April 18, 2010
Sermon
"Seeing Resurrection"
Easter 3, Year C Acts 9: 1-19a
April 18, 2010 Rev. 5: 6-14
Seeing Resurrection John 21: 1-19
Listen to the words of our
collect for the third Sunday of Easter:
"O God whose blessed
son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread,
Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold in him all his
redeeming work."
When we pray this prayer we
are asking to see God, to have God made known to us. We are asking
to be able to see the resurrected Jesus in a broken world. Do
we believe that we might see the Resurrected One, the Christ?
Ordinary, regular people us, not perfect, not giants of
the faith, us.
Those of us who attended the
Consecration of Ian Douglas, our 15th Diocesan Bishop yesterday
saw and heard Resurrection life in very ordinary surroundings.
The clergywomen vested in an old, small locker room. We processed
across lumpy floors covered with tarps that were taped down.
Some sat on bleachers and probably came home with a backache
and others couldn't hear well. Nevertheless, when Bishop Douglas
haltingly and choking back tears said, "I am honored and
humbled to be your bishop" many felt the warm dawn of a
new day. Not because he was tearful but because he meant it.
The Gospel lesson today is
about revelation and new life. It is about a group of seven ordinary
men, having an experience of God being made known, the invisible
reality being made visible.
The disciples were going home
to put together some semblance of their former lives. It 's not
surprising that Peter announced, "I'm going fishing!"
and that the others said, "We'll go with you." After
all they had been through, there was great comfort offered by
the great sea, enormous, deep and always there. They would be
together. They wouldn't have to talk. The routines were familiar.
A stranger appeared on the
beach while the disciples were at sea. By the light of early
dawn, the stranger sought their attention, calling out and inquiring
about the catch. Not one knew it was Jesus. Did they wish the
stranger would just walk on and leave them alone?
I have to ask myself, how
often do I see the resurrected Jesus and mistake him for a stranger?
How often does someone or some event interrupt my routine and
I fail to recognize that it is God. God does not hide from us.
In fact, God seeks us out.
God gave them a sign. A sign
is something that points beyond itself. The unusual catch of
fish was surely a sign. Liturgy has always spoken to us in signs:
the simple essential elements of water, bread, and wine point
us to the invisible reality of God in our midst.
While standing in line for
an hour before the ceremony, some clergy friends were trading
stories of the amazing questions young children ask. A 4 y.o.
parishioner of my friend Kathy was telling Kathy that her dog
died and went to God. She said, "Everybody goes to God then."
The child continued, warming
to her subject, "God is everywhere. God is in the sky and
up in these trees, God is under the bushes, and in all those
houses. God is everywhere at once. God is crowding us."
"You are probably right." Kathy said.
"But God is invisible," continued the child, "so
how do we know it's God?" Her priest responded, " We
see God in the beautiful things of creation and in the love and
kindness people show one another. And sometimes you have a feeling
or an idea and you just know it's God."
The little girl was quiet before observing, "If you run
along and you bump into a good thing that you can't understand,
it's probably God."
Kathy mused, "You know, I bet you're right." About
then the child asked Kathy how God created the world in 7days
and expressed concern that Genesis was so different from the
Big Bang theory.
New life and glimpses of God
and signs pointing beyond the sensate world are all part of our
spiritual journey. It is largely a matter of how we perceive
things and where we expect to find God. Those who truly see are
like the child who perceives that God is so near that God is
crowding us: in creation, in the kindness that people show one
another and in the signs of our corporate life - the bread, the
cup of wine. Seeing the signs as windows to God is a way of seeing
resurrection here and now.
The disciple Jesus loved recognized
Jesus first and said to Peter, "its the Lord!" No wonder
Peter sprang into the sea when he suddenly realized that the
figure on the shore was not a stranger after all. We can imagine
his unrestrained joy. The eyes of his faith were opened.
Elizabeth Barret Browning
is one whose eyes of faith surely were open, one who could see
resurrection. She said, " Earth is crammed with heaven and
every common bush is afire with God."
Yesterday, we heard Desmond
Tutu, describe the thought with which he is most obsessed, "We
are all family," he said, "all, all, all of us. We
are all family." We heard him whisper, " Each child
of God is precious; each person is loved. Tell them Ian,"
he whispered to the new Bishop, "Tell them. Tell them. Tell
them." The 3000 witnesses heard God's voice coming from
this small, fearless man with the twinkle in his eye. It was
a moment of resurrection hope and joy.
This morning, when we receive
the bread and wine may we recognize the risen Christ RIGHT HERE
among us and pray for those who especially need to see a sign
of the Risen Christ today. In the words of our Collect: May God
open the eyes of our faith to see God every where, God crowding
us, God whispering, "You are precious, you are loved".
This is the good news. Tell it. Be it. Amen
