Making All Things New

If someone were to ask you about your vision for the future, what would you say?  Would you be concerned about making all things new?  If so, what would that mean?  In our lessons appointed for today, the Revelation to John is about the vision of a new heaven and a new earth?  “See. I am making all things new…. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”  Then, as we heard in the gospel of John,  “Love one another, even as Christ has loved you.”

The Revelation to John proclaims the reality and fulfillment of the whole biblical message of redemption.  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…. And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new…. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”

When we think about our history and our future as 21st Century Christians we look back to the story and heritage that shaped the identity of the early Christian community.  The earliest Christians lived in the midst of human misery and suffering.  Part of their identity helped them to look forward with hope and anticipation for new life.  The very meaning of life was found in hope and love. 

The issues we face today were so far into the future of the early Church that they could not have been imagined.  There was no thought or concern about civil rights, climate change, the energy crisis, internet technology, instant world-wide communication, a world-wide economic system, human genome and brain mapping, or standardized tests.  These issues were beyond human dreams and visions.

Among all that is new today is the fact that we are members of a worldwide community.  We are no longer simply members of a local community, or of a clearly defined and identifiable religious community.  We go through life moving from one community to another, always building new relationships and always saying good-by to communities left behind.  Many religious people also move from one church community to another; and there is far less denominational loyalty today than in years past. 

What this means for us is that God’s new Jerusalem, at least for now and for the foreseeable future, is to come to terms with what it means to be a worldwide community, multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-religious -- an interdependence that is global.  The days of nationalism and isolationism are past.  The real question is how are we to understand what it means to live with relatively new relationships.  How are we to understand one another’s language, customs, traditions, worldviews? 

What this suggests to me, especially in the light of our reading from the Book of Revelation, is that we should be open and hospitable to those whom we do not know.  “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”  The “spring of the water of life” belongs to everyone.  We are all thirsty and we all are in need of this water.  Pour a glass of water for the stranger you meet and that stranger will become your friend.

The theme of redemption is reflected in Jesus’ statement to his disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  This passage is part of the last discourse of Jesus.  Jesus’ death, resurrection, and glorification by God are held together as one event.  God is glorified in Christ.  It is an event of redemption for the whole world; a new covenant is about to be sealed.  Jesus told the disciples the new covenant, which implies commandment, is not unlike the old covenant.   What is new is the fact that Jesus’ love was unconditional and ultimate.  He was led to endure death in order for his followers and all of us to have eternal life.  The disciples’ love must be no less.

Our love for others must be no less.  It is a love that embraces compassionate care, peace and justice, romantic love of partners in intimate relationships, the love of Jesus caring for all sorts and conditions of people.  Jesus forgave them, healed them and brought them to new life. 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Where I am going you cannot come.”  Death is real.  It is not just physical dying but it is death to everything that stands in the way of love and life for everyone.  No one is to be denied water from the spring of the water of life.  The death we are to witness is a death to the status-quo, to the accepted ways of doing business and of taking life for granted.  Death must happen in order for new life to spring forth from the water of life.  Privilege must die so equality can live.  Greed must die so people can work and share the resources of life.  Prejudice and bigotry must die so pluralism, understanding, and mutual respect can live.  Violence and terror must die so love can live.  Self-righteous nationalism must die so a new world order can be born.

As we prayed in the Collect for today, “Almighty God,… grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life.”   May all that we do in our ministry as Christians serve to make all things new by working for reconciliation and unity with God and everyone we meet.  Amen.

The Good Shepherd and Climate Change

The past several days have been a sad time for Boston, West Texas, and for all of us.  The horrendous evil act of the two explosions at the Boston Marathon, the explosion and fire at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas, and the failure of our U.S. Senate to enact even the most modest gun safety regulation combine as a travesty of justice and an affront to respect and dignity for human life.  We value a free and open society, but with events like these, what are we to do?

In times of grief and loss people of faith often turn to the psalms.  We read one of those psalms today: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want…. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The 23^rd Psalm is one that almost everyone knows.  It is read at funerals and it is used every year on this Fourth Sunday of the Easter season.  We refer to Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and the Bible often uses the imagery of shepherd and sheep.  It is a very common image.

In the wake of last week’s tragedies with the deaths of three people at the Boston marathon, several more in Texas, and many others with horrendous injuries, we pray to the Good Shepherd to care for everyone who has lost arms or legs, hearing, or sustained internal injuries.  We remember their families, all the runners in the Boston marathon, the city and everyone shaken by this evil deed.  It was a tragic and a malicious act.  We also grieve with the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. One of the media reports stated, “The blast shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and leveled homes, apartments, a school and a nursing home.”

We need to remember that the Shepherd cares for his sheep.  If the sheep are lost he searches them out and brings them back.  The Good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  Jesus’ disciples were commissioned to feed and tend the sheep.  All baptized Christians are called to follow Christ, who is the Shepherd, and to care for one another.

In the current issue of the Christian Century magazine, Robert Rimbo, the Lutheran Bishop of Metropolitan New York, writes about the Shepherd.  He asks, “What is the main characteristic of the Good Shepherd?  Care.  Thank God, he cares.  He could have left us to ourselves, but he took on our flesh, grew in it, faced temptation in it and died in the most extraordinary act of love in human history – not only for sheep like us who behaved, but for each solitary one who wandered (and wanders) off.  He doesn’t beat that wanderer with his crosier.  He lays him or her on his shoulder, brings the person home and throws a party.”

As I read and reflect on the 23^rd Psalm the image of the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep and cares for them, continues: “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”  This verse is an invitation to think of our spring season and the exquisite sight of blossoms and flowers, and clear flowing water in our streams and rivers. It is in stark contrast to the tragedy of the moment, and it serves to give us hope in the midst of suffering and loss.

Alongside all of this, there is another event that commands our attention and action.  Tomorrow marks the 43^rd anniversary of Earth Day, a day founded on April 22^nd in 1970.  It was the beginning of the environmental movement.  This year the theme for Earth Day is “The Face of Climate Change.”  For many people, climate change is little more than a vague and remote reality, a problem far into the future that our grandchildren may have to solve.  It is too easy to think of a lazy Spring or summer day and enjoy all the surrounding beauty.  We can easily be swayed into thinking that climate change is some far-off reality that we don’t need to think about.  We feel removed from its accumulating effects.  

However, changes in our climate have a very real impact on people, animals, ecosystems and natural resources.  We are interdependent beings and these things are all necessary.  When it comes to climate change all one has to do is look at the rapidly melting icebergs in the northern Arctic region, or observe the erosion of our beaches along the Atlantic seacoast.

Forty three years ago 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums around the country to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive rallies.  Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment.  Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.  The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

The struggle for a clean environment of energy sources, fresh air, clean water, safe produce, and fish and livestock that are free of chemical or genetic modification, continues with increasing urgency.  The damage of climate change is becoming more observable almost daily.  The observance of Earth Day has led to remarkable development in our knowledge and understanding of the consequences we face if we do not take care of our environment and natural resources.  It has led to more action to protect our planet’s land, water, air, wildlife, and us as human beings.

In today’s gospel the Good Shepherd says, “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”  We follow the Good Shepherd by caring for all who have lost friends and relatives in the events of the past week; and we care for all of creation just as God cares for us.  As we shall say in our Eucharistic Prayer this morning, “At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.”  It is up to us to care for God’s creation, to rebuild our nation of peace, justice and grace, and to support everyone who works to bring about positive change.  Amen.

Gifts of New Life

 When we stop and take time to reflect on what is made new in life I think that most of us focus on something new that we might own or possess.  Perhaps it’s a new car, or a new job, or a new houses, or a new smart phone or computer.  But do we ever think of ourselves being made new, or our relationships or our communities or church being made new?

Being new is about transformation.  It is a more radical change into a new way of living; a way that is more compassionate, more just, and more loving.  It is the Easter newness that our scripture readings are focused on today.  It is transformation from an ordinary way of life that serves to support the status-quo into a new reality of love and joy.  The theme of a new reality, a new way of being unifies our Scripture readings.

In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we learn about Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and how he was changed, transformed from being a persecutor of the earliest Christians into being an ambassador for Christ and a witness to the Gentiles.

“As he was going along and approaching Damascus, he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

When he arrived in the city, “Ananias went and entered the house.  He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately… his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.  For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’"

Another transformative experience is related in the Gospel of John.  Jesus who was not expected, miraculously appeared to the disciples.  When he appeared the disciples did not recognize him.  Peter, not knowing who it was, announced that he was going fishing and several of the disciples decided to go with him. “They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

Then, “Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.”

Jesus then appeared on the shore by a charcoal fire.  He took bread and gave it to them and also took some of the freshly cooked fish and gave it to them.  When he did this the disciples recognized him.  A new thing happened; it was a transformative experience.

The 30^th Psalm is an offering, a hymn of praise to the Lord for transforming one who was mourning into a sense of joy and exaltation:  “I will exalt you, O LORD,
because you have lifted me up… I cried out to you, and you restored me to health. You have turned my wailing into dancing… my heart sings to you without ceasing; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

Transforming a sense of loss and grief into a new day of dancing and joy is a major change from the depths of agony to the heights of ecstasy.

Finally, in the Revelation to John there is a vision of all creatures being gathered around the heavenly throne of God.  They are singing a glorious song of praise and blessing:  “I heard the voice of many angels singing with full voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, ‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’”

The Lamb that was slaughtered is a clear reference to Christ who was crucified.  Now, seated on the throne of God blessing, honor, glory and power are his because of the Resurrection to new life.  What an amazing transformation.

Our lives are very much like the passages of scripture we have heard today.  We are constantly moving from times of hurt and sadness into moments of joy and happiness.  I can only think of all the people we know and have known who live with life’s more challenging moments: sickness, unemployment, the death of a loved one.  Then there are moments of real joy: a new relationship, restored health, a family wedding, or the birth of a baby.  How often do we move from an experience of sorrow or weakness to a new day of strength, happiness and joy.  We all have these experiences, and we all know people in every stage of life’s journey.

The point of all this is that our faith brings us to an awareness of things we cannot fully understand or comprehend.  We have our history, our stories of those who have gone before us, and our own stories.  They all point to God who is the giver of life and the author of that Peace which passes all understanding.  It is the new life that we find among us, the new life of compassion, justice, and love that goes beyond death and the grave. 

This coming Saturday our vestry will be on a retreat to look at the life we share together as All Saints’ Memorial Church.  We shall take to heart what the Prayer Book says about the mission of the Church.  It is our mission “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”  In our work and ministry toward this end we shall endeavor to build on the Easter stories of new life for our Church and our community.

‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’”  Amen.

A Way that Transforms

Easter, in the minds of most people, is celebrated as a single day of joy and celebration.  Springtime is here and new life is emerging all around us.  Following a long, dark winter it is time for a celebration.  I think that many people fail to realize that Easter is an entire season.  It lasts for 50 days, from the Day of Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning until the Feast of Pentecost when the Church commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Each Sunday during these seven weeks is a Sunday of Easter.

Our scripture readings this morning reflect a time of amazement and disbelief about the Easter resurrection.  After all, when something so fantastic and unimaginable happens it is natural to question and be skeptical about what we are told.  The passages from the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation are about this skepticism and the enduring power of God.  They are about the power of death and how the gifts of healing and forgiveness defy death and show us an alternative view of life.

In the Gospel of John we heard, “Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’”

Thomas, known as the Twin, just could not believe what he was told.  The other disciples who had seen Jesus said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”  How amazing is that?  Jesus who had been killed by execution on a cross, came and stood among his disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Thomas was expected to believe what his friends told him.  But he was skeptical and replied, “Unless I see for myself, I will not believe.”  So, when the disciples gathered a week later and Jesus appeared among them, Thomas, upon seeing his hands and his side, he exclaimed, “my Lord and my God.”  His was an amazing affirmation of faith.  Because of the testimony of the women who saw the empty tomb, and the disciples who recognized the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread, and Thomas who saw Jesus and came to believe, the faith of all Christians who have followed in all the generations since then, have affirmed the testimony of the first believers.

John then tells all of us, who have not seen Jesus after he rose from the grave, that the whole purpose in writing his gospel is to help us “come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing …  have life in his name.”

Then, in the very last book of the Bible, the Book of the Revelation to John, we are told, “’I am Alpha and Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

We should know that at the time of writing the Book of the Revelation there was a considerable amount of hatred and persecution of the early Christians.  The believers who lived in the first few generations following Jesus’ death were often victims of hostility and violence.  Many were persecuted.  John wrote his Revelation to show that even in the midst of all this anxiety and uncertainty, “Jesus Christ is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.”  He says of the Lord, “I am Alpha and Omega,…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  From the beginning to the end God reigns over all of human history.  He is the Lord of all.

The Biblical scholar, Walter Brueggemann, has stated, “It is the power of death… that evokes greed and rage and violence toward others. These texts tell an alternative account of the world, where gifts of healing and forgiveness defy death. The church keeps these texts so that we now, in our [present-day] culture of [fear and] despair, may be recruited for a more excellent way. The Easter Lord… invites an Easter people to be about that defiant civil disobedience of new life in a weary, spent world….”

“The fullness of God’s good rule from A to Z (alpha to omega)” is the theme of Revelation.  God’s enduring power to bring new life into our human existence of doubt and ambiguity where there is so much hostility and death is a powerful image.  The old order is being upset and a new order is upon us.  It is a life of forgiveness, transformation, and compassion.  Accordiing to Walter Brueggemann, “Easter is not rumination on an odd miracle.  It is rather the mounting of a new practical way in the world, a way that dazzles and threatens and ultimately transforms.”  May we all live into this transformative reality in celebrating Christ’s resurrection during this Easter season and throughout the rest of our lives.  Amen.

Rejoice and Sing

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This is a day to rejoice and sing.  Christ is risen!

It is the most amazing event of all time.  In the churches that celebrate the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, the Exsultet is often sung: 

“Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels, and

               let your trumpets shout Salvation for the victory of our

              mighty King.

Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth, bright with

               glorious splendor, for darkness has been vanquished by

               our eternal King.

Rejoice and be glad now,… and let your holy courts, in

               radiant light, resound with praises of your people.”

Rejoice and sing for Christ is risen.  Jesus died a cruel death by crucifixion.  He was buried in a tomb, and then, as the Gospel of Luke recounts what happened:  “On the first day of the week the women found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven.  Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.  But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.”  It is time to rejoice and sing.

The women were obviously perplexed and terrified by what they had witnessed: an empty tomb.  Who wouldn’t be?   They returned to tell the eleven disciples what they had observed.  "He is not here but has risen!"

Luke reminds us that while Jesus was still in Galilee, and before he entered the city of Jerusalem, he told the disciples that he would be killed and on the third day he would rise again.  He also spoke about his ministry: The Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he was anointed “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

When the women returned from the tomb with word that the stone had been rolled away, one would think the disciples would believe them.  Instead the news seemed to be, as Luke states, “an idle tale, and they did not believe.”

Was this news just too scary, terrifying, and amazing?  Were the disciples in a state of shock when they heard what the women had to tell them?  How were they to make sense out of what they were hearing?  They reacted, as almost anyone would, in disbelief. 

The resurrection is an amazing and mysterious event.  It is hard for us to understand because it defies logical reasoning.  It cannot be seen or touched, and it is not something that can be scientifically proven.  Yet it forms the very bedrock of our Christian faith.  Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.  Let us rejoice and sing.

Throughout human history God was and is faithful to his people, and in spite of all that happened as a result of idolatry, violence, neglect, and apathy, God in and through the resurrection of Christ has defeated death forever.  The disciples reacted in disbelief.  If we are honest we do not understand it either.  The resurrection is something that had never occurred before.  It happened only once; it is unique and beyond the realm of our human experience, and it is at the core of what it means to be a Christian.  It is the reality of new life overcoming death and the grave.

Our Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, writes in her Easter message, “Rejoice, rejoice and sing, rejoice and be glad… for earth and heaven are joined and humanity is reconciled to God!

“As the Lenten season ends in Easter rejoicing, … There is a deep hunger in our collective psyche to re-orient our lives toward life and light, healing and peace.  We share a holy hunger for clarity about what is good and life-giving, and we yearn to re-focus on what is most central and important….

“Easter celebrates the victory of light and life over darkness and death…. We are released from the bonds of self-obsession, addiction, and whatever would steal away the radical freedom of God-with-us.  Our lives re-center in what is most holy and creative, the new thing God is continually doing in our midst….

“ Christ is risen, death is vanquished, humanity is restored to holy and creative relationship with God’s ongoing and eternal liveliness.” 

Good friends, the liveliness we see all around us is much more than the birth of Spring with flowers and plants about to bloom, the grass turning green and leaves bursting forth on the trees.  The liveliness we see is our participation in the fullness of God.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever the hungry are fed, the oppressed are liberated, the sick are healed, and the bereaved are comforted.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever war is ended, peace and justice are restored, and natural resources are protected.  The liveliness we see is whenever and wherever people care for others more than they care for themselves, where diversity is honored, religious difference is respected, and the dignity of every human being is affirmed.

Our amazement has to do with what the disciples were sent to achieve.  They were sent to carry on God’s work of salvation for all people.  You and I are now sent to continue this work of compassion and hope for everyone.

Alleluia.  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Rejoice and sing. Alleluia!  Amen.