Day of Pentecost, Whitsunday, Year C, June 15, 2025

Holy Spirit Window, Rome

Prayer

O God of the covenant, you revealed yourself on the holy mountain in fire and on Pentecost in the flame of the Holy Spirit, Let your mighty fire burn away our pride, consume our hatreds, annihilate the armaments of death, and kindle instead, within the whole human family, the welcome fire of your love.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 14:8-17, (25-27)

…Tens of thousands of Christians who aren't waiting for denominational leaders to fix things. They're just getting on with it.

Brian McLaren


"Finally, Jesus challenged them to love him and to keep his commandments. I suspect everyone seated in that room nodded their head and thought, 'I do love you and of course, I will keep your commandments.' But in a few short hours their teacher would be arrested and tried. In a few short hours his life would be ended and their lives filled with fear that the same thing would happened to them. Would they still love him? Could they keep his commandments?"

Commentary, John 14:8-17, 25-27, Lucy Lind Hogan, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Whether in the company of Jesus or, in his absence, in the company of the Spirit, what ultimately matters is recognizing God's action and becoming part of it. All else is subordinate to that."

"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

In this, the last of Jesus’ teachings to his disciples the topics focus on the issues of leadership that will be present upon his leaving.

Jesus is concerned pastorally for his followers. In part because his followers can only understand death’s victory. We must remember at this time there is NO victory over death. They look at the oncoming trial and sure death sentence at the end. They perhaps see it as the end of the movement, the end of the work towards the kingdom, the end of their own ministries, the end of a friend’s life, the end of (dare we say) hope.

In the immortal words of Jim Morrison and the Doors:

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

This is a really creepy song but it captures and tells of the reality that life’s pleasures will not keep death from its work. So Jesus is combating the very real understanding of death’s finality. Jesus offers them this understanding, He “demands that they have faith in him” and that this is more than a request but a necessary piece of participation in the victory over death that is to come. (R. Brown, John, Anchor Bible, vol II, 624)

Jesus is saying, have faith in me. This is a very real living faith that unites them with God. In the victory of the resurrection, they will come through death’s door to dwell with God and with Son.  And, to do this, to make their journey, they must be prepared. Just as Jesus goes to prepare a place, the follower must be prepared too. (625)

They are to be prepared by doing the same work as Jesus, even greater works. Jesus tells them to ask for great things and he will on their behalf. God will be glorified in this relationship, this conversation between worlds. It seems then that part of the work, part of the preparation is prayer ad continued relationship with Jesus even after his death. The disciple must trust and engage in work, and do so in prayer conversation with Jesus.

The work they are to do is to follow Jesus’ commandments and love him. The commandments are simply to love one another, to love God above all else, and to love Jesus. This is the Maundy, the commandment of love within the apostolic community. A love for one another that mirrors the love of God. Love for one another spins out the action in the world at the same time as it draws others into the community. The work of the disciple is to work and to work out of the empowering relationship of love with God - the Trinitarian community.

The family of God metaphor is revealed again in the paradigm of children of God who are united to the community of God when Jesus promises not to leave them orphaned. Jesus reflects that he is going away, but within this apostolic community he will never be far away and in fact, will be one with those who participate in the commandment to love. Moreover, Jesus himself and God will be glorified and revealed in the uniting spirit of this community, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the perfect love of Father for Son, and Son for Father.

Raymond Brown writes so much better than I:

Jesus emphasizes that divine indwelling flows from the Father’s love for the disciples of His Son. In 3.16 we heard that God loved the world so much that He gave the only Son – if the incarnation (and death) of the Son was an act of the Father’s love for the world, the post-resurrectional indwelling is a special act of love for the Christian. In 2 we found the word “dwelling place” used for the heavenly abode with the Father to which Jesus would take his disciples; here [at the end of the lesson] it is used for the indwelling of the Father and the Son with the believer…in Johannine thought this was now the hour when men would worship the Father neither on Mount Gerizim nor in the Jerusalem Temple, but in Spirit and truth. (648)

Some Thoughts on Romans 8:14-17

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

This week we shift to Paul's letter to the Romans.  He is teaching about the Holy Spirit and how it participates in the Christian life.  Paul believes that the Spirit works in two ways. The first is to draw people into the family of God so that we become children of God.  The second is to help individuals live a life following Jesus.

Those who follow this God through Jesus Christ are new people.  Like Israel, we are claimed and rescued by God. We are set apart in the midst of the world.  God is our Father, God is 'abba'.  This is the very strong theme of this portion of Romans.

What is so very challenging to us today is the very radical notion that we are not the one's being spoken to in Paul's letter.  We are today the ones who reside in the Temple. We are the ones who have already been chosen.  Like ancient Israel, we are the ones who inherit participation in the family through the Holy Spirit.

But God is doing something even greater. Today the Holy Spirit pours out beyond the walls of the Christian Church just as it poured out beyond the Temple walls.  Jesus' followers abound and God is working in their lives as they try and make their pilgrim journey.  We need to hear the words of Romans not as the newly invited follower of Jesus but as the stayed community who is not yet ready for the new interlopers.

What would it be like to open our eyes and see upon whom the Holy Spirit falls today? Who is it that cries out 'abba' but has no home?  Can we open our hearts and doors to welcome the sojourner in?

Even now the Holy Spirit is making new members of the family of God.  May the Episcopal Church open its arms to welcome brothers and sisters who are new and different.

Some Thoughts on Acts 2:1-21

Oremus Online NRSV Text

This is the text that most people think about when they think about the story of Pentecost. Though it is important to remind the congregation there are different stories. Here in this text, Luke weaves the time. The time is a particular time of God's acting. As in the incarnation of the crucifixion - this is God's day and God's time. The coming of the Holy Spirit arrives at the appointed time.

The Holy Spirit comes in wind and tongues of fire. 

What we have here is the inauguration of the next phase of Salvation history for our author. Remember that Luke is telling a story that leads to our personal receiving of the faith of God in Christ Jesus. This final act of the creative God is an act of recreation - for Luke similar to the wind over the waters in Genesis. It is the inauguration of Christ's promise to be with us to the end of the ages. It is the inauguration of the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham.

It is the beginning, the creation story, of the mission of God through the apostles. Those who had been followers (disciples) now become (apostles) and are sent out to renew the face of the earth. The Holy Spirit is the empowering agent of God moving throughout all the nations of the world. 

Many congregations will read out this passage in different languages - reminding the people that the mission is for all people. Unfortunately, this often stops there. 

The truth is that the church today is invited to share in the apostolic mission, to do great deeds of power by the influence of the Holy Spirit in the world. God is waiting for the church and its people to accept the spirit already poured out upon them. To go out of the doors of the church and out into the world. 

It is humorous that on this day where the spirit of God is so clear, that God will not be locked away behind religious closed doors....that literally thousands and thousands of Christians will hear this in churches across the world in huddled mass away from the world. 

The story of Acts inaugurates great stories of going out: 

In Acts 2 the apostles go out and 3,000 discover the Gospel. In Acts 8 Philip goes out to a city in Samaria and many Samaritans come to the Gospel. In Acts 8 Philip is taken to meet the Ethiopian Eunuch who needs someone to help him understand the Gospel and he comes to know Christ. In Acts 22 Ananias helps Paul with his conversion by God - by going out to find Paul. In Acts 10 Peter goes out and bears witness to the Gospel and Cornelius comes to believe. AND the church is transformed and broken open for the gentiles regarding circumcision. In Acts 13 the Proconsul in Seleucia has the Gospel confirmed by Paul and Barnabas and is transformed by the Good News; as are many other gentiles soon after. There is Lydia the merchant who, along with her whole household, is baptized by Paul because he went you to the city of Thyatira and met her outside the gate. Later imprisoned there because of healing the jailer would come to know God in Christ Jesus by their witness. Cionysius and Damaris come to know Christ by meeting Paul in his travels - Acts 17. In the 18th chapter of Acts Crispus and his household come to believe in God through Christ Jesus along with other Corinthians because of Paul's witness. Priscilla and Aquila explain the Good News of God to Apollos and he comes to Christ in chapter 18 of Acts. In the next chapter 25 of the disciples of John are told about the Holy Spirit by Paul and come to believe and are baptized. 

Not one, not one of these, happens in a religious setting or behind the closed doors of a church. The witness of the Holy Spirit is that the apostles are sent out and in being sent outcome into contact with others and through their conversations and witness people are moved to be baptized because they desire to participate in the Good News of God through Jesus Christ. 

Imagine the names that heard the news but where never confirmed. Imagine the names of those who heard the news and came to believe later outside of the narrative. What is clear is that the Holy Spirit sends people out. 

So on this day of Pentecost as we imagine what God was doing, let us be clear that God was not imagining that we would be sitting in church with the doors closed to the outside world. 

Some Thoughts on Genesis 11:1-9 

Oremus Online NRSV Text

From my book on vocation entitled The Jesus Heist

Take the story of Babel, for instance, in the eleventh chapter of Genesis.

The story of Babel is one of the best-known stories of the Bible because it captures

our imagination. Typically, in Christian church contexts, it is told this

way: Once upon a time there was a people and who built a tower that would

reach to heaven. In doing this they became like gods. They made a name for

themselves—the story says. God is displeased with them because, like gods,

they will be able to do many things. “Nothing will be impossible for them.”

So God scatters the people. Most of us aren’t even aware of the ambiguity

in this passage. We read this story as a cautionary tale about human sin and

God’s judgment, is a lesson learned in Mrs. Irving’s fourth grade Sunday school

class. But something more is going on here.

Let us look at the actual story, which is an origin story about creation that

repeats the narrative of how God populated the earth with people. People are

being scattered. Just before the Babel story, we are told that Noah’s descendants

are scattered. They are sent out to populate creation. There is great

debate about this very short origin story, and whether its verdict on the populating

of the earth by the scattering of the people is positive or negative.2 But

I want to focus on the disbursement itself.

One of the issues in the story is that the people want to stay together.

They don’t want to be scattered. So they build a tower. The purpose of the

tower is to reach to heaven. God, on the other hand, wants the people to be

scattered. It seems that in the scattering, regardless of its causes, God is present.

God is present in the scattering after Eden, God is present in the scattering

after Babel, God is present in the scattering after Egypt, and after the fall

of the first temple in Jerusalem. God is present at the edges, on the margins,

in the scattering. God is not particularly interested in towers that reach up

to heaven and make names for those who build them. A very large number

of Jewish and Christian scholars believe that humanity’s want to cohere is

directly opposed to God’s desire. It displeases God when people are all in one

place where they are comfortable, avoiding being scattered.

The church has a Babel quality to it. It builds towers that are gates to

God. It especially likes big ones. The church attracts people and holds them

in place so they aren’t scattered. In my own tradition, we joke about how there

is effectively assigned seating on Sunday morning. The institutional church

creates a holding pattern, a safe routine. Every year in liturgical traditions of

Christianity, fifty days after Easter, the feast of Pentecost is celebrated. The

institutional church celebrates Pentecost as its birthday. We never stop to

think about the absurdity, the contradictory themes of the Bible passages read

on this day every year, read to people sitting in thousands of shrines that boast

to be the gates to heaven, or gather inside rooms to hear about God disbursing

his followers into the world. The lens here is wrong. We can imagine a lot

of things about the story of Pentecost and what God intended and imagines

will take place as a society of friends of Jesus. But one of those things is not

that some two thousand years later the followers of Jesus would be sitting in

a room listening to a story.

In the beginning, shortly after the resurrection, the disciples had a custom

of getting together. We already talked about this in a previous chapter. Every

time they gathered, Jesus appeared and told them to get out. In Matthew, they

are on a mountaintop and Jesus appears and they are sent out into the world

(Matt. 28:16–20). The shorter ending of Mark tells us they were sent out to

the east and west (Mark 16:8). In the longer version of Mark, Jesus appears to

them in a room where they are all sitting at a table. Jesus “upbraided them for

their lack of faith and stubbornness” and then sends them out to do the work

(Mark 16:14–20). In John’s Gospel, he appears and gives them the Holy Spirit

by breathing on them. Then, in a series of visits, Jesus explains that they are to

love as he has loved, and they are to follow Jesus in the way that Jesus lived—

including his suffering and death (John 20:1–31). Each of these stories makes

clear that the work of the gospel is living in the world just as Jesus lived.

Now, most people who know the story will tell you the story of Pentecost

that matches the one found in Luke’s writing. So let us ponder the Christian

story of Babel found in chapter 2 of Luke’s second book, Acts of the Apostles.

We are told that, as in the other Gospels, the disciples have a habit of meeting

together. They get together, men and women, for prayer. It happened

that they were together on the day of the religious festival called Pentecost.

Pentecost was a pilgrim festival in Jerusalem—it was a holiday from work—

and people from all around would make their way to Jerusalem for special

observances at the temple. Pentecost was also called the Feast of Weeks, and

it happened fifty days after the festival called First Fruits. So the disciples are

together. There is fear and anxiety about what has happened to Jesus. They are

trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. They are worried that they

will be taken away, scattered, and killed. In this setting, the disciples experience

a mighty epiphanic moment: they have an experience of God’s presence.

I like Eugene Peterson’s telling of this story in his well-known biblical paraphrase

called The Message. He writes that there is a sound that fills the whole

house. The sound is like a great and mighty wind. It is a gale-force wind, a

knock-you-down wind. Then there is a wildfire that comes upon them. Some

translations say tongues of fire. I prefer Peterson’s imagery of a wildfire. A fire

that is wild comes upon them. It is madness.

This moment is a recreative act. It is an image that recalls God’s mighty

acts in history, including Babel. We are reminded of the book of Genesis

when the mighty wind moves over the waters of the earth. We are reminded

of the creation story of Israel, when God appears to Moses in a burning bush

that is not consumed. The inauguration of the freeing of Israel happens before

Moses, and a pillar of fire leads them away from Egypt. These images and

words are intended to capture our imagination and show us the remaking of

the disciples.

Like Babel, God does not intend for them to be sequestered in upper

rooms. God does not intend for them to make spaces that are the gate to

heaven. God pours out God’s recreative fire that they may be disbursed, that

they may go out. God disburses the disciples so that the gospel story of God

in Christ Jesus might be shared with all the people. And so those who followed

Jesus, who were praying together so they would not be scattered, who

were taking care of widows and orphans, who were in a holding position,

are sent out into the world. The doors burst open and they go out. And they

speak in many languages.

Those disciples who had previously been known only as followers—that

is what “disciple” means—were turned into apostles—people who are sent.

That is what “apostle” means—people who go. All the disciples were made

apostles; all disciples are to be made apostles. There is no place for Christian

towers of Babel among the friends of Jesus. We are set free. We are the laborers

sent out on the fiftieth day for the harvest. We are the laborers that God in

Christ Jesus has been praying to be sent (Luke 10:1–20). Christ’s resurrection

on Easter is the first fruit; it happens on the festival of the first fruit. Jesus is

the first fruit of this re-creation and new Genesis. The Christian Babel story

is the harvest story that falls fifty days later in parallel with the religious feast.

God is at the margins; God is disbursed. God’s people are to move to the

margins and be disbursed.

Easter, 6C, May 25, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"There are probably at least 3 ways to misunderstand John. One is to treat each of: following, loving, and abiding; as if they were separate and distinct pieces. These things are all of a whole; you cannot selectively choose only one part: 'I'll have the love of Jesus please, but hold the keeping the commandments.'"

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, John 14:23-29, David Ewart, 2013.

"The story demonstrates what "enough" means, even when, in the midst of it, we think that time or some other commodity is running out. Jesus, by means of his Holy Spirit, finds time, place, love and life enough for all of us."

"Enough," Mary Hinkle, Pilgrim Preaching: Keeping Company with Biblical texts and the people who hear and preach them.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

Jesus gave us peace. Do not let our hearts be troubled or afraid but send upon all the baptized the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to remind us of all that Jesus said. So may we keep your word and be counted among those whom you make your home. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 14:23-29

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

We continue our discourse with Jesus’ final teaching to his disciples. We are offered in today’s Gospel Jesus’ response to Judas’ question: how will you reveal yourself to us and not to the whole world?

Jesus’ response is that we, the followers of Jesus, will keep his word. Jesus’ revelation to his followers will in turn be revealed to the world through their action of keeping the word. Raymond Brown prefers keeping my word to keeping my commandment because he believes Jesus is speaking about the Spirit of Truth and its indwelling which leads the follower to right action not the keeping of rules in a works righteousness manner. (RB, John, vol 2, 650)

Jesus tries to explain to his followers, rightly concerned that he will leave him, that he is giving them this teaching while he is with them so they understand. And, that they need not fear because the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the Spirit of Truth, will soon be sent to be with them and to guide them. The Spirit of Truth will teach them everything they need. Somewhat like Psalm 25.5 which reminds the one in prayer that God will, “guide you along the way of all truth.” (RB, John, vol 2, 650)

Jesus then again tells them he is going away but leaving his Peace with them. He will be back, but this is less important that loving Jesus and being a part of the divine community. For in living and loving in the divine community not only keeps one close to Jesus but helps the disciple to see Jesus and the Father revealed. This essential love of one another within the community brings with it a peace and a witness of the Spirit of Truth into the world. I am convinced that Jesus understood that if his followers would live in the Holy Spirit and live in a loving community with one another he (Jesus) would be revealed in glory to the world and that the world would in turn have a revelation of God.

Peace in Jesus’ teachings stems from the grounding and sharing of love born from the Spirit of Truth, like the Holy Spirit itself it is a gift.

The first four lines of this verse are a majestic promise made by Jesus to the disciples he leaves in the world. The peace of which Jesus speaks has nothing to do with the absence of warfare (indeed it will come only after the world has been conquered: 16:33), nor with an end of psychological tension, nor with a sentimental feeling of well-being. Cyril of Alexandria identified pace with the Holy Spirit mentioned in the previous verse; his exegesis is wrong, but it is closer to the truth than many of the modern oratorical distortions of this verse, for it recognizes correctly that the peace of Jesus is a gift that pertains to man’s salvation…peace is one of the blessings of the souls of the just who are in the hand of God…in Johannine realized eschatology peace is enjoyed by Christians even during this life. (RB, John, vol 2, 653)

Some Thoughts on Revelation 21:10, 22-22.5

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for Sunday's Epistle


We are drawing to the close of our Revelation readings just as we draw close to the end of Easter and the Ascension.  So it is that on this Sunday we arrive at the final vision in a book of visions.

When heaven comes to earth there will be no need for a temple because God is present everywhere and illumines everything.  The people of the earth will be united as they are focused upon God's light and all will have access to the God who comes to dwell with us.

We in our time have no hope for power, and distrust it's use of authority.  We believe that all power and authority is corrupt.  This is a vision of the old world which has passed away.  In the new world we see and understand differently.  Here in the new earth, where heaven makes its home, we see that God has power and authority. All the powers and authorities of the world are not gone but rather are oriented at worshiping God and reflecting his light.  Power and authority, the kings, are transformed.

This is achieved by God's grace.  We are washed clean by the healing which is God's alone.  One author wrote, "God's drawing of the kings and nations to God's self, to the holy city, is no threat; the uncleanness that had led to oppression, violence, and evil will stay removed forever."

This vision is a vision of hope which is visible, even dimly, now in the world around us.  We as Christians and followers of Jesus, the lamb of God, are invited to do this now.  We are invited to see our role in the world today. To know we are made clean by Christ.  That we are to attempt to unearth this heavenly city in the midst of our families and friendship circles.  We are to see the seeds already sprouting of this kingdom come to earth.

The vision of the heavenly city which find its home on earth is our vision. It is our motivating invitation to enter the gates which shall never be closed and to worship the God who makes his life in the world and not locked away in a temple.  If we can imagine and see the end we can work towards it with purpose and vision.

Some Thoughts on Acts 16:9-15

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Resources for Sunday's First Lesson

This is the story of the conversion of Lydia, her husband and household. We have here a wonderful sense of early church mission and evangelism and it is well worth thinking carefully about what is happening here.

First, Paul discerns a calling to go across to Troas and then to Philippi. This is on the Aegean Sea. We are not told that Paul has any plans. He is not thinking I am going there and I am going to do a, b, and then c. We imagine that he is. The church organization we know will automatically assume that Paul is going there with plans to birth a church. To read this into the story though completely undermines it in the arc of Lukan mission. Paul has a dream, a call, and so he discerns this is where he is to go. He trusts that God will give him some hint as what is to take place there.

The church must send, and empower people to go out, without plans! People should go and discover in the world what is up there and not overly plan their work. Certainly, there will be time enough to figure things out... but the beginning of mission is a Person attentive to the Holy Spirit and a Place and dependance upon God. Nothing less and nothing more.

On the day of rest Paul goes out to the river. He may be looking for a synagogue...though Luke is not clear. He leaves the city and heads to the river. He is attentive and there finds a group of women there. These women are gentiles. They are not Jews and they are gathered. Paul goes and visits with them. Paul speaks to her.

This is the second mission principle worth noting. Paul goes, keeps his eyes open, sees some people - maybe working to rinse cloth, maybe sitting by the river. We don't know. But he sees them and goes and visits with them. Once you are in the place where you are to be you keep your eyes open and you meet people.  The idea here is to let the spirit lead you, open your eyes and heart to what is around you. See people for who they are, not who you want them to be. Enter into relationship honestly and openly.

The third thing is that God opens Lydia's heart...not Paul. This is very important. We think we MUST convert. This is not our work. Conversion is the work of God - not ours. We are simply to be about God's business in the world with our eyes open, clear about who we are, and willing to meet people where they are and allow God to do what God will do.

Paul and Lydia are opened to her baptism and so she and her whole house are baptised. This is important. The household would include many different kinds of people and it is very likely that the household did not all come to believe in the same way as Lydia - some had to do it because they were in Lydia's house. This is the fourth thing about mission that is important: there is no hierarchy of knowledge regarding Baptism. When you desire it you get it. Sometimes you may not even really know what you are doing. Paul I am sure helped them along with this. But, we cannot overlay some modernist/postmodernist form of Christian formation on top of baptism. The work of conversion and act of baptism are reflective by those who participate in it. We must go with the flow as it were.

The last thing is that often times we think we are to have people who come to baptism join us. Imagine a mission that is willing to go where the people live. Baptize them and then journey to their mission field, their home, their place of work rather than lifting them out of that context and putting them to work inside a church building. 

What happens in our story is that a new church of importance is planted in Philippi.

Ancient Mission for a New Context

1.  Go. Mission is a Person attentive to the Holy Spirit and a Place and dependance upon God.
2. Once you are in the place where you are to be you keep your eyes open and you meet people.
3. Conversion is the work of God - not ours.
4. There is no hierarchy of knowledge regarding Baptism.
5. Baptize them and then journey to their mission field, their home, their place of work rather than lifting them out of that format and putting them to work inside a church building. 

Easter, 5C, May 18, 2022

Quotes That Make Me Think


"This short text from John's gospel is like a glowing candle in the darkness, a command to love one another amid the realities of violence and betrayal as a continuation of Jesus' ministry in the world."
"Easter Erosion, Easter Explosion," Alyce M. McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, 2013.

"By believing against all odds and loving against all odds, that is how we are to let Jesus show in the world and to transform the world."
"Let Jesus Show," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"One of the stunning parts of this text is the location. This passage comes on the heels of Judas leaving the other disciples at the last supper to betray Jesus."
Commentary, John 13:31-35, Karyn Wiseman, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

Loving god, the promise of the new Jerusalem is your home among us. Already in the new commandment of love you have begun to make all things new. As Jesus loved us, so we would love, that in the love we have for one another a new heaven and a new earth may dawn. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 13:31-35

Picture is of Poster entitled, "Beloved of God," printed
for 73rd General Convention

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

This Sunday we have Jesus’ departure including his last words to his disciples before the trial and final hours of his life.

There are a number of very important theological and missional points to be considered in these last instructions to his disciples.

The first of these phrases is, “God has been glorified.” The glory of God is the primary, the ultimate, work of Jesus Christ. He is modeling for all humanity the work we are to undertake as creatures of God, and making it clear that our disobedience to this work dishonors our creator. “Glory”, according to Raymond Brown, “involves a visible manifestation of God’s majesty in acts of power.” (RB, John, Anchor Bible, vol 2, 606) This scriptural and textual view is important theologically. We, the creatures of God, are to work on God’s behalf. We are, through our lives as disciples of the most high God, are to manifest God’s majesty in the living out of our lives and in our relationships with one another.

The Biblical scholar George B. Caird wrote this about the understanding of this word "glory" and its meaning within the New Testament, and its meaning for theology: “Through Jesus God is held in honor by men.” “God is honored by Jesus,” through his obedience to God’s will. “God has won honor for himself in Jesus.” And, “God has revealed his glory in Jesus.” (Brown, 606)

Brown reminds us that Origen moved this concept towards Gnosticism because he associated it with knowing God. But the more ancient continuum throughout scripture upholds the idea that the purpose of all creation and humans especially, is to glorify God in word, action, and deed.

In verse 33 Jesus remarks to them, calling them children – as in his later greeting on the beach, and says that he will not be with them long. Moreover, that the work and the journey he is about to take is not for them, but for him alone.

Jesus gives this commandment 18 times in the last discourse in John. The statement is clear: Love one another.

We are to love one another as Jesus loves us. And the word chosen here is “must.” We must love as Jesus loved. This is our commandment. This is how we are to be known: as the ones who love one another.

Raymond Brown points out that over time Christian Apologists, all, “would call upon the impact made by Christian love as a standard argument for the superiority of Christianity.” (607) Today we make the case primarily on other grounds as this is not typically what comes to mind when one thinks about Christians in our culture or globally.

Raymond Brown writes the following:

Yet love is more than a commandment; it is a gift, and like the other gifts of the Christian dispensation it comes from the Father through Jesus to those who believe in him. In xv 9 we hear, “As the Father has love me, so have I loved you”; and both xiii 34 and xv 12 the “as I have love you” emphasizes that Jesus is the source of the Christians’ love for one another. (Only secondarily does it refer to Jesus as the standard of Christian love.) The love that Jesus has for his followers is not only affective but also effective; it brings about their salvation. It is expressed in his laying down his life, an act of love that gives life to men. This is well expressed in Rev I 5: “…the one who loves us and has delivered or washed us from our sins.” We should also stress that the “love of one another” of which the Johannine Jesus speaks is love between Christians. In our own times a frequent ideal is the love of all men, enunciated in terms of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Such a maxim has some biblical basis in the creation of all men by God, but the idea is not Johannine. For John, God is a Father only to those who believe in His Son and who are begotten as God’s children by the Spirit in Baptism. The “one another” that the Christian is to love is correctly defined in I John iii 14 as “our brothers,” that is those within the community.

It seems to me that the Christian community who is not able to primarily engage in the commandment to love one another will be unable to be a missionary community into a world looking and searching for vessels of God’s love. The church that cannot be a sacrament of God’s love for those within first, and those without second, ceases to reflect the glory of God as intended by God for God’s pleasure, and for humanities mutual benefit, and for the salvation of creation.  Loving our neighbor is the primary way in which those who follow Jesus glorify God.

Some Thoughts on Revelation 21:1-5

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for Sunday's Epistle



We continue the longest series of readings from the book of Revelation this week.  In today's passage the vision is of a new heaven and new earth.  The first things have passed away.

As a number of theologians point out the book of Revelation squarely places the kingdom of God's work on earth.  Rather than the heavens consuming the earth as in many other apocalyptic tradition the image and theme of Revelation is that heaven comes to earth; the fulfillment of the incarnation and the work of Jesus.

At the wedding at Cana of Galilee one can imagine the bride and groom and the many attendees gathered around enjoying the company of one another.  The image though of the bride of Christ given in the previous chapter is not a wedding feast where earth is brought into heaven and all rejoice.  It is instead an image of a beautiful and wondrous earthly city.  It is a place of hospitality to the stranger and  a place of rest for the weary pilgrim, and peace for God's people.  Tears are wiped away in this place and the world itself is transformed.

Such a city has been on the hearts and minds of Christians from Augustine to the slave, from the missionary to the persecuted.  It is found in the writings of William Blake and is present in the abolitionist and civil rights leader's voice.

In revelation we are not offered a future hope of heavenly bliss but a transformed earth.  The resurrection happens on earth and so to will the reign of God.  We can all think of the Armageddon images and films which promise some form of escapism from the world.  This is not quite the image we find in Revelation.  The earth is made new.  Not unlike the Christ after resurrection where he is more present, more real, than he was before the same may be said for the new earth.  The reign of God on earth will be more present and more real.  What has been seen only in part will be revealed in an even greater way.

The earth which has been sowed for power and ruled by authorities other than God will be changed.  It isn't so much that the earth or seas will be no more as they will no longer be used and corrupted by powers outside of the reign of God.  The earth that is made new is sustainable and God will provide for his people.  This will be a new world, remade, and reordered such that the power of Rome or Babylon cannot keep the waters of life from those who seek it.  This vision is transformative and promises a different world which will provide all that is needed for its population. The hungry and thirsty will receive good things to eat and drink.  The powers that have ruled the world and corrupted the creation and the creatures will no longer have dominion.

The city which John envisions comes down from heaven to earth is a sight for us all.  It is a revelation of a new earth; and the promise of a creation which supports bounteous life under the reign of a loving and providing God.

Some Thoughts on Acts 11:1-18

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Resources for Sunday's New Testament Text

So when Christians get going and turn from being disciples into apostles, when they stop following the church organization and go out things get dicey. (Disciple means the one who follows, Apostle means the one who goes.) This is exactly what happens in this Acts lesson.

People are going out and doing the work of God, Peter is going out. And, those who were used to having faith a particular way with particular rituals don't like Peter's work. They accuse him of being to easy on these newbies. They accuse him of not offering a true faith. They will do most anything to keep Paul from advancing the mission of the Gospel of Christ.

This reveals that it is always the nature of the internal church, the predecessor church, to have difficulty with the mission evolution of the church within the varying and different contexts.

Here is Peter's defense is 7 part and really a good guide to mission engagement:

1. God directed him to see that things needed to change. In this particular case that it was okay to eat animals that were forbidden by the religion of the day.
2. God then taught Peter that things outside of a person and what they eat do not defile a person. We might remember Jesus' teaching that it is what comes out of the mouths of humans that defiles not what goes in. (Matthew 10:15ff)
3. God makes us clean, not our nature or our own work.
4. God helped me see I was to go with people who I had believed were unclean.
5. I didn't know what to say, but God helped me when the time came.
6. What we truly give one another is God's spirit.
7. I realized God was giving them his Spirit and so how could I get in the way of this.

The best part is that Luke writes, "When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, 'Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.'” The faithful in Jerusalem see that the expansion of the mission is good, that people are sharing a love of Christ, and are being empowered by the Holy Spirit, people are coming to Christ because they did not get in the way and Peter opened the way.

Peter literally fulfills Jesus' own words when he lets it be known that his followers are not to lord it over them. Jesus says in Matthew 23, be  careful not to be like so many religious leaders, "they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others..." Peter enters the mission field and does not tie up heavy burdens on those he finds there. Luckily the faithful in the predecessor church also realize that this is not their work. 

Easter 3C, Sunday, May 4, 2025

Prayer

With a canticle of praise, O God enthroned in glory, we join every creature in worshiping the Lamb,

Photo from the Fresco inside the Greek Orthodox church
on the edge of the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum

Jesus who is alive among us and who invites us to this meal. Grant that we may stretch out our hands to fulfill in lives of service the love our lips profess.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 21:1-19

"Embrace the reality of the fishermen doing something that might seem absurd to others and one who denied the Lord to become the rock that leads a church."
Commentary, John 21:1-19, Karyn Wiseman, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"From fisher of fish to fisher of people to keeper of the keys to shepherd. It was the Rock's final promotion, and from that day forward he never let the head office down again."
"Peter," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text


We continue through our Easter season readings of John’s Gospel. The passage opens up a week later, or a little later than the previous resurrection accounts. Jesus reveals himself again. The image in Greek is one that moves from obscurity to reality, as in the other resurrection accounts. (R. Brown, John, vol II, 1067) Jesus is not only present but more certainly and powerfully so. The disciples have returned to the sea of Tiberias. They are there in the same location as the miracle of the loaves and fishes, a miracle of multiplication. We are given then a list of the shore party: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, Sons of Zebedee and a couple of others.

Simon Peter goes fishing and the rest join in. Some scholars spend a lot of time wondering why Nathanael might go with them to fish as he was a man from the hill country. I did not grow up on water, but love to fish. Perhaps these scholars just aren’t fishermen. Besides, who knows…perhaps Nathanael was a fly fisherman and wanted to see what this was all about?

They fish at night and they catch nothing. Those who know about fishing the Sea of Galilee (I once had a Texas A&M professor come and speak about ancient fishing on the sea of Galilee) note that night fishing was practiced and even the best the time to fish.

As the sun is rising Jesus appears on the shore. His appearance, his revelation to them, is mysterious; so very much so that they do not recognize him. Scholars use this portion of the text to elevate the criticism that this is a redactor of John’s Gospel, because they would have recognized him after the several appearances. They link this to the grammar and Greek vocabulary that does not match John’s.

Jesus calls out to them, “Lads” or “Children.” You haven’t caught any fish have you? We have here a tender moment, a fatherly moment. Jesus is calling to friends and disciples, students and followers with whom he has traveled, lived, and shepherded. (Note in a similar account in Luke he simply asks for something to eat.) Here Jesus invites them to cast their net. Is this going to be another multiplication account? Jesus tells them to cast on the right side of the boat and they will find something. Raymond Brown reminds us that Cyril of Alexandria and others insert, “But they said, ‘Master, we worked all night and took nothing; but in your name word we shall cast.’” Borrowing from Luke I imagine, Cyril’s words capture the frustration these weary fishermen might have felt…remember they don’t know it is Jesus.

Some scholars have tried to dismiss the miracle by suggesting that from Jesus’ vantage point perhaps he could see a school of fish feeding or rising. I think this is tampering with the story.

Of course they haul in a tremendous number of fish. In the multiplication of fish Jesus is recognized and Peter jumps in the water. (Some scholars believe that the redactor using the words “the disciple whom Jesus loved” as a modifier for Peter, reveals our writer to be one of Peter’s disciples.

Peter throws on some clothes and jumps in the water. Seems odd to get your clothes and jump in. However, fishing at night and the particular kind of diving need to fish in the manner in which they were working required the men to be unclothed – according to my Aggie Nautical Archeologist friend. So, as Peter is going ashore he gets his clothes and goes.

The word that stands out though is the action word for jumped in the sea. Peter throws himself in the sea and swims to the shore. This heightens the sense of excitement at the appearance and revelation of the Lord.

The rest arrive by boat, towing the nets and landing the boat themselves.

There is a charcoal fire and fish and bread. Jesus invites them to eat and breaks the bread and shares the fish. He feeds the disciples. They appear unsure, he is different, changed.

There are two powerful symbols to be played with here. The first is the apostolic mission and the multiplication miracle. It is clear that the risen Christ gives the mission and directs the work. Alone a disciple can do little, but with the risen Christ a disciple may discover not only fields in need of tending but plentiful waters for fishing. The second image present is that of the risen Christ as giver. The Lord is the giver of the Eucharistic feast which feeds the body and the spirit for the journey. The charcoal fire and the breaking of bread cement this image in today’s Gospel lesson. We recognize the risen Christ in the Eucharistic meal – one that takes place out in the world an not behind the locked doors of the upper room.

Both of these revelatory pieces of the same resurrection account say to us something of the ecclesial nature of the first community of followers that was forming post Easter and it says something about he ecclesiological nature of our own communion today. Peter’s throwing himself in to the baptismal waters and the communion meal are central to the life of the missionary disciple. Furthermore, they remain central in our life today. We are brought through the waters of baptism to the heavenly shore to partake in a heavenly banquet.

Tertullian gives us a wonderful quote, “But we little fish, who are so named in the image of our ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in water and only by staying in the water are we saved.”

This unique addition to John’s Gospel is filled with imagery about sin and death, baptism, Eucharistic theology, and discipleship.

Some Thoughts on Revelation 5:11-14

"Revelation summons its readers to manifest their loyalty to God, the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit to a life of worship"
Commentary, Revelation 5:11-14,ISarel Kamaudzandu, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.

"Most surprisingly, Revelation introduces Jesus not as the expected fierce apocalyptic lion (Revelation 5:5, from Genesis 49:9), but rather as a Lamb (literally the diminutive word, little lamb). No other Jewish apocalypse portrays its hero as a Lamb."
Commentary, Revelation 5:11-14, Barbara Rossing, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This part of Revelation is reminiscent of the Kenotic Hymn found in Philippians 2 saying that "every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Everyone will confess that Christ is Lord and he is Lord not because he roars like a lion but because he lives as the slaughtered Lamb."
Commentary, Revelation 5:11-14, Cara Shonamon, A Plain Account, 2016

"Like a great infusion of healing medicine, the new life 'injected' into this world is working its way through all creation. We see the power of that new life reflected in the lives of those around us in many ways already. And the good news of the gospel is that there is nothing that can stop it from 'making all things new.'"
"The Power of Life," Alan Brehm The Waking Dreamer.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

As last week we have the beautiful image of power and authority. The throne and those around it provide a window into the mind of the evangelist and prophet. God's heavenly reign is surrounded by the thousands and thousands who worship and give voice in heaven to what we sing on earth: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Here in this strange place are what William Loader in his "First Thoughts Series" says is a, " pageantry of power and before us parade mysterious beings, elders, living creatures, thousands upon thousands of angels. It is awesome. The poetry of the images evokes wonder or, at least, that is its design. It is so overwhelming (and strange) that we can easily forget that it is imagery. It is imagination's movie crafted to express and reflect the wonderful being of God. Awe before another human being is not at its best an issue of subservience but of love and respect. It is acknowledging the holiness of the other in wonder. With God it is no less. It is letting ourselves have space to meet and engage God's being."

The evangelist hears, "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing." The image and sounds offered as our own imagination catches up are such that we are moved to understand the praise and worship of God. John's vision on Patmos gives images and words to our own inner desire to find and worship the God who has made the heavens and earth and set the planets in their courses.

The response of those in God's midst mirror for us what our response is to be before this God above all gods who is sovereign of all. For they say and sing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” Their actions mirror our worship action of bowing before our God, "the elders fell down and worshiped."

I am mindful a power image that comes to my own mind of those good people who kneel in humility and poverty and who are invited to stand by God and to understand the power of this world which subverts their dignity has no authority over them any longer. I am also struck by the power of those with great wealth and power who are humbled by God and instead of standing which is their social right kneel before their maker.

Here is the topsy turvy world of the Gospel. Both actions and invitations are images of this God. Loader in his First Thoughts has a sense of this mixed imagery:

"The image of Jesus has a way of subverting such systems. Our passage is heavily influenced by the scene in Daniel 7:9-14) where a human figure, "one like a son of man", who represents and leads the people of Israel comes to the holy throne of God which is surrounded by countless hosts of angels, to receive a kingdom. Much of Revelation is a recycling of biblical motifs which come to us through the dreamlike images of the writer. In this case the one to receive a scroll from the God is announced first as the lion of Judah and the root of David (5:4-5), but enters the scene as a slain lamb. It is an extraordinary violation of the norms of power and dignity. The one most highly honoured is a lamb looking as if it had been been slaughtered - because it had been (5:6)! Something quite bizarre! The lamb receives the scroll whose seals control all that matters (5:7)."

Yes indeed, worthy is this lamb who humbles some and dignifies others, who invites some to stand and others to kneel.  Our God is both lion and lamb.  Our God is the beginning and the end.  Our God is our own beginning and our own end.  How will you approach the throne of grace this Sunday? On your knees or standing?

Some Thoughts on Acts 9:1-20

"Conversion may indeed miss the mark in describing what happened. It certainly does if we reduce it to meaning recruitment or even if we think it just means turning to God so that one will be saved or safe. There is a good case for speaking instead of Paul's call."
"First Thoughts on Year C First Reading Acts Passages from the Lectionary,"Easter 3, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"When someone is headed in the wrong direction, it may take a blinding light to expose his own blindness."
"The Conversion of Saul/Paul," exegetical notes by Peter L. Haynes, Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren.

Oremus Online NRSV New Testament Text

We know from Paul's writing that he had a great experience at the hands of God. He had a conversion experience. We know that Paul has a huge influence on Luke/Acts. And, we also know that Luke is keen to show the continuation of the tradition of Israel in the new Christian community. Who better as an illustration than brother Paul.

Here is the problem with this passage and what we do with it. We either make it about persecution of the flock, and thereby a persecution of Christ. This allows us to be on the Christ side of things. It automatically places us on the inside and those who are on the outside not one of us. It further lets us off the hook for any bad behavior on our part. After all we are on the side of Jesus.

Second, we make this about conversion into something, that is the flock of Christ, a holy people of God. This further complicates things because it makes us special and those outside of our clan not special. It creates a situation where those who are converted are our true neighbor and those who are not converted are removed from neighborly status.

We may even make this passage about Ananias' witness and his acts of kindness towards Paul as an implied action for Christians. In other words we should be like Ananias. The problem with that is multi-dimensional. It is a problem because it reinforces that we are to be kind to those who are converted. It makes the Gospel about good behavior. And, finally, it reduces the acts of Ananias to kindnesses. 

Father Farrar Capon has a passage which relates to this very model I have described. In his book The Mystery of Christ, he writes, "...In building this theological model you’re also done something else. You have opened yourself to the idea that the church is the Fellowship of those who have the gift and that the rest of the world is just a crowd of outcasts who don’t have it. Even though you may go on saying in church that the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world, you are actually holding that he has taken away only the sins of the church. And from there, you are in danger of waltzing yourself into the position that the world at large is damned unless it joins the church, and that even the children of Christians will go to hell if they are not baptized – and so on and on, right into the theological house of horrors that all too many people actually thing is the household of faith." (p 25)

I think that in order to reclaim this passage from a churchly perspective or a perspective of morality, about good behavior, we must understand that Luke has told the story within the frame work of Jesus' teaching on the Samaritan. (Luke 10.25ff)  And, we must read as Jesus' intended with the passion at its center. So it is that Paul has been undertaking a war of passion on the followers of Jesu and upon Christ, he then undergoes his own passion - and resurrection (the being stricken and blinded), and so we see that Paul himself becomes not only an image of the man who fell among bandits but of Jesus himself. Here then we see that Ananias is not simply doing something nice as a neighbor. NO! Ananias enters into the passion of Paul. He crucifies his desire to hate and not to dismiss this enemy as outside the family of God but to embrace him. He crucifies his desire to do and be somewhere else but with this enemy of faith and instead inconveniences himself to go and be with Paul. Ananias must crucify all his understanding that God only choses good clean people as "instruments of his mission. Ananias must crucify his idea that following Jesus was only meant for the Jews and not for the gentiles - those who do not belong to the family of God and that the very enemy of the Christians was going to be the one to open wide the family of God to all people. He must crucify the idea that touching him and healing Paul will look bad in the eyes of his fellow community members. He must crucify the part inside of him that will not wish to care for Paul. And, yet Ananias cares for him until he regains his strength - further crucifying his convenience for the passion bearer. And, we are told that they eat together, a most intimate act. Ananias must crucify the idea of who can sit at table with him and who cannot. 

The story of the Paul and Ananias reveals that to be in relationship with the mystery of Christ is not to create some kind of churchly morality but instead to be with people in the midst of their passion and to experience with them the passion - in so doing we experience the passion of Jesus. We are living into the death of self, to the death of the world, and in living into the passion we discover Easter and resurrection. For in experiencing one another's passion new life is experienced by both Paul and Ananias.

Sermons Preached on These Lessons


The Conversion of the Church, The Conversion of Paul
Feb 23, 2016

Things are not the way they are supposed to be
Apr 21, 2013



A Sermon on the Conversion of Paul, 

Preached 2016 at Duke

We have an addiction, clergy and laity alike, an addiction to church, and consequently the persecution and disempowering of anything that does not resemble church

And, this addiction to Church means that we read (we cannot help but read) the scriptures through the lens of CHURCH

That structure, model, of Church that we have received

So it is we read everything through the eyes of a church, with a building, parking lot, deferred maintenance, regular attendance, budget, annual stewardship campaign, programs, and outreach – you know – church

Church has been stealing Jesus’ gospel for quite some time now, and making God’s invitation to conversion very difficult to hear

So it is that when we come to passages like we do today we place our selves (church) in the seat of those being persecuted

In this way we can be thankful we are not like Paul or his friends and that we are not frustrating the mission of God in Christ Jesus

When we do this, and we do it all the time, we miss the very difficult prophetic words of God to the religious leaders of the first century: Why are you persecuting my mission? It hurts me when you kick against the goads!

We the church, in our time, in our context, are not Paul post conversion but Paul pre conversion.

Here then there is much for us.

We hunger for the priestly power and authority.

We disempower any and all who would have us see a different way of being Christian community.

We smile and nod politely at the idea of new and different mission, in homes, in Laundromats, in bars, in restaurants and public space

We protect our pharisaical understanding of authorized spaces and liturgies

We are quick to explain how that isn’t really church

We disregard those who offer new paradigms for mission – for service and evangelism.

We are focused on our temples alone and their self-supporting economies.

We do not hang out with widows, orphans, sinners and the lost sheep but judge them.

We create spiritual yokes and heavy burdens suggesting everyone should become a new kind of monk or pilgrim.

We like our robes and parades, to be called father and teacher, and we are zealous for the teachings and traditions of our denominational ancestors.

And, God, like the woman and the lost coin, looks inside our churches and hunts with a bright light for the gospel, intended for God’s people, but now beneath some outdated furniture.

Oh how God will rejoice when the church – the body of Christ – once again remembers its vocation and leaves its buildings and goes out into the world.

When the church sees the bright light on its midday road

And, understands it is being sent to those unlike itself.

Sent by the spirit to bring good news to the poor

Sent to visit and help free the bound and imprisoned,

Sent to feed the hungry and lift off the burdens of this world and our old faith

To heal the blind and sick and care for the widow and orphan

To invite the brokenhearted to find hope

And the sinful to find forgiveness

To live and work hand in hand with the gentiles of our day.

To partner with them, learn from them, and perhaps even be converted by God through them

To see that it is no church of Jesus when it hides away behind doors seemingly locked to the world around it…

Oh, when the people who call themselves church, see the light and are found and remember their gospel work…oh how the old woman God will laugh and dance and call all the world to rejoice. And, say, look what was lost has been found.

Only here then do we then contemplate the post conversion mission of Paul.

Only after a time of healing and coming to see again, in a new way, does he go here and there and uphold a vision of Christ like community – completely unidentifiable from the old religion he once defended.

Here then we see the faithful follower turned apostle, the one who was a temple disciple re-oriented, turned apostle of faith, uncomfortably sent to those unlike himself.

Here then is a mission reinterpreted. Our scales drop from our eyes.

We are able to hear Jesus’ words from Matthew…there is something more here, greater here, than the temple.

We understand better our being sent by the holy spirit, our traveling light and dependence upon God and the grace and hospitality of others.

We are able to see that our call like Paul is to go and nurture the seeds of Christ already sown by God in a world hungry for the experience of transcendence.

We realize we are to use our relationships and the situations in which we find ourselves bound - to offer a vision of God’s love and the benefit of prayer, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

We are to interpret the gospel through the cultural symbols and metaphors we find in our very context. Like Paul and the unnamed God of the Athenians.

After all Paul didn’t go to Athens saying I have developed a theology about God, and have a great idea of how I can convert people, all I have to do is find a place with an unnamed God in which to practice what I have learned.

No, he looks around him and sees an idol and, rather than denounce it, uses it to proclaim the gospel.

He empowers others and sends them out.

He encourages house churches, and synagogue communities, and travels to plant, and sow, and tend, and weed, and feed the growing numbers of followers who claim God in Christ Jesus.

He battles against any who seek to worship idols, he withstands imprisonments, snake bites, and stormy seas. Paul’s tenacious mission is nothing less than undaunted courage.

Paul’s is indeed a conversion from temple protector to missionary tent maker.

As the religious leaders of our day God invites us to see and understand that we are being called to just such a conversion, called to stop frustrating the mission of Christ to the world.

God doesn’t need us to protect God’s mission or god’s self. God shines a light on our own sinful desire to ensure the long life of tearing temple curtains and beckons us come and go, be converted, remember your calling, stop kicking and start walking.

For upon seeing clearly, in the midday light, with the scales falling form our eyes, I believe the church can and will, like Paul, set aside disobedience and once again catch God’s heavenly vision.