A Family Photo

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
May 31, 2015

Trinity Sunday

My cousin recently found a number of old family photos and posted them on Facebook for the family to see.  One photo is a four generation photo which includes our great-grandmother, our grandmother, our mothers, my father, and the 6 cousins.  My uncle, my father's brother, must have taken the photo.  We are on the front porch of a house I don't recognize, likely in Fordyce, Arkansas.  The photo is interesting not only because of the moment in time captured there, but for all the stories the photo brings to mind.  The photo reminded me of family vacations, escapades with our cousins, parties as various people in the photo celebrated 80th or 90th birthdays, and family gatherings at funerals.  There are stories about every individual in the photo, and stories about the whole family together. Many of the people in the photo have now entered eternal life, and all of them had some influence on me when I was a child.  The simple family photo captures a much larger story, even if much of that story is lost now.

Today, the Sunday after Pentecost, is Trinity Sunday.  We began the liturgical year in Advent, anticipating the birth of the Christ Child.  Christmas brings us the Son of God wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  Lent and Easter bring us the crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and on Pentecost, we receive the Holy Spirit.  So, by the Sunday after Pentecost have the complete Trinity: the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

However, to think that we don't have the Trinity until after Pentecost is a bit oversimplified.  The story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis tells us that, in the beginning, the Spirit swept over the face of the waters.  The first chapter of John's gospel tells us that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  By wrestling with these passages and others like them that describe the different natures of God, theologians in the 3rd and 4th centuries began to understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-one God in three persons that has existed since before the beginning.

On Trinity Sunday, then, we would expect to hear something from Scripture that explains the Trinity.  A helpful passage would explain how, exactly, God is one God in three persons and how the three are related to the one.  The only problem is that there is no such passage in Scripture.  There are a few clear references to the Trinity, such as the ending of Matthew's gospel where the disciples are sent out to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  But no where does Scripture actually explain the one God in three persons.

What Scripture does do is tell us stories about people's experience of God and God's action in the world.  So, we have two stories about creation, lots of stories about what happens when the people of God are unfaithful and stories that tell us about faithful people.  There are stories about God's great love for us, stories about Jesus, and stories about the work of people who were filled with the Holy Spirit.  On this particular Trinity Sunday, we hear the story of Isaiah's experience of God in the temple that sends him out into the world to do what is actually very difficult work.  When Isaiah says "Here I am, send me" what God sends him out to do is tell the people about the destruction that is to come because of their unfaithfulness.  Isaiah can do this hard task because of his powerful experience of God in the temple.  Psalm 29 echoes the majesty and glory of God that Isaiah experienced.  And we hear the story of Nicodemus approaching Jesus, trying to understand who Jesus is.  This gives Jesus, the Son, the occasion to talk about being born of the Spirit, which echoes Paul's call in Romans to live by the Spirit.  Jesus also tells us that God gave the Son so that all may have eternal life.

Scripture gives us a picture, in a sense, of the way people through out the ages have experienced God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that picture led to the understanding of the Trinity.  The interesting question for me is this: Scripture tells us, in the first chapter of Genesis among other places, that we humans are made in the image of God. What do the stories of Scripture tell us about being made in the image of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer?      

First, the story of the Trinity tells us that God, but nature, is relational. Before we humans ever came along, God not only was in relationship but God was relationship.  So, we humans are called by our very nature to be in relationship with God, each other and all that God has made.  We are called to live like people who are connected to each other, because we are connected.  But the Trinity is not self-absorbed connection and love.  The Trinity continually gives itself away.  So, secondly, as the story of the Trinity tells us that God sent Jesus to live among us, and God sent the Holy Spirit to be with us, that story calls us to give ourselves away, and to live for others.  We are called to be sent ones, as Isaiah was sent.

The story of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit calls us to live as people who are connected to each other here at Christ Church, not in a self- absorbed way, but in a way that connects us to our neighborhood and our city, and to people all over the world.  That story calls us to be people who are sent and willing to give ourselves away so that others can know abundant life.  The story of the Trinity calls us to be a living picture of the story of God's action in the world and in our lives.

                                  .                           Amen.

The Gift of Pentecost

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
May 24, 2015

Pentecost

Week before last, I made a quick trip to Virginia to attend the funeral of our former rector, Bob Partlow.  Bob and Ruth were our rectors at Christ Church in the 1990's, were my sponsoring rectors when I went to seminary, and have been good friends and mentors in the years following.  So, once I found out when the funeral was to be held, I hopped in my car, plugged the address of the Richmond Holiday Inn Express into my GPS, and off I went.

Richmond itself is pretty easy to find.  The city is basically a straight shot over on highway 35 and interstate 64.  But once I reached the outer limits of Richmond, I realized I had no idea where I was.  I had no map in my head or picture in my mind of where I was going.  All I had was the voice coming through my car speakers telling me to turn left in 2 miles, or take the next right.  I was completely at the mercy of this disembodied voice, and she would give me only one instruction at a time.  If I looked at the gps display, I could see the very next step, but I was more interested in watching the road than looking at the display in my car!  Amazingly, I reached the hotel with very little trouble, and then plugged Ruth's address into the gps and managed to get to her house also.  While I got every where I needed to go, I never knew where I was.  In both traveling and in life, I much prefer to have the whole trip laid out for me at once so I know where I am going and how I will get there.

When I think about Pentecost and the story we heard from Acts this morning, I can easily think that the flames of fire set the disciples on a journey that was all laid out for them.  After all, we can read the whole story in the book of Acts and know where the Holy Spirit sent the disciples and what she had them say and do.  There are many stories in the book of Acts where the disciples appear in the right place at the right time, like the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch which we heard several weeks ago.  In that story, Philip is sent by an angel of the Lord to encounter the Ethiopian at just the time he was open to hearing the gospel.  The Ethiopian was then baptized before Philip was whisked away by an angel of the Lord.  Surely some advance planning was required for that series of events to take place. Over and over again, the disciples preach to enormous crowds of people and their words lead thousand to be baptized.  They must have had a well thought multi-step strategic plan to thank for their amazing string of successes. Right?

Actually, probably not.  In addition to all their successes, the disciples and Paul also had their fair share of challenges.  In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of being beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and in danger from bandits, false believers, and enemies of the gospel.  We have some stories of those mis-adventures in the book of Acts.  Who would sign up for anything if they really knew all that lay ahead?

The reality is that, after Pentecost, the disciples and then eventually Paul, were likely led by the Spirit one step at a time with little knowledge of what the whole journey looked like. They were on a Spirit-led adventure with no guarantees of success or safety.  But after Pentecost, the fire that had landed on their heads burned within their hearts, transforming their lives, and giving them the courage to take the gospel into the known world. They were no longer simply disciples, or followers, but now they were apostles, or ones who are sent.  And they are sent one step at a time.  We have lots of stories about the times the apostles succeeded and only a few allusions to times when they did not, because that is the way history is written.  But even in the times when the apostles wound up in jail or worse, their witness is that the Holy Spirit was with them. Even in jail, the apostles sang hymns and their faith brought their jailers to belief.

In the gospel reading, we hear Jesus tell the disciples that when he leaves them, he will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with them forever.  On Pentecost, that promise is fulfilled.  But Jesus does not say that he will send the Advocate so that all attempts at ministry will work out the way the disciples thought they would, or so that the disciples will never make mistakes, or so that every effort will be successful.  Jesus tells the disciples that he will send the Advocate, the Spirit, simply to be with them.  Where ever Jesus' followers go, whatever they try, whatever messes they find themselves in, the Spirit will be with them.  In another place in John's gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that he will not leave them orphaned or comfortless.  Jesus sends the disciples out on a great adventure, with very few instructions and no longer term strategic plan other than to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.  But Jesus does not send them out alone.

Pentecost is a baptismal feast day and on this day we renew our baptismal vows whether or not we have a candidate for baptism.  On the day that the disciples were sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own forever by the flames of fire that rested on their heads, we remember that we were sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own forever.  In both cases,  followers of Jesus are sent out to make a gospel difference in the world. Baptism, whether by flames of fire or by water and the Holy Spirit, does not guarantee that our efforts will always be successful, or that we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit correctly, or that we will know where we are going or what we are doing as we are sent into the world.  But baptism is the guarantee that we will never be on this adventure alone, because we have been marked as Christ's own forever.  The gift of Pentecost is the gift of Emmanuel, God with us.

Amen.

Shield the Joyous

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
May 10, 2015

6 Easter B

On Thursday evening, several of us from Christ Church gathered on City Hall Plaza to pray compline together before going to Pub Theology.  One of the most beautiful prayers in our prayer book is in the service of compline, and we prayed that prayer together Thursday night.  The words to the prayer are: "Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.  Tend the sick, Lord Christ, give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous, and all for your love's sake.  Amen."   We prayed that prayer thinking about those who are persecuted for their faith, the victims of the earthquake in Nepal, people in violence torn cities around the world, and the sick and the suffering in our own lives.  But in addition to praying for those in any need or trouble, this prayer also asks God to shield the joyous.  Why would the joyous show up on a list with the weary, the dying, the suffering, and the afflicted?  From what do the joyous need to be shielded?

I am reminded of that prayer this morning when I hear Jesus say "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."  Then Jesus goes on to tell the disciples "This is my commandment-that you love one another as I have loved you."  Our gospel reading this week comes from what is called the Farewell Discourse, an extended section of John's gospel where Jesus prepares the disciples for his death.  In John's gospel, Jesus is completely aware of his impending crucifixion.  Jesus does not ask God to take this cup from him, as Jesus does in the other gospels.  Instead, Jesus prays for his disciples, and when they go to the garden, Jesus goes basically to turn himself in to those who seek his death.

Despite knowing all that is to happen to himself and to the disciples, Jesus tells the disciples that they are to love one another as he has loved them so that his joy may be in them and their joy may be complete.  Clearly, joy is not the absence of hardship or suffering, nor is it the kind of joy that wears off after a while, like end of the semester joy or holding a baby joy or spending time with loved ones joy.  If Jesus' joy is to be in the disciples, that joy must have something to do with being connected to Jesus.  But what?

Jesus also says to the disciples "You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer because the servant does not know what the master is doing.  But I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father."  What Jesus has told them, and prepared them for over these several chapters, is that he is leaving them.  Jesus is not calling the disciples friends in a casual, "let's do lunch" sort of way.  Jesus is calling the disciples his friends in the deepest sense of the word.  The disciples are the people with whom Jesus can bare his soul and be vulnerable.  Jesus can speak to the disciples about abiding in his love, not as a master demands his servant do something, but as a friend implores someone to do what is best for them.  The disciples are now connected to Jesus in a new way, as trusted friends rather than as servants.

The joy Jesus wants for his disciples is the joy of being fully connected to Jesus.  That joy is not the absence of pain or suffering, but instead is a joy that makes us vulnerable to both God and the world as Jesus was willing to be vulnerable.  Jesus' joy is a joy that takes risks for the gospel as Jesus did.  We see Peter, one of the disciples, taking a risk for the gospel this morning in the reading from Acts as he orders the baptism of all on whom the Spirit has fallen, whether they are Jew or Gentile.  While that action may seem fairly obvious to us, the baptism of Gentiles was a bold and risky move at the time.  Up until that point, baptism was only for Jews who were followers of Jesus.  What barriers do we need to tear down so that others can experience the joy of being connected to Jesus?  What risks is God calling us to take for the sake of the gospel?  Where is God calling us to allow ourselves to be vulnerable?  The joy of Jesus does the gospel work of breaking down barriers so that everyone can experience that joy.

And so, we ask God to shield the joyous.  As people whose joy is complete because we are connected to Jesus, we know that our joy is not simply for our own benefit.  That joy motivates us and sends us out into the world.  In asking God to shield the joyous, we ask God to keep the joyous safe as we make ourselves vulnerable to others in the sharing of our faith.  We ask God to protect the joyous as we take risks for the sake of the gospel.  We ask God to be our defense as we break down barriers that separate us from each other and from God.  We ask God to be our shield as we engage the joyous work of being Jesus' friends.

Amen.

Fruit That Will Last

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
May 3, 2015

5 Easter B

The first house Don and I purchased had a lovely back yard that reminded me of an English garden.  There were some flowers and flowering bushes, and a lot of fruit trees.  A cherry tree lived toward the back of the yard.  A pear tree had residence in the front of the yard.  An apple tree over produced fruit in the middle of the yard.  There was another fruit tree that we cut down pretty quickly, and I don't remember what that one was. And right smack in the middle of the yard there was a grape arbor.  The grape arbor and the tree I don't remember came down immediately as we could either take them down or they could be assaulted by the forces of little boys throwing footballs, frisbees, and each other.  But we kept the other trees and they produced fruit as long as we lived in that house.

The previous owners had harvested the fruit and done a lot of canning.  My strength is baking, not canning, and involves chocolate, not apples or pears.  Our neighbor asked for the pears to make jam and we were happy to oblige.  Any pears she picked were pears we didn't have to pick up.  The trees required little care to produce fruit, although since we did little to care for the trees, the fruit was generally enjoyed by the birds either before or after it fell off the tree.  Our stewardship of the trees was not optimal, to say the least, but the trees were undaunted and continued to bear much fruit, because that is what fruit trees do.

I always think about that yard when I hear Jesus tell us that he is the vine we are the branches, and that we are to bear fruit.  Just as our trees were rooted in good soil and the branches produced abundant fruit, Jesus calls us to abide in him so that we can bear fruit, fruit that will last.  This is a lovely metaphor for the Christian life, calling us to be attached to Jesus so that we can be Jesus' disciples and do Jesus' work in the world.  Jesus is clear that apart him, we will not be nourished to bear that fruit.

However, I find this all rather vague.  At an intuitive level, I understand the need to abide in Jesus.  But what does that look like in action?

The reading from 1 John tells us that God is love, and those who abide in love, abide in God.  Then 1 John tells us a bit about God's love, so we know what kind of love we are to abide in.  First, God's love is life giving.  "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him."  The point of sending God's only Son was so that we might have life.  Secondly, God's love is self-sacrificing.  God sent God's only Son-the heart of God's heart-to give us life.  Thirdly, God's love is a free gift.  There are no strings attached.  There is nothing in 1 John that tells us what we must do to earn that gift.  We love because we are loved, not in order to be loved.  We are called to respond to the life giving love of God by loving our brothers and sisters with that same life-giving, self-sacrificing, no strings attached love.  If we say we have love, and hate our brothers and sisters, or as last week's reading said, ignore those in need when we ourselves have plenty, we are lying.  How can we love God, who we have not seen, if we do not love our brothers and sisters who we have seen?  1 John paints a pretty clear picture of what it means to live in God's love and as people who are attached to the vine.

The story from Acts takes us even deeper into understanding how we are to abide in God's love and bear fruit that will last.  In the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, we see an example of life-giving, self-sacrificing, no strings attached love for a total stranger.  Philip is given directions by an angel of the Lord that will take him to an Ethiopian eunuch who had come to Jerusalem to worship.  As an Ethiopian and a eunuch, the man was something of a double outsider, even if he was in charge of the entire royal treasury.  The Ethiopian invites Philip to sit in the chariot with him, an act of hospitality, and Philip interprets the scriptures for him, proclaiming the good news of God in Jesus and ultimately baptizing the Ethiopian before being snatched away.  Philip's love for God was demonstrated in his openness to the angel of the Lord who told him to travel a wilderness road for no apparent reason, his care and acceptance of the Ethiopian, and his sudden departure after baptizing the Ethiopian that left no room for any praise or credit for Philip.  The Ethiopian's love for God was demonstrated in his openness to hearing God speak through the scriptures, his openness to Philip and hearing God speak through Philip, and his openness to the Spirit in his desire to be baptized.  The love Philip and the Ethiopian had for God spilled over into life-giving, self-sacrificing, no strings attached acts of love for a complete stranger.

The trees in our backyard bore fruit because that is what fruit trees do.  The apples, pears, and cherries were produced, not for the tree to use, but to either to be used as food for others or to produce more fruit.  Jesus tells us this morning that the natural result of abiding in God's love and being nourished by that love is that fruit will be produced.  We want a program we can attend or a church growth package we can buy that will tell us how to better reach people with the Good News of God in Christ.   Jesus tells us that if we abide in him, if our branches are firmly attached to the vine, we will live with live-giving, self-sacrificing, no strings attached love that will naturally bear fruit.  The fruit may or may not be the fruit we want to produce or that we think we need to produce.  But the fruit that comes from abiding in God's love will be the fruit God wants us to bear.  And like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, that love will take us places we never imagined we might go, to encounter people we never thought of meeting via roads we never dreamed of traveling.

Amen.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
April 26, 2015

4 Easter B

Every year for the past almost 20 years, Christ Church has been part of Springfield's Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.  The service began some 35 years ago as the joint effort of Covenant Presbyterian Church and Temple Sholom.  Over the years, the service has grown to include the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and various Protestant churches, along with the An-Nur Islamic Center.

       Every year, the clergy and various lay leaders gather to plan a service in which we can all give thanks together for our many blessings.  As you might imagine, some careful and creative planning is required as we create a service based on what we hold in common rather than focusing on anything that may divide us.  The service is rich with shared stories, prayers, and music from our various traditions and each year the service is held in a different house of worship.  We learn something about ourselves and about each other as we engage the sacred writings and traditions of other faiths.  After the service we enjoy one another's company over coffee and cookies and we have built good relationships with each other over the years.  And, over the years, we have developed deep respect for one another's faith.

So, I am caught up short by Peter's proclamation in the reading from Acts this morning.  "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."  Peter sounds exceedingly exclusive.  There is no salvation at all for those who do not believe in Jesus?  When we gather with our brothers and sisters of other faiths at Thanksgiving, are we to believe that their faith traditions are just wrong and we Christians have the only path to salvation?  At a deep intuitive level, that claim seems wrong to me. Fortunately, all of our readings this morning provide some context for hearing Peter's words.

This morning, Peter and John have just healed a man who was lame from birth when we find them in prison, being interrogated by the entire family of the high priest.  The charge against the two men is first that they are teaching about the resurrection, then that they have claimed some power that does not belong to them.  Peter's defense argument is brilliant.  Peter transforms the charges against him from a charge of blasphemy to the charge that he has done a good deed for someone who was sick.  Who can argue against a good deed done for someone who is sick?  Peter's claim is that he could not heal the man by his own power, but that the lame man could only be healed by Jesus, thus proving that Jesus was the Messiah.  Peter is not speaking to the Roman Council, and he has no other faith in mind when he tells his very own people that their salvation comes through Jesus.  Peter is essentially saying "Look what amazing things God is doing in our midst!"  A few chapters later, in Acts chapter 10, Peter will say "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."   Peter is not preaching an exclusive gospel.  In our reading this morning, Peter is challenging his own people, and a few chapters later, Peter is clear that God shows no partiality.

The 4th Sunday of Easter, which is today, is traditionally known as "Good Shepherd Sunday."  On this Sunday every year, we hear one of the gospel stories from John that portray Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  Today, we hear Jesus say "I am the Good Shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me.  And I lay down my life for the sheep."  Over the centuries, the church has tried to figure out who, exactly, Jesus sheep are.  Who is in the fold and who is out?  The seemingly obvious answer is that Christiana are Jesus' sheep.  And we are.  But Jesus also says "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice."  Jesus' claim is that he has sheep we don't even know about, who will also listen to his voice.  Just a few verses earlier, Jesus said "The sheep follow the Good Shepherd because they know his voice."  The very definition of Jesus' sheep is that they know his voice and follow him. That is the whole definition.  We do not get to control who is in the fold and who is not.  Jesus does.  And in John's gospel, that news infuriates his audience.

But to focus on the sheep is to miss the point.  The point is the Good Shepherd.  When Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd," he is not simply saying that he will take good care of the sheep. Through out the Old Testament, in the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and in the Psalms, specifically the 23rdpsalm that we read/sang this morning, God is identified as the Shepherd. In the Hebrew Scriptures, most of the work of the Shepherd has to do with justice, providing food for the poor, strengthening the weak, and binding up the injured.  When Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd," Jesus is pointing to those very scriptures and telling his listeners that he is God.

Many chapters later, at the end of John's gospel, after Jesus has been crucified and has risen, three times Jesus will ask Peter, the same Peter we hear from in the reading from Acts, "Peter, do you love me?"  Three times, Peter will say "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."  And each time, Jesus will respond "Feed my sheep."  Feed my sheep.  The work of the Shepherd and the work of the sheep is the same-the work of justice, feeding the hungry, strengthening the weak.  The command of the gospel is that we love Jesus by feeding his sheep.  As the writer of 1 John so pointedly puts it "How does the love of God abide in anyone who has the worlds goods and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help?"  The command of the gospel is that we love Jesus by feeding Jesus sheep.  That is our job.  The Good Shepherd's job is to gather the sheep.  And all of the sheep Jesus gathers, where ever they come from, whoever they may be, are our brothers and sisters.

Amen.