The Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Ven. Richard I. Cluett

For the last few weeks we have had a series of readings from the Book of Acts in which we travel with St. Paul and Barnabas, and Silason their missionary journeys. We get a glimpse into life in the earliest Christian communities. There is no glossing over how difficult those early days of the Church were.

Today’s reading from Acts details just how hard it could be. And think about the pattern of St. Paul’s ministry. It goes something like this:

- Paul and Silas arrive in town

- Their preaching, teaching and example convert a few Jewish people and maybe some others,

- They gather the new believers into a community

- There is a strong reaction against them by the political and religious authorities

- St. Paul leaves town

Now, that happens over and over again. Paul and Barnabas and Silas have what we might call an "Itinerant Ministry of Evangelism" - that is, they move, spreading the Gospel to successive individuals and groups in successive places - gathering together the converts in to the beginnings of a community or fellowship - then leaving, usually with" the posse on their heels." They were starters, not stayers. 

Thanks be to God, for the ministry of those who did that and do that. Paul, Barnabas and Silas, and a whole long list of Holy Women and Men who have brought the good news of Jesus to people and brought them together in Jesus’ name. If they had not come and then moved on, where would the church be? A couple of towns and villages on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and that's all! They spoke of Jesus to anyone anywhere who would listen to them - whether or not they were of "their own kind".

One of the learnings we get from St. Paul and the story of the early church in the Book of Acts is that there is a cost to preaching andliving out the Gospel. A cost because there is a clash, a conflict, a confrontation when the Gospel meets the world. For Paul, that was a time to "cut bait and cut out". His ministry was to plant the seed, not tend the garden. That was left to those who stayed and became the community of the Gospel in that city, town or village. They were to stay and deal with the garden pests and weeds that tried to choke off the life that Paul had planted.

And thank God that he did, and others, too. Because here we are - Christians gathered in community in the name of Jesus Christ - planted, rooted, fed and nourished by the deep riches of God's grace. Here we are, the fruit of the labor of Paul and Barnabas, and other faithful, itinerant, missionary, evangelizing followers of Christ.

But, you know, in that there is both blessing and rub. Christians planted, rooted - together - stuck with each other - through thick and thin, good times and bad tough times - not, like Paul able to "get going when the going gets tough" – but in for the long haul. No new mission fields to escape to. And when the clashes come as they always do - between our faith and our culture, our belief and the world - when differing views and understandings come within the community itself - here we are with one another and here is where we are going to be - with one another. Brothers and sisters and neighbors.

And what is the Gospel message from Jesus, "Heavenly Father, I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." And all Jesus's words have to do with how we are to live together in love.

Do you know what keeps us from loving one another and our neighbors, whether they are within the church or outside? They do! Ourneighbors do. Don't we have to admit, in all truthfulness, that some of the people among we live and move and have our being are just notall that lovable, at least not all the time! Some folks make it a real challenge to love them.

And furthermore, there seem to be very few possibilities of life in this day and time without conflict - without the clashing of differences.And if we are speaking the truth is it not true that there will always be conflicts whether between generations in a family, or between laborand management; republican and democrat, even people with a common purpose, but with different views about how to move toward that purpose. Even in the Church!

Some questions for us who are in this Christian enterprise in this particular community for "the long haul" are: To what do we point with the testimony of our lives? What signs do our individual lives and our community life say about us? They do speak plainly, you know.What are the signs of discipleship? Do the words and actions of our lives convict us before the world as disciples of that Jesus?

Jesus said that the sign of discipleship is the love shown to the world by his community of disciples. It is by this that people will know the nature of the Jesus whom we call Lord. It will tell the world plainly - if we love powerfully. Love ourselves love one another, and even love those that are in the world but have not yet, heard, known, believed, accepted the truth of the Gospel. The fundamental command is not that we agree, but that we love.

It is true that that even though there is not the possibility of living without conflict, there is the possibility of life without hostility.Conflict is inherent when more than one is gathered together. Hostility is outside the life lived in the name of Jesus.

All of which is to suggest that the failure to love does not lie outside ourselves, but rather somewhere within us. And that, of course, is what makes this issue so hard to deal with.

Sometimes it is our insecurity that keeps us from living love.

Where do we find the deep down security that will give us the confidence we need to live fully and then to love fully? Here! It is precisely in Jesus Christ and in his community that we are grounded and rooted, bound and bonded together with God’s love in us that does away with the need for self protection.

But, someone could say, there are some people that you just don't like. The "vibes" are bad. You know the saying, "I love people, its just Harry that I can't stand." And that line from My Fair Lady, "The Lord above made man to love his neighbor, but with a little bit of luck, when he comes around I won't be home."

It is true that those feelings exist, but it is also true that there are other feelings, other influences, other urges that work just as automatically, but for love. And it is here in the community of Jesus, in the common life, prayer, and work of the people of God. It is here that we are exposed to the possibility of being able to love - it is here that we may find others who also are willing to make the attempt - not in spite of who we are - but rather because of who we are.

It is here that hostility is unacceptable and declared to be sin. It is here that there is healing and forgiveness for the unwanted hostility that is in each of us. It is here where we find support and encouragement as we move out into the neighborhood, and the market and the home, and the workplace and the playground to let others know the truth that we know.

St. Paul and Silas and many other itinerant missionaries planted the seed, but it is our loving care that will bear fruit. Because this is where we live, we know what needs to be done, we know the strategies to employ, we know the people who need the gospel of Jesus, we know we have each other, we know how important it is for the world to know the truth.