[Propertalk] 3 Easter b rcl 2009

[Robert P Morrison]

Time for a quick trip to the editing shop!

I wish you a joyful meal with Jesus tomorrow 8 - )

Bob




THE EPISCOPAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES, LINCOLN CITY        3 EASTER B RCL 
ACTS 3:12-19  			26th APRIL, 2009   
1 JOHN 3:1-7		                      PSALM 4       
LUKE 24:36b-48					  

                       Appearances are, often, everything.
                       “Parishioners at the First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, were left stunned and in awe of His glory Sunday, when the Lord God Almighty dropped by their 11 a.m. service unannounced. 
	“Interrupting Pastor Terry Pridgen's sermon on His unending mercy, God appeared suddenly before His flock as an intense beam of white light, instantly dispersing the earthly forms of those seated in the first two pews. Sources said the remaining congregants had to avert their eyes from their Creator, whose booming celestial voice overwhelmed their worldly senses and humbled their hearts as He politely apologized for not calling first.
	“‘I AM the God of Abraham, the LORD MOST HIGH, who brought you forth from the bondage of Egypt,’ God said unto church members, many of whom cowered in reverent fear of Him. ‘Thought I’d just pop in and see how things were going. Please, pretend like I'm not even here.’
	“The Supreme Being then thanked the choir for its ‘lovely introduction’ and took a seat to the right of the altar.
	“According to wholly repentant witnesses, who were scarcely able to look upon the Alpha and Omega, much less conceive of the enormity of His Might, God did not speak again for the entirety of the service, but was seen nodding approvingly during the Nicene Creed.” 1
	OK, so that IS a spoof! But it’s not THAT far removed from some of the reactions and emotions which Luke presents in this morning’s Gospel verses. The fear, the unexpected appearance, the speechlessness, the unwillingness to get too close - all of that and more are what Luke offers in one more account of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. All of which begs several questions. Why DID Jesus appear - why did the various evangelists make a point of telling of at least ONE encounter with one or more people after His crucifixion? Certainly they’re not particularly complimentary about the disciples. What was it about Jesus’ appearance - both His physical looks and the very fact that people became aware of Him being with them -  what WAS it about Jesus’ appearance that was so disturbing? 
	One thing straight off, I imagine, is that it simply DIDN’T seem possible. People don’t come out of their graves. Even with some previous reports from Mary of Magdala, a couple of other women, Peter, John, … even with previous reports the disciples weren’t prepared to see Jesus again. 
	Maybe that’s the key to understanding what’s going on, though. There WAS no expectation. They were intensely sad and confused by everything that had blown apart their sense of community. They felt as if they’d lost their purpose. So there they were, in that city room, late on Sunday evening, when Jesus became present to them. Then, in order to convince them of this Presence, He engaged in normal activity - He asked for food. He shared in what they themselves had been doing.
	This is the sort of thing that puts people at their ease. They’d been part of a group which worked and relaxed together. They were used to one another’s company. They knew about their likes and dislikes. They were aware of what made people comfortable and what made them uncomfortable.
	All of that had been threatened by the crucifixion. Jesus’ absence was a greater loss than any of the disciples could imagine, so His sudden return, as breath-taking as it may have appeared, held out a promise that no one would be left without comfort or hope. In the midst of the irrational, then, Jesus becomes present and invites everyone to expand her or his imagination about what may be accomplished.
	This is particularly good news for right now. Daily we hear of another group of people being laid-off; of GM closing down for almost two months; of uncertainty about what’s going to happen with the County Schools this coming Fall. Daily, we’re challenged when we hear of someone having one sort of a health crisis or another. Lives are being changed even as we watch. To more and more people, the challenges of daily living are becoming greater. Certainly having family members and being part of groups on which you and I can count for support - certainly, this helps. But there are times when even these groups don’t hold together, or are able to offer advice and comfort ALL the time.
	When medical conditions become stressful, when bills pile up, when relationships aren’t all they could be - THAT’S when I find it vital to know that Jesus IS present.
	Frankly, I find it heart-wrenching when I visit with someone - in the office here, in a home, at the hospital, in a store or restaurant, and out comes pouring a story of something tragic going on in that person’s life - yet it seems as if, somehow, there’s no faith background on to which that person or group can draw. Listening to emergency vehicle sirens sound; getting a call to go into the hospital; having people say that they’re at their wit’s end as they need several hundred dollars to get through the next month - it’s enough to make one despair.
	Just like the disciples until Jesus actually ate that piece of fish. THAT act of identification with the disciples gave them the reassurance and restored the energy they needed. Otherwise they wouldn’t have had a prayer to proclaim the Gospel two blocks down the street in Jerusalem, never mind on a U.S. Highway on the Pacific Coast.
	There’s something about the Presence of God, once realised, that can make life seem much more approachable, even if the Presence comes in an unexpected, almost unbelievable way.
	On Friday night I heard from a friend in New Jersey. She wrote, “I got a call on Monday evening from a man I'll call ‘John’ who lives in a small town I'll identify as being in ‘The Heartland’ of these United States of America.
	“His voice was calm and steady, devoid of the usual tones of what I've come to wearily call ‘the long distance skammers.’
	“Clergy get them all the time - people who look us up on the internet and tell us very sad tales of impossible woe which usually begins with, ‘I lost my job.’ Or, ‘My mother died last year.’ Or, ‘You're not going to believe my story, but I hope you'll listen because no one else will. I've got no where else to turn, pastor. May I call you pastor?’” 2
	Elizabeth went on, “John's call was not like that. Not at all. He was polite but not solicitous. As I recall, he began with, ‘I wonder if I might have a few minutes of your time?’ I thought it was a telemarketing call or my local police or fire station making a cold call for donations. 
	“He explained that he was an Episcopalian who had been born in Northern New Jersey, but found himself transplanted to ‘The Heartland’ which he now called home. 
	“‘I’ve gotten into a tough patch,’ he said, and I had this idea that if I called a few clergy in my old home state, maybe if a few of you got together, you might be able to help. It's really bad here in the Midwest, and churches can really only help with a few days supply of food, which is wonderful, but that's not what I need.”
	“‘Well,’ said (Elizabeth), trying not to sound sarcastic, ‘let me guess. You need money.’
	John DID need money - seven hundred dollars. The medical bills got away from him and his wife and the pharmacy turned them over to a collection agency - and now he might lose his house. A lawyer was involved; and one of those “Cash Stores” which is charging him 403% interest.
	John said, “‘I thought I'd start giving you a call. I mean, we're all “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church”, right? Isn't that what we say in the Creed on Sunday?’”
	To cut a long story short, because we ARE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC, because Jesus IS present, and because He deals in fish-eating and normal, practical matters, “there's no 'happily ever after' - not in this economy - but there is Good News:” Elizabeth and several of her friends and acquaintances, in New Jersey and throughout the Midwest, managed to put together “a total of $976.50 - or the equivalent of almost the entire finance charges on the loan - leaving them with the $700 original (loan) amount plus the last $108.50 finance charge.”
	I won’t tell you how appalling the Cash Store was, but they backed down, eventually and said that it there’s a check in their hands by tomorrow, they’ll call the deal closed, having made about $275 profit on the $700 loan in fourteen days.
	This takes me back to wondering about appearances. What do the folk in the pharmacy look like? Or the Cash Store? What about the folk in the Churches in the community where John and Jane are trying to live? Or in New Jersey? These are all people trying to deal with the pressures of keeping doors open, and a little bit of food on the table, and medication to fight the cancer in Jane and in her two surviving children. Are any of them much different in appearance and manner than the disciples? What would Jesus, eating fish at their table, do - would it make any sort of a change?
	I can’t judge - every last one of us is a child of God. I suppose it’s up for theological debate whether we’re all part of Christ’s “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”, but I’m inclined to say a blanket ”Yes” to that too. It’s how we react to the Christ who comes among us that may well define us. Certainly, we don’t have to recognise Him. We don’t need to share our fish, never mind our dwindling discretionary money.
	But if Jesus IS among us, as He said He would be, will we have the faith and the confidence to share our resources? This doesn’t have to be indiscriminate. Elizabeth used her contacts to have John’s story checked out fairly thoroughly. She might have held on to her fish, though, and denied the Presence of Christ in John, and she might not even have noticed whether Christ’s Church changed.
	But because she believes those words we recite from the Creed, the words which define our union with God in Jesus, and our interrelatedness with one another, because she acknowledges that Jesus IS in the world, and that He can be present in any one of our sisters and brothers, Elizabeth shared her fish - and persuaded some of her other disciple friends to give some of theirs too.
	This same story is being played out right here - you don’t need me to tell you that. It’s pat of the current life of every community in the nation and the world. The one factor which CAN and WILL make a difference, though, is if you ignore the comment towards the end of that opening spoof which I read. There’s no way we can, or SHOULD, pretend that God’s isn’t here.
	And lest we lost sight of the imagery in the Gospel stories about Jesus, remember what Jesus had done with fish previously. Somehow, the fish in New Jersey, and the Midwest, and in Lincoln City, CAN be shared. And this sort of Good News, this sort of hope which Jesus injects into our daily lives, seems to put all the arguments, and power-struggles, and wrangling over money into their proper perspective.
	Does this mean that you and I won’t have phone calls asking for help? Of course not! If we acknowledge Jesus present in our midst, though, we can “lie down in peace’ (we) can fall asleep” because God DOES “make us dwell in safety.” 3

NOTES:
1	“God Makes Surprise Visit To Local Church”   April 21, 2009 | Issue 45•17 “The Onion” http://www.theonion.com/content/node/94602
2	The Rev’d. Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton, The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, 200 Main Street, Chatham, NJ 07928  EMKaeton at aol.com  Check out my blog: http://telling-secrets.blogspot.com
3	Psalm 4:8



--
Robert P. Morrison
The Episcopal Parish of St James,
PO Box 789
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-994-2426 (Church)