Today's Scripture Readings
Acts 9: 36-43 (NRSV)
Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, "Please come to us without delay." So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
Psalm 23 (BCP., 612)
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
- and thanksgiving and honor
- and power and might
- be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
- For this reason they are before the throne of God,
- and worship him day and night within his temple,
- and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
- They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
- the sun will not strike them,
- nor any scorching heat;
- for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
- and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
- and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one."
Blog Reflection
I think all of us wish we could just rewind this past week and forget all that happened. The terrible bombing at the Boston Marathon, the catastrophic explosion in Texas, the tragic shooting of the young security officer at MIT and the manhunt on Friday with the national media attention. This past week is one of horrific violence and images forever stuck in our minds. Runners and spectators with lost limbs and lives from the Boston Marathon and a twenty seven hour lock down.
The incidents by themselves are scary enough. Yet, those who insist on using these events to further perpetuate the violence by exploiting racial and religious discrimination and conspiracy theories that "sexual liberalism" brought it all about, makes them that much more horrible. Have Christians learned anything from the Paschal Mystery? Are we forever linked to the immaturity behind a belief that God causes violence and horror based on humankind's sinfulness, so as to scare us into believing in an angry God of objective judgment only?
Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lead us out of the violence.
In Acts we read about Peter's faith resuscitating the dead body of Tabitha. The Holy Spirit's witness to the death and resurrection of Christ, empowers those with the faith to believe do amazing things. Yet, what is equally important is what Tabitha does out of thanksgiving for the gift of faith given to her. She has taken seriously the words of Jesus in Matthew 25: 31-46. She becomes the embodiment of Christ to others. While Peter's ministry of preaching, teaching and healing continues to win souls into the early Church, Tabitha does the same by living into the meaning of the Gospel in her life. So, not even sickness and death are able to permanently claim her life. The Paschal Mystery by which she lives and works, becomes the power that resuscitates her body with new life in the witness of the resurrection, to renew life in the world around her.
If the work of Peter and Tabitha is about healing and reconciliation, so then should ours. A healing and reconciliation that does not spread conspiracy theories or racial and religious based prejudice. On the contrary, by those who have truly experienced the redeeming and transforming power of the Paschal Mystery, should result in a renewed reverence for the dignity of all human beings. Especially in the shadows of all that we witnessed this past week.
This past week, we witnessed the meaning of the Cross as EMT's, national guards, police, fire fighters, and spectators of the Boston Marathon laid down their lives to help those who tragically lost their lives or limbs. Even in the midst of the raging blasts of fire, flying debris and danger, so many risked all to help others, even if it meant losing their own lives or comforts to do so. A 26 year old Sean Collier, a man born to be a police officer, became the embodiment of John 15: 12 and 13. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
Our worship of the Lamb in Revelation and prayer of thanksgiving in Psalm 23 need to pierce our hearts that are weighed down with sorrow and grief by this weeks events. The Lord who is our shepherd leads us not into more violence, but to those green pastures where we can find rest for our weary souls. In the company of all who enjoy the table of the Banquet of the Eucharist, we gather with all who have shed their blood for faith and justice, to worship the Lamb that was slain. The Lamb who is Christ. Christ who draws all people to Himself, because He has been lifted up to glorify God in all of heaven and earth. (See John 12: 27-36).
Our Gospels from this Sunday until the Seventh Sunday of Easter are no longer recording for us appearances of the Risen Christ. We are brought to those stories in John beginning with Good Shepherd Sunday today, and through the discourses in St. John's Gospel. These Gospel narratives present us with a necessity to be very careful, not to be taken back to Christianity as "the religion" that supercedes all others. That is not what is happening here. Nor is it an appropriate interpretation. The messages contained here are to lead those of us into a deeper reflection of who the Crucified and Risen Christ is to us, and how we represent Him to others. If we really regard ourselves among those whom cannot be snatched out of the hands of Christ, then we have to be very careful about what Shepherd we are listening and responding to. If the shepherd is one that guides us towards a spiritual isolation where Jewish people, Muslims, Atheists and those of other religions and spiritual practices are negatively stereotyped and targeted, then I don't think we are listening to the voice of Jesus, the Risen Shepherd. If we are listening to those wolves, masked as shepherds suggesting that all the violence witnessed this week is because of church communities, States and municipalities passing marriage equality laws for LGBT Couples, individuals and families, it appears we have been snatched away from Christ, the Good Shepherd.
O Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lead us out of the violence.
Lead us away from the violence of rhetoric designed to marginalize those already stigmatized and oppressed by social, religious and political discrimination. Lead us, O Good Shepherd away from resorting to violence because of someone who is different from ourselves. Instead let us with you, embrace the immigrant, the one seeking refuge from repression, poverty and nationalized income inequality. Help us, O Jesus, to respond to our neighbors in charity, respect and recognition of your Divine presence in them. May we stop trying to be our own masters, and surrender to be your followers, so that we may be learn to not be afraid of the storms that cause us to sink, but to have faith to recognize you as the one who can guide us through the worst wind, fog and fire.
May we walk by faith, and not by sight to comfort by our prayers, love and support those who have experienced the effects of this weeks violence. May we look beyond skin color, ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, gender, physical/emotional or developmental challenge, wealth status, political party, and more, to see the face of Christ the Good Shepherd, and trust in Him to lead us forward.
As the horrible rhetoric, stereotyping and conspiracy theorists spread the lies and stories, may we stand behind Jesus Christ, who is the way, truth and life, so that through His Father, we may be lead to the way of life that is eternal and transforming. The life of grace, where we take seriously our Baptismal Vows, and with God's help, we will live into them.
Though God does not stop all violence, God does walk through it with us in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Risen Shepherd. God empowers us by the Holy Spirit to be agents of Gospel conversion in our times, through the work of Christ in our lives and those of others around us.
Amen.
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people;
Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who
calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with
you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Easter, Book of Common Prayer, p.225).
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten
the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Mission of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p.257).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer., p.833)
O Lord my God. Teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you. You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess, and still I do not know you. I have not yet done that for which I was made. Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking. Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you. Amen. (Prayer of St. Anselm of Canterbury, St. Benedict's Prayer Book., p.118).
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