Sunday, April 17, 2022
The Glory of God
All Around
In and Through Us, Too?
1 Kings :2:1-3
When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: ‘I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.
John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
Words of Grace For Today
The Easter story, like a song for our hearts, reminds us again and again how precious Jesus’ resurrection is for us. In our blow-out celebration ‘Whether we whisper it in prayer before the darkness, or dive in to grasp hold of it and pull it forth like saving a drowning man, we proclaim, Christ is risen!’[Jeffrey A. Merkel, in Homilies for the Christian People, pp. 454-55. reworked TL]
Christ is Risen!
It will be sung, shouted, and
…
hoped for by many, many people today.
It is not that we do not believe Christ is Risen.
We do believe.
We celebrate that Christ is Risen and all that means for us!
…
Yet
Like all seeing, hearing, thinking and loving people, we know
that the world is in such a mess, it is as if Jesus were still dead,
for so many people suffer needlessly, while others fight for supremacy over the mess we’ve made of this planet earth, making the mess even more dangerous for us all and more difficult to contain, and
…
the fighting always costs the poor the most.
There is a wise saying in Africa and Asia, When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that loses.
We are not to let any person be like grass, having the life trampled out of them while the elephants of this world duke it out, and duke it out for what?
Let it not be that people can quote Ghandi saying, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Let it not be that, when asked what people around you think of Christianity, they can only say, ‘It would be great.’
It is one thing to proclaim with empty hearts that Christ is Risen. This has been common for centuries among so many people.
It is another thing to be, by Christ’ resurrection, the ones healed, freed, and sent to serve all people, and in that service make ‘Christ is Risen!’ a reality for more and more people.
We cannot do this on our own, but only as the Holy Spirit works in us.
Ghandi also said much that can to guide every human life and every Christian soul:
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
[Christ commands us to love God above all, our neighbour and ourselves, and our enemies. To be so bold requires that the Holy Spirit give us that courage!]
An ounce of practice is worth a thousand words.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.
[Only by The Holy Spirit can we be that strong.]
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
[That is why forgiveness is how God begins with us, and how we begin with the all people.]
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Today, like every day gifted to us on this good planet earth, let us be the hands and feet of Christ serving others, feeding the hungry, making homes for the refugees, giving voice to the outcasts. Let us be be the music of the soul that reaches those lost beyond hope. Let us be the spice that covers the stink of death and the devil’s evil deeds. Let us be those who live each day as if it were our last day to serve Christ, and let us learn to serve as if we would live forever, for, since Christ is Risen, we have died and will live forever.
In a gentle way, Christ shakes the world through us, a little shake at a time towards the Kingdom of God.
That’s worth a celebration like no other!