7 Easter
16 May 2021
Yesterday Nan and I hosted a potluck. I smoked a turkey and made flan; the first was close to perfect; the second item lost a bit in the baking. Nan made cookies; Emily made a cake and mashed potatoes. We grilled hamburgers and enjoyed perfect weather and great conversation, along with good wine and beer. I could not have asked for a more perfect day nor better people with whom to spend it. Not even a fly or mosquito tried to ruin the occasion; the rain shower came before we gathered outside.
After a year of isolation, this felt so good. We could talk without masks; we could hug and shake hands and sit closer than six feet. I found out Josh and Danny will be adopting a baby this fall; Travis is helping a friend provide hospice care for the friend’s mother; A’ja will soon have her MFA and another friend will soon have a much better job. It may seem like small talk, but all of us know that these conversations and the ability to share the joys, and the sorrows, of our lives with one another are the part of the community that Jesus envisioned. His was the original No Child Left Behind act.
I don’t think heaven gets any better than this, not by a long shot. Maybe that’s why I gravitate to the food stories in the New Testament. Folks were always gathering to eat; in their case it was often lack of food that was the limiting factor. In my case and the case of my guests, it was Covid. Covid has been to us what food insecurity and Roman rule was to the followers of Jesus.
Jesus knew that we need one another and that the reign of God will only occur when we stop worrying about the after life and put the welfare of one another first and foremost. We live in the here and now; who knows what tomorrow will bring.
I realized in this past year that I could live in isolation without a lot of difficulty; being alone or with only a couple of people for a prolonged time is not a strain on my psyche. Yet even for me it came at a great cost; for others it went beyond devastating.
Seeing people in public who gave no heed for the welfare of others was a problem for my psyche. I wanted to ask those who wouldn’t wear masks WWJD (thinking most of them self-identify as Christian.)
But I did not realize how much I missed those intimate gatherings with a few friends. Yesterday I got my wish. Sometimes I was Mary and sometimes Martha; it was thrilling to be able to be a host to someone. It was sheer joy to be able to hug friends and to have those deep, and not so deep, conversations.
I honestly believe that is what it was like to hang around with Jesus. He kept telling us the kingdom is here and it is now. How ironic that the Epistle today is from 1st Peter and speaks of being tested. While Peter was likely speaking of persecution of the early followers of Jesus by Rome, he could easily have been speaking to us about Covid, or about our politics or about climate change. The word is eternal and speaks not just to its own time, but to all times and all places.
Today Jesus speaks to the Father, praying for his followers. He is leaving and the Holy Spirit won’t arrive until next Sunday. What strikes me is that he is praying for his followers to care for one another. He is not praying that they have orthodoxy, but that they have love.
John 17:11 (NRSV) 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
So that “they may be one.” Unity.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
God has given us everything we need; Jesus came to actually show us the way to the father; the way of justice and love. We can worship God in many ways; true worship and prayer is not so much about asking as about being thankful.
I am thankful for the life that Jesus gave and for the death that defeated death. I am thankful that I no longer believe that I have to be perfect, blemish free. That is an impossible task. What I need to be is an imperfect human to knows I am imperfect and who strives to be less imperfect. More importantly I need to be a spouse, a mother, and a friend.
The world is out there; it is full of wonder and full of evil. We will experience both in our short lifespans.
On this day, the 7th Sunday of Easter, we are asked to be one; to be in unity with one another. Not with God but with one another. I hope that we take this message into our hearts, for it is easy to either become self-absorbed and shut out the world or to be self-centered and abuse the world. Covid has made it abundantly clear to me that we are all essential for the well being of each other; no person is truly above another.
When you leave today, consider the ways you have been either self-absorbed or self-centered. The consider the ways you have been giving and caring. Realize that only by caring for one another, including the other you have never even seen, have your fulfilled the scripture.
I encourage all of you to hold a party or go to a party. Celebrate and be joyous with your friends. Jesus never said we needed to wear sackcloth and ashes; it was he who brought the best wine. But he did say that the wine was not reserved for the wealthy or the privileged; it is for all who hear and see and do.
I am not going to start a party ministry, but I am resolving to make more time for sharing all the good things!! It is one way to become the kingdom.