April 7, 2002 - The Second Sunday of Easter

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April 7, 2002 - The Second Sunday of Easter - Father Fred Myers

THE FIRST READING: THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2: 14a, 22-32

Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know-this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.' This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses."

PSALM 16: 5-11

5 O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; it is you who uphold my lot.

6 My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; indeed, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; my heart teaches me, night after night.

8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not fall.

9 My heart therefore is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope.

10 For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the Pit.

11 You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for ever more.

THE SECOND READING: 1ST Peter (1: 3-9)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith-being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO JOHN (20: 19-31)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

It's amazing that, sometimes, our lessons - the three lessons that we hear - connect with each other, and, this morning, the second Sunday in Easter, is one of those times. Let me show you how it happens.

I want to start with the Gospel lesson. In the Gospel lesson, we hear about the encounter that the disciples have with the risen Lord. It is Easter day. It is Easter night. The resurrection has taken place. The tomb was empty. Mary discovered it and reported it to the disciples, to the apostles, and they are now gathered in a room, with the doors locked, for fear that what happened to Jesus may very well happen to them. Can you imagine what they might be discussing? They might be discussing, "Well, what is this all about? What has happened? We followed Jesus; He taught us; He showed us different signs; and He showed us how to love one another; but, now, He is gone. He is gone! What do we do now?" And then Jesus appears to them, and He offers them peace; and he offers them a commission. He says, "I send you out to do what I have been sent to do." And He empowers them with the Holy Spirit. He breathes on them and empowers them with the Holy Spirit to forgive sins, or to retain sins.

But, Thomas wasn't there. Thomas wasn't there. Of course, the apostles were delighted that they had had an encounter with Jesus and had met Him again, and they knew that He had risen. And, when Thomas came back, they said to him, "Thomas! We have seen the Lord!" Thomas. Poor Thomas. You know, he wanted to believe so badly. He wanted to really believe that what he had been taught, and what had happened to him, and his experience with Jesus was real and was something that was important. He wanted to believe that, and, yet, he was dumbfounded. He could not explain or could not understand what the events that had happened to him were. And then to have his cohorts tell him, "Well! We saw Him!" He said, "Yeah, right." So, he said, "Until I see, I am having difficulty in believing." And then Jesus makes another visit, the second visit of three, as recorded by John. He makes another visit to the apostles, and He talks directly to Thomas. He says, "See, Thomas, here I am. See My wounds. See My hands. Put your hand in My side." Thomas is just so elated, that he blurts out those words, and, with such profound faith, he says, "My Lord and My God!" My Lord and My God.

And then we hear, at the end of this Gospel, that the purpose of this Gospel was that we, you-all, may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that, through believing, you may have life in His Name. O.K. The apostles have seen Jesus. They have had an experience with Jesus, and, now, they go forth.

And then, we hear the words in the Book of Acts, where Peter, after his experience, and after having been endowed with the Holy Spirit, proclaims the Word to the Jews. He is in Jerusalem, the very place where the crucifixion took place. He is there, and he is speaking to those Jews and those Israelites that are gathered around him. And he again proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he attests to this resurrection through the prophetic words of David. They all know who David is, and they have a great respect for David. He was the great king, and they expect that the new Messiah is going to be like David. And he even quotes them. He says, "You know that this Jesus was a direct descendant of David. This is the Messiah." And so, he just bursts forth with this proclamation and tries to encourage them to understand what God has done through Jesus Christ.

Then, we read from the First Letter of Peter - which may or may not have been written by Peter, but certainly by someone who was close to Peter and could use Peter's name - now we have Peter addressing Gentiles, the Churches, the Churches of Antioch and Thessalonica and Phrygia and all of those around Asia there. And, he is now addressing Gentiles, and, again, he has to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that the resurrection is true. He says, "We were witnesses, and you believed. You believed. Even though you may be suffering persecution, even though you may be suffering from other things, you still hang onto your faith, and through this outcome of faith is salvation of your souls."

So, see? We have a direct line here of how the Church developed, and how it gained impetus as it developed. Wonderful words, because those words address us as the Church. They spoke out of their experience. How do we speak out of our experience? Obviously, we have had experiences, all of us here, or we wouldn't be here. We have had experiences of Jesus Christ. How do we attest to that experience as Peter did? How do we say, "Ah! We have seen Him! And this is how we saw Him! And this is wonderful! And this is what we learned! And this is what has happened! And this is what it all means! And God has provided a means of salvation through Jesus Christ, and God provides us with life eternal!" How do we attest to our experiences of Jesus?

Where do our experiences come from? Much of my experience of Christ comes from other people - their life stores, their stories of how Jesus has worked in their lives, how God has provided them with peace and love and healing. All of these stories attest to me that, yes, this is something I want to believe in, also. I have to allow my mind to be open to all the possibilities that are possible. And then, I come to believe. Believing, then, is seeing. I want to believe, just as Thomas wanted to believe that this was not just something that happened and was over. I want to believe. Thomas wanted to believe, and so he was able to declare, "My Lord and My God!"

How do we strengthen those around us? How do we strengthen their faith? How do we communicate our faith, and how do we help others to experience the love of Jesus Christ? These are questions that are raised for me in today's lessons, because we have the example of the apostles and their faith saying, "Yes, I believe that this is important. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, is the Messiah." And, from there, they went out and were commissioned by Jesus to do the things that He did - to heal, to bring forgiveness, and to allow others to know Christ and to love Christ.

Even David, in our psalm today, showed his faith. He said, "The Lord is my chosen portion. The Lord is my chosen portion. Even though I am suffering. Even though I am being besieged by others, I know that the Lord is there." This sounds like a once-upon-a-time story, and it is a once-upon-a-time story. It happened once, and it happened in history and continues through us, the Church.

Through faith, we experience Christ. We attest to that experience, and we proclaim that faith through others. We proclaim the love of God to others.

AMEN
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June 9, 2002 - The Third Sunday After Pentecost

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June 9, 2002 - The Third Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

THE FIRST READING: GENESIS 12: 1-9

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land". So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

PSALM 33: 1-6, 12

1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; it is good for the just to sing praises.

2 Praise the Lord with the harp; play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.

3 Sing for him a new song; sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.

4 For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are sure.

5 He loves righteousness and justice; the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.

6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.

12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! Happy the people he has chosen to be his own!

THE SECOND READING: ROMANS 4: 13-18

The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")-in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations", according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be".

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO MATTHEW ( 9: 9-13; 18-26)

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me". And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well". Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader's house and saw the flute players and the crown making a commotion, he said, "Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping". And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

As I was looking over our lessons for this morning, I made a discovery that God seems to enjoy calling us out of our comfort zone. God seems to enjoy getting us moving when we don't feel too much like being moved. Take, for instance, Abram (we know him better as Abraham). Abram was living with his relatives in a country to the north, and he was very comfortable there, I'm sure. And then, all of a sudden, he hears the voice of God speak to him, saying "Abram, get up, get out of here, move everything you own and your family, and go south. Go to Canaan." Well, I wonder what Abram must have thought? "Oh right, Lord! I'm just going to pick everything up and call a United moving van and get out of here!" Well, of course, there was no United moving van, but there were camels and horses and, whatever, and walking and feet, and so Abram moved out. He moved out of his comfort zone. He moved out of that place where he was comfortable.

In our Gospel lesson, we see Matthew sitting there, doing his job. His job was a very lucrative job. He collected the taxes for the Romans. Even though the Israelites didn't care for what he did, he made a living doing that, because he charged a little extra over what the Romans wanted; and he put that in his pocket, and that was how he made his money. He is sitting there, counting out the money and being very comfortable and enjoying his job, and this itinerant preacher comes along and says, "Follow Me". "Follow Me." Jesus speaks to him and says, "Follow Me. Get out of your comfort zone, Matthew. I've got something else for you to do. I've got something new for you to do, and it isn't swindling money. It is going to be something very different."

How about the leader of the synagogue? The leader of the synagogue knew the law, backwards and forwards. He studied the Torah, the Scriptures, and he was very comfortable where he was until his daughter died; and then he became very uncomfortable. But he recognized in Jesus something that God had promised, and so he was pulled out of his comfort zone and out of being a leader of the synagogue, going to this itinerant preacher - who seemed to be preaching blasphemy, anyway - but he went to Him with a hope in his heart that perhaps He could do something about his daughter. And, indeed, Jesus did. But the leader of the synagogue had to move out of his comfort zone to get there.

What about the woman who had been ill for twelve years? She had to move out of her comfort zone, too. Her comfort zone was being her illness. You know, sometimes we become our illnesses. They become our identity. "I am that sick person. I am that person with (whatever)." And that becomes our identity. This woman, for twelve years, had suffered, and she had to move out of that identity and take a risk. She was a woman who was not supposed to speak out-rightly to Rabbis or anyone else, and she said, "Well, if I just touch his robe . . ." What courage that must have taken! She was called out of her comfort zone, just to touch Jesus' robe, so that she could be made whole and take on a whole new identity.

That gets scary when we are called to move out of our comfort zone. Before I became a priest, I had a career in the Navy. I was in submarines, and I was - I don't know whether fortunate is the right word or not! - but I served on the first Polaris submarine. I was on the first crew of the first Polaris submarine. I was a radioman, and we had gone out to sea, as we normally did. This was the first cruise for the Gold crew, which I was in. We were out at sea and somewhere up in the North Atlantic (I think - they never told us where we were, we were just "out"). But, anyway, we were out there, and it was my job as a radioman to receive messages. It was also my job, as a cryptographer, to break down the encrypted messages and deliver them to the Captain. We were always told, when we went into the Polaris program, that the Polaris program was meant to be a deterrent, and we were never to fire our missiles in anger. If we had to fire our missiles, something was wrong - we, the United States, had been attacked. And so, if we ever had to fire our missiles or get our missiles ready to be fired, there was something wrong, and it was going to be disastrous. Well, we were sitting there one day, and I was in the radio shack, copying messages, when I got an encrypted message. I un-encrypted it, and read it, and I could not believe it! The message came from the Commander, Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and it said, "George Washington, prepare your missiles to be fired. End of message." And it had an authentication code, and I thought, "Oh, my gosh!" So, I took it to the Captain, and the Captain looked at it. He looked at me; he turned white; and he said, "Radioman Myers, are you sure this message is correct?" I said, "Yes, Sir." I even had the authentication code, and I showed it to him. Of course, we went to battle stations and readied our missiles - one scared crew! Ten minutes later, we got another message from the Commander, Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, saying, "This is a drill". Ten minutes! Ten minutes from the time we got the first message to the second message. I was not in my comfort zone, and neither was the rest of the crew! We were not in our comfort zone. We had been called out of our comfort zone to something new and different. They called me to a very, very different place, because it was at this time that I got to really thinking. What was I doing? What was my job? I was being part of a very destructive force, and I thought to myself, now, this is not what I want to do. This is not something I am really called to do. I am called to do something better than this inhumanity to humans - being able to destroy entire cities, being able to destroy entire countries, to kill innocent people - this is not what I am being called to do. It was at this point in my life that I began to understand that God was calling me into the ministry, and, from that point on, I pursued that. But, God had called me out of my comfort zone in a real way, believe me!

I also want to look at something else. Abraham, Matthew, the Jewish leader, the woman - what was behind what they were doing? They had faith. They had faith. They believed that God would do what God would do. When I stepped out of my comfort zone, I believed that God would do what God would do. And so, they stepped out. They made that leap, if you will, and what they found - what they realized, that is, what became real for them - was God's Grace. For Abraham, it meant a new nation; it meant a new life and a new land; it meant many things. For Matthew, it meant a new way of living, a new way of dealing with other people, a new way of knowing God, a new way. For the leader in the synagogue, it meant his child's life, bringing her back to life, when Jesus went to his house. For the woman who was ill, it meant health; it meant new life for her; it meant a new identity.

This is what God's Grace is about. This is what God's Grace looks like in our lives. For me, it meant a new career, but it meant serving God and serving you in a real way. This is what God's Grace is all about - bringing us, calling us out of our comfort zones. What comfort zone are you in? What comfort zone are you in that God may be calling you out of? Remember that phone call you wanted to make, or should have made, but you just didn't feel like it - you were too comfortable; or "I had to watch that movie on TV, and it was late, and I never did get that phone call made; I never got that letter written that I thought I should write; I never made that visitation that I should have made; I never gave myself time to enjoy life because I was in the comfort zone of working all the time." God calls us out of the comfort zone, and we have to have faith that God is going to grace us in a really important way. It is God's Grace that leads us into these paths of wholeness and strength and healing.

So, if we hear anything today, let us hear how God called these people - Abraham, Matthew, the Jewish leader, and the woman who was ill - out of their comfort zones into a new life, and God will do the same for you, with only a small amount of faith. Step out. It is God's will.

AMEN
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