The Church of St. Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
May 2, 2021
Year B: The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 15:1-8
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
On a Wilderness Road
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Now, I’m not sure, but I think I may have mentioned to you once or twice before that baptizing people is one of my most favorite things to do is a priest.
No, it’s true.
And, Baptism is definitely near the top of the list of things I have missed during our long stretch of separation.
It is such a joy and privilege to initiate newcomers into the Christian community – to remind people that, in and through the water of Baptism, God makes an unbreakable – an indissoluble bond – with all of us.
No matter what we do or don’t do – no matter how many times we mess up – God will never give up on us.
Which is very good news, indeed.
And, since I love baptizing people so much, it’s no surprise that today’s first lesson, from the Acts of the Apostles, is a favorite.
The story of the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip is vivid, and mysterious, and moving – and I think it speaks to the hard times that we’ve been living through.
The story begins with an angel telling Philip to get up and go to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza – a road that is described as “a wilderness road.” That little aside tips us off that we’re in for an encounter with the Holy.
Throughout the Bible – and I’d suggest throughout our lives - encounters with the Holy seem to happen more frequently in wilderness places and times, maybe because it’s there and then, away from the familiarity of our usual routines, that we pay a little closer attention to what’s going on around us.
Anyway, it’s there on a wilderness road that Philip encounters the intriguing figure of the Ethiopian eunuch.
This important government official – the treasurer of a kingdom – has been far from home. He’s been up in Jerusalem to worship, but now he’s in his chariot making the long journey home to Africa.
The Ethiopian eunuch was almost certainly a non-Jew, a Gentile, but one who was drawn to the God of Israel – worshiping in the Temple and, as we see in this story, studying the Scripture.
There’s something endearing about the Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot, reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, trying to make sense of the words – it reminded me a little of some of our Church By Phone services when we’ve heard some difficult and puzzling Scripture passages – I can almost hear some of us scratching our heads, trying to figure out what these old words might mean, what they might say to us today.
Anyway, Philip arrives and the Spirit directs him, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
Philip does what he’s told, and, as we heard, Philip interprets Isaiah in light of Jesus – Philip proclaims the good news to this African, this outsider, this foreigner from a land that in the ancient world was almost the definition of faraway: Ethiopia.
And, then, in my favorite part of the story: the Ethiopian spots some water and asks Philip, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
What indeed!
So, Philip baptized the Ethiopian – perhaps the first African Christian – who continued on his way home, rejoicing.
And, it all happened on a wilderness road.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Looking back on the past year of the pandemic and economic troubles and political instability - and looking ahead to an uncertain future for us all - doesn’t it feel like we’re on a wilderness road, too?
And, yet, here in this unfamiliar place, we’re having encounters with the Holy, too.
Philip squeezed into the chariot to sit beside the eunuch, studying the Scriptures together, taking a journey to the water of Baptism.
In the same way, one of the paradoxes of this long time apart is that many of us have somehow managed to grow closer to each other – and we’ve allowed God to grow closer to us.
And, that’s been God’s great desire all along.
As we heard in today’s lessons from the First Letter of John and the Gospel of John, God desires to be so close to us – close to all of us no matter how far from home we may be – no matter how far apart we may be – God desires to be so close to us.
God invites us to “abide” in God – God invites to dwell in God – to be held close by love.
God desires that we be as close as a branch to the vine, a branch that depends on the vine for life itself.
I confess that over the past few days it’s been really hitting me that our time with all of you here at St. Paul and Incarnation is drawing to a close.
I’m feeling the pressure of all the many things that need to get done over the next couple of weeks to make sure I leave the church in as good shape as I can.
And, of course, even under the best of circumstances, moving is a stressful experience – figuring out what we’ll give away or throw away and what we will pack and take with us – lining up movers – wondering what our new life will be like – as we relocate from a place we know so very well to a place where I’m going to need to use the GPS just about every day.
And, there are all the good-byes and the ending of relationships, or, at least, facing the hard fact of a new and unsettling distance between us.
But, while it’s been a hard week on the wilderness road, I’ve also had some beautiful reminders of our closeness – the kind of closeness that God desires for us – the closeness that Jesus offers us – the closeness of the branches to the vine – the closeness that is the very essence of love – the closeness of the water of baptism.
In a sermon a few months ago, I mentioned how, about eleven years ago now, Sue and I moved to Gainesville, Florida, where I was the chaplain at the University of Florida and rector of a small church called St. Michael’s.
We ended up staying there for only a year. We met lots of lovely people but it was a hard time for us. And, when I announced that I was leaving I felt like I had failed, letting down a whole lot of people.
Looking back on it, our Florida year was for us a wilderness road where we encountered the Holy. It was a journey that has continued to bless us.
First of all, cats joined our family that year. For a time we were minor celebrities at the Gainesville PetsMart: the couple who adopted three cats in one day!
But, we’ve also kept in touch with several of our Florida folks – especially Tina and Jean – who, over all these years and despite the distance that separates us, have gifted us with their friendship and support.
And, as I’ve mentioned, during the pandemic, some other Florida people have been calling into Church By Phone and joining us here on Facebook.
All quite amazing.
And then just the other day, I looked at my phone and saw that I had missed a call from a Gainesville number. I listened to the message and heard the voice of someone I hadn’t heard from, hadn’t talked to, in a decade: Annetta.
Annetta was a parishioner at St. Michael’s. Each Sunday, she and her husband and a friend would ride in a minivan from their retirement community to church. They were all kind and faithful people and I was very fond of them. But when I left, I figured that was it.
Well, anyway, I called Annetta back and she asked if I remembered her, and I said, “Of course, I remember you!” It turned out that she had called me because someone had told her that we were broadcasting our services and – after all this time and distance - she wanted to know how to find us. We talked for a time, picking up right where we left off, filling in each other on the big events of the past decade of our lives.
By the way, Annetta will be 100 years old this December!
And, as we talked, I felt myself getting choked up, amazed by the closeness I still felt even after all this time and distance.
And, it all happened on a wilderness road.
So, now wait a minute. I can’t remember, have I mentioned to you how much I love baptizing people?
Well, as we approach the end of this little stretch of wilderness road that we’ve been walking along together, I’m so pleased and excited that on my last Sunday here – May 30 – we will have a Baptism.
Our much-loved parishioners Luis and Sima have asked that their beautiful daughter Lina Sofia be baptized. The hope is that, just like the Ethiopian and Philip, it will be an outdoor baptism during our afternoon service.
In any event, just like for the Ethiopian, there is surely nothing to prevent Lina from being baptized.
And, honestly, I can’t think of a better way to conclude my time here – celebrating the unbreakable – indissoluble – bond that God will make with Lina – one last chance for us to celebrate together the unbreakable, indissoluble, bond that God has made with us all.
Because the truth is that whether we’re in Ethiopia or Florida or Jersey City or, yes, Maryland, God desires to be so close to us.
God invites us to “abide” in God – God invites to dwell in God – a bond held together by love.
God desires that we be as close as a branch to the vine, a branch that depends on the vine for life itself.
And we know this is possible – we know this is true - because, just like the Ethiopian and Philip, we have encountered the Holy - on a wilderness road.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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