Pastoral Reflection for the Sunday after Easter
(In Combination
Friends, listen to the poetry of the Psalmist, who wrote this brief song of praise about the delight of life in harmonious community.
Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
This is one of the lectionary texts assigned for the Second Sunday of Easter in Year B. One of the New Testament readings is from the Book of Acts, and also happens to be the passage that frames all of our Holy Habits, which seems appropriate as we embark this week on our newest Holy Habit, the Habit of Serving. Listen to what Luke wrote about the fledgling Christian community in the early years following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection:
Acts 4:32-35
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
This morning, our worship service is somewhat different from our normal order of service. That’s because the national setting of United Church of Christ has shared some of their resources to help us feel connected—by introducing us to some of the individuals who represent our denomination at the national level, and also by enabling God’s people in UCC churches across the country to experience “living together in a moment of unity” as we experience common worship, by using the resources they’ve shared with us.
It can be easy to forget that we’re part of a broader community, connected to a larger denomination when we worship with the same people week after week. Our use of these shared resources also helps us to connect with our new Holy Habits theme of Serving, because each of the representatives you’ll hear speak today serves the wider United Church of Christ in some way, and the musical offerings also serve to help express the theology and commitments of the United Church of Christ.
So: listen prayerfully, and enjoy being led in worship by these fellow servants and members of Christ’s resurrected body, the Church.
http://nhcucc.org/caring-for-congregations/staying-safe-in-the-midst-of-contagious-disease/worship-resources
[After the UCC’s service components:]
One of the things I love about our United Church of Christ denominationally is that we have historically been at the forefront of justice issues. One of the principal theological convictions of the United Church of Christ is that the marginalized were always the ones to whom Jesus was drawn to serve, and likewise we who are guided by his Spirit today are drawn to minister to those whom the rest of the world stigmatize, ostracize, and consciously or unconsciously push away.
One theme I heard weaving through the testimonies referenced the wounds the resurrected Jesus showed to his disciples. Jesus did not deny or try to hide his wounds from others. He was not ashamed or afraid of revealing what some might have claimed were reminders of his vulnerability. He had holes in his hands and his feet—visible reminders that he had suffered profoundly because of the fear, suspicion, and hatred of those who resented him, his ideas, and his ways of being in the world.
But the scars and gaping wounds were not what defined the Risen Christ who greeted the disciples and a dubious Thomas. The grace-filled love which proved more powerful than the forces that killed him is. This power that allowed him to return to the group of men who had abandoned him in his hour of greatest need, and his first words were, “Peace be with you”, after which he spoke to them about their own powers of forgiveness—this was no earthly, worldly power. This is transcendent, divine power at work. And it’s a power that he gave every one of us the ability to access and employ. Because not only did Jesus offer his disciples the gift of peace, he also promised us the gift of the same Spirit that he himself possessed to guide and empower us to do even greater things than he had done.
Although they can be difficult to look at, or to know how to speak about, the scars and wounds of an individual or community are not things to be hidden or ignored, because they reveal a piece of our story. They tell a truth about our experience.
At yesterday’s Hollis-Brookline COOP meeting, there were some painful moments that were difficult to see and to listen to—in no small measure because they revealed some of the deep fears and vulnerabilities of our community/ies. Our gaping wounds and places of scarring. (I just want to pause for a moment here, to give a proud shout-out to the Moderator, our own Drew Mason, who did a superb job of fostering and maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect and civility, when that is so foreign to much of our experience these days.) Fears and misunderstandings, suspicions, misrepresentations, and animosity toward neighbors, largely rooted (I believe) in a lack of curiosity, once again seemed to drive nails through the hands and feet of Christ’s work of all-encompassing love.
But it wasn’t all signs of death and dying by the world’s ways and power plays. Easter was happening there, too. Glimpses of resurrection were visible and audible, as a number of people—including some who expressed doubt and suspicion as surely as Thomas did all those years ago—nonetheless demonstrated a desire to do the hard work of living in community. I saw some opening themselves to learning the ways of peace by honoring the work and service of others, and some (though they might not use these words themselves) expressing a desire to practice the holy habit of serving by listening with genuine curiosity to those who hold a perspective other than their own.
In this season of Eastertide, I pray that our congregation—I hope the Congregational Church of Hollis, United Church of Christ, might demonstrate the power of resurrection in a world that isn’t even aware of how hell-bent we’ve become in our efforts to prevail over those who disagree with us. May the power of Christ’s love in and through us be what prevails. And may it draw us all into an unexpected experience of life’s goodness that resonates with the Psalmist’s, a sweetness such as we’ve never encountered before. Amen.