St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
June 1, 2014
Year A: The Seventh
Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:6-14
Psalm 68: 1-10, 33-36
1 Peter 4:12-14,
5:6-11
John 17:1-11
While We Wait
Well,
believe it or not, today is the Seventh Sunday after Easter.
We’re
actually still doing pretty well with the Alleluias but otherwise things have mostly
returned to normal. The Easter lilies are all long gone. My wife Sue planted
some of them on the church grounds and a few others remain in their pots on the
rectory porch. Whether in the ground or on the porch the lilies are waiting –
they are in-between Easter joy and what is yet to come.
For
many of us, let’s admit it, even the memory of Easter is beginning to grow
faint. We’ve long since pretty much returned to our normal lives and our
everyday routines.
Yet,
it’s still – just barely – Easter.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
We
had quite a week here at St. Paul’s.
As
many of you know, the installation of the air conditioning here in church was
completed. It was a major project that will improve our common life here at St.
Paul’s – and it’s a real vote of confidence in our present and future ministry
sharing Christ’s life and love in our little corner of Jersey City.
On
Wednesday we had our monthly healing service at the Liberty House nursing home
on Montgomery Street. This is a new ministry that we’ve been doing for the past
five or six months. Although we haven’t spoken too much about it, and only a
few of us have been involved, I think it’s an increasingly important and
beautiful gift that we are giving to the residents over there – many of whom, I
suspect, don’t get too many visitors and don’t have too much light and joy in
their lives.
Instead,
they spend much of their time waiting – in-between a happier past and whatever
is yet to come.
As
it happens, this month we had the biggest crowd yet – about 30 residents were
there - and it was just Ace Case and I leading the service.
Ace’s
singing and guitar playing shot a joyous ray of light penetrating through the
mental fog that enshrouds many of the people there. I wish you could’ve seen
their faces as he played and sang… and played and sang…and played and sang… as
I made my way through the room anointing each member of our congregation with
Holy Oil and saying a short prayer.
And
then we said our goodbyes for another month. But before we left, one of the
women there asked us to pray for them. I said something that I’ve said many
times before in similar situations,
“OK,
let’s make a deal. I’ll pray for you if you pray for me.”
This
captured her imagination and she repeated it a couple of times, including one
last time when we were waiting for the elevator. Although that time she
admitted that after a couple of days she’d probably forget.
I
didn’t say it, but I thought, me too, probably.
And
then on Thursday it was Ascension Day – that principal feast forty days after
Easter when we remember Jesus being taken up from heaven, leaving his disciples
standing on the mountain, staring up into the sky.
Ascension
Day doesn’t get too much attention around here. I think that’s partly because
Ascension Day always falls on a Thursday and partly because it’s hard for some
of us to wrap our minds around the idea of Jesus – the physical, resurrected
Jesus – ascending into the heavens.
Not
too many people were in church on Thursday, but that’s OK because fortunately
we get the story again in today’s first lesson, from the Acts of the Apostles.
Notice
up there on the mountain the apostles ask the Risen Jesus if this is the time
when Israel will be restored. Is this it, finally? Will our wait finally be
over?
Jesus
replies, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has
set by his authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
But,
first, more waiting. The apostles are waiting in-between Jesus ascending into
heaven and the gift of the Holy Spirit ten days later on Pentecost.
And
what did the apostles do during this time of waiting? We’re told they were
together – men and women - in the upper room “constantly devoting themselves to
prayer.”
During
that in-between time, while they waited, the apostles prayed.
According
to the church calendar, today you and I find ourselves in an in-between time.
Easter is receding into the past, Ascension was a couple of days ago and next
Sunday we’ll celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
On
Pentecost, we’ll have a raucous celebration with different languages spoken,
lots of Holy Spirit music, a bunch of baptisms and a wonderful picnic.
But,
beyond the church calendar, in a deeper sense, we live in an in-between time.
We
live in the in-between time after the Resurrection and before the return of
Jesus at the end of time.
And
what are to do during this in-between time?
Well,
there’s certainly a lot to do – plenty of people in need – many people hungry,
homeless, despairing who could use our help.
But,
like the apostles who left the mountain and returned to the upper room in
Jerusalem, first we are to pray.
We
are to pray, especially together here in this beautiful, old, holy and, yes,
now air conditioned place.
During
this in-between time, we are to pray for all the suffering people here with us
today and out there in our community and around the world.
While
we wait, we are to pray for the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria only
because they wanted to read, study, learn and improve themselves.
During
this in-between time, we are to pray for the thousands of victims of gun
violence – to pray for all the frightened people who feel the need to arm
themselves to the teeth – to pray for the deranged people who get their hands
on these weapons and do horrible things – to pray for our broken society and
dysfunctional government that grieves each time this happens but has little
interest in doing anything about gun violence, or any other kind of violence
for that matter.
While
wait, we are to pray for unity – unity in our own church, unity among all
Christians, unity among all of humanity. Let us pray Jesus’ prayer that we
heard in today’s gospel lesson, that we may be one as he and the Father are
one.
During
this in-between time, as the Easter lilies rest in the soil, as the apostles we
gaze up into heaven, as we await the great feast of Pentecost, let’s make a
deal – let’s make a deal to pray for the residents at Liberty House, to pray
for the patients at Christ Hospital, to pray for each other.
During
this in-between time, while we wait, let’s make a deal. I’ll pray for you if
you’ll pray for me.
And
if we pray while we wait, God will use our prayers, slowly transforming us and
the world into what God has always dreamed we could be.
God
will use our prayers to build a world where each day will feel more like
Pentecost – a world where every day can be a little Easter.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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