has suffered to endure something that provides great benefit and character should be able to relate to this. I had a mentor once call our daily prayers calisthenics. Calisthenics for Christians, he called them. Calisthenics are short workouts intended to strengthen and train for endurance... to practice movements and train muscles.

All this daily prayer stuff is Christian calisthenics, so that when we’re in this journey of life, we are better equipped to handle it. We know how to respond when we are grounded in our faith…

Master Park, my Taekwondo teacher would say "we train Taekwondo" and when we train Taekwondo, we become taekwondo people. and when taekwondo people are squeezed, our taekwondo comes out.

It’s the same for Christians. We work to develop our relationship with Christ. We pray, we worship, we practice... we endure by taking a stand for what is right in this world. And when we are squeezed, our love of God comes out.

The reading from Exodus says, God tells the people of Israel, "Out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although all the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation”

I wonder how the people of Israel must have felt when they heard those words. They had traveled through many obstacles on their painstaking journey through the wilderness after God delivered this group of people from the powerful armies of Egypt. Now they, after three long months of hard travel, have arrived at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and they hear these unbelievable words from God, "You will be for me a “kingdom of priest” and a “holy nation…” Reminding them that they have been called... treasured and precious in God’s sight.

They would be set apart from all other nations for God’s purposes… a holy nation… and this holy nation would be made up of connectors… priests... those who connect people to God. A task that is full of wonder, work, and a lot of responsibility. An important task that would prepare a way for God to come among us. Can you imagine what they must have thought? how they must have felt.

After Moses had told all the elders and the elders told the people, the people answered as one, “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Saying yes…

They said "Yes" God, We will keep the covenant, Yes God, we will be a kingdom of priests, Yes God, we will be a holy nation. The people of Israel hadn’t even seen a job description and yet, they signed up for the opportunity of a lifetime something that they could never walk away from. Do you think they knew how to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation?

I’m not so sure they did trial and error seemed to be the task of the day. Error sometimes more than trial, and then more error and more trial and more error. It took them a long while to figure it out. I still don’t think that we've completely figured it out. But the biggest thing is, they didn’t quit. They kept practicing, they kept training. And that’s the biggest thing we’ve learned to date is we can’t quit. There is still a need to practice. We’re all still training…

We continue to worship and engage the holy mysteries of God trying to connect others, trying to be a kingdom of priests, and we make a lot of mistakes, but sometimes we get it right.

Jesus was traveling around to all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the kingdom of God, and curing disease and sickness. He was gaining a following and great crowds started to form wherever he was and he saw that the people were looking for love and hope he saw that they needed direction and connection.

So he called the twelve together and sent them out. He sent them out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom sent them out to cast out evil and tend the sick. He sent them out with everything that they needed themselves and each other. He sent them out with great urgency for a task of utmost importance.

They had been with him and learned and practiced and trained. Now it was time. He empowered them to be agents for the Kingdom of God. Star players in the reconciliation of the world.

Our stated mission in the Episcopal Church is found on page 855 of the Book of Common Prayer. "The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." It goes a bit further and asks "How does the Church pursue its mission?" The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love.

Brothers and Sisters, we are part of this apostolic quest of reconciliation. We are sent out among the people of God to give them hope. We have been sent out to be a kingdom of priests to help the people of God connect and heal. We have been sent to help train future generations of players to say the prayers, and break the bread, and share in the Kingdom of God. We have been sent out to proclaim the Gospel and promote justice and peace and love. We have been sent out and given permission to put our faith and love of God into action. It’s what we’ve been training for. It’s how we respond to the hurting and the evil in this world.

We are agents of the kingdom of God and our work in this world is not going to be easy. But hopefully, when the world squeezes us the love of God comes out.

Year A - Trinity Sunday - June 7, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Trinity Sunday - June 7, 2020

• Genesis 1:1-2:4a
• 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20
• Psalm 8

Year A - Pentecost - May 31, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Pentecost - May 31, 2020

• Acts 2:1-21
• 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
• John 20:19-23
• Psalm 104:25-35, 37

The Jew were gathered in Jerusalem for another religious festival… this festival was a time when the Jewish folks would gather and celebrate the “first wheat harvest” of their year… and commemorate God giving them the Torah (or law)

They had journeyed from all over for this pilgrim festival that occurs 7 weeks following the “festival of first fruits.” See, there were several festivals before this one… there was, of course, Passover, and then there was the feast of unleavened bread. Don’t get these 2 confused… Passover lasts only 24 hours… the feast of unleavened bread lasts a whole 7 days after Passover.

Then you would have the feast of First-fruits… when the first barley would be harvested… Here's how I understand the way they figured out the date of Pentecost. According to the Old Testament, you would go to the day of the celebration of First-fruits, and beginning with that day, you would count off 50 days.

Since it was always 50 days after First-fruits, and since 50 days equals seven weeks, it always comes out as a "week of weeks" later. Therefore, they either call it the “Feast of Harvest” or “Shavuot” in Hebrew which means the “Feast of Weeks.” The fiftieth day would be the Day of Pentecost. (Which actually means 50th day in Greek). 

So First-fruits is the beginning of the barley harvest and Pentecoste is the celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest. Fun facts to know and tell… 

Today, in the Christian Church we just call it Pentecost and we celebrate this Holy Day for an entirely different reason… At the Pentecost festival that we heard about in the story from Acts, it was far different from any other festival that they had ever encountered.

When they were gathered there together… Jews were from all over - Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and even the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews, and proselytes (those studying to be Jews), Cretans and Arabs.

Folks gathered there for one purpose… On the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (See Van’) to have Shavuot! (In order to celebrate the wheat harvest and to give thanks to God for the Law of Moses.) But something spectacular happened… a sound from the sky like the rush of a violent wind,  filled the entire house where they were sitting. 

Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. You can put yourself in the scene it had to be both an awesome and scary experience… filled with wonder…

These simple folks from Galilee… most of them fishermen, instantly being able to speak in other languages… but not only were they able to speak in other languages… they were able to be understood by the others who were listening. They had received the Holy Spirit and the spirit gave them a great gift… the ability to be understood… to proclaim the greatness of God, and have people experience it and know it for themselves.

See, the greatest miracle wasn’t necessarily the ability to immediately speak in another language but it was the ability to be heard and to be understood. To be heard and understood by folks who are different… from a different culture and different places… like Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene... Heard and understood by folks who didn’t always get along so well.

The apostles weren’t speaking Greek, which would have been the trade language understood by many… But each understood that the apostles were speaking in the native language of each…. I don’t know about you, but I counted… there are Over 15 groups of people listed in this section of the Book of Acts and that’s just the groups that are listed.

And there are only 11 apostles… and if you include the several women that were there with them there would probably be 15-18 apostles. How is it that 15-18 people were able to proclaim the mighty acts of God to over 120 people gathered… that raised such a commotion that it was heard by thousands... Thousands who were brought to Christ…

But they weren't just heard… They were understood. Understood to the point of conversion.  Understood that the power of God is to be lived out… lived out in the way of Jesus. In his letter to the Church in Corinth, St. Paul says that the only way we can proclaim "Jesus is Lord" is by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters at the beginning of the creation… The Ruach Elohim … The Spirit of God comes upon us in our baptism and enables us.

Paul says that the Spirit activates gifts within each of us… and they become manifest in us for the good of everyone. These gifts are the ability to speak wisdom, to speak knowledge… Faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discernment, the ability to communicate, and the ability to understand what’s communicated. All these are, what Paul calls, a variety of gifts given by the same Spirit activated in us. Gifts that help us nurture a relationship with God and one another… Gifts that help us be one in Christ Jesus. So there is no longer Slave nor Free, Jew nor Greek, Male nor Female

We have been given these awesome gifts, awesome powers bestowed on us by the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truth… The problem is that we don’t use them… We have been baptized into Christ Jesus and made part of his body, the Church and we have been given these awesome spiritual gifts… And yet, we fail to exercise the gifts that we have been given. 

When they were given to the Apostles, the apostles proclaimed the mighty acts of God and thousands were moved to become followers of Jesus. The spirit is still moving, still working within and around the people of God… the problem is, that we are not out there using them to their full potential…

If we did, there would be peace and understanding... there would be harmony and listening… there would be healing and restoration…

There’s a lot going on in the world today. Bishop Curry called it a pressure cooker of society. There is every kind of -ism under the planet that has manifested itself and decided to lash out… Politically, you have the right and left going at it, accusing the other of being wrong or of messing things up. We unable to even do something as simple as watching a news broadcast from a certain network without being lumped in with and thought to belong on a particular side of the political machine…

Racially, there is hate and violence being acted out… by marches on State Capitols by folks armed w/ assault weapons to riots and looting in Minnesota and other parts of the county. Violence acted out by those who have power and feel violated, or by those who feel they have no power or no voice. The hatred and evil of these conditions bubble over into the streets. It’s all toxic, it’s evil, and it’s wrong. It is not the way of God’s life-giving spirit.

Yes, I use these examples from our world today to make a point… The point is that we need the Spirit of God today more than ever. We need the Spirit of God to move over us this Pentecost. To help us speak wisdom and truth to power. To help us speak love to hate and speak unity to prejudice. But not only to speak but be understood

Brothers and sisters the language of Pentecost is the language of God and the language of God is the language of Love. The Spirit of Truth gives us the ability to speak this language but it’s up to us to speak it.

We heard a wonderful story this morning about a group of folks who after Jesus had given them the Spirit and sent them into the world they were given power gifts of wisdom and proclamation… and they were understood… some folks thought they were a little bit nuts. but they were understood. They proclaimed the mighty acts of God’s power, and they were understood.

How many of the differences in our world would be vanquished if we allowed the power of the Holy Spirit to speak and to reign in our lives? How many wondrous acts could the Holy Spirit accomplish through us in our churches and communities if we just embraced it and invited it into our midst? 

How many hearts and minds could the Holy Spirit transform, if we prayed daily for the Holy Spirit to have its way in our churches and our communities? I’m reminded, this morning, of a great ancient hymn of the church – it is a prayer to invoke the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. It is sung mostly at Ordinations and Baptisms, but it’s a prayer our world needs so much right now:

It’s called Veni Sancte Spiritus (in Latin). It is also known as the “golden sequence" (Come Holy Spirit). It’s said to have been written by Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury around the year 1200. It became a regular part of the Roman Missal used for Mass in the 16th century. 

Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come Holy Spirit (this is a translation of the original Latin…)

 

Come, O Holy Spirit, come! 

From your bright and blissful Home 

Rays of healing light impart.

Come, Father of the poor,

Source of gifts that will endure

Light of ev'ry human heart.

You, of all consolers best,

Of the soul, most kindly Guest,

Quick’ning courage do bestow.

In hard labor You are rest,

In the heat You refresh best,

And solace give in our woe.

O most blessed Light divine,

Let Your radiance in us shine,

And our inmost being fill.

Nothing good by man is thought,

Nothing right by him is wrought,

When he spurns Your gracious Will.

Cleanse our souls from sinful stain,

Lave our dryness with Your rain 

Heal our wounds and mend our way.

Bend the stubborn heart and will,

Melt the frozen, warm the chill, 

Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful who in You,

Trust with childlike piety,

Deign your sevenfold gift to send.

Give them virtue’s rich increase,

Saving grace to die in peace,

Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia! 

Year A - 6 Easter - May 17, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 6 Easter - May 17, 2020

• Acts 17:22-31
• 1 Peter 3:13-22
• John 14:15-21
• Psalm 66:7-18

Music is so ingrained in the way I worship, it sometimes bleeds over to how I read scripture. I can’t read the Gospel Lesson from John 14:15-21 without a Motet from the famous English Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis playing in my head… Maybe it’s because I’ve sung the anthem a few hundred times… Perhaps it because the harmonies transport me to another dimension – a place beyond this world.

Maybe it’s because the text in Tallis’ music is some of the most comforting and reassuring words that Jesus ever spoke. We may never know why this simple motet that Tallis wrote in 1565 still moves the hardest heart to a closer place with God. The text is from the first part of our Gospel reading from John chapter 14 versus 15-17. It’s only a couple of minutes and definitely worth hearing today. 

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may ‘bide with you forever; E’en the sp’rit of truth.

Simple, yet profound directions from Jesus to show our love for Him by loving the Lord God and by loving our neighbor as our self. It’s not prescriptive or conditional, but about us becoming a symbol of presence… A symbol of the presence of the living Christ to others…

And if we do just that, if we keep the commandments to love, we will have the comfort of the Holy Spirit – a spirit of truth that will be with us wherever we are, wherever we go.

In the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, this Gospel reading was appointed for Whitsunday or White Sunday, which is another name for Pentecost. A day on which the baptismal candidates would all be wearing white robes as a symbol of their purity in baptism – of being made anew in Christ Jesus.

But, today, we have the reading, and there is yet another week before we get to Pentecost that we celebrate on the 31st of May. I have a feeling that today’s lectionary placed this reading here because this is the week before the ascension, which is celebrated this coming Thursday. The text here is the resurrected Christ telling his followers that they will not be abandoned when he ascends to heaven. That they will experience Jesus through the Spirit of Truth rather than experience him physically.  

So we have to ponder a bit about what this “spirit of truth” is and what it means for his closest followers and what it means for us today…

In this short passage, Jesus has told us that there is no reason to be anxious because we don’t physically see him. But - Because when we are keeping his commandments, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Then we can look at the world around us and see Jesus and experience him in those who are loving others. Because by loving others, they are loving God.

It’s often said that eyes are windows to the soul. I tend to believe this – because I know when I look deeply into the eyes of another living thing – I can see beyond this world. I think that this what it means to see and recognize that “indwelling spirit.”

When Jesus says, I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you… This is what he is referring to…

But, I also know what it means to look into those cold dark places the places of evil… where the spirit doesn’t seem to exist.

If we are believers, and if we are keeping the commandments to Love as Jesus taught us. Then this love shows itself in action. You’ve heard me speak of Teresa of Avila, who happens to have lived during the same period as Tallis and who also happens to be another patron Saint of Spain along with our Patron St. James. 

It was St. Teresa of Avila that said, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth, but yours.”

When we love like Jesus loved… Then we are a tabernacle, a vessel of the living Christ’s presence within us. And we, in turn, learn to see Jesus in ways we didn’t realize and in places where we don’t expect.

But, it’s difficult sometimes amid the distractions of this world… amid the chaos and animosity to simply focus on the good… to simply focus on the love… I think it was the philosopher Aristotle that said, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”

When we see the light (in the Christian’s case, the light of Christ), we see love. And when we focus on love, we see love (we see Christ), and when we focus on love, we attract love… And if we love, like Jesus taught us, we are, in fact, keeping his commandments.

Unfortunately – this works both ways. If we focus on the negative... If we focus on the worry, the hate, the evil (and all those things that separate us from the love in God), then it creates more stress, and causes us more anxiety and leads us in wrong directions.

That’s when we need to remember that God loves us… And God’s love always prevails over evil despite the most horrible tragedies. The light always obliterates the darkness. Just one small candle, and then the darkness is gone.

When the world around us makes no sense, and people do the strangest and most hurtful things. Hope is there, and the love and kindness point the way to Jesus. See, God made the first move of love toward us… creating us and giving us all our own creative powers.

God sent Jesus to be for us that perfect image of what God intends us to be... of how God means for us to live. Each one of us is made in Imago Dei (in the image of God.) We are, in fact, living images of the living God. We embody the indwelling of the Holy Spirit… the Spirit of Truth… Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. Therefore, each one of us is a sanctuary of love… It is our purpose, it is our destiny…

Let yourself know and be comforted in the fact that we have not been left alone… that God loves us… and has not left us… That we have and feel and see and hear the Spirit of Truth all around us. Listen to the music of Thomas Tallis; you might be able to hear it and feel it. Look into your neighbor’s eyes; you might be able to see it.

Year A - 4 Easter - May 3, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 4 Easter - May 3, 2020

• Acts 2:42-47
• 1 Peter 2:19-25
• John 10:1-10
• Psalm 23

These are indeed strange times. Yesterday should have actually been “Derby Day” (the running of the Kentucky Derby), but that’s been postponed until September 5th… And though Tennessee is starting to open a bit, there are still many infected and there are still too many deaths from the virus. Things are crazy, and things are scary and serious.

Now, I’m not saying this to scare you, but I am using this opportunity to caution you… please, please, please if you can, stay home… If you need to go out in public, wear your mask. Continue to do the things to make sure you, your family, and others are safe. If we do these things,  the virus will eventually end, and we will be able to gather again.

This past week, when I was preparing the message for today, I thought about how concerned I am about every one of you and about how I hope that I am doing what I need to do to make sure you are getting what you need… How you stay connected to each other… but most importantly, how you stay connected to God.

When reading the lections for today, I latched onto a couple of words that I would like to unpack. The first one is 'shepherd.' Sometimes, we have a hard time understanding why the Psalmist would call God our Shepherd… But not only call God 'Shepherd' but also elaborate on the fact that with God as our shepherd we don’t have a need anything else. We have all the green pastures and still waters that we need. We have something to calm our spirit when we are scared or distressed.

With the peace of God guiding us and keeping us safe, we can get through the most troubling of times. With the love of God surrounding us and God’s goodness and mercy following us. We are indeed in the presence of God.

As I reflected on the use of the word shepherd… I realized that’s what shepherds do for their animals… we then understand that shepherds lookout for those in their charge.

What is interesting is… the church adopted this language. The Latin word for “shepherd” is Pastor. Pastor… the term we use to describe a person who has responsibility for others… Responsibility for guiding them in the right direction… responsibility for making sure that they have a connection to the one that can provide, nourish, and protect…

In our gospel lesson, Jesus seems to be describing himself as a Shepherd, and if we were to read through to include verse 11, we would actually hear Jesus refer to himself as the Good Shepherd. The Good shepherd that that lays down his life for the sheep. But in our reading today, we didn’t hear the word shepherd but once in the gospel reading.

In our reading today, Jesus actually calls himself the “gate.” This is the second word I would like to reflect on. He calls himself “gate” Not once… but twice. He didn’t say he was the gatekeeper… but said he was the gate himself.

The scripture says that the original listeners had a hard time with this imagery and his figure of speech… they didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them. Sheep-herding in ancient Israel is interesting and not uncommon. People would know a bit about keeping animals. They would know that in a sheep-fold, there could be several flocks, so when the shepherd of the flock calls the sheep that are in his charge, he makes a specific sound…

The sheep recognize this sound… of the shepherd calling them by name, and they follow and the shepherd leads them out to safely graze. The shepherd’s function is essential to the raising of sheep. But to understand Jesus’s imagery, we have to understand a bit about how sheep are kept.

I learned several years ago that the way a sheepfold is made… (where they keep the animals to allow the shepherd some rest) is that there is a built-up wall with stones or rocks on all four sides, making like a large pen. On one side of this large pen is an opening… The opening is just large enough for the sheep to enter and exit… The shepherds would lay across the opening to the sheepfold, keeping watch while they were resting so that the shepherd actually became the gate.

Jesus uses the image of “gate” as a metaphor – By saying that he is the gate, he has us stop and think for a minute. We know that the gate's purpose is to provide a way of entry and entry through a barrier like a wall or a fence. The 'gate' is a portal of passage and allows both entry and exit. When Jesus says, “I am the gate,” it is his way of inviting us both in and out.  He is telling us that he is THE faithful leader, guardian, protector, healer, and loving guide of his people – to US… his sheep. Jesus is our way to safety, our way of entering a restful place where we know we are loved and protected. 

But in the same phrase, he is also telling us that we will need to go back out through that gate into the world. It is his invitation to leave the safety and security of the sheepfold and go back out into a world of challenges... but be assured that we will be safe because he is leading us.

We know that shepherds had to be tough and courageous, a bit rough around the edges, they were often dirty and probably didn’t smell too good. They were ones who were out on the fringes of refined society… they are the “other” folks, who were not always accepted… They were more like the kind of people who are considered the “outcasts of society” – the ones that Jesus makes it a point to be with, to eat with, and to teach.

Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” As followers of Jesus, we are Jesus’ own. We are the sheep of his pasture… We are communal creatures that need to be led by a Good Shepherd. So, sheep know their shepherd, and they will listen to their shepherd’s voice as he calls them by name. 

But Jesus also says that some try to climb in another way… he calls them thieves and bandits... I consider these voices vying for the sheep’s attention. Voices that try to endanger the sheep. Just like there are many voices of this world today vying for our attention. Voices that want to lead us astray. You have probably heard some of them – or something like them… voices like self-reliance, self-sufficiency, self-salvation, greed, gluttony, and idolatry. Voices trying to make us think that we don’t need each other that we don’t need a good shepherd… voices of this world trying to break up the harmony of the flock and make us start lashing out at one another.

Being timid animals, sheep are vulnerable and are not able to protect themselves. They need the shepherd’s protection… Shepherds offer the sheep protection by carrying a rod or staff… so the shepherds can ward off wolves and other predators that may do them harm. 

But if the sheep follow the shepherd – and are true to the shepherd, and listen to the shepherd and follow where he leads, and the shepherd will look after them. However, often, we’re not good sheep. We are stubborn, and we don’t want to go where the Good Shepherd leads. We like to think that we have it all figured out ourselves, and we like to separate ourselves from the other sheep the sheep that aren’t like us, rather than stay together in one flock, under the guidance of the one Good Shepherd.

Many are out there that try to be the shepherd and lead the sheep where they think they need to go. Leading them to places that aren’t good for the sheep… Places of danger… There are even ministers out there who feel that they are shepherds, after all, the word pastor means shepherd.

As your priest, I’ve told you before, that I am NOT the shepherd, and I will never claim to be a shepherd – I love you and care for you, and try to connect you with each other and I always try to connect you with the Good Shepherd, Jesus. But, I don’t think shepherd is the proper representation. To call me a shepherd is right… it really shouldn’t work like that.

I am more of a sheep just like you…. just a sheep among the sheep of God, always trying to point the way and show the other sheep who the One true “Good Shepherd” is...  I must always follow the Good Shepherd, too, following where the Good Shepherd leads.

Someone once told me years ago (and some of you have heard me say this before) that the priest is probably more of a sheepdog, helping the Good Shepherd keep the sheep and protect the sheep against the evils of this world… the wolves of society that seek to devour the sheep. Remembering also that even the sheepdog follows where the “Good Shepherd” leads.

In this passage, Jesus is that only ONE, protecting, guiding, loving, and caring for the sheep that are His - us. Never forsaking us, always faithful to us, nourishing us, giving us hope, and saving us from ourselves. 

Jesus isn’t just any ordinary shepherd, he is the one standing watch – the gate. He embodies strength and power, sympathy and kindness, love, and mercy. So, in this day and time, let us seek the Good Shepherd’s guidance and protection. Only His guidance and security as we dare to follow where our Good Shepherd (Jesus) leads. 

Only in him will we find our way. Only in him will we have abundant life.

Year A - 3 Easter - April 26, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 3 Easter - April 26, 2020

• Acts 2:14a,36-41
• 1 Peter 1:17-23
• Luke 24:13-35
• Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17

Have you ever noticed that many of the post-resurrection stories… those “post-easter” stories about the risen Jesus are centered around meals? We know from today’s lesson that the disciples didn’t think it was the Lord Jesus until after sitting down at the table with him in their home at Emmaus.

Jesus comes among the disciples on the road, but they don’t recognize him. 

I always appreciate when the gospel writers allow a space where you can insert yourself into the story. Luke only names one of the disciples, Cleopas, and leaves the other disciple walking with Cleopas unnamed.

Do you remember what I said on Easter Sunday about the unnamed disciple that outruns Peter and gets to the tomb first? I said that any of us could be this unnamed beloved disciple. So today, we are put into the story in a different context. We are walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, but we don’t recognize him.

I wonder why? Maybe it’s that we know his teachings from someone else. Perhaps it’s that we never met him in person. We watched him die, we watched as he was placed in the tomb, we are sad and are probably moping down the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus, and are disappointed because Jesus and his ministry didn’t quite measure up...  Measure up to the expectations that everyone had for him.

He wasn’t the savior of the world that was hoped for. He wasn’t the messiah that they thought rode into Jerusalem on a colt just a week prior. He wasn’t the one expected to free Israel from Rome. They felt that he was taken and crucified before he could make a difference…

You can feel almost feel the disappointment in the story… And then Jesus reveals everything that was spoken about him by the prophets... but… we still don’t know it’s him – we don’t recognize him... they don’t recognize him…

They get to Emmaus, and it’s quickly becoming evening… So, in the act of hospitality and welcome, that is so common in that region of the world, they invite this total stranger into their home to share some dinner and a bed. They didn’t recognize that it is Jesus. To them, this man walking along the road was just a stranger... a stranger that has somehow revealed the prophetic scriptures to them.

They don’t recognize Jesus until he takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the bread to them like he has done so many times before. It is not a mistake – Meals are very much a central part of Jesus’ ministry. And we know that some of the dinners that he has with folks get him into all kinds of trouble… Like when he eats with “sinners” and tax collectors and harlots and those outside both the social circle and the circle of faith.

Other meals shared with Jesus feed the multitudes... like when Jesus feeds the five thousand by taking what is available and blesses it, breaks, and distributes it until ALL are fed... Providing enough for everyone and having enough left over to fill 12 baskets. 

On his last evening with his followers, Jesus shared a meal with them, and during that meal, he offered his whole self… At his last supper with his friends, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and shares it – and tells them, this is my body - and he takes the cup of wine and blesses it and shares it and says that this is my blood…

This offering of his WHOLE self, became the act - which becomes for us the most magnificent celebration and expression of thanksgiving and sacrifice to God… The celebration which would sustain them and continues to sustain us and feed us / nourish us / after he is gone.

Our eating together is always a sign of celebration… It is a celebration of our relationships being lived out. It doesn’t matter if we are feeding or being fed. Most church communities, like St. James, enjoy having meals together. And we long for the day that we will once again be able to share a meal.  

We enjoy having meals together because we like being with each other, and we love eating and sharing good food. It is a necessary act, but it’s also an intimate act when we are together.

Most young couples, when they go out together usually, go out for a meal together. It’s practically part of a dating ritual. You will also see this in many families. Those families that gather at key times of the year… Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any other bright occasion on the calendar that may allow them the opportunity to share a meal.

But I want us to think for a minute about the many sacred and holy things that underlie a meal that we share together. Or better yet, the meals that we may share with strangers who aren’t family...

In communities of faith, these meals are sacramental for us… they become outward and visible signs of the risen Christ here with us and among us. They become meals that bring us all to a common table, to be in right relationship with God and with each other.

That is why, from the very beginning of times when Christians began to worship in their homes and in the catacombs… the sacred meal of bread and wine became the central act of our Christian life. It is a meal of nourishment for our Christian journey together. Feeding us for the journey of faith that we are all on.

In this meal that we share, we experience the risen Christ as a community in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup we then receive that spiritual nourishment of Christ’s whole self… and it’s just what we need to sustain us in our Christian lives on our journey of faith…

At the center of the story of the resurrection of Jesus is this meal shared at Emmaus: the bread taken, blessed, broken, and given, and the risen Jesus is recognized. Christians understand all meals in relation to the Eucharistic feast… Haven’t you ever wondered why we pray and give thanks to God before we eat? The Holy Communion, and in fact all meals are for us, is a foretaste of that heavenly banquet that we will ALL one day share as we feast with Jesus in paradise.

The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread… May the risen Christ be known to us today, wherever and whenever you are at the table as the bread is broken and the meal is shared.

Year A - 2 Easter - April 19, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - 2 Easter - April 19, 2020

• Acts 2:14a,22-32
• 1 Peter 1:3-9
• John 20:19-31
• Psalm 16

I’ve always appreciated people who ask questions… much more than those who claim to have all the answers. Asking questions allows the chance for discovery and dialogue… It enables a chance to learn… asking questions helps us cultivate a genuine curiosity that leads us to a culture of mature engagement…

It starts with the 150,000 questions that we asked our parents as children… and possibly continues into our adolescence and adulthood and hopefully continues on today… Asking questions is one of the most healthy things that we can do both for our education and for our spiritual life. But, beyond just “asking” questions, I think being able to live with the questions is helpful also…

As you know, there isn’t an answer to every question that we have… but that doesn’t stop us from asking… of trying to understand… of struggling and learning to live by faith. Someone who really wrestles with the questions of faith has a lot more in common with the apostles and a lot more in common with you and with me.

In the Gospel lesson this morning, Thomas didn't get to see the resurrected Jesus at first. He didn't have a newfound faith, based on the first-hand experience of the risen Christ that the other disciples had after they saw Jesus. Thomas was somewhere else. And regardless of how much the others that were gathered in that upper room testified to Thomas that they had seen the risen Christ, Thomas still had his reservations.

Thomas said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE! It is important for us to notice in the story that the text doesn’t say that Thomas doubted anything. He just wanted to see for himself... so it would be improper to call him "Doubting Thomas"… it might be more appropriate to call him questioning Thomas…

He came forth, He asked to be able to see. He wanted to believe for himself! He wanted a personal experience with the risen Christ. He already believed in Jesus the person… he traveled with him and learned from him. He even saw him die on the cross just outside of Jerusalem. But his struggle was to believe… Believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. 

A week later the risen Jesus appears to the disciples again: This time Thomas is there with them! Jesus tells Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, reach out your hand and put it in my side, Do not doubt that it is me… but see, and believe!” And don't we want to believe like that? Of course, we do! Even on those days when the story of the resurrection seems a bit beyond our grasp... We want to believe. We want to come forth; We want to ask to be able to see the wounds; And… We want to invest our lives and our souls in something real and tangible. We want our own personal experience with the risen Jesus… We want to be able the make that proclamation that Thomas made, “My Lord and My God! 

Then Jesus throws a twist in Thomas’ assurance that is based on his own personal experience. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” We have not seen… yet we believe… we may question sometimes… but we are here… and we believe…

For centuries, this Sunday (The Second Sunday of Easter) has been called “Low Sunday…” This is done mainly to point out that sharp contrast between this Sunday and all of the “High Holy” festivities surrounding Easter Sunday the previous week. In fact, I think that the folks who make an effort to worship on Sunday after Easter understand this lesson better than anyone else.

You are here because you understand that the resurrection of Jesus and Easter is not just a pleasant springtime tradition to observe with chocolate rabbits, colored eggs, marshmallow chicks, and hiding candy for the children to find. You are here because the risen Christ has invited you into the fellowship of believers…

The risen Jesus has invited you to participate in the mystery of himself and to ask questions that engage and challenge your faith. Us gathering here today (however we're doing it) is acting out the faith that has been handed down through witnesses of the faith like it has been done for 2 millennia. Witnesses like those in the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles who were willing to take action and proclaim the resurrection amid persecution and ridicule.

We are all called as Christians to live into our faith to act it out and let it be a driving force in our lives (last Sunday, I called it living into the resurrection…) so that we can continue the witness (to tell the story) to others. To tell the story of God’s salvation… The salvation that comes to us in Jesus the risen Christ. The action of living into our faith strengthens our faith asking questions is part of it… it’s our way understanding and coming to terms with what we have been told and what we experience.

See, faith is not some obscure mental act. It is not something we have to fabricate in our heads nor is it something that we can understand completely. Faith is the state of being… It’s a state of knowing that we are chosen as the beloved of God. And we act on it by telling others, so that they, too, can enter into that state of knowing that they are loved by God. And the best part is, we don’t need to understand God to know that we are loved by God.

The well-known spiritual writer, Henry Nouwen, writes in his short book, Life of the Beloved: “To be chosen as the Beloved of God is something radically different. Instead of excluding others, it includes others. Instead of rejecting others as less valuable, it accepts others in their own uniqueness. It is not a competitive, but a compassionate choice. Our minds have great difficulty in coming to grips with such a reality. Maybe our minds will never understand it.”

I think Nouwen was on to something… You see, sometimes we try and try to understand, but once we know we are beloved by God we can rest in the absence of the answers to all our questions. We can rest in the love of God. This is what I believe… Questions are a good thing… I also believe that questions don’t always need answers.

So I have a few questions for you this morning…

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ (the anointed one of God)? 

Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead? 

Do you believe in life everlasting? 

Let us be able to say without seeing – Yes! Jesus is My Lord and My God! 

Let us say yes, and Gracefully accept our gift of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that is so freely and generously given to us. And then we can gracefully live into that gift of everlasting life with our God. And, when we are like the beloved Apostle, St. Thomas… and we are filled with questions wanting our own personal experience with Jesus…  Let us ask for God to fill us with the power that we need to boldly profess our faith.  So, while we are strengthening our own faith, we are also passing it on.

Year A - Easter Sunday - April 12, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Easter Sunday - April 12, 2020

• Acts 10:34-43
• Colossians 3:1-4
• John 20:1-18
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia… From where ever you are, I hope you heard the bells this morning at 7:00 a.m. as the churches of downtown Greeneville rang in the resurrection at Sunrise.

At this point… I’m usually a little nuts - running on pure adrenaline. On Easter Sunday, I typically go romping up and down the center aisle… encouraging you to get louder in your proclamation! I shout ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! And hope you reply with a resounding - The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia! And I usually continue that till an acceptable volume is achieved…

Because, indeed, the resurrection of Jesus is something to get excited about! As we participate in the story of the stone being rolled away, and the tomb being found empty! Jesus has been risen, just like he said would happen.  

We get the story this morning from John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel story is interlaced with all kinds of intricate details and meaning, but the basic message is the same, “Christ is risen, he is not here! 

The story opens up with two disciples running toward the tomb, trying to outrun each other. There are Peter and the unnamed disciple, the one the scriptures say whom Jesus loved. We are never actually told who this disciple is… Who is that disciple?  The disciple whom Jesus loved…  The disciple that outruns Peter on the way to the tomb. You can see them both in your head, running together, trying to get there…  full of excitement… full of wonder and awe… Who is that disciple? That unnamed disciple… This beloved disciple? 

Henri Nouwen writes, "But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen to a voice that says something else, that says, "You are the beloved and on you, my favor rests."... I want you to hear that voice. It is not a very loud voice because it is an intimate voice. It comes from a very deep place. It is soft and gentle. I want you to gradually hear that voice. We both have to hear that voice and to claim for ourselves that that voice speaks the truth, our truth. It tells us who we are. That is where the spiritual life starts - by claiming the voice that calls us the beloved."

I want to suggest for a minute that you are that disciple… You or me, or any that believe in our Lord Jesus... Any of us is that beloved disciple. That beloved disciple that outruns Peter to the tomb… He gets there first but is scared. So scared that he just peaks in,  to see only the darkness of the tomb.  

And when Peter gets there, and Peter goes in first. And we believe today because Peter believed, and saw that the tomb was empty. We have the message today because Peter and the Church passed down that message to us in the scriptures. 

I appreciate the fact that the evangelist, John, gives us the tools to put ourselves in the story. So, put yourself in the story!  That’s what we all need to do. We need to take ourselves out of our mundane lives, out of our day to day, 9 to 5, 7 to 3, or whatever it is. Take ourselves out of our lives and put ourselves in the story. Live the Gospel and the message of the resurrection. Be the first one to the tomb and dare to go in.  

We live out this life day to day, week to week, hour to hour, minute to minute, and we can only cope with what’s going on out there in the world…  we can only cope with that because we do what we do and what we have learned to do here... This makes that livable. It is something to be excited about. It is something to share with our friends, our neighbors, and our families. It is something that supercharges us from the inside out. 

It’s the expressions of the resurrection that we live in our day to day lives, not just on Sunday… not just from 9:00 to 9:45 on Sunday (or 10:00 depending on how long this goes). Not just on Sunday, but in our day to day everyday lives…  I want you to ask yourself, “how do you live out the resurrection in your life?”  “How do you show others the Christ-light that burns within you?”

That’s what this great candle represents for us… the Christ-light… The Christ-light that burns and will burn the whole 50 days of the Great season of Easter. It was lit at your baptism, and it will be lit when you are laid to rest. We are part of the story of God redeeming the world! When you were baptized,  you were made a part of the story. The story of our God who redeems recreates and renews God’s people over and over, and over again.  

The Holy Scriptures give us a foretaste of that story, and in our baptism, we attached ourselves to the story… we have become part of the story and the mission of Jesus in the world… we have become that beloved disciple that is unnamed in the Gospel according to John. That disciple that outruns Peter to the tomb. But that’s not the end of the story… that’s not the end of OUR story.  

The Gospel continues... It says that Mary Magdalene was crying outside of the tomb, after the other disciples left and had gone away. She was crying outside the tomb because she assumed they had taken away the body of Jesus. She was upset and in mourning because she didn’t remember what Jesus told her.  So, she wanted to know where they had taken him. Mary’s vision must have been obscured by her tears… and her grief must have been so great that she didn’t recognize Jesus when he appeared to her.

She doesn’t know who he is until of course, Jesus calls her by name, Mary! And then she turns and acknowledges him, Rabbouni! (my teacher) I think that she didn’t recognize him because she didn’t expect him to be alive… It was just Friday, when she watched him die… She saw him wrapped and laid in the tomb… She cried for him then, and her grief now is still raw. She has come to the tomb, to tend to the body… because she was prevented from doing it on the Sabbath… and she didn’t recognize him because thought he was the gardener.

I think sometimes, we don’t recognize Jesus because we are not looking for him in the right places. We often look for Jesus in successes of our day to day lives measured by our world's measuring stick. Some sort of scorecard we call a paycheck or the stock market… It drives me crazy when we say that we are so blessed because we measure success by what kind of car we drive, or how big our house is.  But all of these ways fail!

The primary way we can see Jesus is by connecting ourselves to the body of Christ, Christian to Christian, looking at each other in the eye, and seeing that Christ-light in each other. Seeing the light of Christ that was given to us at baptism, lived out in our resurrection experiences with each other in Christian community.

Right now, in the midst of this horrible virus, that is keeping hospitals full, businesses closed and churches from gathering and the economy tanking… We ask ourselves, "where is Jesus?" We look for Jesus, but where do we find him...

We see Jesus in the healthcare givers standing over the bed of a sick patient, helping them get better the best way they can.

We see Jesus in the folks who are using their resources and networking skills to help others in the community that are at risk get the things that they need to live, like food or medicine.

We see Jesus in the actions of those individuals who continue to strive for those things that we promise at our baptism… the ones who advocate for justice freedom and peace among all people, and strive for the dignity of every human being.

And personally, I hope you see Jesus in the Pastors and Priests, that are trying to keep our communities connected but are making the responsible decisions and using good judgment and loving our neighbor enough to not gather physically.

As I’ve said before, Christianity is a communal thing. When we gather together as a community of faith... When we fellowship… Anytime we worship together, when we are ingrained and involved with one another, then we have a chance to experience the risen Christ. And that includes our efforts to stay connected in this community even though we are apart. 

There is a Christ-light that burns in each and every one of us. Our challenge is do we run away from the tomb? Are we scared to death that someone is going to call us foolish? Or that someone is going to make fun of us – or call us Jesus freaks? Or something silly like that? 

Or... do we live out the resurrection in our lives? Do we show forth the love for our neighbors that Jesus commanded us to have? Do we love God more than anything else this world could ever show us? Because God loved us that much! 

He loved us so much that He became one of us. He became one of us to live a life like ours, yet without sin.  He lived the life that we live, day to day, week by week, hour by hour… And when he was here, he spoke the truth. He spoke truth to power… He lived for freedom and peace. He restored order and connection, and taught that our human relationships and our relationships to God are more important than our stuff or our money. He challenged authority and he loved more deeply than any human ever could…

And our answer – the human answer was to convict him unjustly and hang him on a cross to die. But today we know that isn’t the end of the story… Jesus has been raised from death, defeating death by resurrection.

Resurrection life is not a resuscitated life…  It is actually life after life after death. I know that's hard to get our heads around, but that’s what it is. It is not some bodily resuscitation (or zombie Jesus), but it is a resurrection! Living into the resurrection is a life lived anew for the Glory of God! We are the beloved of God, Believers in Jesus the Christ. We are a Resurrection People, Easter people, living life anew, living into and building up the kingdom of God.  

The tomb is empty, and Jesus has risen indeed! And it is our job to go forward from wherever we are and live into that resurrection life, doing the good work in the world that our living God has given us to do!

ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! THE LORD HAS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!