Welcome to the Test Kitchen, Home Edition

Sermon 6-28-20

Youtube video of my sermon here. 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Well before this pandemic started, my husband and I were addicted to a YouTube show called “Gourmet Makes,” created by the US food magazine, “Bon Appetit.” In this show, a pastry chef named Claire would recreate all of our childhood favorite processed food – Twinkies, twizzlers, Taquitos, you name it, made in such a way that we all – theoretically – could also make at home. One problem though – Claire was surrounded by a beautiful and fully stocked “test kitchen” located in Manhattan, brimming with state-of-the-art gadgets and staffed with other food professionals. We watched, but we didn’t make. After all, who has Masa Harena flour and a professional grade dehydrator just lying around the house?

Then, the pandemic hit. And the videos changed.

Now, the staff members and youtube stars of Bon Appetit no longer have access to their amazing Manhattan “text kitchen”… they can only use whatever is on hand in their own kitchens, or the kitchens of their parents. They started doing videos about how to make great “pantry” pasta, or sharing their favorite way to make coffee. Instead of asking other staff for a taste and an opinion, their kids and their cats wander into the videos. They welcomed us into their kitchens, where they were also struggling and making do. And we’ve already made more than a few of these new recipes.

During this strange time, we as a church and as congregation are no longer worshipping our “Text Kitchens” aka the church building – where we used to be able to  “test out” and practice our discipleship in a controlled environment. For the last three months, however, we have been thrust full time into our own “home kitchen” worship and discipleship spaces, where children are crying and being goofy, dogs and cats are getting into our business, and things are a little bit messy. But it’s just a little bit closer to real life.

We as followers of Jesus may find ourselves in figurative and metaphorical “kitchens” different from ours. And for some of us, we are seeing the kitchens of others for the first time. The terrain and utensils are unfamiliar and in different places than we are used to. It feels uncomfortable to explore or to ask for help. And it’s going to feel really uncomfortable.

In the before times, it was much harder to be a guest than it is to be a host. Yes, when you host someone, you have the inconvenience of having someone else using your towels and eating your food. But you know what is in the kitchen. But as a guest, you sleep on someone else’s pillows and drink from someone else’ cups. You eat what comes from someone else and learn how to respect and navigate someone else’ kitchen.

At the end of Jesus’ long pep talk to his follower’s right before they travel, Jesus reminds his disciples of what it means to welcome and be welcomed. The followers of Jesus found themselves traveling during a very uncertain time. They didn’t know if or when they would be welcomed or rejected. We, as disciples of Jesus live in some uncertain times as well, and not just because we are still very much in a pandemic.

As we look forward to celebrating July 4^th this year in 2020, there are still citizens of our own nation, even of our own Lutheran denomination, who don’t know if, and when, they will be welcomed or rejected by the country they belong to, or the denomination they love. The ELCA is the whitest denomination in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. Even those of the MORMON faith have more racial diversity than we have. But diversity itself is not the answer to our challenges right now.

Certain people aren’t allowed access to our “kitchens,” and we are not willing to be guests in theirs. When this happens, we lose a part of who we are. Without the mutual love and support of ALL of our diverse members – black, white, straight, gay, bi, transgender, rich, poor, differently abled, young, old – without all members, the body of Christ is incomplete.

We like to say that “all are welcome here.” But what do we really mean when we say that? 

We – consciously but usually unconsciously – put caveats on our welcome. We say, “all are welcome,” but we mean – you can come to worship here, but we won’t talk to you at coffee hour (in the before times). You can sit in our pews (in the before times) but only if you aren’t sitting in MY seat (and yes, that has happened HERE at Family of God).

But when we REALLY welcome people, we are doing it in the name of Jesus. We are doing it because our language, symbols, and names are important in how we welcome. When I introduce myself and state my pronouns as “She/ Her/ Hers,” or wear a pronoun button, I am normalizing the conversation for transgender individuals and hopefully creating space for welcome. Designations like “Reconciling in Christ” in the ELCA are vital for welcoming our LGBTQIA siblings. If our congregation chooses to do the work of being recognized in this way, it tells the whole world that WE MEAN IT when we say ALL are welcome, because we have spent some time learning in another person’s kitchen… and not just during Pride Month, but every month. We are called to do this, because ALL are welcomed into Jesus’s kitchen.

In Jesus’s kitchen, all are welcomed, and all are fed. In a simple meal we are given life… we are given welcome…. and we are given a new kind of family. We were given the body and blood of Jesus, a body that was broken so that humanity might be made whole, and blood that was shed so that we treat one another as blood kin, not someday, but right now.

Writer and abolitionist Fredrick Douglas was a slave who escaped to freedom, but later in life he wrote an open letter to his formermaster, to extend an invitation to his home. Douglas wrote, “There is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and there is nothing in my house which you might need for your comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should esteem it a privilege, to set you an example as to how [we] ought to treat each other. I am your fellow man, but not your slave.” As far as I know, the slave owner never took Douglas up on his offer. He stayed at home… just as most of us white people would much rather do right now more than ever – stay home, safe and ignoring the world, where we don’t have to face anything uncomfortable.

Well, too bad… This radial welcome of God comes after us, and is knocking on our HOME door right now, come right here into you home kitchens, even as we are streaming. And it WILL NOT leave us alone. The radial love of God is like the worst kind of house guest – making noise, getting all up in our business, rejecting the excuses we make. We are being called out of our comfort zones and into other people’s kitchens. And we will find ourselves doing things we don’t normally do, things we never expected we would be doing.

When we welcome others, we welcome God, as God has welcomed us.  Nothing will get in the way of God’s radical welcome in God’s kingdom. Not our own prejudices and biases, not institutional racism or white privilege - not even sin, human brokenness, and death can stand in God’s way.

The training wheels are off. Our congregational building “Test Kitchen” is still off limits. But you, beloved child of God, have the tools at your disposal to make some recipes that are practical, nourishing, and will feed your families and feed the world. The world is hungry – the world needs some good news. Its time get cooking. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Choose Love

Sermon 6-21-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

So, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in finding today’s quotes from Jesus very uncomfortable. After telling the disciples what NOT to pack last week, Jesus informs his followers – and us - of some bad news. Following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, does not always lead to a life of peace and harmony, Frappuccinos and cupcakes. In fact, most of the time, it WILL be the cause of conflict.

Following Jesus means that we don’t follow other things. Following Jesus means that we have priorities that seems strange to the world. Following Jesus means that the world will make us pick a side.

Jesus was putting the pressure on the primary source of identity at the time and NOW – the family unit. Your family was your security, your social status, your comfort zone, your whole world. When Jesus throws a wrench in that system, both then and now, he sends shock waves across society that causes divisions across even families – daughter against mother, father against son, people who grew up in the same house.

But the Prince of Peace who brings a sword isn’t the oxymoron that it seems to be. Jesus doesn’t bring division for the sake of division. Jesus causes division because of OUR LACK of UNITY. 

The world makes us choose sides. Or really, the world tries its hardest makes us choose THEIR side. The world tells us daily and even hourly that some types of people are worth more than others - that some should be hated and feared because of the color of their skin, because of what part of the world they come from, because of the name they call God, because of the kind of people they love and want to marry.

The world tells us constantly that buying more stuff will make us happy, and to blind ourselves to the high cost to creation, and to people.  The world is trying to convince us that just because SOME parts of our society are “open,” that means normalcy is back. It’s not. The world tells us that making money and going back to our “normal” routines of dining out, cross country travel, and driving our economy is more important than keeping vulnerable lives safe.

But let me tell you about Jesus’s side, what we call the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it is harder to see, because the works of this kingdom don’t often make the news. This kingdom tells us that all people, regardless of country of origin, skin color, orientation, gender, economic status, ability or disability is a beloved child of God created beautiful and worthy of being treated with dignity and love. The kingdom of God is for righting the wrong, freeing the oppressed, healing bodies and relationships, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, resurrecting what has become dead, and losing our lives for the sake of others…. which is especially important as we navigate new realities in the age of the Corona virus.

Every moment of our lives now will have some sort of increased risk. But the questions we must ask ourselves now are these: am I being careful and engaging in behavior that is considerate of others? Am I minimizing my contact or the time I spend in order to keep people safe? Are the activities I DO choose to engage in necessary, or for the benefit of others…. or will it possibly expose others just so that I can have a sense of routine?

The hard part is that no two states, cities, families, or even individual people within families completely agree. And these disagreements right now are fraught with rhetoric and anger. For example, some who speak of the joy of gathering in large groups at Peace Valley Park or for Memorial Day with extended family or serving dinner in homes in one breath, then go on to question or condemn those who seek to correct racial injustice, who exercise their constitutional right to peaceful and unarmed protests because of the risk.

However, as Minnesota Epidemiologist Michael Osterholmstated just this week in NPR, the Black Lives Matter protests did not result in the types of spikes that some expected.  

Another host of NPR stated also: “In other words, perhaps the better question is not, will the demonstrators cause a spike in COVID-19 infections? But rather will all of us … behave in a way that keeps the reproduction number low and ensures that these marches and any improvements to racial equality they achieve don't come at a price of many more COVID-19 deaths.”

I can imagine Jesus asking similar questions of us, as his followers. We as people of faith cling to what Jesus has taught us and modeled for us – living as if we love God with our whole being, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Sometimes, that will mean we have to draw a line, or “pick a side.” And the side we’re supposed to pick might lead us down a road of misunderstanding at best, and outright hostility at worst.

The world has much more power, more funding, is more stealthy and crafty, has more support, and is better equipped and armed than we are. The odds seem overwhelming to us, especially when even Jesus did not escape their wrath.

The world rejected Jesus when he picked God’s side. They even nailed him on a cross for the audacity of his choice.  How dare he choose love over things like “family” and “freedom”?

We know that Love IS family. It’s belonging to a family built on our unconditional worthiness, and not limited to blood, or success, or perfection.

We know that Love IS freedom. Luther wrote that we are freed FROM sin and death so that we are freed TO SERVE our neighbor and act in the world with their best interests in mind.

God is love. And God created us to love. Jesus is the love of God with skin on, literally love fully fleshed out. God’s love for us has always been and will always be the same: limitless and unwavering. We know this because he sent his own son into the world to change everything.

Choosing love is never the wrong choice. We may – no, we WILL make mistakes in how we live this out. Love is hard. It calls us to do difficult things. Love asks us for our words and our deeds to be life-giving, not life-limiting. Love calls us to walk the path of who we were created and called to be: no more and no less than beloved and brave Children of God. And love will, and does, win. Thanks be to God, amen.

Jesus and Open Carry

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

If you are a fan of the reality TV show Queer Eye – as I am – you may have noticed that the first episode of this new season (which is set in Philly, by the way) features an ELCA pastor. If you are NOT familiar with this show, I’ll clue you in. Five Fabulous gay men travel the country “making over” people’s lives. The council members of Atonement Lutheran in Fishtown nominated their beloved pastor, and last summer Pastor Noah spent a week being showered with love. Seriously, get  the free promotional month of Netflix and watch it as soon as you can… and get ready to cry.

But actually I want to focus on the 2nd episode in this season. Rianna is an African American businesswoman who lives in Norristown. Over three years ago she had started her own dog grooming business, but she was barely staying afloat amid many challenges. In typical Queer Eye fashion, the Fab 5 gave her a wardrobe, provided business know-how, and of course, outfitted her with a brand new “Doggy Grooming Mobile Vehicle.”

As an African American business woman in this country, Rianna was less likely to have access to the resources necessary to make her business successful by herself – it is well-documented that persons of color have less access and fewer resources at their disposal, whether we’re talking small business loans, generational wealth, or access to knowledge and role models. In other words, in this country, based on the color of her skin, she has been given fewer things in her “bag” to travel this road we call life than a white person who is the same age and born in the same location.

We like to think that when we are born, we all start out equal. After all, every one of us arrive into this work with literally “nothing.” But in reality, we all inherit things – the skin color of our parents, a particular economic status, generational trauma… all which can help or hinder us in our path in life. It’s not unlike being given a bag for the beach but not having sunscreen, or shoes to protect your feet from the hot sand – without being provided some basic necessary things, you are not going to be ready for your summer beach vacation.

Of course, life is not quite the same as enjoying some time “down the shore” as they say.  Right now, we are we at the beginning of the summer season, when normally we would all disperse to the four winds and we wouldn’t see some of you until September. But we are also at the start of a new season in the Church year. This is “Ordinary Time,” or the “Time after Pentecost.” – or the Big Long Green Season. The season of major events – Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, is behind us, and the weeks of counting the seemingly hundreds of Sundays after Pentecost has begun.

We have jumped back into the middle of the Gospel of Matthew, back to the start of Jesus’ ministry in Palestine. Jesus realize that this whole “Preaching the Gospel” thing is bigger than just one person can do, so he calls on the twelve disciples and gives them their marching orders.

Jesus given them detailed instructions on what to DO, but not on what to PACK. Or rather, he is very specific on what NOT to pack. All the disciples going out were to enter each town exactly the same: no bag, no change of close, no money, no extra snacks… instead of being the “Fab 5” (as much as I love them), the disciples were to be the RECIPIENTS of grace, not just providers or suppliers of it. Life is not a one way street, and a person can and should both give and receive with our God-given humility. An empty bag reminded the disciples of that as they traveled.

But it’s not just “summer season” or just “the season after Pentecost.” We have also entered into another type of season…its Pride Month… but also a season of tragedy and lament, especially for the ELCA. On June 17th, 2015, five years ago, we remember and lament that a white man attended a Bible study at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He opened fire and killed nine people, including their pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney. Reverend Pinckney had graduated with his masters of divinity from an ELCA seminary with a friend of mine. And the shooter, Dylan Roof, a self-admitted white supremacist, had been brought up in an ELCA church.

Two days after June 17^th, on June 19^th is a holiday called Juneteenth. Before President Lincoln signed the emancipation Proclamation, it was legal for human beings to be enslaved on southern plantations, generating wealth for free for their white owners. However, in yet another perversion of justice, the news of their freedom took two and a half years to reach many of these enslaved human beings. They did not find out until June 19^th, 1865.

Tragically, every year (both before and since) has brought more violence around this time: The shooting at the Pulse in Orlando, being just one example. As I went back to all my sermons for the last five years, ever time I have mentioned Dylann Roof and the martyred Emmanuel 9, I have always mentioned some other tragic event that just happened. Why are we like this? Why do we have this legacy we have inherited,  where we say our baptismal vows out of one side of our mouths .....and raise up and teach Dylann Roofs with the other side?

We certainly have a long way to go in our own journeys as disciples following Jesus’s directions. And the way seems overwhelming at times. But once we listen to Jesus and follow his packing list, I think we may find the way to be a little easier. We have to do more unpacking than packing. So, we leave behind our fear, our hate, our apathy, our white privilege, our need to be needed. When we let go of those things, we’ll find that our hands are empty… and open. THIS is the type of “open carry” that Jesus approves of and calls us to duplicate.

WE CARRY OPEN HANDS, so that we can reach out to our neighbors in welcome: our black neighbor, our white neighbor, our police neighbor and our military neighbor, or Jewish and our Muslim neighbor. Our brothers and our sisters, transgender, straight, gay, rich, poor, citizen, and immigrant neighbor.

WE CARRY one another, so that we never have to carry our burdens alone. And through it all, GOD CARRIES US. Always. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Lament and New Languages on Pentecost

Link to the video of this sermon here: Pentecost.

May 31st, 2020

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

About a week and a half ago on Facebook live I sat in my yard on a sunny, breezy day to tell the story of the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. It’s one of the more minor, underrated festivals of the Church year, but this year it actually brings a special meaning, if you think about the story as Jesus leaving to “work from home.” If you missed it, you can go back on our Facebook page and check it out. You may remember that the music I was using almost blew away, and my paper airplanes didn’t fly very far. I also read the story from the Spark Bible, which ended with the disciples excitedly explaining, “We have work to do! Let’s get going!” Only…. They didn’t, not exactly. At least, not yet.

In the Book of Acts version of the ascension, Jesus’ last words are a promise, that the Holy Spirit would arrive, and that with the power of the Holy Spirit, they would be witness for Jesus both near and far. And what we heard today from the book of Acts is the fruition of that promise – while the disciples were still huddled together, waiting for something unknown to happen, in world that was newly unrecognizable… the spirit arrived. And. How!

Wind.  Loud rushing sounds. Tongues of fire. Sudden language proficiency. So many words and so much noise. But even in all that noise and confusion, suddenly everything made sense, and the disciples were no longer scared – they were ready to face the world, to carry on the work that Jesus began.

To interpret these events for the bewildered disciples and bystanders, Peter quotes from the prophet Joel… “In these last days it will be as God declares, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh…” Portents and visions and scary signs like blood, fire, darkness, and mist. You see, the prophet Joel is the perfect prophet to guide us and help us make sense of this Pentecost moment in a pandemic, because Joel is well acquainted with disaster.

As Joel wrote, plague upon catastrophe was happening in the land – not unlike what is happening around us on a daily basis, right here, right now. Not just with Covid-19, but with literal plagues of locusts happening in Ethiopia, floods in Michigan (and also the continuing Flint Water Crisis), epic storms bearing down on India exacerbated by Climate change, riots and property damage caused by white supremacists in the streets of Minneapolis… and the never ending list of black and brown Americans Like George Floyd who have been murdered at the hands of the very people who are charged to protect them.

By this time, Pentecost 2020, it certainly feels like our world is falling apart around us.

Joel is a prophet familiar this feeling. Peter quotes from Joel Chapter 2, but right before this, the first chapter is Joel lamenting the state of the land, lamenting the death of innocent people, lamenting the suffering that is all around him. Then, Joel writes in hope that as a sign that God will not abandon God’s people – the spirit being poured out indiscriminately: on all genders, on all races and stations, on all ages and abilities.

The first Christians lived in that hope as well. But before they got the completion of that hope in Pentecost, the community travels through the trauma of Good Friday, the new and scary reality of the Resurrection, and the confusion of reorientation and reordering this new way of being. And then it seems like Jesus ups and leaves us just when we need him most!

However, Jesus promised that we would not be alone as he left – body and all – to go “work from home.” That promise is the Holy Spirit, the most “freaky” part of the trinity, which arrived in a completely unexpected way and bestowing gifts on Gods’ people to equip them for ministry in their time and place.

We certainly have a lot to lament, along with Joel. We have experienced the loss of what we knew – loss of jobs, loss of income, loss of movement and in person connection. It feels as though every week, every day, every hour, bring news of a new change, a new way that the world will be different. But one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is language – the language to mourn, and the language to remember. To remember: all the ways that God has been faithful in the past. And the language to RE-Member – to put ourselves back together again when the world has ripped them apart.

On that original Pentecost Day, the birthday of the Christian Church, the disciples got to leave - no they were PUSHED OUT! – of the little room that they were gathered in. We may not have that luxury, but the Holy Spirit is still arriving in ways we do not expect, but perhaps is preparing us in just the very ways that are necessary right now.

This Pentecost morning you may not have woken up to the sound of a rushing windstorm, or with scorch mark on your pillow from a tongue of flame hanging out over your head. And over breakfast, you probably didn’t ask your family members to pass the eggs in Hungarian, Amharic, or Mandarin Chinese.

But you did tune into this worship service through little miracles that we might take for granted – through the unseen waves of the internet, translated into light and sound by strange metal boxes, or zapping through miles of phone cable right to your ear. Maybe in OUR Pentecost Moment, while it is necessary to stay in place, the Holy Spirit speaks through electricity and waves and social media and apps and keypads. … in order to reach out to people who are down in Buckingham Springs, all over Pennsylvania, and beyond. Miracles upon miracles, all at 10 on a Sunday morning.

I wasn’t planning on attending the Festival of Homiletics last week, as I did last year in person when it was hosted in Minneapolis. But this year, the organizers gave us a gift – free streaming live. Through this event, I heard about Joel’s lament. And how tragic, that just about one year after I was last in Minneapolis, we have so much more to lament – the senseless murder of George Floyd, the destruction of property by white supremacists for the purpose of violent escalation, and the continued suffering of our siblings of color.

The miracle of electricity and wifi and social media gives voice to the suffering, for those who care enough to hear and to act. And it also gives us voice too, in order to speak out, perhaps in a new language, with words we might not be used to saying: White Privilege. Systemic Racism. Black Lives Matter.

Equipped with this new language with the “tongues of flame” we have at our disposal, we cry out in lament, and we also speak out for justice. We speak out, here in Buckingham and Philadelphia, throughout the East Coast, to the ends of the Earth, and may we – with the help of the Holy Spirit – never stop -  not until justice for all is a reality, and God’s kingdom arrives where all can breathe. Thanks be to God. Amen.

FOG Window Sermon (Notes)

Palm Sunday window – people waving the palms, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Start of Holy Week 

10 Commandments – 2 tablets of the 10 commandments, numbers written in Hebrew, Moses went up Mount Sinai to get them, it took many days, the people made a golden calf…. 

Hand of the Almighty/ God - creation – first article of the creed - For about 1000 years, no attempt was made to portray the 1st Person of the Trinity in human form. Early Christians believed that the words of the LORD in Exodus 33:20--You cannot see My face, for [humankind] shall not see me and live—and John 1:18--No one has ever seen God ... the universal symbol for the Father was a hand emerging from a mass of bright clouds. Psalm 145:16 says the LORD opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing.  

Bethlehem and Star – “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” - Christmas and Epiphany (separate holidays) different gospels: Luke and Matthew. Star – wise men came later, Jesus might have been as old as 2

Manger – Christmas, Jesus born in a manger, probably in a cave, probably not a stable. “Away in a Manger” 

Empty Tomb/ Easter – Jesus BURSTING from the tomb! EXPLOSIONS!

Alpha and Omega & Lamp from Revelation - the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the Alpha and the Omega. These are our Savior's designation of Himself in Revelation 1:8 and 22;13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." Lampstands are mentioned in the book of Revelation. In the Psalms – Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Jesus says, you are the light of the worlds…. You don’t put a lamp under a bowl, instead you make it visible

Cross and Lilly and Rainbow – Cross is good Friday, Lilly represents Easter and New Life (looks like a trumpet), Rainbow is the sign from Noah and the ark and the Flood – that never again would God destroy creation with a flood. Symbol of Hope. 

Wheat and Grapes –Instituted Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday. Jesus said, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit… " (John 15:5, N.R.S.V.) Jesus broke the bread on the Road to Emmaus in Luke  

Tongue of Flame – Pentecost – which is coming up. Disciples were in a locked room praying, then a loud wind came upon them and it looked like there were tongues of fame on their foreheads, and they could speak different languages. 

Crown of Thorns – Rose (Not pictured) – represents the crown of thorns Jesus wore as he was being humiliated and hung on the cross – Jesus is not your typical king. His crown and thrown are not made of gold or precious stones, but of thorns and his throne is a cross, because he defeated death. 

Holy Heartburn

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“Stay with us for it is evening, and the day is almost over…” This is sort of the ultimate “airplane” moment (back when we flew on airplanes!) - you exchange pleasantries with the person next to you as you buckle your seat belt… and suddenly you are sharing with each other your deepest hurts and wildest dreams, and you now have a standing Thanksgiving invitation and you are making plans to go to their son’s wedding.

These two from our reading were walking along the road from Jerusalem, and discovered another traveler on their road, going in the same direction… and found themselves in a conversation they never dreamed they would be having.  And so when this utter stranger, and new best friend, seemed like he would be going on to travel, all alone, in the night… it was only natural that they invited him to share their Air BnB  as the sun set on that Easter day.

It’s still the season of Easter. Jesus WAS there in the tomb, but he is not here any longer. Instead, he has gone on ahead of us, to meet up us out there on the dusty roads we travel. And he has won the victory for us, so that we who have been buried in our own tombs with Jesus may be raised in his glorious resurrection, now and in the life to come.

Which sounds great…. But what about tomorrow, or next week when we are still social distancing, waiting for unemployment benefits, still living alone, and can’t see our loved ones and friends? What about all our disappointed hopes and very real fears that are still up close and personal?

The words of these two walking along the road really resonate with us right now They tell Jesus: “But we had hoped that….”

Perhaps we had hoped that, by now, six weeks in, we had hoped to be done with social distancing and business closures. We had hoped that, even when we are able to get back together, we might go back to the way things were…though now we know that it will not look like it did before. We had hoped a lot of things, but reality seems pretty rough right now for many of us. What can we really expect from the resurrection in these times?

Two disciples, traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus on Easter afternoon, wondering the same thing. I like to think they were husband and wife, debriefing the unbelievable 3-day weekend they just had… when Jesus appears to them, hidden in plain sight. (Maybe Jesus was wearing a mask and staying 6 feet away?)

Theirs is a road of bitterest defeat, for they had seen the man they had put their hope in put to death. It is no wonder that they didn’t recognize Jesus when he began to walk with them.

Jesus asked about what they were discussing, and they gladly shared with him the whole perplexing story. So, Jesus told THEM the whole of GOD’S story, from start to finish. Then THESE two followers of Jesus REMEMBERED Jesus’ message of welcome and took it to heart – they invited him to share a meal and their place of rest for the night.

It wasn’t until Jesus blessed and broke the bread and they ate together – Then they KNEW that this was JESUS! And so, they RAN – 7 WHOLE MILES all the way BACK to Jerusalem, that same night, just to tell the story to the other disciples of what they had seen – the Risen Jesus!!!!

What would make you run seven miles in the dark? Would it be for something that you didn’t expect? That must have been some “holy heartburn.” Remember that they said, “Were our hearts not burning within us?” Their Holy Heartburn – and Jesus - had finally interrupted their despair.

Jesus likes to interrupt things - Jesus interrupted death. He intruded on the funeral preparations of the women at the tomb. He appeared incognito and joined the two travelers walking to Emmaus, and interrupted their dinner as he revealed himself in the breaking of the bread.

In contrast to the rest of the disciples, who were presumably still locked in a room in Jerusalem as we heard last week, THESE TWO took Jesus’ message to heart. They heard the word and acted on it. They welcomed a stranger into their midst and into relationship. They practiced what Jesus preached. They embraced radical hospitality. They created space in their hearts and in their lives. And remember, at this point, they didn’t yet know that is was Jesus.

But isn’t that what being a disciple on the road is all about? Welcoming one another, creating space for each other for all of our stories and all of our experiences, making sacrifices for one another so that the most vulnerable among us can be kept safe and healthy…. We do this, not just because these people MIGHT be Jesus…. But because these ARE JESUS. After all, Jesus told us that whatever we do to the least of these, we are doing to him.

When we see Jesus in one another, we invite, we welcome, we share what we have, and we go out of our way to make sure all people are protected cared for. That’s all we need, really, to do this “following Jesus” thing. Be the Church, not “go to church.” Create relationships, not programs. Build up the body, not buildings.  Open not just our doors – especially now when that is not possible – but open our hearts as well.

Most of you have heard me quote this prayer a lot, but I think it’s more meaningful now than ever. Called “the servant’s prayer,” it has sustained me many times when the way forward doesn’t always seem clear and things seems hard, like now. Please pray with me:

“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Resurrection in Locked Rooms

4-19-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our crucified and risen Lord and savior, Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Lent is OVER, and Easter is HERE. All seven weeks of it. That’s right folks. We have six more weeks of the Easter season left to go. It’s the Sunday after Easter, and what about the world has changed? Anything? It’s after Easter, but some days the world feels more like it is still Good Friday. Yes, Jesus has been raised from the dead – and hallelujah for that! – But what, exactly has that gotten us?

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been an entire month since Easter. Probably because after Easter, we were well into our fifth week of social distancing, waiting and wondering when or even life as we know it will ever resume, and knowing it will look different when we do. Not unlike the disciples, one week after the very first Easter morning, the second Sunday after Easter… AKA “Doubting Thomas Sunday.”

Poor, poor, Thomas, forever to be saddled with the nickname “doubting.” He gets such a bad reputation. We can’t really blame him for his reaction to the other 10 disciples. If I were him, I might think that the rest of them were playing some cruel version of an April Fool’s joke while I was out. But Thomas is not actually the most egregious doubter in this resurrection account. The true doubters are the other 10 disciples.

Earlier that day, according to the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb of Jesus, only to find the stone rolled away. And later, after Peter and the other disciple had corroborated her story and went home, Mary encountered the risen Jesus while she was still weeping outside the tomb. Their Lord was alive! He had risen from the dead! And what do you think happened next? Did they start running around, telling people the good news? NOPE. On Easter evening, they locked themselves in a room.

After the FIRST Easter, on the very evening that Jesus had been raised from the dead and appeared to Mary, the disciples actually WERE of one heart and one soul. But not the heart and soul we are supposed to emulate, a heart of love and a soul of generosity. They were united in fear, and of one soul in the desire to hide. So, they locked the door. They were still afraid.  It was after Easter – but the disciples were still stuck in Good Friday.

And so that is where Jesus found them, when they were all together, except for Thomas, locked in a room out of fear, when he burst INTO their locked room, just has he had burst OUT of the tomb.

Perhaps a better game plan for Jesus would have been to go and find some new disciples, for heaven sakes! But he didn’t. The evening after he was raised, he showed up in the very locked room that they had hidden themselves away in. Their fear had locked them IN, but it could not keep Jesus OUT.

But after other ten disciples saw Jesus for themselves, a week later - one week after Easter – where did Jesus find them? Yet again, they were sealed up in their old familiar tombs out of fear. And so, Jesus had to bust in YET AGAIN.

I think this year we understand the disciples just a little bit more. We are all in our own homes, physically distant from one another, because of some very real fears. We have sealed ourselves off from one another to keep each other safe from spreading a contagious illness, it does not buffer us from the very real fear we might feel about the unknown. We can wear masks and social distance as much as we can, but it doesn’t always completely protect those we love from getting sick ... and it certainly doesn’t protect us from things like job loss, loneliness, and depression.

So we ask ourselves: What’s now? What is the way forward? How do we walk through these uncertain, fearful times? How will we be living our lives now? Questions that I’m sure the disciples themselves were facing in that locked room.

In her book, “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” (which we will be reading together as a congregation) Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “We are all so busy constructing zones of safety that keep breaking down….. We keep thinking that the problem is out there, in the things that scare us: dark nights, dark thoughts, dark guests, dark emotions. If we could just defend ourselves better against those things, we think, then surely we would feel more solid and secure…..” And we are just as scared here in our locked rooms as we are about the scary things that wait for us outside of them. Nowhere seems safe, and we are trapped in the locked rooms of our own fear, immobile and isolated, fearing that there is no way out and no way forward.

But, we have seen and heard what Jesus does with sealed tombs and locked doors. We have seen and heard what Jesus does with the bonds of sin, with the sting of death, and the captivity of the fear.

The Good News of Easter, which is just as true today as it was a week ago, is that Jesus has busted open the stone of your tomb like it as if it were nothing; he has ploughed through the doors of your locked rooms as if they were butter. He stands in the doorway, reaching out to take your hand, showing you the marks of the crucifixion that still remain his body. And he calls you, as he did to Lazarus, while standing outside of that dead man’s tomb, calling to him, “Lazarus, come out!”

As Barbara Brown Taylor also writes in her book about the darkness in our lives:  “...new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.” Fortunately, Peter, Mary, Thomas, and the rest of the apostles DO eventually get out of the locked room. And someday we too, will be able to leave our locked rooms, and we can still witness to what God was up to in our lives even as we were social distancing and under quarantine. New life begins here, shut away, but it doesn’t stay there. Nothing can hold it at bay and keep it from transforming our lives forever.  

The way forward is unknown, but it also well-tread. Thomas has walked this way before, as has the other 10 disciples, and Mary Magdalene, and the other women at the tomb. Together, we learn to walk in the dark, knowing that we are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.