Mother's Day 2015

                                                           Easter 6 2015 (Year B)

                                     Acts 10:44-48;Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

Father Adam Trambley

May 10, 2015 St.John’s Sharon

In this morning’s reading from the first letter of John, we hear a rather bizarre passage.  The Bible is full of things that make us go “hmm” at first, and we get one of them today.  After talking about loving the children of God and keeping his commandments and our faith conquering the world, we read:

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood.  So just what is John trying to tell us here?

In John’s day, some people disagreed about just how much of Jesus’ life and death were actually part of his work as the Messiah and to what degree he was the Son of God.  Apparently some of them were arguing that the most important part of Jesus work was done at his baptism.  We don’t know precisely what they were thinking because nobody bothered to spend the time to copy what they wrote over and over again for the past two thousand years, but they may have believed that God left the human Jesus before he suffered and died, or they may have felt like once the incarnation happened that nothing more was necessary, or they may have believed any number of things that belittled the importance of Jesus’ passion and death.  They believed somehow that when Jesus showed up, the important work was done.  Such ideas continue to show up from time to time today.

John, however, didn’t agree with that line of thinking in his day, nor would he be sympathetic to it now.  John points back to Jesus death on the cross, and reaffirms that Jesus came by the water and the blood.  We remember the scene described in the Gospel of John when a soldier came to make sure that Jesus was dead and thrust his spear into Jesus’ side.  Water and blood flowed out of the wound, and Gospel writer says that he himself saw the blood and the water.  The blood and the water are important to John.

Why are the blood and the water important? Because the blood and the water flowing out of Jesus side are tangible signs of just how far Jesus was willing to go out of love for us.  The blood and the water show the lengths that Jesus suffered and sacrificed to bring us eternal life.  As the reading from John’s Gospel says this morning, No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  Jesus’ love for us was so great, that he laid down his life for us. 

I want to take a detour here to talk a bit about Mother’s Day.  Mother’s Day is an incredibly joyous day for many, and an incredibly hard day for others.  But what John says today about Jesus coming can also speak to mothering.  Just like Jesus’ saving work was not accomplished only by water, so, too, Christian mothering is not really about creating a child, but is truly brought to fulfillment in the love that really does lay down one’s life for a child, whatever their age or whatever the biological relationship between a mother and a child.

In many cases, the sacrificial love of mothers starts in the act of pregnancy and giving birth.  I myself cannot describe more than second hand the kinds of care and concern that many expectant mothers feel or the changes in behavior to ensure their unborn child’s safety.  The very act of giving birth is difficult today, and in years past the numbers of deaths during childbirth made delivering a baby one of the most loving and potentially self-sacrificial acts outside of Jesus’ passion.  Yet, delivering a baby is but the beginning of what really makes a mother, and in many ways it is not a prerequisite for being a mother.

Just like Jesus came in the water and the blood, motherhood really comes in its fullness as mothers die to themselves in countless ways out of love for their children.  I’m sure we can all think on times that our own mothers gave something of themselves that went beyond anything we deserved or could reasonably ask for.  My guess is that most of those times we didn’t even know it until much later.  Many of you who are mothers can also point to times when your children pulled a level of love out of you that you didn’t even know you had until that very moment, when you were able to put aside your own wants and needs in ways that surprised yourself, or when you let go of something that had been central to your self-definition or your life up until then but just wasn’t so important anymore.  Mothers, too, we know share the sufferings and griefs of their children, just like Jesus bore our sorrows and walked with us even into death and hell.  Mothers’ sacrifices are not salvific in the way Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is, but the love poured out in them is profound and their prayers are heard on high.

Of course, none of the profound love in action that defines true motherhood is limited to biological childbearing.  In fact, even the fiercest of natural affections pales before the power of Christian love enacted by carrying out Jesus’ commandment to care for his children.  In some cases, that love is all the more powerful when it comes from non-biological mothers.  Should anyone doubt the importance of these arrangements, Jesus himself created a non-biological family on the cross when he told his beloved disciple, likely John who wrote both the letter and the gospel we hear today, that Mary was now his mother and that John was now her son.   The real work of motherhood, the day-in, day-out almost unnoticed acts of love combined with the occasional incredibly difficult or extravagant actions, can be done by many people who are not biological mothers but who step in officially or unofficially to change children’s lives.  Some might be legally adoptive moms, but others are the women who step up consistently because a child of God needs a mother in some way, and they are willing to do the hard and Christ-like work of loving mothering. 

John tells us that we know God by loving the children of God.  In many ways, then, mothering is not only a commission to love someone who is dear to us, but also a path to God.  As we, whether mothers or fathers, grandmothers or grandfathers, aunts or uncles, brothers or sisters, or in whatever other role we might have, as we give of ourselves to care for one of God’s children, we will come to know God through the love that we share.  What we do for God’s children, we do for him, and loving God’s children is actually loving God.  Offering our lives for one of God’s children is offering our lives for God, and God honors those sacrifices.  As we love a child deeply, we will find the face of God in that child. 

So on Mother’s Day, we honor especially those who come not only with a Hallmark Card, but we honor those mothers, in whatever capacity, who came following Jesus and continually offering their lives for the  love for God’s children. 

The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)

                                                           Easter 5 2015 (Year B)

                                Acts 8:26-40;Psalm 22:24-30; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8

Father Adam Trambley

May 3, 2015 St.John’s Sharon

In this morning’s reading from Acts, Philip has been preaching the gospel in a city of Samaria.  Philip, you might recall, was one of the first deacons.  The apostles commissioned the deacons to help ensure that the widows were got their meals on wheels on schedule, whether they spoke Aramaic or Greek.  Instead, the deacons we know about, Stephen and Philip, end up engaging the very practical and essential matters of evangelism.  We assume that everyone kept getting fed, but the deacons start doing a whole lot more

After successful ministry spreading the good news in Samaria, which is north of Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord tells Philip to take the road south of Jerusalem toward Gaza.  Philip has to walk back to Jerusalem and then keep heading southeast toward the Mediterranean coast through a wilderness area.  As he’s walking along in the middle of nowhere, he hears a chariot coming from behind him.  The chariot was probably something to see, both because it was foreign and because it was huge.  Philip didn’t see one of the Roman racing chariots we think of from the movies with one or two guys standing up and holding on.  This chariot was big enough for an important official to have a seat where he could read a scroll that was probably a couple of feet high, while another person drove and Philip still had room to jump in.  We’re talking the Hummer of chariots, probably with the state seal of Ethiopia on it, being pulled by at least two or three good sized horses decked out in whatever colorful accessories horses of high-status sported in those days.  Philip is probably starting to step back off the road to get a good look and to keep from being run over, when the Spirt tells him to “Go over to the chariot and join it.”

So Philip runs up beside the chariot.  Gratefully for Philip, the chariot had a long way to go before they got home to Ethiopia, so the horses were probably walking and not galloping.  Philip hears the Ethiopian reading from Isaiah and asks if he understands what he’s reading.  The Ethiopian says, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” and invites Philip in.  The scroll is open to one of the suffering servant passages and the eunuch asks who the passage is written about.  That question gives Philip the opening to tell the Ethiopian all about Jesus, beginning with the scripture open in front of them.

They come across some water, and the Ethiopian eunuch asks, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”  That question could be answered a number of ways, that we’ll come back to in a minute, but Philip’s answer is that nothing prevents it.  Philip and the Ethiopian go down into the water, the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized, and then the Spirt of the Lord snatches Philip up and drops him at Azotus, which is on the Mediterranean Coast north of Gaza, while the Ethiopian goes home rejoicing. Great story!

I want to unpack some aspects of this narrative that I think are important for us. 

The first is this question of the eunuch’s, “Look, here is water!  What is to prevent me from being baptized?”  Actually, any number of things might have prevented him.  Most importantly, he was a eunuch, and Deuteronomy 23 says that eunuchs will not be able to enter the assembly of the Lord.  Other Jewish groups, like the Essenes at Qumran, refused to allow eunuchs to join them.  On top of that, he was a foreigner.   We don’t know for sure if he was a gentile or an Ethiopian Jew, maybe a descendent of the Queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon hundreds of years earlier.  Either way, he worked for the Candice, which was what they called the Queen in Ethiopia, so he probably participated in any number of official religious ceremonies.  We don’t know for sure, and Philip may not have known either.  On top of that, this guy, who was treasurer of Ethiopia, was probably not leaving his job to move to Jerusalem or Samaria where he could join the local church and bring his pledge in every week.  None of these issues matter to Philip – or maybe they did matter to Philip, but the Holy Spirit told him not to worry about them and baptize him anyway. 

Then, when Philip baptizes the eunuch, the Ethiopian is sent out on his own as a new Christian to live out the Christian life.  Here, I think, is where things get really interesting.  Philip is taken away by the Spirit and the Ethiopian has to respond to his baptism in his own way, in his own place, guided solely by God.  Scripture doesn’t tell us what he did, but church history does.  One of the earliest Christian churches is found in Ethiopia.  Ethiopian translations of scripture are some of the earliest translations that we have.  The Ethiopian church traces its foundation back to this eunuch baptized along the road by Philip.  We have no reason to doubt that this man of importance and learning, who sought God enough to drive a chariot hundreds of miles to Jerusalem and back while reading the scriptures along the way, and who was baptized by one of the first deacons, was exactly the type of person God would use to convert a nation to faith in his Son Jesus Christ. 

We should have the same trust in God’s Spirit to work through people that we baptize.  I work with a pastor who instructs everyone who he baptizes to tell the story of what God has done for them to as many people as they can in the next week.  Since the newly baptized usually have a lot of unbaptized friends, on the next Sunday some of them usually show up to be baptized, too.  That’s how churches grow.  Instead of ensuring people get the right theological understanding and doctrinal niceties before giving people permission to talk about their faith, we need to have everybody witnessing to the very straightforward story of what God has done in our lives to anyone who wants to hear it.  When the Ethiopian eunuch did that, a nation was converted.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the conversion of Ethiopia was prophesied in the Old Testament.  Isaiah 11:11 says that the Lord will reach out his hand to reclaim his people, and mentions Ethiopia (also known as Cush).  Zephaniah 3 mentions people calling on the name of the Lord from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, and Psalm 68:32 says, “Let Ethiopia stretch out her hands to God.”  Noteworthy, too, is that Isaiah 56 says that foreigners and eunuchs who do what is pleasing to the Lord will have a place in his temple and a memorial better than sons and daughters.  So everything that began with today’s reading was spoken about hundreds of years earlier in scripture.

We might also take note that the Ethiopian eunuch is reading the scripture in his chariot even when doesn’t understand it and doesn’t have anyone to teach him.  We might think, “Why bother?”  But if he didn’t take the step of seeking God, he wouldn’t have found him.  If he didn’t do the hard work of trying to understand the scripture, he wouldn’t have been able to formulate the questions he needed to ask so that he could understand.  If he didn’t do all of his own work, he might not have been given Philip to lead him the rest of the way. 

So, too, we need to pick up the Bible and read it.  Sure, some parts are difficult and some parts are boring and some parts aren’t particularly pleasant.  Some parts even challenge what we think we know about God and the church and Christianity.  But if we prayerfully read and come up with questions, God will bring people beside us who can help offer answers.  You can call me anytime with a scripture question, and I’m happy to answer it if I can, or I’ll go find an answer.  But there are others around who God might just send to help, too.  The truly amazing thing might be how much we will understand and be encouraged if we just start reading. 

This story also serves as a reminder that we can use our travel time for God.   We can listen to scripture or hear inspiring music on the radio or on CDs.  We can read the Bible or say our prayers while someone else is driving, maybe even reading them out loud so that the driver can join us.  (Here I means prayers beyond the ones we say for safety when we get into the car with certain family members – and parents of 16 year olds know what I’m talking about.)  

Also noteworthy here is that the story goes nowhere if Philip isn’t willing to go anywhere and do anything to accomplish Jesus’ work.  An angel says leave this city and walk through the wilderness. Philip says OK.  The Spirit says run up to a chariot, which had to seem like a really bad idea, but Philip did it.  Philip baptizes a guy with a national treasury at his disposal, and before he can even say thank you, God picks Philip up and drops him somewhere else, and Philip walks up the coast and just starts proclaiming the good news wherever he is.  Are we willing to do that?  Do we trust God enough to drop everything and follow his lead?  Would we be willing to risk going way out of our comfort zone for the opportunity to share what God means to us with some random stranger in a way that could lead thousands of people to a new life?  The lesson of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is that one divine appointment can have a ripple effect in countless lives, so we want to be open to every encounter God wants to give us anytime, anyplace, anywhere with anybody.

Finally, I want to mention how much hope there is for the church in all of the stories in this eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.  At the end of chapter seven, Stephen is stoned as the first martyr and a general persecution of the church begins in Jerusalem.  Everyone but the Apostles scatters to other places.  But that very scattering leads to the gospel being proclaimed from Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth according to Jesus instructions.  Philip has to leave Jerusalem, so he goes to a city of Samaria and heals people and casts out demons and preaches the word of God and there is much rejoicing in that city.  Then he is instructed to go down this wilderness road and meets the Ethiopian eunuch and the good news spreads further. 

We are in a time when the church has some difficulties.  While the church in America is not facing persecution, we can look around and realize that things are not quite what they once were.  I have been working with a number of folks from throughout the Episcopal Church who actually believe that this is an opportunity for God to begin a new dynamic phase of growth and evangelism.  This group, called the Acts 8 Moment, is looking at how we proclaim resurrection in the Episcopal Church through prayer, evangelism, and effective communication and social media strategies.  Some of us were in Columbus last week to prepare for General Convention this summer, and drafted a number of resolutions, including a call to the church to refocus on the core components of Christian discipleship and a proposal for church planting and for existing church revitalization.  I’ll give you all more details as we dot the i’s and cross the t’s over the next month.

I also believe that we have a similar Acts 8 Moment here at St. John’s.  I truly believe that God has been laying groundwork for the coming season to use us for the revival and renewal of this community.  To do so, we might get scattered a bit, and have to follow the Spirit down some wilderness roads and approach dudes in some very strange chariots.  Nevertheless, if we are prayerful and faithful and willing, we will have incredible opportunities for fruitful ministry.  I don’t know the details, and almost all of it will come from you faithfully taking the next right step and not out of any brilliant plan from the priest.  But if we are willing to follow, God will lead us where he wants to use us. 

When they came up out of the water…the eunuch saw [Philip] no more, and went on his way rejoicing. May all whom God calls us to encounter, go on their way rejoicing because they know Jesus more deeply.