22 Pentecost/Year C
November 10, 2019
Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22;
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; Luke 20:27-38
Our stewardship/pledge season for this year began just a few weeks ago. I’ve been reflecting on some of Bishop Mark’s 5 challenges to the churches this coming year that he introduced at the diocesan convention last month…Those 5 areas he lists are for the people of God, the children of God, to pray, study, serve, give and share…share the good news of God’s love with one another…
The challenges in these five areas encourage us to focus on growing and strengthening our relationship to God and one another instead of getting caught up in worrying or stressing about our average Sunday attendance numbers, or membership numbers or other statistics that keep us from focusing on the mission and purpose of the Church…which is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. And in our Catechism section in the book of common prayer, we are reminded that the Church carries out this mission through all its members…through all of us…as we are each (uniquely) called in pursuing this mission, through prayer and worship, proclaiming the Gospel, and promoting justice, peace, and love. (BCP 855).
I use the word uniquely…but I think another word I am looking for here…is authentic…meaning…you, as a child of God…a child of the resurrection, as you are named and welcomed in baptism…You have a story to share, that is authentic to you…a story that proclaims the Gospel…the good news of God’s love, as you have experienced it, in your life…
A good news story…that says, Yes…I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this is how He matters in my life now…and yes, I have a story worthy to share of a time in my life when I was changed and transformed by His love, from death into new life, resurrection life…
When I thought all hope was lost and I was searching for something to hold onto, another person shared a story that helped me find hope again…. when I thought I would never get over the death of a loved one, another person shared their story of grief, and their journey of moving through grief into a new and meaningful life, that helped me dare to take new steps forward…when I thought that I could not bear one more moment of suffering or fear of the unknown…the love of God, made known to me, through another angel of God, in the sharing of her story…touched my life…in a way that affirms in my heart what I may not always fully understand…that Yes…I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ…and yes, I believe He matters in my life now…and yes, I believe that His love and resurrection is for all people…and yes…I believe this is a story worth sharing…a story of God’s love for all God’s beloved children… a story of God’s love for the world, that matters today…and for all of eternity…
I can’t help but think of other kinds of stories that are shared every day…in our newspapers, across our tv screens, our computer screens, our phone screens…stories that can easily sway us to doubt and not believe in the resurrection…(just as the Sadducees into today’s gospel who say there is no resurrection)…There are those stories we see and hear over and over again that seek to distract us from the good news of God’s love active in our world today …stories that seek to bind us to fear…stories that seek to take away our brothers’ and sisters’ human dignity…stories that cause divisions in the human family…
…stories that lead to war with another, stories that rob people and countries of their peace, stories that promote hatred and injustices…
Are these the stories we want to be sharing with our children? Are these really the stories we want to keep telling ourselves and one another? Are these the stories we want to believe in? The stories that are dominating all of our news feeds?
Do we really want to keep spreading these types of stories that others try to use to “prove” or “trick” others into believing that there is no resurrection? That there is no God? That there is no Jesus that we should be following?
This is exactly what the Sadducees in today’s gospel were attempting to do…they were trying to trick Jesus and trap Jesus into somehow proving that there was no way resurrection could be true or possible.
They were perhaps trying to silence his message of the resurrection.
But the good news proclaimed through the resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be silenced. The love of God cannot be silenced.
And Jesus illustrates that today, when he responds to the Sadducees’ question about marriage and resurrection. Jesus doesn’t get caught up in their trick question and go round and round with them, buying into their runaway train of thought. He doesn’t try to “trick or trap them” to prove anything. He just responds with the Good News of God’s love and presence and evidence of the resurrection of the dead from the very beginning… as shown to them through the story of Moses and the burning bush…where Moses speaks of the Lord...as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
Jesus simply shares a story that points to the love of God’s presence and example of one’s personal experience regarding resurrection.
And then Jesus sums up the heart of the resurrection message in today’s gospel, with the good news of God’s life-giving love, when he says to them…Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.
The Good News of believing in the resurrection, is the assurance for all Gods’ children, and for all the saints who have gone on before us, that in life and in death, for today and tomorrow, for all of eternity…we are never out of the reach of God’s love….we are alive in the presence and hands of God’s love and compassion…we are alive and united to one another in Christ through the love of God and all that is gracious in Him… and we are made a new creation every time, we are re-assured of God’s love through the witness and stories of resurrection shared by others…stories that remind us…that death does not have the final say…stories that remind us to hope…stories that remind us to begin again…to take heart…to be courageous…to be faithful…
Our mission, as a Church, as the body of Christ, the hands and feet of God in this world now…is to go and share this resurrection Good news with the world, through our stories, through prayer and worship, proclaiming the Gospel, and promoting justice, peace, and love….
And I also say to you… that we can do all of these well…when we take the time to sit down with one another…and simply share our own authentic selves, our own resurrection stories of how the love of God has transformed our lives…
There is a world out there, filled with people who are hungry for good news…There are people who are out there who are unsure of what or who to believe in and hope in anymore….and your story may be the very words of hope that one person needs to hear today…your resurrection story may be a matter of life or death for them…
Assure them…that God is all about love…that Jesus is the person who embodies this love and has walked among us, is walking with us, and will walk with us when he comes again…Assure them, that their lives truly matter…because of Jesus’ love for them: His life, death and resurrection matters today…and for all of eternity…
This is the story we are called to share…
Lift Every Voice and Sing II - #64 I Love To Tell the Story
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story,
Because I know it's true;
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else would do.
I love to tell the story;
Twill be my theme in glory.
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story,
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it, like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
'Twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long.
Refrain
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska