Easter 3
April 26, 2009
I can remember clearly my first visit to St. Aidan's in the summer of 2006. I have my notes from my first impression.
"I visited St. Aidan’s today, August 27, 2006. The website told me the service began at 10:00, but when I arrived there were three people there including the organist. One of the ladies told me that they had not gotten around to changing the website. But during that early time, I learned several things: that the people in this church are very friendly, one of the parishioners makes the bread for Eucharist, and that Vestry members are chosen by the Rector pulling names out of a hat. …I was told that this works well for them. One person also told me that this was the most "unpretentious church" she had ever attended.
The interior of the church is all rough-hewn cedar. There is a plain cross at the front of the church and clear windows at the top of the walls that let in light. There is an altar table and a lectern. Blue painters tape marks the spot for the altar rail. The Rector entered the church and personally greeted several of the parishioners as he made his way to the lectern to set up his notes. When the organist played the Introit the young acolyte entered and lit all the candles on the altar. There was a procession with a Crucifer and the acolyte. One of the parishioners asked if I sang and when I told her yes, she told me about the tradition of singing the melody line on the 1st and last lines and then harmony in between. … The choir is still on summer break. The singing was plentiful and exuberant. The congregation participates through the offering of Prayers of the People and the serving as chalicists at the Eucharist.
The sermon was about the Bob Dylan concert and a man who danced with a daisy extended into the air. …(The rector) has a very kind and open demeanor." I made mention of the vegetable garden outback where parishioners have a plot where they can grow vegetables for themselves and for the community. I was even offered some produce from the garden. On our next visit, I brought my husband, Sey. We were warmly greeted and one member escorted us to the coffee hour where he proceeded to buy us Jonathan Bryan's book Nonetheless, God Retrieves Us: What a Yellow Lab Taught Me About Retrieval Spirituality.
Some things have changed since my first visit. The website has definitely been updated. The blue painters tape has been replaced with beautiful altar rails that provide places for pious observance and good places to stand up tall and reach up for the Eucharist meal. But the church is still made of cedar, light still streams through the windows as the seasonal sun changes, and the people are still gracious and welcoming. And yes, John continues to share his "very kind and open demeanor."
This seems like just yesterday and yet a long time ago. I feel like I have been a part of this community for a long enough period of time where I feel a part of this place. I love coming into the building early before many people arrive, soaking in the light entering the windows. The smell of the place is inviting. And then one by one, the familiar and the new enter. They each seem eager to experience whatever character the worship will take. Some of the children run in, stopping with a screech to gather their "attention collectors" that are lovingly organized every Sunday just for them. Sometimes, it is apparent that the people gathering are tired or are carrying burdens. But they are here. They will sing and pray as they can and they look to the community to give them strength and nourishment for their journey.
Some of you actively greet each other and look for those who are new to welcome. Some of you quietly do the work of the community, preparing meals, setting the table for worship, fixing broken toilets, organizing the chairs in the nave, carrying bags of food and clothing to United Community Ministries and Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church, and many other ministries. Some of you seem to be everywhere at once, teaching our children and young people, organizing community service projects, planning church events. Even the youngest of our members actively participate in the life of the church by lighting candles before worship, leading us in to start the service with the cross, passing out instruments that can add rhythm to the 8:30 worship, and showing us sheer joy as we gather at the table. No one's heart can remain unmoved when we see our children dancing with joy and eagerly reaching out their round little hands to receive the bread of life when we gather at the altar.
I personally have been embraced by this loving and enthusiastic community. The kiss of peace is liberally offered. My learning has been graciously supported and I have found a place where I can worship, be surprised regularly by joy, and see the mission of Jesus Christ being worked out in many ways.
Into this community steps the risen Christ. When we react with surprise--for grace and love are always a surprise--he says "Peace be with you."--"It is I, I live and I am always with you. When we back away he offers us his hands and his feet as proof that he is fully present. He invites us to reach for him, touch him. See that he is flesh and bones. That he shares our humanity.
Jesus offers us a full-bodied faith. This is not just an intellectual or spiritual encounter with the risen Lord. It is fully physical. Touch is critical to life. Jesus never shrinks from touching all those who reach out for him. Jesus offers his embodied love to his disciples to show them that his promise, God's promises have been fulfilled.
He asks for food. He has fed thousands and continues to fill us when we hunger. He helps open our minds to the scripture. When we gather on Sundays or on Mondays, read the words of Scripture, reflect on the words through the lens of life, and pray that our minds and our hearts will be opened, Jesus comes to us again. And then we hear the words of this Gospel reading, "You are witnesses of these things." This word witness in Greek is the word for martyrs. In our historical context we think of martyrs as those who die for a cause. But in this text it means, "finding a cause that is worth giving our life for--giving our life to. As witnesses we have been convicted, we have seen and known something that is worth giving our full selves over to. This word includes, but goes beyond being an "eyewitness." As in this story found in the Gospel according to Luke, we, as disciples of Jesus Christ are called to be "ministers of the word." We are to be a loving community to each other, and then we are to go into the world, to proclaim the good news to the poor, release to the captives, forgiveness of sin through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ, and the coming of the kingdom of God. This ministry that began in Jerusalem is to be spread throughout the world. We are all called to be witnesses.
We are witnesses. We are called to share the story. We are called to give our lives to, to live our lives fully alive in the presence of God. We are invited to participate in this full-bodied faith. Reading, and praying, and reflecting is good. Knowing the teaching of Christ and living an ethical life is good. But it is not enough. We are invited to partake fully--to be witnesses. We are invited to touch and be touched, to make eye contact and receive a response; we are invited to enter into relationship with others in the name of Christ. As witnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus, our main concern is not to ask "How? But to ask, what does this mean for me? How am I to respond? The believer, who affirms that the Lord is risen, should consider next what it is that the Lord has sent him or her to do. The uniqueness of the Easter message is that it invariably changes the lives of those who find themselves touched by it.
The preaching of the Gospel does not rest on proof of the resurrection, but on the experiences, the eyewitness, of the men and women. The stories of the women who went to the tomb, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and these disciples who were in a room in Jerusalem--ultimately it is their story. But we can be assured that something changed the disciples and sustained them through the trials they experienced. Something changed Peter from the one who denied Jesus and slunk away to hide out while Jesus was crucified --to the one we find in our reading in Acts today. By Acts, Luke shows that Peter is truly transformed. Gone is the paralyzing fear and doubt; Peter himself testifies, "by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health." (Acts 3:16). Peter's faith is no longer a private matter, but a public obligation, compelling him to act for the sake of the Gospel. He has claimed his discipleship, he is healing in the name of Jesus, and he is standing firmly in the temple challenging the church leaders who condemned Jesus to death. He and the other disciples carry the message of Jesus' death and resurrection to the world. Their experience and their story form the foundation of our faith.
This is what our world needs--from the first century to the 21st. Jim Wallis, founder and editor of the Sojourners magazine and community, once put it this way “The greatest need in our time is not simply for kerygma, the preaching of the gospel; nor for diakonia, service on behalf of justice; nor for charisma, the experience of the Spirit’s gifts; no even for propheteia, the challenging of the king. The greatest need for our time is koinonia, the call simply to be the church, to love one another, and to offer our lives for the sake of the world. The creation of living, breathing, loving communities of faith at the local church level is the foundation of all other answers.”
I have been privileged to hear the stories of this community of God. I have been inspired by your works of ministry. I have learned the history of this place—how it was formed around a passion for social justice. I have heard the stories of how people are fed here—we are welcomed as we are, we can take off the chains of expectation, we feel at home and loved, we are needed; our children are loved and embraced.
The world is hungry for this good news. I invite you to share it. The way we great each other in this place, the way we listen to each other's needs in this place, the way we affirm each other's journey in this place--this is the way we can be witnesses in the world. Invite someone who is discouraged. Invite someone who is alone. Invite someone who feels defeated. Bring them here. Welcome them in. Tell them the stories. Share with them the good news. We are witnesses to the resurrection. Our God lives. Preach it with your words and with your lives. We are witnesses of these things.
Janet Zimmerman