When Jesus Works from Home

When Jesus Works from Home

Live from Lynn, it’s “Godspell”.

Hello, this is Fr Paul Bresnahan. I’m a priest of the Episcopal Church.

Welcome back to “Godspell”: a time to spell it out.

Who is God, and how is God involved in our lives?

“Godspell” is a nice old English word for the Gospel or, what I call, the language of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Silence

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

A Statement of Belief, “Belief” not in the sense that we understand it all, but “Belief” in the sense that this is what we have committed our lives to.

The Apostles' Creed, The Creed of our Baptism, for today please note especially the part about Jesus’ Ascension to the right hand of God,

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
    creator of heaven and earth;
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
    He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
        and born of the Virgin Mary.
    He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
        was crucified, died, and was buried.
    He descended to the dead.
    On the third day he rose again.
    He ascended into heaven,
        and is seated at the right hand of God.    He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
    the holy catholic Church,
    the communion of saints,
    the forgiveness of sins
    the resurrection of the body,
    and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Collect for Ascension Sunday: 

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The Lectionary assigns the following to be read for this Sunday. How often I find serendipity in something as seemingly arbitrary as the Lectionary;

Epistle: 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. 

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Gospel: John 17:1-11

1 Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you…6 ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word…9I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours…11And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

“When Jesus Works from Home”

Dear friends,

Christian folk believe that Jesus Ascended into heaven and sits at the Right Hand of God, from there he judges the living and the dead.

It had never really occurred to me until this week, this year, this Ascensiontide during this pandemic; like many of us Jesus Works from Home. It brought a smile to my face. But I think it bothered Jesus. Look at his prayer in today’s Gospel; "And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

Imagine it! If we could be One, just like Jesus and God are One. Imagine our political and religious differences evaporating in obedience to such a prayer as this. Imagine all of us no matter what race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, or orientation; imagine us one in Jesus. 

The Mayor of Boston asked us to work from home if at all possible now that Governor Charley Baker has begun to open things up once more. Marty Walsh is worried about a fresh outbreak if we open up too soon. 

Our Bishops have made it clear. The Church buildings are closed until July at the earliest. But the church is not closed. 

As Bishop-elect Deon Johnson of the Diocese of Missouri recently said:

“The work of the church is essential.

The work of caring for the lonely, the marginalized, and the oppressed is essential.

The work of speaking truth to power and seeking justice is essential.

The work of being a loving, liberating, and life giving presence in the world is essential.

The work of welcoming the stranger, the refugee and the undocumented is essential.

The work of reconciliation and healing and caring is essential.

The church does not need to "open" because the church never "closed." 

We who make up the Body of Christ, the church, love God and our neighbors and ourselves so much that we will stay away from our buildings until it is safe to return.

We are the church.”

We look to Jesus for Hope during this experience. We know what he can do through us. While he was in our midst we recognized him as the Love of God made flesh and blood. Now that he has Ascended to the Right hand of God and is working from home, you and I have become the Love of God made flesh and blood. 

As Jesus forgives so we are forgiven. Moreover we forgive. We are the forgiven forgivers. As Jesus has compassion for us, so we have compassion for others. Jesus reconciled us to God on the Cross. That was hard work. So we are the reconciled reconcilers; the most difficult task of all for human beings. Somehow Jesus loved the unlovable. You and I are the beloved of God. We become the Christ like lovers of the unlovable. 

There are millions of us who buy this whole faith thing “hook line and sinker”. We happen to believe that the Baby was born in Bethlehem. He grew up and was Baptized in the River Jordan and a voice from Heaven said; “This is my Beloved Son, listen to him.” Some listen. Some don’t.

The story goes that he was driven into the Wilderness where he faced his own demons exactly like each of us.

Then he began to go from town to town healing the sick and the mentally ill. He cured the lame, gave sight to the blind and did so whether it was on the Sabbath Day or on any other day of the week. He sought out the the poor, the outcast, the prostitute and  the tax collector. For Jesus there were no classifications like we use by race, ethnicity, class, gender or orientation. For Jesus, we were all one in his love.

Somehow he managed to offend the religious and the political authorities. Ultimately he sealed his fate by overturning the tables of the the money changers. So they trumped up charges against him, and held a trial of sorts. He was found guilty of a capitol offense; namely blasphemy. They said he claimed to be God. They crucified him. He died and was buried. 

Here’s where it gets dicey. We Christian folk also believe that he rose from the dead and manifestly appeared to his disciples and to hundreds of others. We believe all this. As I say, and as my grandmother said before me; “I can’t understand everything I know!”

We believe that Jesus Ascended into Heaven. There he Sits at the Right Hand. From there he is Judge of the “quick and the dead”. Notice the judgment is for the living and the dead. 

Judgment?

The image that comes to my mind is of the One who stretched out his loving arms on the hard wood of the Cross so that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 

The Cross is our guarantee of Forgiveness.

The criminal who died next to him spoke up with his dying breath and said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus replied, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise:

Of this Judgment John says, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world.”

And so Jesus is Victorious over both Sin and Death. Alleluia.

This is the work he does from home. 

I have Good News for you today. You are forgiven. All your sins. The big ones as well as the little ones. Even the ones that won't go away…those everyday habitual sins you wish you could be rid of. Forgiven. All Forgiven. Today, this is where our life begins in Jesus.

There are millions upon million of us who buy all this “hook line and sinker. We are the Easter People. And I am one of them.

Ascensiontide is the season when we celebrate the fact that Jesus now works from Home. 

You and I have work to do. Love one Another. See all those people out there who need you? Go on with you. Love one Another.” Amen.

Prayers for others

On this Memorial Day, there are so many to remember. Not only are there those taken from us in wartime, but add to that the 100,00 taken from us during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Look at today’s front Page of the New York Times, to get some kind of small sense of the cost to us of this current experience.

Add to that our prayers for those who mourn, and those who put their lives on the line every day for the rest of us.

And for those of us who, because of our own health concerns remain in self imposed isolation, I ask you, love one another. 

Lord’s Prayer

A Blessing

See that ye be at peace among yourselves, 

and love one another.

Follow the example of the wise and good

and God will comfort you and help you,

both in this world

and in the world which is to come.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

May He bring you home rejoicing

once again into our doors.

And may the Blessing of God the Most holy undivided and everlasting Trinity be upon you this day and always. Amen.