April 18, 2010
The Rev. Dn. Gay Blundell
Easter Hope
Well, Easter Day, 2010 is now past. Two weeks ago the church was full, the choir sounded wonderful, and the burnished brass quartet darn near raised he roof and literally had us dancing in the aisles at the end. JOY was definitely the operative word.
But it is very important that we remember that what we experienced on Easter Sunday, or even what we are experiencing today is not in any way like that first Easter Day or even the weeks and months that followed the crucifixion. JOY was not what people felt.
The people who loved and followed Jesus knew only deep grief and complete disorientation. For the moment, they had lost HOPE. AND WITHOUT HOPE, THERE CAN NEVER BE REAL JOY. When a person loses hope, even momentarily, they are for that moment unable to anticipate or expect or experience deep joy. Persons who are clinically depressed or suffering significant loss, or caught up in hatred, anxiety over the future, are always at risk of losing their ability to anticipate things getting better. They lose HOPE, and until hope is restored, they are unable to experience the Joy of the Lord.
Recently, a well-known preacher was asked what he thought should be the focus for all sermons preached during the 40 days of the Season of Easter, and he said simply: "Preach HOPE, preach Easter hope." And, Easter hope is different from Easter joy.
I think that to begin to grasp the concept of Easter Hope, we need to go all the way back to the beginning: God created out of swirling chaos. God doing something NEW, never done before, doing something completely incomprehensible. Whenever God does anything, it is ALWAYS brand new. have you ever seen two identical sunsets in your whole life??? Of course not. God's actions are always inexplicitly unique, and unexplainable, never the same twice.
As an example, think of the wine of the Communion cup we are about to receive. The wine that the Deacon pours into the chalice is ordinary wine. But during the prayer of consecration, the priest hold her or his hands over this chalice and prays for the Holy Spirit to come and sanctify, or CHANGE this ordinary wine into something capabe of empowering each of us who receive it, to be changed, to be healed, to be strengthened for the journey that lies ahead.
Remember God's "NEW" is never the same old, same old. The Communion bread and wine may look the same and taste the same week after week, but they are not the same because we are not the same. Our needs, just like the sunsets, are NEVER exactly the same, so consequently, the Spirit enlivened Eucharist is always new, changed to meet our true needs, as we come forward each week.
It doesn't matter how the priest or bishop speaks these words of institution and blessing, whether they race through it or, whether they personally are deeply caught up in this action. What matters is that GOD in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS PRESENT AND IS ACTING.
When the congregation sees the celebrant's hands move and hover over the ordinary bread and wine, it is our call to also be praying for this transforming newness of God to be infused into the ordinary and, TO PRAY for our own ability to receive with EASTER HOPE AND ANTICIPATION what we NEED from God, and not just what WE WANT from God.
When you and I begin to have Easter Hope that these words of institution are more than mere words, THEN, as we move forward to receive our commision we begin to dare to believe with Easter Hope that the bread and wine we are about to receive in God's unique and NEW spiritual food, food for our journey. And none of us knows fullly what strengthening and what healing we will need to travel this coming week's journey...only God knows.
I sometimes think that from God's perspective, this Eucharistic feeding is not unlike trying to feed pureed spinach to two-year olds, because the kids need it to be healthy. But since we are adults, God knows to put what we need in red wine, and not into spinach.
Jesus began immediately after the resurrection to train his disciples and friends to anticipate their NEW LIFE apart from his physical presence, train them to not cling to the past, but rather to begin even in their grief and confusion to enter into something entirely NEW, unknown.
Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to hold on to him. When he met the two on the road to Emmaus and had a meal with them, as soon as they were about to recognize him, he disappeared from them. In fact disappearing seemed to happen frequently. Jesus gave them just enough of his presence to keep them from losing heart totally, and then he would disappear again. He had to wean them off of his earthly presence in order for Easter Hope to be born in them. And without Easter hope, God's NEW could not take place in them and through them.
In today's gospel we see the beginning of Easter Hope emerging for the seven who went back to fishing, but caught nothing. Then Jesus with a single direction, that made no fishing sense at all, enabled them to catch more than their nets could hold. But Jesus wasn't through. He made them a breakfast of fish and bread ... that should sound familiar, except this time the feeding wasn't for 5000, but just for them. And this feeding was no less remarkable.
Then Jesus gently restored broken Peter ... Peter who thought his denial was so humiliatingly final, Peter is given new life ... and Easter Hope.
I conclude with three contemporary examples of Easter Hope that happened in the midst of fear, despair and loss.
FEAR: I know that so many of you have been praying for our family, and we are all so grateful. The 15-year old who was so badly injured in the car crash that killed his father needed to be helicoptered to the hospital, which involved being put in a wire basket and raised by a cable up to the hovering helicopter. He later said, "I was so scared, but I was afraid to tell anyone. But as I was being lifted up, all of a sudden I knew my Dad was with me, and I was no longer afraid."
DESPAIR: We all remember 9/11. I was the Deacon at St. Luke's Church, and we had a good-sized Sunday School for young children. The teacher was concerned about the class discussion and focus the following Sunday. Four days after the horror of the twin towers collapsing there were already estimates of the thousands of lives that had been lost. So the teacher went out and bought sacks of dried bean, counted out beans to match the current estimates of the dead and still missing, and then put the beans in a large basket. Then, she carried the basket outside with the children, and she tossed the beans all over the grassy lawns at St. Luke's. Then she gave each child a sack, and told them to start finding and collecting all the beans they could find. They found lots of beans, but when they re-counted them,they found they had failed to find at least a third of the lost beans.
Here was the point the teacher made: "We looked and looked trying to find all the lost beans and we could not find them all. BUT, GOD NEVER LOSES ANYONE! Never."
Eight months later at St. Luke's, it was Easter Sunday. And as people arrived they noticed that all the lawn areas had tall green shoots poking up through the grass. Bean shoots. Beans that HAD NOT BEEN LOST, BUT HAD BEEN RAISED TO NEW LIFE! And, Easter hope replaced fear and despair in Sunday School.
LOSS: This past Friday,I served at the funeral of a friend. After the homily, my friend's four-year old granddaughter, wanted to say something. She toddled up the steps and stood behind the large lectern. Of course no one could see her and she was about five feet below the microphone. She stood facing into the wood of the lectern and said quietly, "I love you so much Grandma. And I really miss you. But I know you can hear me, and I will always love you." And then she walked down to her seat with the family.
At first I felt badly that I had not gone over and picked her up so she could be heard over the sound system. But the more I thought about it, the more I was glad I hadn't, because she hadn' been addressing the congregation. She was talking to Grandma. She was still young enough to have instinctive Easter Hope. She knew Grandma wasn't with her, but she also KNEW THAT Grandma was alive someplace else...someplace with God.
My prayer for you, for me, for Christians everywhere, is that the bumps in the road of life will not be allowed to scrape away the Easter Hope of children, or the Easter hope that gave Jesus' companions New life. Amen
The Rev. Dn. Gay Blundell
Easter Hope
Well, Easter Day, 2010 is now past. Two weeks ago the church was full, the choir sounded wonderful, and the burnished brass quartet darn near raised he roof and literally had us dancing in the aisles at the end. JOY was definitely the operative word.
But it is very important that we remember that what we experienced on Easter Sunday, or even what we are experiencing today is not in any way like that first Easter Day or even the weeks and months that followed the crucifixion. JOY was not what people felt.
The people who loved and followed Jesus knew only deep grief and complete disorientation. For the moment, they had lost HOPE. AND WITHOUT HOPE, THERE CAN NEVER BE REAL JOY. When a person loses hope, even momentarily, they are for that moment unable to anticipate or expect or experience deep joy. Persons who are clinically depressed or suffering significant loss, or caught up in hatred, anxiety over the future, are always at risk of losing their ability to anticipate things getting better. They lose HOPE, and until hope is restored, they are unable to experience the Joy of the Lord.
Recently, a well-known preacher was asked what he thought should be the focus for all sermons preached during the 40 days of the Season of Easter, and he said simply: "Preach HOPE, preach Easter hope." And, Easter hope is different from Easter joy.
I think that to begin to grasp the concept of Easter Hope, we need to go all the way back to the beginning: God created out of swirling chaos. God doing something NEW, never done before, doing something completely incomprehensible. Whenever God does anything, it is ALWAYS brand new. have you ever seen two identical sunsets in your whole life??? Of course not. God's actions are always inexplicitly unique, and unexplainable, never the same twice.
As an example, think of the wine of the Communion cup we are about to receive. The wine that the Deacon pours into the chalice is ordinary wine. But during the prayer of consecration, the priest hold her or his hands over this chalice and prays for the Holy Spirit to come and sanctify, or CHANGE this ordinary wine into something capabe of empowering each of us who receive it, to be changed, to be healed, to be strengthened for the journey that lies ahead.
Remember God's "NEW" is never the same old, same old. The Communion bread and wine may look the same and taste the same week after week, but they are not the same because we are not the same. Our needs, just like the sunsets, are NEVER exactly the same, so consequently, the Spirit enlivened Eucharist is always new, changed to meet our true needs, as we come forward each week.
It doesn't matter how the priest or bishop speaks these words of institution and blessing, whether they race through it or, whether they personally are deeply caught up in this action. What matters is that GOD in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS PRESENT AND IS ACTING.
When the congregation sees the celebrant's hands move and hover over the ordinary bread and wine, it is our call to also be praying for this transforming newness of God to be infused into the ordinary and, TO PRAY for our own ability to receive with EASTER HOPE AND ANTICIPATION what we NEED from God, and not just what WE WANT from God.
When you and I begin to have Easter Hope that these words of institution are more than mere words, THEN, as we move forward to receive our commision we begin to dare to believe with Easter Hope that the bread and wine we are about to receive in God's unique and NEW spiritual food, food for our journey. And none of us knows fullly what strengthening and what healing we will need to travel this coming week's journey...only God knows.
I sometimes think that from God's perspective, this Eucharistic feeding is not unlike trying to feed pureed spinach to two-year olds, because the kids need it to be healthy. But since we are adults, God knows to put what we need in red wine, and not into spinach.
Jesus began immediately after the resurrection to train his disciples and friends to anticipate their NEW LIFE apart from his physical presence, train them to not cling to the past, but rather to begin even in their grief and confusion to enter into something entirely NEW, unknown.
Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to hold on to him. When he met the two on the road to Emmaus and had a meal with them, as soon as they were about to recognize him, he disappeared from them. In fact disappearing seemed to happen frequently. Jesus gave them just enough of his presence to keep them from losing heart totally, and then he would disappear again. He had to wean them off of his earthly presence in order for Easter Hope to be born in them. And without Easter hope, God's NEW could not take place in them and through them.
In today's gospel we see the beginning of Easter Hope emerging for the seven who went back to fishing, but caught nothing. Then Jesus with a single direction, that made no fishing sense at all, enabled them to catch more than their nets could hold. But Jesus wasn't through. He made them a breakfast of fish and bread ... that should sound familiar, except this time the feeding wasn't for 5000, but just for them. And this feeding was no less remarkable.
Then Jesus gently restored broken Peter ... Peter who thought his denial was so humiliatingly final, Peter is given new life ... and Easter Hope.
I conclude with three contemporary examples of Easter Hope that happened in the midst of fear, despair and loss.
FEAR: I know that so many of you have been praying for our family, and we are all so grateful. The 15-year old who was so badly injured in the car crash that killed his father needed to be helicoptered to the hospital, which involved being put in a wire basket and raised by a cable up to the hovering helicopter. He later said, "I was so scared, but I was afraid to tell anyone. But as I was being lifted up, all of a sudden I knew my Dad was with me, and I was no longer afraid."
DESPAIR: We all remember 9/11. I was the Deacon at St. Luke's Church, and we had a good-sized Sunday School for young children. The teacher was concerned about the class discussion and focus the following Sunday. Four days after the horror of the twin towers collapsing there were already estimates of the thousands of lives that had been lost. So the teacher went out and bought sacks of dried bean, counted out beans to match the current estimates of the dead and still missing, and then put the beans in a large basket. Then, she carried the basket outside with the children, and she tossed the beans all over the grassy lawns at St. Luke's. Then she gave each child a sack, and told them to start finding and collecting all the beans they could find. They found lots of beans, but when they re-counted them,they found they had failed to find at least a third of the lost beans.
Here was the point the teacher made: "We looked and looked trying to find all the lost beans and we could not find them all. BUT, GOD NEVER LOSES ANYONE! Never."
Eight months later at St. Luke's, it was Easter Sunday. And as people arrived they noticed that all the lawn areas had tall green shoots poking up through the grass. Bean shoots. Beans that HAD NOT BEEN LOST, BUT HAD BEEN RAISED TO NEW LIFE! And, Easter hope replaced fear and despair in Sunday School.
LOSS: This past Friday,I served at the funeral of a friend. After the homily, my friend's four-year old granddaughter, wanted to say something. She toddled up the steps and stood behind the large lectern. Of course no one could see her and she was about five feet below the microphone. She stood facing into the wood of the lectern and said quietly, "I love you so much Grandma. And I really miss you. But I know you can hear me, and I will always love you." And then she walked down to her seat with the family.
At first I felt badly that I had not gone over and picked her up so she could be heard over the sound system. But the more I thought about it, the more I was glad I hadn't, because she hadn' been addressing the congregation. She was talking to Grandma. She was still young enough to have instinctive Easter Hope. She knew Grandma wasn't with her, but she also KNEW THAT Grandma was alive someplace else...someplace with God.
My prayer for you, for me, for Christians everywhere, is that the bumps in the road of life will not be allowed to scrape away the Easter Hope of children, or the Easter hope that gave Jesus' companions New life. Amen