[Propertalk] 5 Easter c 2016 - Pt 2

[Robert P Morrison]

The second part

	 That woman isn’t typical of all mothers. I know that. Nor are all
fathers abusive. But one is one too many. And we know that there are
way more than one who betray the image of God within them, who, for
whatever reason, turn their back on seeking help. 

	 Perhaps that’s all that’s necessary. Open discussion of the
problems; a willingness to admit a lack of understanding and a need
for help. However it happens, we know that every betrayal IS serious;
that every betrayal DOES hurt and damage others and ourselves, if not
physically, then certainly emotionally and spiritually. THAT is why
betrayals of any sort carry such tremendous consequences. 

	 But here’s where the Good News comes in – the Easter that is
always present and living within us. The passage read from the Book of
the Acts of the Apostles describes how Peter discovered that God was
leading him to change. He’d allowed his devotion to the law and
customs to blind him to the scope of God’s love. As John was shown
in the vision granted him, ALL things are in the process of being made
new. There’s nothing, nothing at all, that cannot be changed in our
lives – if we don’t betray our faith, betray God, by assuming that
there are some things that God doesn’t want to change; that there
are some people whom God has no interest in reaching, and loving back
into a healthy relationship in the group. 

	 On Friday night, people around the world who followed Jewish customs
and ritual emphasised the family nature of life. They told stories and
sang songs of the way God has a personal relationship with all of us,
and seeks to help us live out to the fullest our potential as human
beings. 

	 What is scary about our lives is that it remains so easy for us to
betray. As one cleric put it, “The Episcopal Church tries to open
its arms to all the diversity of God’s creation; and although it
fails miserably at times, it never stops trying.” 3 

	 We have to remember, for ourselves as much as for others, that there
are signs of God’s love which we must carry with us through life.
They may not look like Trolley, but they can certainly take on the
properties. The lilies have gone from in front of the Altar. But they
are still there, and the plants are waiting to be planted in
someone’s garden as signs from God. The bare cross in the Narthex is
still there. And there ARE other signs all around us, signs of the
love of God which overcomes even the fiercest betrayal. 

	 Suzanne Guthrie wrote, “How DID Jesus love us? By befriending and
eating with outcasts and sinners, collaborators and prostitutes, the
unclean, the impure, the unloved. By stretching the boundaries of his
own love. By self-sacrificial life and death. By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you have this kind of love for one
another.” 4 

	 Within a few hours of Jesus’ comments to His disciples, Jesus is
taken. He is betrayed. He is nailed to a cross as a dangerous, crazy
man who preached love over everything else; within a few hours, Jesus
added to the Good News. He said, “Father, forgive them.” And He
meant it about everyone, absolutely everyone, no matter what each had
done to betray the love of God. There is nothing, there is no one, who
is not forgiven, who is not drawn into the family. And WE – you and
I – are here because of that. So we must be here and everywhere for
anyone and everyone else. 

	 Love DOES win! Hope IS always present. Betrayals, no matter how
serious, are NOT the end. Jesus STILL calls us to the Altar –
everyone of us, to feed and to be renewed. As there was an empty chair
at the table last Friday night, so there is ALWAYS a place set and
waiting at God’s banquet. 

	 THANKS BE TO GOD! 

	NOTES: 

	[1] From _“The Ten Plagues”_ in a Passover Haggadah 

2 CLANWILLIAM: ELLIDFICS - IMEIMEI - TUMBLR [1]
DEDALVS.TUMBLR.COM/POST/129269968477/SURICATTUS-CLANWILLIAM-ELLIDFICS 

	3 The Rev. Rose Hassan, St. Luke and St. Mary Episcopal Church,
Hope., N.J. 

	4 “_At the Edge of the Enclosure Soulwork towards Sunday 5 Easter
c” _Suzanne Guthrie http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/easter5c.html [2]

Links:
------
[1]
http://mail2.charter.net/HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/URL?SA=T&RCT=J&Q=&ESRC=S&SOURCE=WEB&CD=1&CAD=RJA&UACT=8&VED=0AHUKEWJPMDMSZAXMAHUQ-2MKHTI0AZSQFGGFMAA&URL=HTTP%3A%2F%2FDEDALVS.TUMBLR.COM%2FPOST%2F129269968477%2FSURICATTUS-CLANWILLIAM-ELLIDFICS&USG=AFQJCNFCR8DYYBSXLLOBNJSWUEXIX21GEW
[2] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/easter5c.html

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