Colossians 1:15-21; John 5:1-12        We Sing of Jesus           E/DC/GR      April 22, 2007

1.      I’ve told many of you about my Aunt Lorna.  She was my Dad’s unmarried sister, a teacher.   And while I was growing up we were very fortunate to have her come often to visit – Christmas Easter, or just because.  Those visits were much too short.  So much we longed to tell her, to hear about what she was doing.  But sometimes in summer she’d come and live with us.  Long enough to tell her what really mattered to us, what delighted, what hurt us and what hopes we had for the future.  It was a magical time and her spirit and the memories of the times reading the Bible, praying, laughing together and sharing stories stayed with us a long time.

 2.      Can you imagine God wondering how can I get to know and be known by my beloved people?  We have the Biblical record of God’s meetings with various people.  But it seemed hard for them to get it.  So God came to live with them, in Jesus.  To listen to our stories and share our joys and sorrows.  That’s the mystery we call the trinity.  God three in one.  Some of us like to leave it at mystery.  Some of us prefer to think more concretely and prefer this. (Tie a piece of string to make a circle.  Bend it to make 3 circles.  Then open it to one circle again.)  Creator, Christ and Spirit, One.  

3.      From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus, this very human person who was also God, talked about the coming of God’s reign.  It includes above all things, radical justice. Jesus comes to be a piece of this government of God here on earth.  Since the very first stories, God challenged the earthly empires, where the strong succeed and the rich prosper.  Challenged them to see God’s vision of a just world where the ruler feeds the poor, ensures the peasants have land to own and farm, and the widows and orphans are cared for.  And sometimes we see glimpses of this reality breaking through to surprise. 

4.      God’s new reality also includes radical love.  For those seen to be obvious sinners.  For enemies and outcasts.  In Singing a Song of Faith, Trish Elliott tells of a time she thought about what Jesus would do.  “Hi, how are you doing?” I asked.  “I’m all right,” said the old man looking up warily from the filthy clothes he was spreading out on the picnic table.  He had also laid out a few coins, a loaf of soggy bread, a watch, and several grocery bags.  “It really stormed last night,” I commented.  “All my stuff’s wet,” he answered haltingly as though unaccustomed to conversation.  “Lightning hit this tree right here around two o’clock.”  “You were out all night?  It was the biggest storm of the year.  Where did you sleep?”  “Under the pavilion until it rained really hard, and then I went to the toilets.”  “You slept in the outhouse?  “Least it was dry.” “Weren’t you scared out here all alone?”  He laughed.  “No, I was scared when a guy held a knife to my throat once.  No, storms don’t scare me.”“He crossed barriers of race, class, culture and gender.”“Where are you headed?” I asked.  “Morrisburg, he answered.  “I grew up there, “I said.  “It could take you a couple of hours to bike there and it’s supposed to be 90 degrees today.  I could put your bike in the back of the van.”  “No thanks,” he said.He healed the sick and fed the hungry.”“Well at least let me give you twenty bucks to buy yourself a good lunch.  You’ll need the energy.”  “No thanks.  I’ve got bread here and I’ve got money.”“He preached and practiced unconditional love.”“Well is there anything I can do?” I asked.  “No.  I’m fine.  Just glad to meet you,” he said.“My name’s Trish.”  “Mine’s John.”  And two hands, one raw and dirty, the other soft and manicured got a grip on each other.”[i]    

5.      Witnessing to that radical love and justice was so threatening to the powers of the day that they killed Jesus.  But death was not the last word.  God raised him up.  At first the disciples were devastated.  So terrified they hid inside.  Unable to go on effectively in the incredible work Jesus had set them to.  Have you experienced that damp gray blanket of grief in the losses in your life?  I was still a young woman when my Aunt Lorna died.  I had no real experience with grief.  This loss of a woman, who was in many ways my strong mom, with whom I also shared depth of faith and interest in so many things left me bereft and hollow.  Time passed but the horrible ache of loss did not.  I needed my strong mom, so I could be strong.  In the midst of a chaplaincy course, I did some grief work where I was able to let go of her in the physical way I had known her.  And come to understand that all I needed of strength wisdom, of love and laughter was already within me, in memories.  I could be strong myself because of knowing her. 

6.      In an even deeper way, the disciples experienced transformation in the risen Christ.  God’s Spirit came to them, and they could experience the risen Christ in a new way.  Still very much with them.  Early on Paul writes in Colossians, they believed him Lord and Saviour.  They went out with power to witness and live that radical love. 

7.      We too are called to follow Jesus.  Remember the meaning of Christian?  Christ’s one.  A disciple of Jesus.  One who follows and learns from Christ.  It’s less about religion and more about our relationship with Jesus.  It may be a warm, comfortable chat, but it’s way more than that.  We’re called to pick up the cross every day and follow the Christ.  To that selfless, die-on-the cross love for God and the world.  Jesus invited us to live the abundant life, not the fearful life.  Not to build mega churches or even institutional religion.  Jesus simply told us to wash each other’s feet. 

8.      Amidst the horror of the stories of the shooting in Blacksburg this week, there was an amazing example of that selfless die-on the-cross love.  Liviu Librescu, 76, survived the Holocaust, and gave his life for his students.  He blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee.  The students were able to jump to safety. 

9.      Let us recommit our lives to Christ.  And say together the last paragraph of our song of faith beginning the Risen Christ lives today:

               present to us and the source of our hope.

            In response to who Jesus was

               and to all he did and taught,

               to his life, death, and resurrection,

               and to his continuing presence with us through the Spirit,

            we celebrate him as

               the Word made flesh,

               the one in whom God and humanity are perfectly joined,

               the transformation of our lives,

            the Christ.