Loading...Sermon April 3, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Second Sunday of Easter Year C
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come…. Revelation 1:4
Please be seated.
In less than three weeks, I’ll be taking my first cruise! It’s something I’ve thought about doing before, but found other vacations and opportunities instead. So, how come it’s happening now?
When I was in Kentucky, I was part of a special program called The Network for Pastoral Leadership and Congregational Development. The Diocese of Lexington intentionally recruited new priests and asked them to come work as Priest-in-Charge for three years. The Diocesse worked with the parishes on healthy leadership and communication, as well as the vision and mission of the parish. They provided the new priests with a mentor. All of this was wonderful.
Yet, probably the best part was the monthly face-to-face meetings with the other clergy in the program. We’d talk honestly and frankly about being priests…about the challenges we were facing…about the joys we experienced.
The group from last year really bonded. We started doing Morning Prayer on Tuesday mornings via Google Hangouts. Then we started doing Compline on Wednesday evenings. Three of the seven of us have moved, but we still stay in touch. And this group is prolific with texting! Sometimes my phone will just “blow up” with text messages from the group.
Last fall, one of the members reminded us that we’d talked about going on a cruise together. We all agreed it was something we’d like to do. He did the research and the result is that we’re going on a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas – Nassau and Half Moon Cay – from Charleston, SC.
I love the ocean, but not quite sure about cruising on the big, wide, open sea. And, most of my traveling companions are younger than my own children! It should be quite an adventure.
I thought about this group as I read and studied the Revelation reading for today. It’s the beginning of the book, so a greeting to those being addressed in the book. It’s such a beautiful piece of prose.
John, the writer, sends greetings of grace and peace from Jesus, who is, who was, and who is to come. Christ who was in history…who we read about in the Gospels. Christ who is here and now. And Christ who is still coming.
My friends are one of many groups who remind me of the Christ that is right here and now. There are many others who are also Christ to me. I bet you can think of people who are Christ to you and I also imagine you are often Christ to others. Together, we are the Christ who is….
Every Sunday we read scripture. In Parlor People, we look at our faith and how it relates to our lives right now. We study the Christ who was, knowing we find truths by which to live our lives.
And yet… we see so many acts of hatred amongst our human race. We see oppression. We see our brothers and sisters living in poverty. We see people struggling for just the basics they need to survive. We witness the destruction of our earth resources. We see fighting and extreme cruelty. We’re doing our best in this world with the time and resources and lives we’ve been given.
That’s where the “Christ who is to come” comes in. We have Christ’s example and we experience Christ in our daily lives. We experience Christ right here in this worship service. We experience Christ as we partake the Eucharist. And we do our best to usher in the Christ who is to come.
Yes, we fall short, but we keep learning and living, and doing the work. We know God isn’t done with us yet or with the world. We know God is in charge. We know Jesus is yet to come, even as Jesus is right here with us.
This knowing allows us to live in hope rather than living in fear.
I hope you have a group of friends like mine who are Christ to you. I hope you see Christ each day and I hope you see how you can be and are Christ to others.
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come….
Amen
