The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
June 2, 2019
Year C: The Seventh
Sunday of Easter
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14,
16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
Liberation
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
As
many of you know, I spent most of the last week on retreat at the Abbey of the
Genesee, a Trappist monastery in Upstate New York, about a five-hour drive from
here.
Believe
me, I realize how fortunate I am to have the chance to take this time away in
such a beautiful place.
As
someone who talks a lot – and is talked to a lot - I’m also thankful for the quiet.
The
retreat house was a place of silence. I didn’t say one word to the 15 people I
was staying with, which, I have to say, took a little getting used to, and was
especially awkward at mealtimes when we were all seated at long communal
tables. The only thing more uncomfortable than eating with strangers is eating
silently with strangers! I didn’t know where to look so I mostly just kept my
eyes down on my food.
The
quiet for those of us on retreat mirrored the lives of the Trappist monks, are
largely silent, and spend their lives focused on work and prayer.
For
work, these particular monks bake and sell bread – called “Monks’ Bread”, of
course – which I can tell you is delicious and seems to be pretty popular in
the area, judging by the busy bread store on the abbey property.
And,
for prayer, the monks gather in their abbey church five times a day, starting
at 3:30am and concluding at 7:30pm.
For
me, and I suspect everyone there, the highlight of the retreat was the chance
to pray with these monks – men, many of them quite elderly, who over the course
of their lives have in a way become one with their prayer.
At
least to someone on the outside looking in, they seem to pray as naturally as
you and I breathe.
Those
days of praying with the monks and alongside other visitors reinforced for me
my belief in the importance of weekday worship, not just for monks but for all
of us.
Here at our church,
our service schedule is nowhere near as ambitious as what the monks do – and
there’s zero chance of us offering a 3:30am service, I can tell you that - but
for almost six years now we’ve kept to our cycle of three weekday services and Communion
on most holy days.
From
the start, Morning Prayer on Thursdays at 7:30 has been the least attended and these
days it’s pretty much just Vanessa and me and one or two others who join us.
I
understand why that’s the case, for people getting ready for school or work
there may just not be enough time and for people who are retired the idea of
getting up and out that early may not be very appealing.
I
understand why Morning Prayer is so lightly attended but I still find it too
bad because it such a great way to begin the day – especially because Morning
Prayer offers so many beautiful and powerful canticles, which are songs of
praise usually taken from the Bible.
For
example, over the course of the Easter Season we have been saying the canticle
called “The Song of Moses,” which is taken from the Book of Exodus and recalls what
is the central story for the people of Israel, the story of God leading them
out of slavery in Egypt and into the freedom of the Promised Land.
“With
your constant love you led the people you redeemed, with your might you have
brought them in safety to your holy dwelling.”
Week
after week throughout Easter we’ve been reminded that God is a God of
liberation.
Liberation.
Liberation is a
theme runs through the whole Bible.
True story: here
in America and also in the West Indies, some slave owners did some serious
editing of the Good Book before they let their slaves hear it – cutting out
anything that might give the slaves ideas about liberation but, of course, since
that idea is on nearly every page, the slaves managed to get the message,
anyway, singing songs about God leading them to freedom.
So
much of the life and ministry of Jesus was all about liberation – liberating
people from the demons that held them captive – liberating people from the
prison of selfishness – and, most of all, liberating people from the fear of
death.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
And,
the Church is really being the Church when we allow God to work through us,
liberating people from what holds them – what holds us - captive.
And
we hear that story of liberation loud and clear in today’s lesson from the Acts
of the Apostles.
Paul
and Silas and some other early Christians arrive in Philippi where they
encounter a slave girl who makes money for her owners through divination,
through fortunetelling.
Remember
how In the Gospels, it’s always the demons who have no trouble identifying
Jesus, right?
Well, sure enough,
this slave girl recognizes these Christians right away as “slaves of the Most
High God” and, we’re told, harassed them for days until finally Paul gets “very
much annoyed” (I love that) and casts out the evil spirit from her.
Unfortunately,
the author of Acts doesn’t tell us anything more of her fate. I’d like to think
that free of the evil spirit she was now fully liberated but I worry that after
she lost what made her valuable to her owners, she suffered a terrible fate.
I’d
like to think that Paul and Silas followed up on her, but, unfortunately,
probably not.
And
reflecting on her story, I can’t help but think about the children – especially
girls – who are trafficked today, enslaved and then discarded when they lose
their appeal.
Well, no surprise,
the girl’s owners are furious to have lost their moneymaker, so they have Paul
and Silas brought before the authorities, who strip them, flog them, and throw
them into prison.
But,
despite their suffering, Paul and Silas remain faithful, singing and praying in
prison – knowing that no shackle is stronger than God.
We’re
told that they are freed by an earthquake, but they don’t flee, sparing the
life of the jailer who was ready to kill himself rather than face punishment
for failing to secure his prisoners.
And
the story concludes with the jailer and his family getting baptized and
becoming followers of Jesus.
What
a story of liberation.
The
girl is liberated from her evil spirit.
Paul
and Silas are liberated from prison.
And
the jailer is liberated from punishment or even death – and, maybe, from a pretty
terrible job.
God
is a God of liberation.
And,
the Church is really being the Church when we allow God to work through us,
liberating people from what holds them – what holds us - captive.
So,
that’s why we work alongside others in Jersey City Together, striving to
liberate people from unfair landlords, underfunded schools, and unsafe streets.
That’s
why we have a Sandwich Squad, that’s why we serve lunch at the homeless
drop-in, that’s why we donate to the food pantry – to liberate people from
hunger, at least for an hour or two.
That’s
why, like the monks, we set aside time for prayer – not just on Sunday but
ideally every day, liberating time that we so often take for granted and waste
– liberating at least a little bit of time by giving it to God who makes it
holy.
And,
that’s why we sing and shout “Alleluia!”
We liberate
people, including ourselves, by proclaiming that love is the strongest force in
the universe – stronger than the Pharoahs of the past or present, stronger than
who or what enslaves us, stronger than a maximum security prison.
Love
is stronger than death.
God
is a God of Liberation!
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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