Isn't this fun!

 Isn’t this fun!

He Qi "The Good Samaritan"

Two weeks ago I “retired” and celebrated 50 years of ordination. I did not put myself on the supply list and all I wanted was to take a few months off before deciding what else to do with my life. 

But then Edwin emailed me, and this is St. Mary’s, and my son David does go to church here, and I do know many of you, so how could I say; “No?”

Which brings me back to my priesthood and us to the question of the day; Eternal Life? I was confronted with that question early on in life because my dad died when I was eight years old. The whole question of life and death and what happens when a loved one dies was front and center even before I knew how to fully comprehend or process the enormity of that kind of loss or those kinds of questions.

Eventually, after more than a year of sadness and bewilderment I came to understand that the Silence I poured out my heart to in the night season was actually God, and Jesus and that that most beautiful Hagia Sophia; or the Holy Spirit as we call her liturgically. 

Then I read the Gospel and I discovered that Eternal Life has more to do with the here and now than the bye and bye. To be sure it involves both but Jesus consistently redirects us to the more immediate concerns of life and the living. 

When the lawyer in today’s Gospel questions Jesus about “eternal life” it is easy to think that he is talking about what he needs to do to make his way toward heaven. 

Jesus’ answer is the first and great commandment; The Shema: 

Hear O Israel “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.” In traditional Judaica that’s the sum and total of it.

But Jesus doesn’t leave it there. He adds “and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He lifts those words from Leviticus 19:18b. One half of one verse of all the hundreds of rules in the Levitical law code, but Jesus homes in on only one. 

Jesus puts our social responsibility on a par with our responsibility to God. We are not required to love one or the other. Jesus says we are required to love both. 

At the end of his life we face another shift in teaching. So important is our social responsibility that when he faced the final conflict, he make this law the New Commandment. 

Remember? At the Last Supper, after the foot washing, Jesus leaves them these words; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” ~John 13:34,35.

Eternal Life then is; first and foremost about the here and now. Don’t wait until you’re dead to live the Way of Jesus. It won’t do you much good then. No, let’s get on with it and live it now! 

Sacramentally, eternal life begins in our Baptism and we feed on it in the Eucharist. You may have heard a priest or two say; “The Body of Christ keep you in Eternal Life.” Or “The Body of Christ; the Bread of Heaven”. Biblically in the Gospel and Sacramentally in the Eucharist Jesus teaches us Eternal Life begins now.

Secondly, Eternal Life is relational. The lawyer wanted to justify himself, which is to say that he wanted to establish his righteousness, and so pressed the question with Jesus; “And who is my neighbor?” In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus holds up a mirror to the soul of the lawyer to demonstrate how far from righteousness he was. On that treacherous road from Jerusalem down to Jericho a certain man fell into the hands of robbers, leaving him half dead. The story strikes close to home. The ones we’d expect to be righteous, the priest and the levite, passed by on the other side. But it was the theologically, politically, and socially marginalized Samaritan who stopped and ministered to the victim of violence. 

Jesus seems to be saying that this is Eternal Life; when you see someone suffering, in sorrow, in pain or in any other kind of need; stop what you were doing and tend to that first. If you claim to love God then show it by loving your neighbor. God does not measure righteousness by the labels we wear, God measures us by how we treat one another. 

Eternal Life is about our relationships to God and to one another. 

Thirdly, Eternal Life is prophetic. It is about Justice. What did Amos see in today’s first lesson? He saw God “setting a plumb line in the midst of the people.” In this particular historic context, God was measuring the household of Jeroboam, and found it wanting. In those days, the power brokers were eager to get past the Holy Day observances so that the fraudsters could get back to business. Corporate greed is nothing new. I love reading Amos. It has such a contemporary sound to it. 

From ancient times our faith tradition requires us to look out for the poor and the vulnerable. This fragment from the Psalmist today is a case in point. 

It sings; 

“Save the weak and the orphan; *
        defend the humble and needy;
Rescue the weak and the poor; *
        deliver them from the power of the wicked.”

This is how we are to organize our lives; around the the needs of the poor and the marginalized. Jesus goes even further than biblical norms to be inclusive of tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers and sinners of all sorts. 

Where do we draw the line? You know the answer to that question. We draw it over our hearts and souls (making the sign of the cross)

Which brings me back to my initial point; isn’t this fun! To live in Eternal Life is to live inside the Joy of Jesus. It is here and now. It is about our living relationships with God and each other and becoming be agents of God’s Justice. 

Jesus said; “I have come to bring you life in all of its abundance.” ~John 10:10. And “I have told you these things that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” ~John 15:11. “Go and do likewise”.

Thank you for embracing me on such short notice today. I pray the church in Baltimore and Fr Edwin and all the rest are having a grand time of it living inside Eternal Life. Knowing Edwin and the Episcopal Church as I do, I have every confidence they’e having a wonderful time sharing all that life has to offer! Let us do likewise this day in Eternal Life!

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Below, the readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and highlights of those words and phrases that speak to my hearts and soul. 

The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

The Collect:

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Amos 7:7-17

This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.” Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

Psalm 82

God takes his stand in the council of heaven; *
        he gives judgment in the midst of the gods:
“How long will you judge unjustly, *
        and show favor to the wicked?
Save the weak and the orphan; *
        defend the humble and needy;
Rescue the weak and the poor; *
        deliver them from the power of the wicked.
They do not know, neither do they understand;
   they go about in darkness; *
        all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Now I say to you, ‘You are gods, *
        and all of you children of the Most High;
Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, *
        and fall like any prince.’”
Arise, O God, and rule the earth, *
        for you shall take all nations for your own.

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Gone Fishing!

Third Sunday After the Epiphany

January 22, 2017

In the Name of God the Holy Trinity.

This is the very name in which you have dedicated yourselves and this church. You have dedicated and consecrated this place to the strong name of the Trinity.

God 

Jesus

The Holy Spirit.

God as our Creator.

Jesus as our Savior.

The Holy Spirit, the Hagia Sophia, she who is our Holy Wisdom from on High. You do know that the word Spirit is “Sophia” in the Greek language and means “Wisdom”. She is a beautiful name and reflects the feminine side of God. Yes, of course you do.

And so you have dedicated yourselves and your church to all that is creative within and among you, all that saves yourselves and others, all that grants us wisdom, the holy wisdom from on high.

It is within the context of this very Holy Name that we begin our ministry together; 

In the Name of God; The Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

Cindy and I thank you for your welcome and are grateful to be in your midst here at Trinity Church. We are grateful for all those who have come before us, whose generosity and dedication have built this place. We thank God for all of them, for all of the Clergy who have dedicated themselves here including Fr. Phil, for all the laity who have given so selflessly to build this holy place. And I thank God for each and every one of you. It now falls to us to continue building up the body of Christ.

So lets get right down to it. 

Lets go fishing!

That’s how Jesus puts in today's Gospel to Simon Peter and Andrew; to James and John the fishermen. They cast their nets in Galilee as the old hymn sings it. Now, we are to go fishing for people. 

Let’s go see if we can “catch” some people for God. Each and every one of you, Jesus says; “You, I want you to go fishing for people!” Obviously Jesus wants us to bring the Gospel to the people. So, what do you suppose that means?

Let me put this very simply. The prophet Isaiah says: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”.

What is this deep darkness?

What is this great light?

It is very simple. You know the darkness of sin. Crime, violence, drugs, hatred, prejudice, oppression, inequality. In short; the darkness of our time is that so many of us live without purpose or hope.

This present darkness in which we live and the great light that has dawned upon us are reflected in the events of the past week. We celebrated Martin Luther King Day, then there was the Inauguration of the President of the Untied States of America, and following that yesterday there were marches in Washington, DC; Boston and all throughout this great land of ours. It is in the interplay of darkness and light that a divided nation now takes a sober look at the realities in front of us. I will leave it to you to figure out which of these events has to do with the Light and which with the Darkness. God help us! 

Similarly, as I look around this church and take a sober look at the work that lies ahead of us, I must confess all I can say is the same thing; God help us!

It is in the context of these realities; the reality of my country, and the one of my church that I look to God for help. That's when Jesus speaks to us through the Scriptures and the Sacraments. Jesus invites us to ministry.

Jesus wants us to bring purpose and hope to the people who are walking through the darkness.

The Gospel proclamation is simple.

“Christ has died 

Christ is risen

Christ will come again.”

In the very heart of today’s Eucharistic prayer we will say the same thing  with a slightly different turn of phrase;

“We remember his death,
We proclaim his resurrection,
We await his coming in glory”

That’s it in a nutshell

In our Baptism, we believe that not only has Jesus died, but we have died with him in a death like his, in order that we might rise with him in a resurrection like his.

Throughout our lives we are broken by sin, defeat and by many moments of death like disappointment. But with Jesus at our side and with God in our hearts, and with friends and family around us, we rise again.

It is our experience that no matter how many dreadful moments there are in our lives, we rise again, again and again.

In the darkest days of the Blitz in London, when the Nazis bombed the people, innocent people, unarmed people, Winston Churchill the old English Bulldog stood by their side to say. “When you are going through hell, remember, keep going!”

“Christ has died,

Christ is risen

Christ will come again, and again, and again”.

We never loose hope.

If this is the Gospel what then shall we do about it? This too is pure simplicity;

Love God

Love one another

Love yourself.

Yes I want you to go fishing. Jesus wants you to go fishing. 

Do you have any idea of how dark this world is? 

Of course you do. 

You know how desperate life is for so many. 

How dangerous life is when it is not filled with the fullness of God.

This is why you are here.

You are to show the world how much you love God, love one another and above all, love yourself.

Do not forget to love yourself.

Jesus did not say; “Love your neighbor instead of yourself”.

He said “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”.

If you have ever gone flying you know that the crew teaches us that if there is a loss in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down from above. So whose face do you put that mask on first? You or your baby? If you said; “your baby” you are tragically mistaken. 

You have precious little time in an emergency to save your life first and then your baby’s life. For if you minister to your baby first you may loose both the baby’s life as well as your own.

First save your own life and then you will have the wherewithal to save the lives of those around you.

This is how the Gospel works. First, be forgiven. That’s why Jesus died for you. This is the great news of the Gospel. You are forgiven. Now, live as though you are forgiven. This may take a while. It may take a lifetime but as you grow into your forgiveness, at the same time, forgive so that all may know of the power of God and the Gospel of Christ for yourselves well as for others.

Daily we die to sin, daily we rise to new life in Christ. This is how we are to live Baptized lives. You see, in the Gospel context we are the forgiven forgivers. This is the first sign we have hold of eternal life.

By the way, when you go fishing you may sit there hour after hour, day after day, week after week, and you won’t get so much as a nibble. When the warmer weather comes back and I take my evening walk, all the fisherfolk are down by Red Rock Park in Lynn where I live, and there they are hour after hour, day after day. To me, this is utterly boring, but not to the fisherfolk. One day I found out why. Suddenly there it was; “Fish on!”. It took three big men to haul this huge codfish in, and what excitement it caused. It was all worthwhile!

“Everybody’s coming over to my place for dinner tonight", said the fisherman.  "Everybody’s coming over to my place for the next week. There is enough fish here to feed everybody as much as they want for days on end!”

This is how it is with the Gospel. It may take days, weeks, months, years before you get a nibble, but when you finally hook one for Jesus, and by that, I mean when you save somebody from the brink of disaster, what joy there is in heaven and on earth. Then we summon everybody to Gods table. There is plenty for us all to eat and we feast on the power of Jesus’s resurrection. This is what makes it all worthwhile!

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again

Love God

Love one another

Love yourself.

And finally, what does God give you in the Gospel life?

Forgiveness

Eternal life

And joy without measure.

Depression, the pandemic disease of our time is gone. All the darkness is gone now when we take the Gospel into our own lives and when we bring others into the knowledge and love of God and one another. 

So now, I want you to go fishing.

Jesus wants you to go fishing. 

All the fish in the sea, by the way! The Baptismal Covenant requires of us that we respect the dignity of every human being. All the folk on the planet without regard to race,, class, gender, orientation, or national origin.

This above all rejoices the heart of God. This is eternal life as God would have us live it.

This above all brings joy to all our hearts that you bring yourself and someone else to the knowledge and love of God.

Lets go fishing!

In the Name of God the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.

Our Physical Connection to Jesus

The Strong Name of the Trinity

That’s a good question Nicodemus; “What must we do to inherit eternal life?”

And the answer class? Yes, “You must be born from above”. That is to say, you must be Baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Perhaps we can unpack that statement a bit. Let me begin with Patrick’s Breastplate. Being Anglo Irish by birth and blood, I have a predisposition to all things Celtic. In fact, I am looking forward to the annual Gathering of the Anamchara Fellowship which begins tomorrow outside Detroit. It is a community of religious, clergy and laity within the Episcopal Church, dedicated to the worship of God and service to the world. Last year, I was a speaker at their annual gathering and liked it enough to become a Companion with them. I am now their “Anamchara”, a Celtic word that means something akin to “soul friend”. I will have a special relationship to the leadership in particular as well as to the membership in general. The Anamchara Fellowship is the fastest growing monastic community in the Episcopal Church. I believe this is so because it satisfies some deep spiritual longing among God’s people and yet we remain dispersed as we are in our homes and communities as married, single, working, retired, professed nuns and monks, clergy, laity and so forth.

But back now to this idea about being born from above. St Patrick explores the idea in his invocation of God. He does so in far more ways than in the unidimensional "above". When Patrick binds himself to the strong name of the Trinity, he uses the ancient Celtic poetic form of a "lorica" much as it were body armor against the wiles of the Evil One. Here are the words which you can find in our Hymnal #370;

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

For Christians being born from "above", as it were, means that we see the sacred within time and place, in buildings like this one, or in our homes, and yes in our very lives. We see the sacred in God's created order. We see it in Christ, we see it in fellowship with one another. God becomes situated within the deepest places, in the center of our souls. That's where we meet God. In prayer we may use the pronoun "Thou" when we speak to God, or we may use the more contemporary; "You". Either way to inherit eternal life Nicodemus it takes a time and a place to practice the presence of the holy. You must be born from above.

In yesterday's wonderful confirmation service in New Bedford, Bishop Alan Gates reminded us that when he places his hands on the heads of the confirmands, he passes on an unbroken physical and spiritual connection between Jesus and his Apostles directly to each of those receiving confirmation and reception.

Robert, Chase, Katy, and James; just imagine, YOU have each received the spiritual and physical touch of Jesus and the Apostles in your very bodies and souls! 

As with all Christian folk we seek to be born from above, and to bind ourselves unto the Strong Name of the Trinity. We are all required to do this by Jesus as we make our way toward heaven and eternal life. We see Baptism as the primary means by which we come to God through Christ and within the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Mind you any human being can love and forgive with or without Baptism. Any human being can muster courage to reconcile feuding family and friends. Eventually that courage must also be extended to our enemies and those who wish us harm. Hopefully everybody is so dedicated, but we know for a fact that not all understand Baptism as we do; as a total makeover of the soul. Some will use the Sacred Name as a reason to engage in warfare and in acts of terror. Violence is the total antithesis to the teachings of Moses, Mohammed, and Jesus. 

As we understand it specifically as Christians, Jesus spoke most urgently of heaven and eternal life but not so much in terms of a place we go when we die. He saw heaven as more urgently to be practiced here and now for the sake of the human race and for the future of the planet we live on. As today's Gospel puts it; "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." This is why we must be born from above; Baptized. This is the eternal life Jesus seeks.

This brings us to Trinity Sunday.

Ah yes, and right away there is the debate about the Oneness and the Threeness of God. How can God be One when God is also Three? The Three in One and the One in Three? I don’t get into these great theological questions to tell you the truth. They are too difficult for me. 

Like some of the other quasi scientific/theological debates;

Did God create the world in exactly six days? 

And was the day of Creation October 23rd, 4004BC as computed

  by the 17th century Irish scholar and Bishop James Usher?

Did God create Adam and Eve in that first week?

Did Jonah live in the belly of a whale for three days?

Did Moses part the Red Sea?

Did Jesus walk on the water?

Did he feed 5000?

Folks, I know the difference between what is essential to my faith as well as what is perhaps something more metaphorical. At least I’m bright enough to know that much. As for the rest, I just don't trouble myself with such difficult questions. I am too much a lover of Science and Knowledge to blind myself to truth. I am too much a man of faith to dismiss what is essential to life.

Science gives some marvelous imagery to help us see the dynamic qualities of God. After all creation and life are created with the imprint of God. Think, for instance, of the sub atomic structure of the universe with its protons, electrons and a host of other particles whirring about in relationship to one another. Or the magnificence of the Milky Way spinning in space like a gigantic pinwheel, and the DNA molecule with its amazing complex of genetic markers winding around itself together in a double helix; the building bloc for all life on the planet. How glorious!

What makes God so strong to me though is not so much the physics of reality’s component parts. No. Stronger to me by far is the Love of God, that binds us to Jesus and the Holy Spirit and then to one another and ultimately to all flesh and blood.

That’s what makes the Name of God so strong to me.

It is in the experience of God’s love.

The Savior’s decisive power over sin and death.

And the Holy Spirit from on High, God’s Holy Wisdom the “Hagia Sophia”, she who is our Advocate and Guide, the Gift Giver, and the One who equips us for ministry.

This is what brought the Church to Proclaim the Strong Name of the Trinity. It was not a Doctrine; it was an Experience and, by God it continues to be an Experience.

There is so much work to do and so much joy to share so that we might fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

There are friends and enemies to love and reconcile.

There is sin to forgive, my own as well as others’.

There are diseases to be cured, the sick and the dying to visit.

There are the poor and those in prison to tend to.

There is a dangerous world out there at war and in terror and seeking the Peace that passes all understanding. Anybody want to take that one on?

There are lives shipwrecked; tossed up on the shores of addiction, depression, and all sorts of human weakness seeking to be freed from sin and yearning for redemption. 

So much to do as we seek to be born from above in a baptized life, living on purpose for God! As Michael Marshall, one time Bishop of Woolwich, was fond of saying; “Our mission is not so much to make good folks better, it is to make bad folks holy”.

Folks there is much to do. Places to go, people to see, life to be lived. That's why I bind unto myself this day the strong name of the Trinity. And that my friend Nicodemus is what it is to be born from above.

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen 

Fr Paul

Resurrection & Reality

The Business of Eternal Life

Part I-Beginning with Reality

Clergy often take a break after Easter. And so my wife and I went to see our son Joshua who recently moved to Charlotte, to see my brother and his wife and their daughter, and to see friends at St Mark's Church, in Saint Albans WV. We covered quite a bit of territory. 

While we were at St Mark's we met up with Chris and his beloved and their daughter. What a joy that was. As a parish priest, I had been through some good times and bad times with Chris. But then one day I reminded him that his name "Christopher" means, literally, "Christ Carrier". I am so proud of what Chris is doing with his life. He has chosen the way that leads to life.

Chris had told me of two friends who OD's on heroin on Easter day, leaving three children motherless and fatherless. They were good people. They were friends but they made some bad choices. And then they died. Their bad choices led to the way that leads to death.

This is precisely what I had preached on Easter Day. The Early Church taught that there are only two ways; the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.

This is reality.

When we speak of Eternal Life and Resurrection, which I plan to do in the weeks to come, let us always begin with Reality. This is the only place for spirituality to begin. In the REAL.

Reality. The present world clouds any hope we have of seeing eternal life or resurrection.  We live in a world filled with warfare and terror, inequality and injustice, religious fundamentalism and extremism which justifies violence in the name of God. We live in a world that is so secularized that we ourselves have our doubts of the Easter proclamation. We find ourselves often sympathizing with Thomas. “Not till I see it with my own eyes, not till I touch it with my own hands, will I believe it.”

We live between two realities; there is a way that leads to life and a way that leads to death. The Way that Leads to Life is the Easter Reality and the Way that Leads to Death is the given reality of the world we are born into. This is why the Church teaches that we must undergo a Baptism to a second birth so that we can die to sin and rise again to newness of life.

This is such an urgently vital teaching. It is a matter of life and death, and particularly of the many millions of us whose lives are so vulnerable.

How can we even begin to talk about eternal life and the resurrection of Jesus in such a world? 

Lets try Easter on as a Reality too! Peter claims to have been a witness to it as do the other disciples in today's first lesson. 

In today’s Gospel, we have an account of Jesus’ resurrection. He begins with these words; “Peace be with you”. A startling beginning! In the reality of the disciples’ experience there had been so much turmoil; from the jarring moments when Jesus entered the Temple precincts to overturn the tables of the money changers, to his trial and crucifixion; and then to the reports that the women brought to his rising again and then this: his first resurrection appearance! In the midst of all this overwhelming intensity of inner wonder and amazement, Jesus comes and stands in their very midst and says to them “Peace be with you!” Shhh, Peace, be still and know that I am God, as the Psalmist puts it. ~Psalm 46:10.

This is the second Reality. There is the Reality you and I live with every day. Then, there is the Easter Reality. I wondered how I would approach the Easter reality since the reality we live with every day is so much at dissonance with who Jesus is for us and for the sake of the world we live in. The Gospel’s mandate is that we proclaim forgiveness of sins to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. And I wondered, how well are we doing with that job?

Therefore I am preparing a series of reflections on the Reality of the world we live in as well as the Reality of the Resurrection of Jesus. I will be sharing these reflections with you in the coming weeks.

But let me begin with the simplicity of my own experience of resurrection and eternal of life.

What is Eternal Life?

For me, it is a life focused on the care and love of the I-Thou relationship within and among us all.

What I mean by that is precisely this; when I pray I become aware of the Other within me. The "Thou" within my heart. It is what the 12 Step programs call the “Higher Power”. It is what I call God. 

When I pray I become aware of a Peace that is within me, I become aware of the fact that I am not alone but that there are many with me who also pray near and far away.

But more immediately, I become aware of the I-Thou relationship within me. And then of course by extrapolation that I-Thou relationship is not only within me but also among us all. 

Eternal Life then for me is a focus on the care and love of the I-Thou within and the I-Thou among us all.

It is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is an indicator of Eternal Life and Resurrection. 

The Love of God, the I-Thou within and the love of all our neighbors, and the love of the I-Thou among us all.

We are, in this way connected to the All in All and forever by reaching out our hands and hearts to one another in  every small and significant way we can find or discover. 

This is the All in All forever.

This is how I begin to think of Eternal Life. It is alive within us now as we dare to Love. Love God, Love our neighbors, and love ourselves as God loves us. 

But the problem is that I still find myself living in the first Reality, where warfare, terror, disease, inequality, and oppression still exist and exist with a vengeance. 

And I find myself quite vulnerable in this Reality. That vulnerability makes me doubt the Easter Reality to tell you the truth. I know what Jesus says of all the conflict, violence and vulnerability we experience as a matter of daily truth. How can I love my enemy? How can I turn the cheek when he or she so violently strikes me on the first. Even more urgently how can I stand by when we face Genocide among Armenians, the Holocaust of the Jews, starvation among the millions of our brothers and sisters near and far away, or a thousand other indignities inflicted upon humankind by the agency of Evil. 

How can I stand by and watch Greed go hog wild, or the planet we live on be put to death by our own self indulgent appetites? How can I stand by and watch those I love die to the inevitability of one disease after another. And how can I stand by and live with my own vulnerability knowing where that ultimately goes to?

So we begin with the first Reality. It is there. It will not go away.

But there is Easter. There is the way that leads to Life just as there is the way that leads to death. This is serious business. Easter is a matter of urgency. The survival of humanity depends on it as does the survival of the planet as does the survival of young people or older people caught up in the snare of violence, despair, drugs, disease and depression.

Reality is with us but there is not just the first reality.

We have Easter too. We have the Resurrection of Jesus and Eternal Life. We are known down through history as the Easter people because we know this; Alleluia, Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.

Fr Paul