A New Commandment

Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year C
Acts 11.1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21.1-6; John 13.31-35
Sunday, April 24, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

The Easter season is about how we are inheritors of new life through Christ’s resurrection. In the first part of the season, we focused on Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples and how these experiences shaped their lives and reframed their ministry in the time following Jesus’ departure. These were the ones who knew Christ’s message firsthand and who were charged with spreading the Gospel. Now, they would spread an even greater message – that something new is happening. And that new thing is nothing short of new life.

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The Voice of the Shepherd

Fourth Sunday of Easter – Year C
Acts 9.36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 9.9-17; John 10.22-30
Sunday, April 17, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

About 15 years ago, give or take, I was in a mall in Riverside a couple of weeks before Christmas. I had been so busy that I had to take a weekday off so I could do my Christmas shopping. This was before online shopping had become the favored means of commerce. I was in a women’s store looking for some things for my mother and my sister. There were obviously the store employees, as well as other shoppers in the store. As a result, there was the sounds of a number of voices. There was also the sound of Christmas music over the speakers, and a myriad of other sounds drifting in from other parts of the mall. All of this mixed together to create a sea of background noise with one single component almost indistinguishable from the rest. I was in the front corner of the store looking at some sweaters, trying to decide which ones to get for Mom and Lisa. All of a sudden, I noticed something vaguely familiar. At first it didn’t quite register, but there was something in that background noise that grabbed my attention. I whipped around in the general direction of the seemingly familiar sound. Sure enough, there in the back of the store, probably as far away as the doors of the narthex, I saw my mother talking to one of the clerks. My mother does not have a particularly loud voice. Yet, over all the other sounds and voices in the place, hers reached my ears and was recognized.

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Relationship with the Risen Christ

Third Sunday of Easter – Year C
Acts 9.1-6 (7-20); Psalm 30; Revelation 5.11-14; John 21.1-19
Sunday, April 10, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

I want you to think about your relationship with Jesus. When did he come into your life? How did he come into your life? How did he change your life?

Some people can name the exact date, time, and place when they first encountered Jesus or when they felt that he had changed their life in some substantial way. This is generally due to having a significant conversion experience resulting in them choosing to follow him in an intentional way. In some Christian movements, this is referred to as being “born again,” indicating a definite demarcation between an old way of life before Jesus, and a new life of faith in Christ. For some, this is a dramatic change.

For others, development of their relationship with Christ is far is more subtle. Sometimes it’s as if Jesus just slipped into their lives while they weren’t looking. Or maybe he was just always present, particularly for those who grew up in Christian families, where church and matters of faith were just part of normal life. There is no real defining moment separating life before knowing Christ and life in relationship with him. And there may not be a dramatic change in their lives as a result, since they have been slowly formed in the teachings of new life in Christ.

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Doubt About Belonging

Second Sunday of Easter – Year C
Acts 5.27-32; Psalm 118.14-27; Revelation 1.4-8; John 20.19-31
Sunday, April 3, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

Without a doubt, the Resurrection of Christ is the single most important event in all of history. What happened at Easter, what we heard and celebrated last week at the Great Vigil on Saturday night and at the Easter Day service last Sunday, is way too big to be encompassed in just one day or even one week. It requires more time to fully fathom the breadth and the depth of what has happened event, more time to explore and question, to comprehend the magnitude of this single event. For that reason, the Church has defined Easter as not just one day, but as a “week of weeks” spanning seven Sundays. And with each passing week, we continue to look at Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, to glimpse more and more of this great mystery. And even then, that will not be enough. For in reality, it will take a lifetime, and beyond, to fully grasp.

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Tearing Down Barriers

Easter Day
Acts 10.34-43; Psalm 118.1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15.19-26; John 20.1-18
Sunday, March 27, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

One quality of the human condition is that, for some reason, we feel a need for barriers. We humans are really good at erecting barriers. Physical barriers to mark out territory and to keep others out – or in. And ideological barriers to define our beliefs and to separate “us” from “them.” One of the great examples of such barriers was the Berlin Wall, erected in 1961. This was a physical barrier separating East and West Berlin. But it was also a tangible manifestation of the ideological barrier separating the political and economic ideals of communism from the perceived evils of democracy and capitalism.

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Path to Something New

Great Vigil of Easter
Exodus 14.10—15.1; Ezekiel 37.1-14; Romans 6:3-11; Luke 24:1-12
Saturday, March 26, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

In the past few days, we have been on one hell of a journey. We joined in shouts of “Hosanna!” as Jesus made his triumphal entry to Jerusalem. The palm-strewn road into Jerusalem then took a deadly turn, leading to the palace of Pontius Pilate, where shouts of “Hosanna” were replaced with cries of “Crucify him!” And the crowds got their way, as the road lead from Pilate’s home down the Way of Sorrows, and ultimately to Golgotha, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. And the road now dead-ends at a sealed up tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. For the last two days, we have lived in the shadow of Jesus’ death. Buried in a tomb, his presence is gone from us. Leaving only a palpable sense of emptiness. At times it has felt that maybe this is the dead end. Literally. For death has had its say.

But tonight is not about dead ends. It is about new beginnings. Tonight is about new life!

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Redeeming the Cross

Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22:1-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18.1—19.42
Friday, March 25, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

We have just heard John’s account of the Passion Narrative. The horrifying and shocking story of the last few hours of the life of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. A man who is sinless and without guilt. How this righteous, sinless man was falsely arrested, subjected to a mock trial, found guilty in a miscarriage of justice, and sentenced to execution by crucifixion. By being nailed to a cross – not just a means of death, but a cruel instrument of torture. Said to be the most painful and horrific form of execution ever devised. As we witness these events, we undoubtedly, and rightly, feel such a mixture of emotions. Negative emotions. Shock, disgust, dismay. Now, as we stand at the foot of the cross looking at the innocent man hanging there, how can we not feel a sense of sorrow? And what else? How do you personally react, what are you feeling, as you stand here, looking up at the cross? And what of the cross itself? Particularly in light of what we have just witnessed?

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A New Commandment

Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12.1-14; Psalm 116.1, 10-17; 1 Corinthians 11.23-26; John 13.1-17, 31b-35
Thursday, March 24, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

For a long time, I thought Maundy Thursday was all about the Last Supper. Perhaps it was because the church I attended during my later high school years only had one service during Holy Week. It was on Maundy Thursday and the highlight was a tableau of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. The chancel was set-up with a backdrop that looked like the background of the famous painting. Men in the congregation would dress up in costumes, wigs, and makeup, and sit around a table, posed just as the figures in the painting. During my senior year, I had the opportunity to participate. I was Andrew. During the service, my father would read a narrative about Jesus’ Last Supper. At the appropriate time, the curtain would open to reveal the tableau, while we held our poses for something like five minutes. In the dimly lit sanctuary, we really did look like the original painting.

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Reversals

Palm/Passion Sunday – Year C
Luke 19:29-40; Isaiah 50.4-9a; Psalm 31.9-16; Philippians 2.5-11; Luke 22.14—23.56
Sunday, March 20, 2016 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

In the short span from the beginning of the service until now, we have witnessed what is undoubtedly the most gut-wrenching, most disturbing, turn-around in Christian experience. We have journeyed with Jesus into his final days. In our acts of worship, we have participated in that rollercoaster experience.

We started our worship experience this morning with the celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Along with his followers, we welcomed him as King and Messiah, with shouts of “Hosanna!” and the waving of palm branches. But not everyone accepts the shouts of adulation, the acknowledgment that this man who rides into town on a colt is King of the Jews. Least of all the temple authorities and the Roman occupiers. Then began the downward spiral that would lead Jesus through a series of events not fit for any human being, especially for a king. A mock trial, being sentenced to death, and crucifixion, which was one of the most horrible means of execution ever devised. Events we collectively refer to as the Passion.

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"Good Christians"

The relief of being accepted by God as a sinner can never be known by one who never thought himself unaccepted or sinful. And yet today one is always hearing of “good Christians.” There were no good Christians in the first church, only sinners. Peter never let himself or his hearers forget his betrayal in the hour of the cockcrow. James, stung by the memory of his years of stubborn resistance, warned the church members: “Confess your faults to one another.” Today the last place where one can be candid about one’s faults is in church. In a bar, yes; in a church, no. I know; I’ve tried both places.

—Jerome Ellison, Report to the Creator

 

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