[Propertalk] 3 Easter c rcl - first draft

[Robert P Morrison]

Here's what developed from my thought about the opening story.

I hope it is at least a start 8 - )

I have a funeral on Friday and have a homily for that.

The XOXOXO in the text  is to remind me to add the name of next month's Outreach Project when I find my list!

Bob


THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  	       THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER C RCL
ACTS 9:1-20			             18th APRIL, 2010
REVELATION 5:11-14			 PSALM 30
JOHN 21:1-19

	Remember Clara Peller? Her name ring a bell? What about, “Where’s the beef?”  Ms. Peller must have been about four feet tall. I don’t know that for sure, but she was usually matched with men or women almost double her size.
	For all her diminutive size, though, she had a voice that could carry – and she used it well. The phrase is still with us although it’s been twenty six years since she repeated it, over, and over, and over again. Does it start to come back now?
	OK, then – Where’re the women? “Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples didn’t know that it was Jesus.” “Where’re the women?” “When they had gone ashore they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it.” “Where’re the women?”
	Maybe that’s enough – we probably get the point! On Easter day we all heard about Peter and John racing to the tomb after women came to tell them that the stone had been rolled back. But Peter and John left, after a while, while Mary stayed in the garden, trying to make sense of things. That’s where she met Jesus. That’s where she was told to tell the others. That’s more than likely when the women started to ball rolling on getting the word passed from house to house among Jesus’ friends – “He’s alive! He’s NOT dead! He said He’d meet up with us in Galilee!”
	So – where ARE the women this day, when Jesus met up with them around the Sea of Galilee? Well, they probably went back, with Peter, and James, and John, and the others, to Galilee, but this meeting with Jesus was specifically about what to do with the baggage that Peter may have been carrying around with him.
	Have you ever been in a situation when you were reminded of something terribly embarrassing, or unhelpful, or stupid, maybe even dangerous, that you may have done?  I know I have. Maybe we said something without thinking through what we were saying, or to whom we were saying it. Maybe we were under a lot of stress already and something happened that demanded a quick response – and we blurted out the first thing we thought would get us off the hook. Only it backfired, and offended someone, or crushed her or his spirit, or put them in some jeopardy.
	I think of some nightmarish situations in which I wish I could reach back into the past and yank that memory so hard I could eradicate it, and think, or speak, or act more sensibly, more thoughtfully, more compassionately. But that only works in movies. Maybe that’s why the disturbing nightmare returns again and again – it’s never been exorcised from within us. And most of us know what THAT does. It stunts our development. It makes us uncertain about how to decide or act the next time. It prevents us from being able to encourage ourselves or others. So, somehow, we HAVE to be able to put the past behind us, better yet, we have to be able to let go of it, somehow, so that we CAN grow more and more into the people God hopes that we will be.
	And so, once again, Jesus tailored His Presence for a specific purpose. He wanted to make sure that those who were going to do His work were nourished, and saw the plentiful resources for nourishment all around therm. And He wanted to exorcise Peter.
	Peter, who would still have been shaking from the terror of having denied Jesus and how special He was to him, Peter needed Jesus to relieve him of his burden. So Jesus WAS there, not only just after He’d talked to Mary. Jesus was counting on Peter to accomplish great things. THAT’S why Jesus sought out Peter and directly asked him about the depth of his love and commitment.
	Three times Jesus dug deep into Peter’s wounded memory, to drege up the recollection of his denial of Jesus. And each time the denial surfaced, Jesus immediately commanded Peter physically, spiritually, emotionally to care for all whom Jesus called sister and brother.
	Three times that pain came to the surface, and three times it was soothed, until Peter COULD do the job to which God had called him.
	Sometimes we need the same intense surgery. Anyone who’s been through chemotherapy or radiation treatment has a pretty good idea of what Jesus did that day – and offers to do for us today. Anyone who’s had a malignancy cut out of their bodies, and then been given a course of treatment to try to ensure that the twisted, amok-running-cells don’t return, knows how difficult it can be to accept the healing that Jesus offers.
	Sometimes it ISN’T easy or pretty. Sometimes it leaves one weak, perhaps because secretly in one way or another we’d been coming to terms with what was inside ourselves, Still, Jesus probes us, asking us if we DO love Him, if we DO trust Him, if we WILL follow Him and give whatever it takes on behalf of someone else. 
	Sometimes feeding Jesus’ sheep takes a huge effort. But Jesus waits, patiently, looking deep into our eyes, and seeking our assent to our vocations.
	Notice, Jesus never said to Peter, “Well, good, that was the answer for which I’d been hoping. Now, here’s a list of places I’d like you to visit, the people you need to see, the ships you need to take, the countries to which you have to travel before your energy and life are exhausted.” No, Jesus said something very simple. “Feed my lambs.” Protect those who are vulnerable to every kind of preying, opportunistic adversary. “Tend my sheep.” Make sure that the adults, too, are well-provided-for, “Feed my sheep.” It’s necessary that everyone receives whatever care is necessary – be it radical surgery or a common band-aid. Do what it takes – and, the unspoken advice to Peter, remember that My sheep are all around you right now. You don’t have to go far to find them. They may even be listening at the doors and windows of this building right now.
	Jesus still heals. Jesus helps us to face all our deepest worries and fears. And once they’re addressed, Jesus sets them aside so that we can travel more lightly, with our concern how to find out what the lambs are up to, what the sheep need, what they eat that will nurture them.
	So, off we go. Not only the Peters, though. Yes, all of us have SOME burden to shed. However, some of us are already ahead of even Peter. Some, like those women – remember them? – some like those women are already going around this city and State, this nation and the world, not only speaking Good News but acting Good News, bringing food, bringing health care, bringing encouragement, bringing whatever resources they can to make Jesus’ words real.
	Sometimes, what needs to be done is radical. Always what needs to be done is personal – one-on-one, one street or community at a time. 
	 “Beverly Bell, an activist and an expert on Haitian social movements,” has edited a book published recently, which “brings together thirty-eight oral histories from a diverse group of Haitian women. The interviewees include, for example, a former prime minister, an illiterate poet, a leading feminist theologian, and a vodou dancer. Defying victim status despite gender- and state-based repression, they tell how Haiti's poor and dispossessed women have fought for their personal and collective survival.” 1 By giving these women’s stories greater visibility, Beverly Bell is making sure that fears and hurts are brought to the surface so that people may seem them, and then respond.
	Seemingly co-incidentally, last Tuesday, news sources reported that “First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden (were) visiting Haiti to underscore to the Haitian people and the Haitian government the enduring U.S. commitment to help Haiti recover and rebuild, especially as we enter the rainy and hurricane seasons,” . (The) White House statement (continued that the visit is additionally) “to thank the women and men across the whole of the U.S. government for their extraordinary efforts in Haiti during the past three months. They will also reach out to the U.N. and international relief communities in recognition of the truly global effort underway to help Haiti.” 2
	This goes on all the time, of course. People need to be fed; they need gas for their cars and their generators; they need water to drink and to wash clothes – they need clothes … the list goes on and on. THAT’S how and where the Outreach Committee has specified that the undesignated money in our offering will be disbursed this morning. Episcopal Relief and Development will get the money to Haiti to try to act to feed Jesus’ agnellian sisters and brothers before the rains hit in earnest.
	AND problems exist right here on our own doorstep also. Last month the money went to our participation in the meal programme at St. Mary’s. Next month it will go to XOXOXOX.  Sheep, it seems, are everywhere. Now that WE’VE been offered hope, and reconciliation, and renewal by Jesus, then, it’s time for us to move on.
	Maybe it wasn’t helpful for me to begin by asking “Where’re the women” in the Gospel story this morning. Maybe we all need to be dwell for a little on just how many times Jesus offers to renew, and to reassure, and to re-energise us. But that’s never the end of the picture.
	Jesus could’ve patted Peter on the head and said, “Good boy! Now, let’s see how the fishing will be tomorrow.” Jesus, as part of the same action of cleansing and strengthening, always charges people, always gives them something to do, something each one of us can at least start to do, even if we don’t know where we may end up.
	So when WE’VE been fed this morning at the Altar, when the Lamb of God has been placed in our hands and assumed into our bodies, we know that it’s become OUR turn to touch others.
	Whether we’re the women who went on ahead of Peter, and James, and John, or whether we’re Peter himself – wherever we are, whatever our needs, Jesus addresses each one of us, then sends us out, so that we may be the means of bringing real, tangible hope – to Helping Hands here, AND to the people of Haiti, who’re waiting to hear from us.
	Jesus stands all around this room, right now, repeating, “Do YOU love Me?” On second thoughts, maybe Clara Peller’s slightly abrasive voice should be, “Where are the sheep?”

NOTES:
1 	“Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance” by Beverly Bell, foreword by Edwidge Danticat, paperback, 272 pages, c. 2001, $21. Cornell University Press 
 2 	New York Times. April 13, 2010  Michelle Obama Makes Unannounced Visit to Haiti  By MARC LACEY
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/world/americas/14firstlady.html?hp  or http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na


--
Robert P. Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban,
P.O. Box 1556,
Albany, Oregon, 97321

541-921-1076 (cell)
541-967-7051 (church)