Easter 4 C + Not just in heaven + 5.8.22

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(Acts 9:36–43; Ps. 23; Revelation 7:9–17; St John 10:22–30)

“Not [just] in heaven when I die, it’s the Kingdom of God coming to earth.” Joy J. Moore said this this week (in the Sermon Brainwave podcast) and it spoke to me.

It spoke to me, it really did. Because this has been a week.

Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers here and I honor you, you who are not mothers but nurture in your own ways and/or whose call it is to express differently in this world.

This has been a hard week for some of us mothers, and for some women in general. I want to acknowledge that many mothers had a good week. But no matter where you stand on the issue of whether a pregnancy should be terminated, the fact remains that a healthcare decision that was an option for women for fifty years is potentially being taken away in different parts of the country. For some women this is a victory, but for others it makes them feel unsafe in their own country, as if their bodies are not their own.

It may help you, as it helped me, to remember that one of the books we read from, the Book of Revelation, was written as a manual of resistance. It was written to seven churches trying to resist the Roman Empire’s reach into their lives and hearts. Doesn’t that resonate with some of us today? How can we resist empire? And remember that if we feel at odds with the world, even parts of the world that claim to be Christian at times, we are not alone. We have myriads alongside us, supporting us, praising Jesus and showing that another world is possible. Or, as a song I know by late artist Fran McKendree goes, “another world is not only possible, it is on the way.”

In the collect from the Eucharist at Clergy Conference this week, the Reverend Kay Sylvester wrote:

Gather up our broken threads,
Weaver of Love.
Run through the pattern of our lives
the bright thread of your Spirit,
and remake us in your beautiful image.
Transform our loss and pain,
our despair and our uncertainty
into resilience and compassion,
so that we may follow the Risen Christ
in loving the world with your love.
We pray because of the one
who bears the scars of living.
Amen.

We pray because of that Jesus who bears the scars of living and knows that no one comes through this world without a scratch. We also pray because of beautiful Tabitha, who gave and gave of herself and was brought back to life because her community still needed her, and miraculously it happened. I love this story. The people of Joppa come to Peter, and here this person who has made tunics and other things for the saints has suddenly perished. What gave them hope that she could be revived? Perhaps they sent for Peter just to say prayers, but he saw God had something else in mind. Unfortunately, we may recall times when we still need someone but they are still gone. And that makes this passage hard to hear. But God used this miracle to affirm the faith of the saints.

And God is good! Because even then, even when we feel all alone because our helpers, our Tabithas, have gone, we are never far from our Good Shepherd. Jesus is right there with you and won’t let you go.

Singer-songwriter Marsha Stevens-Pino has a beautiful song called “For Those Tears I Died.” And in the song, she shares how she came to faith. She grew up in an abusive household and she shed so many tears. And when she got to know Jesus, she asked him where he was in those times of tears.
And he said:

I felt every teardrop
When in darkness you cried
And I strive to remind you
For those tears I died.

She goes on:

Your goodness so great, I can’t understand
And dear Lord I know that this was all planned
I know you’re here now, and always will be
Your love loosed my chains and in you I’m free
But Jesus why me?

Jesus, why me? We might all ask this. Why is this happening, or why did you choose me to follow you? Only the Shepherd knows. But listen carefully and faithfully in your heart, and you will know the one that makes you to lay down in green pastures will carry you through this and every dark valley. Stay strong, children of God. Resist the empire, and resist the world which will tempt you to despair.

Remember these words of Jesus, as sung by Marsha Stevens-Pino:

And Jesus said come to the water
Stand by my side
I know you are thirsty
You won’t be denied
I felt every teardrop
When in darkness you cried
And I strove to remind you
That for those tears I died.

God is with you. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has not left. We are here to be a witness to the world that the word Christian can mean love and respect for women, even as it means love and respect for life. Just as it means love and respect for all people regardless of gender expression, their heart’s partner, ethnic background or creed. We are of the Good Shepherd. We are of the resistance, and of fierce love. The bright thread of God’s spirit runs through us, enlivening us with hope for another, a new day. Not just in heaven when I die, but here on earth, the Kingdom of God. In hearts, in minds, in bodies and lives. Everything made new, everything filled with promise. Another world is not only possible, it is on the way.

Amen.