[St. Paul said;] The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. Acts 17:24-25

This week we have been reminded that summer is just around the corner. And I have had a number of conversations in which I have been asked: are you getting away this summer? Do you have any plans for travel? And I have been following a number of different friends on Facebook who are traveling this week – some for business, some for vacation: New Mexico, Hawaii, Peru.

And this week we heard in the first reading what is probably St. Paul’s most famous sermon, preached in the context of travel, of a journey – his second, big trip; this time through Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. Paul’s purpose for this travel, of course, was to share the Good News of the Gospel, to tell what God has done in and through Jesus for humankind and all creation. That news is for both Jews and Gentiles – non-Jews.

In every town he visits, Paul goes first to the synagogue (if there is one) and shares his story. He also goes to the marketplace, the town square, to a place a prayer by the river – where ever people gather in that community. And he doesn’t travel alone; he always has companions – sometimes Barnabas, sometimes Silas, Luke, John Mark, Timothy,and others he meets along the way.

But Paul’s mission journeys are not like being on the campaign trail, where the candidate’s bus rolls up in front of a factory, or town hall, or school at 10:30 in the morning, welcomed by a crowd that an advance team has put together, the speech is delivered, a few hands are shaken, a few babies kissed, and local fare sampled, and then the candidate gets back on the bus and moves on to the next stop. Instead, Paul and his traveling friends arrive in town, unannounced, and find their way to the synagogue by asking questions, by talking with people, taking the time to see and hear and understand what the community was like.

In fact, no two of Paul’s sermons that we have in the Book of Acts is the same. The motivation is the same, and the goal is the same: to tell the Good News of Jesus as the sign and agent of God’s ancient purposes and promises coming true. But each time Paul tells it in a way that reflects some of what he knows and has learned about the people who live in that town – what their lives are like, what it important to them.

Today we find Paul in the city of Athens, that great center of learning, religion, and government in ancient Greece. Prior to this he had been in the cities of Thesselonika and Beroea, where his preaching had caused such a disruption in the synagogues that street riots ensued, forcing Paul to flee for his safety. He arrived in Athens, early and alone, to wait for the arrival of Silas and Timothy. With time on his hands, Paul walked the streets of the city, as well as sharing his story in the synagogue and market-place. He got to observe, and hear, and know what was important to the people who lived there. And then he incorporated everything he learned into the way he framed his conversations and sermons.

What did Paul learn about the people of Athens? He learned that they were very spiritual, that they were open to exploring and hearing about new ideas and practices – including religious ones. Paul learned that Athenians prized statues and shrines as vehicles for worshiping their multiplicity of gods, including a shrine he found ascribed “To an Unknown God.” And he learned that they love to debate and test new ideas in public. In fact, Paul delivered this sermon from the Areopogus – that rocky outcropping near the Acropolis, where court cases, especially those involving homicide, were heard and debated by the city council and leading citizens.

When we look at Paul’s sermon we notice that he applies what he has learned. He appeals to the Athenians’ sense of spirituality. He tells them something new – equating the Unknown God of the shrine with Yahweh the God of the Bible and telling the Lord’s story in a way that builds bridges, rather than creating divisions. Until the very last minute – and then Paul isn’t shy in the least about saying…in God’s time, the world as it presently exists will be judged - calling for repentance: “now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

It’s that reference to Jesus’ resurrection that then proves to be a stumbling block for some. The resurrection, after all, is about salvation and renewal of physical human life through the one who is God incarnate, divinity with flesh and blood, a messy human life. This is a far cry from the various Greek philosophies and religions that longed to have the spirit escape the body and be free from it.

Paul seats his preaching in the everyday, lived reality of his hearers. He tells them that the God who made heaven and earth and all things –  including human life and society – wants that creation and life to be renewed, redeemed, made whole, Spirit-infused, and that the project for doing so launched in the resurrection of Jesus.

The Athenians didn’t want a messy, flesh+blood+Spirit God who gets down in the dirt with us. There are lots of contemporary people who feel the same way, who think that “being spiritual” separates us from all the pain and difficulty of life –including our own bodies. But that’s not the God of the Bible. That’s not the God revealed in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Instead, the God we know and love and serve wants to be intimately involved with his Creation, including human life and the common good that we humans share.

So the story we live and tell about God will always be about real human lives – our joys, our sorrows, our pain, our hope, our celebration, our challenges. That is why, like Paul, we need to know our context, our neighborhoods, our communities; taking time to find out who lives and works and worships, and plays in the places where we “live and move and have our being.”

To be a faithful follower of Jesus is to be curious – in a loving way – about the people and the community around us; to offer our prayer, and energy, and good will for the flourishing of others as we are able. To be faithful also means listening to the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us through conversations, through what we observe, through our own thoughts and flashes of insight and inspiration as we seek to serve God in our community. And from our listening, we are sometimes called to speak God’s truth in love, to be ready with our own words about what faith in God means to us – “the hope that is within us.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has called and invited Christians  throughout the world to join him in prayer for our local communities during the nine days between Ascension and Pentecost: May 25-June 4. The effort is called “Thy Kingdom Come” and its purpose is to pray for God’s kingdom to come more fully in our midst – both in physical and social well-being, and in praying for people to find and be found by God. Committing to pray daily for our neighborhoods and communities is a way of     listening more closely, of becoming more attuned to them, as well as for friends and neighbors who need to know God’s saving, healing love.

There is a website that describes the Archbishop’s invitation and offers resources for individuals, families, and churches: www.thykingdomcome.global. I’ll send the link to the parish this week, along with short prayer “starters” for each day. Take a look at the website, see if there are some suggestions for prayer and community concern that appeals to you, think about what you observe in your neighborhood – where you live, shop, work, and play – and imagine how lives would be blessed, and people would act if the Kingdom of God were to be lived more fully in that place.

I hope that you will join me in this prayer effort, but even more, I hope and pray that each day you will grow in your own faith and love and service for Jesus and for this world God has made. Amen. Alleluia.

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Church, Millington, NJ
Sixth Sunday of Easter: Rogation
May 22, 2017

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." John 14:6-7

This is the season of the year when we have a lot of endings. Many college and university graduations are happening this month. And high school graduations are not far behind. And even the school year ending for the summer is its own ending, as classmates disband, and will be reconfigured in the new school year, with different teachers and different arrangements. So there are a lot of good-byes. And by the same token, families who move often do so over the summer so that kids can get settled into new houses and neighborhoods and communities before September. More good-byes.

Many people have a hard time with good-byes. They are painful and awkward, even when they can’t be helped, and some people would rather just walk away than confront difficult and uncomfortable feelings. The rituals that many schools engage in – signing yearbooks; having parties, presentations, and award ceremonies; even the time-honored elementary school practice of a child making a card and giving a small gift to a teacher who was particularly helpful or kind or insightful – all help students and teachers alike bring those relationships to a close. But adult life seems to do those good-byes less well, I think – particularly as the stakes get higher and more painful.

The Gospel passage for today comes from what is called the Farewell Discourse – John 13:31-17:26. Jesus and the disciples have been celebrating the Passover meal. He has gotten down and washed the disciples’ feet, taking on the role of the servant, providing them an example of service and humility. Jesus has identified the treachery in Judas’ heart, and Judas slips off into the night to betray his Lord and sell his own soul for thirty pieces of silver. It must have been excruciating for Jesus to let Judas go, and yet he turns to the remaining Eleven and tells them that he is giving them a new commandment – Love one another, even as I have loved you. This is how the world will know that you belong to me. In the wake of Judas’ departure, Peter protests that he will be loyal to the end; yet Jesus has to tell him that before dawn he will deny knowing his friend and rabbi three times. The disciples must have been confused and hurt and scared, sensing something big and dangerous on the eve of the Crucifixion. And Jesus does his best to prepare them for what was to come, beginning with the words we heard in today’s Gospel.

These words are very familiar to us, as they are often read at funerals, and if you were here on Thursday afternoon, you did indeed hear the first six verses. But it is important to realize that Jesus wasn’t just saying good-bye. He was also trying to prepare the disciples for life on the other side of the Crucifixion and Resurrection – even though they could not imagine it while they were sitting there. Jesus was saying that there is more than good-bye; there is life, and joy, and hope….and work and ministry to be done in Jesus’ Name, for which the entire previous three years was a run-up and a preparation.

One of the ways that Jesus tried to reassure and prepare the disciples was by telling them that he was not abandoning them; that they knew the way to place where he was going. Thomas (and I’m sure some of the others) heard that very literally: "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Thomas was looking for a map; Jesus was offering him a relationship: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” By knowing Jesus, by following Jesus, by acting and speaking and loving in His way, the disciples would know God, would find and be found by the Father – even when Jesus was not physically present with them.

The readings from the Book of Acts and the First Letter of Peter both touch on this. Stephen, one of the first deacons in the Christian community, empowered by the Holy Spirit, spoke with strength and wisdom about the history of God’s people reaching its goal and climax in Jesus; and for that he was stoned to death by the religious authorities. And the Gospel spread; and the Church grew in strength and numbers. Peter, in his first letter to a group of Gentile converts who were experiencing persecution for their loyalty and faith, encouraged them with these words: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

In all three Scripture passages – Acts, 1 Peter, and John – there is a background of difficulty, of danger, of sorrow, and in each case the expectation and the encouragement is for Jesus’ followers to persist, to look forward, not to accept a good bye as an end to faith and mission. In fact, the Farewell Discourse goes further – in words we will hear next week, and the week after that; Jesus prays for the disciples and for those who will come to faith through them, who will learn Jesus’ Way because of their words and the quality of their community life. Jesus’ mission is finally launching. The preparation is over; the mission now truly begins; and the followers are the ones who take up the reigns and find themselves saying and doing things in Jesus’ name they never thought possible.

What sort of things? Engaging the world with the hope, and justice, and joy of Jesus. Finding ways to make life here on earth as much like heaven, like God’s realm, as possible. These aren’t things we can do alone, but we are each called to play our part. When we, as a community, as a church, as the Body of Christ reflect the will and work and quality of Jesus’ presence in our midst – to each other and to the world around us – we will offer to others a picture of who God is, what God is like.

The English bishop and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says that there are seven qualities that Christian communities display – or at least work at keeping front and center – when we are walking and working in Jesus’ way. They are:

• Justice – the world as envisioned and promised by God from the beginning; putting things right in each local community as we care for the poor, the sick, the down-trodden.
• Spirituality – bringing heaven and earth together as God has always intended; knowing that prayer is powerful, and that it matters in daily life and in community.
• Relationships – are based in God’s love, which transcends human frailties and difficulties; making new cross-cultural families of parish and community that go beyond old boundaries and enmities a reality.
• Beauty – all present human, artistic, and natural beauty – at once tender and majestic – are sign-posts of God’s greater beauty yet to come; and this shows itself in Christian life in the springing forth of new art and music and creativity in many different ways.
• Freedom – God’s freedom is true freedom, to do what is right and good; to be free from those things and forces and habits that enslave us and our communities, so that we may live in the Light.
• Truth – far more than facts, Truth is about the reality of God’s New Creation that began on Easter morning, is spoken and sung into increasing existence whenever Christians pray, sing, and proclaim the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.
• Power – this is Jesus’ power which was made perfect in weakness; it is the power of love which overcomes the love of power.
  

All of these qualities can be twisted, corrupted, misused – and when they do, that’s when people and churches and societies get into trouble. But when we work to express, and show forth, and make real these values, these aspects of Jesus’ life and God’s purposes, we will be fulfilling our mission; we will be accomplishing that for which Jesus prepared, and prayed, and sent us to do.

Jesus says to us: I am the way, and the truth, and the life….Very truly, I tell you, the one who trusts in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these… so that the Father may be glorified.

Let us pray.
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten
the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. ~ BCP

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Church, Millington, NJ
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 14, 2017

[Jesus said:] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10

I have authors whose books I enjoy – mostly mysteries that are written in historical settings – that follow the main character through many different plots; not only in the actual mystery to be untangled, but in their own personal story and development as well. The way that are written, you can certainly enjoy the books each on their own – but I get more out of them when I’ve read them in sequence. I understand more about the characters, their personalities, and what makes them tick; it adds to my enjoyment of the story. And similarly, each chapter of a book may often be able to stand on its own, as a descriptive piece or even a very short story, but it makes far more sense if you read it in the context of the novel as a whole.

The Bible often works that way – even though reading it straight through from cover to cover may not be the best approach for a first-time Bible reader. But having the sense of the overall arc of the narrative is really important. The New Testament makes far more sense and has a much deeper meaning if you know the Old Testament, than if you just read it on its own. And each book of the Bible has its own focus, and point, and trajectory which we miss if we only read short passages without relating them back to the whole book. It’s like a set of colored beads that make a beautiful pattern when they are strung together, but if the string breaks and the beads scatter, you can’t see the pattern.

This is particularly true for the Gospel of John. The whole pattern of this Gospel is that it presents “signs” that Jesus does in his public ministry that help reveal his identity as God’s Messiah, and then has Jesus offer a commentary on the sign – a pattern of action and reflection, both for the disciples and for the readers and hearers of John’s Gospel. If we read only about the sign, we miss the commentary. If we hear only the commentary, we miss the fact that it is connected to a particular sign that Jesus did and makes it much harder to see the pattern and understand more fully Jesus’ words and actions.

And that’s exactly where we are this morning. Traditionally this Fourth Sunday of Easter is referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday, because the Gospel is always a section of John 10, in which Jesus refers to himself as a shepherd. We also say or sing the 23rd Psalm, which ancient Israel always understood to be not just about God but about the coming Messiah, the Lord. So we have this image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, a lovely, pastoral image in itself – but disconnected from its larger context of the sign that comes before it in chapter 9. That’s one of the limitations of the lectionary. We get several beads handed to us each week, but unless we are reading and listening on a weekly or even daily basis, we can easily miss the beautiful pattern of the Gospel story.

So…what happened in John, chapter 9? We heard it back two months ago on the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Jesus healed a man who had been born blind, and he did it on the Sabbath – a day when no work was to be done. The people who were sticklers for the Sabbath rules were sure that this healing could not have come from God because they thought God would never break his own rules. And so these people from the Pharisaic party of Judaism grilled the man whose sight had been given to him several times, and interrogated his parents, too – looking to expose this healing and Jesus’ ministry as some sort of sham. Jesus then calls the Pharisees out on their spiritual blindness, because their preconceived notions block them from seeing what God is doing right in front of them. If you remember the passage, the Pharisees were not very happy with what Jesus had to say, as he described their refusal to see as sin.

That healing, and the confrontation about it, is one of the signs of this Gospel – Jesus’ identity as Messiah in full view. And the commentary on the sign is what we get in John 10, where Jesus identifies himself as the gate of the sheepfold, as well as the shepherd. He also talks about thieves and bandits, those who would do harm to the sheep – God’s people. And then Jesus identifies his purpose: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. His healing of the man born blind is a sign of God’s abundant life. Not only is the man now able to see, but he can take his place as a full and productive member of his community and family; the stigma of a person with a disability (strong in those days) has been lifted; the man is restored to right relationship with those around him; and he is drawn to follow Jesus as a disciple – an abundance of life on so many levels.

So what about us? How do we identify with Jesus as our Good Shepherd? Where do we see signs of healing, reconciliation, restoration that God does in our lives and community? And how do we reflect on them, ask the Holy Spirit to show us the deeper meaning and connection? Sometimes that meaning is revealed to us in prayer, or in Scripture reading, or in conversation with another person, or even when we are day-dreaming while walking the dog or washing dishes or cutting the grass.

Jesus’ purpose – of which the healing of the man born blind is a sign – is that we might have abundant life. And abundant life is about quality, not quantity; about value, not volume. Abundant life is the freedom we have from fear, isolation, meaningless. It cuts directly against the sometimes-popular saying: He who dies with the most toys wins. That is not abundant life; it is about relentless acquisition, about power, control, and score-keeping – a zero-sum game. God’s abundant life is never zero-sum, which refers to the idea that whatever I win or gain, you lose. That kind of thinking keeps us locked in a narrow, exhausting struggle that can choke out generosity, kindness, a sense of that which is good for all of us, a willingness to set aside one’s own desires in order to assist with the needs of another.

The passage from Acts 2 describes the abundant life as the first Christians experienced it: sharing study and fellowship; worship, Communion, and prayer; caring for one another’s physical and financial needs; being filled with gladness and gratitude for God’s presence and activity among them. There is joy here, and love, and care, and delight in God. This is the abundant life that Jesus gives us when we allow him to open our eyes, when we stop and reflect – as individuals and with one another as members of Jesus’ flock following our Good Shepherd. 

An invitation for you to reflect on, ponder, and pray about: What is an experience of God’s abundant life that you have had? Where have you seen abundant life – in yourself, your family, or the wider community? What blessing, or goodness, or peace, or well-being has come to you from your faith? That’s abundant life, and it’s a chapter in God’s large, ongoing story that we are all connected to – you, and me, and everyone at All Saints’ and the disciples, and the man whose vision was healed….all the way back to the beginning of the story in Genesis.

God is the giver, and the author of our life story, and for that we say: Thanks be to God. Amen. Alleluia.

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Church, Millington, NJ
Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 7, 2017