Love's Lift John 14:15-21; Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Soul-Tender

Love’s Lift Psalm 66.8-12; 16-20; 1 Peter 3:13-16; John 14:15-21 Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender

They are still at table. He disrupts their final dinner when he washes their feet; he sends Judas off to act out betrayal; he tells Peter about his upcoming denials - 3 times before the cock crows! He lays down a new command, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you.” He declares, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe in me. I go to prepare a place for all of you.” And then this, “When you love Me, you will keep my commandments. I’m going away, but you will not be orphaned. The 2nd Advocate will come, and dwell in you, with you, around you. I’ll be in the Father and the Father in Me and the Paraclete in you.” A Grand community. What we call the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer; Maker, Lover, Keeper. My latest favorite appellation, from Jane Kenyon, a wonderful poet. This is how she understands faith: She once was asked how her faith shaped her writing, and she said, “My spiritual life is so much a part of my intellectual life and my feeling life that it’s really become impossible for me to keep it out of my work.” It’s all a piece.

This section of John’s gospel, chapters 13-17, are called ‘The Farewell Discourse’, 4 chapters of Jesus saying goodbye to his beloved and soon to be broken-hearted disciples. If we were in an Adult Ed class together, we would read straight through, to really get the depth and beauty of Jesus’ commitment to love, His provision of love in us, via the 2nd Advocate, His abiding Presence promised and delivered for all of eternity. I recommend you take the time to do this, read chapters 13-17 in one sitting. It’s really quite powerful. Jesus, our first Advocate, reveals truth and love entwined: He feeds the hungry, touches the lepers, heals the sick, hangs out with the women, welcomes the tax collectors, challenges empire; disrupts the hierarchy when He takes off his outer robe, grabs the towel and basin and becomes servant of all. His love and compassion are designed to bring forth the value of each individual and communities. Social status means absolutely nothing to Him. He simply wants everyone everywhere to thrive. To be made whole. To be healed. To be welcomed. To be loved. To be redeemed. To live in shalom, our 2nd Eden. This kind of love we are called to demands a willful decision: we must first admit our lack of capacity to love in this way on our own. We have to humble ourselves and say, ‘help! We can’t do it alone.’ We are reminded that in our baptism we have ‘put on Christ’ second- skinned by Him, if you will. His presence is mediated to us, through us, around us, beyond us, by the Paraclete, a lovely Greek word that means ‘one who has been called to our side’. It is Her presence that makes it possible for us to act in love toward one another and all the tender souls we encounter every day of our lives.

Our conversion to love is life-long. It is an act of obedience and it takes discipline. In prayer, in attitude, by an offer of forgiveness, over and over and over again. Remember the Lord’s Prayer? ‘forgive us our what? as we do what?’ To choose love, clear, sustained actions over time, that calm the chaos, confusion and concern we carry with us every day. To scaffold our lives IN love--love that is patient, love that endures , love that protects, a full heart, outrageous, expensive, extravagant, generous love. Love’s Lift

Think about this: what are Jesus’ commandments? He was raised in the synagogue, a Jew, the 10 commandments written on scrolls, preached and prayed, burrowing into His mind and heart and life. No other gods, no idols, keep the sabbath holy, honor your mom and dad, don’t lust, steal, destroy, murder, or bear false witness. Early in His ministry He is asked, “what is the greatest commandment?” The questioner refers to the Decalogue, of course. What fascinates me is Jesus’ response: Love. Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself. Love. Clearly not romantic love, nor quid pro quo, transactional love - you do this for me/I do this for you. Rather, this love command generates what the Psalmist calls “a spacious place”. A place where God dwells, answers prayers and loves us first. This love enlarges itself as we feed, heal, touch, abide, comfort, become advocates for justice, give up our privilege and power, share and sacrifice so others may thrive. It is a transgressive love—it crosses the barriers of empire’s exclusions—the horrible injunctions of race and class and gender molded into deeply rooted patterns of bigotry and white supremacy.

Jesus’ explosive commandment blows up the narrowed strictures of a puny love, a short shrift love, a toned-down to make it palpable love. Burn it all down He says, I’ve come with the revelation of love. And of truth. This love springs forth in the power of the Holy Spirit who lays claim on our daily lives to guide us toward love for the unlovelies, those who have no one else to watch out for them. You have been given the lift of love, you know forgiveness, you know your name, Beloved. So go, offer a cup of cold water, a coat, a hand. Love’s Lift Amen.

The Country of Salvation. Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor and Soul-Tender

I sat at my dining room table on Thursday morning, after the weekly sermon walk, ready to start writing. It’s my practice to write at home as the church is noisy, normally.

My mind was a whirl: Psalm 116: I walk before Yahweh in the land of the living, verse 9: Luke 24: The Road to Emmaus and Jesus breaks the bread. Such a familiar story, what else is there to say? Death surrounds us in this pandemic, what does resurrection mean? I had just finished reading

Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life

Eugene Peterson; originally published in 2006, then again in 2020, a year after his death, with a new forward written by Eric E. Peterson, one of Eugene’s sons.

This bold claim: quote, “For the Christian, every meal derives from and extends the Eucharistic meal into our daily eating and drinking, tables at which the risen Lord is present as host.“ unquote

What? Every meal? Oh dear. In our household there are 3 or 4 questions asked each night: talking dinner, or reading dinner, or TV dinner and now with the weather getting better, or porch dinner? The first and the last may be, may be could fit Eugene’s criteria, but the middle two? Reading and especially TV? I don’t think so. I don’t think Jesus hosted our meal on Wednesday night as we watched Kim’s Convenience on Netflix.

Anyway, just then, who shows up on my front porch?

Josh, my friend without a home. As he placed his order for bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, I chuckled to myself. “Hmmm, Eucharistic Meal, uh? Cooking with Jesus as the host?” I asked a prayer of blessing for Josh’s well being privately, served him and listened to the report of his daily life—inside a motel room until the end of May. He chatted quite a bit for him, some about his mental struggles with hearing voices, paranoid about the people who live on either side of him. His lungs gone bad from smoking, “but it keeps me sane” he said, with a smile.

The Country of Salvation

My challenge to you? As you plan, prepare, bless and serve your Sunday meal today, be it only to yourself, or your shelter-in-place family, or maybe a bigger dinner via Zoom, imagine it as an extension of this first communion of Jesus, Cleopas and his companion, his wife. Take note: Emmaus can hardly be found on a map, its out of the way location disguises this powerful resurrection presentation. Recognize your own mixed emotions—joy at gathering, grief for the world, ignorant of the presence of Christ seated at the head of your table.

We know this. We live in the land of the living, but its no vacation paradise. Rather its a pandemic with rising fear, deepening despair, holding hope as it all slips away. This is the land we are to occupy with Christ’s resurrection at the forefront of our imaginations.

For resurrection is not about escape to some vague skyward structure with daisies and sunlight all the time. It is the work of Sabbath - of the new creation being shaped and formed in us by God. The original Adamic lump of clay received its life by the breath of the Holy. Jesus breathed on his disciples, this same breath. We are given breath by this same Spirit. The work is not for our benefit, to make us feel good about ourselves. It is God’s handiwork, God who brings to completion that which began at our baptism. It is rooted in Jesus rising from the dead, now the 8th day of creation. It is the enormous vision of shalom for the whole cosmos, every living thing, every dead thing, every thing will be at peace.

We catch glimmers of this holy other world when we are able to engage our sense of wonder. To stand back in humble adoration and say, “My Lord and My God” like Thomas and Mary Magdalene, as they notice His deep wounds. We claim, “I believe in the resurrection of the body...” in our Apostolic Creed. It is the Body of Christ, corporately, but the scandal of this particularity is we mean Jesus, born of a Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried,He descended into hell, and on the 3rd day, is alive. He’s alive. He is risen. Indeed. In some way his corporeal existence is brought into the God-head where He prays for us, loves us, holds us before the Father. It is Jesus’ Spirit that we receive to sustain us until that day.

The Country of Salvation

It is a counter-culture stance, as its a plural, we, rather than something based in my individualistic striving for competence and technical know how. Our culture produces what Peterson calls, quote, ‘the ropes of Sheol’ that tie around our ankles, binding us to the Devil”. Unquote. Empire I call it. Conformity, idolatry, betrayal form the scaffolding of this deathly life. Jesus’ death and resurrection are the unbinding of humanity, like Lazarus.

He doesn’t come along to unbelievers, pop up like a ghost, and shout, “Boo, its me!” To scare them into believing. Jesus engages His disciples in deep and rich conversation, based in Scripture, their 3 years of daily life, their gathering as a community of Resurrection friends.

They had hoped He was the one to set Israel free. They had been shaped and formed by Torah, to honor the Sabbath, to keep it holy, the 10 rules, Passover in Jerusalem every year. The story of the Exodus primary - ‘why is this night unlike any other?’ They were chosen by God. They lived under oppression, the Roman Empire bearing down on them to conform, to kneel at their gods & idols, to betray the Covenant of Abraham and Sarah. Freedom etched deeply in their longing for new life. As they walked along the weight of defeat was heavy.

Jesus’ interpretive words gathered into a lecture we all want to hear - how all of Scripture points to Himself as Messiah, Savior, Son of God, here to redeem the sins of the world. His death is not the end, no. It is the mysterious pathway God chooses to raise up eternal life—death and defeat—slavery in Egypt, exile to renewed Israel, now a homeland in Jesus’ name, The Country of Salvation.

To live fully in this new country we must participate in the practice of resurrection. It is not like practicing the piano or updating your golf swing. Rather it is entering into a new world that is first shaped by creation - wonder, imagination, creativity- then marred by sin and depravity - only to be redeemed by the final sacrifice of the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. It is akin to a doctor who takes up the practice of medicine, its healing arts or a teacher who takes up the practice of education. It is an encompassing view of life that allows for wonder, creativity and mystery. It takes hold of us via the Holy Spirit and reshapes us into the Body of Christ. It includes a sight line that sees the whole thing: all the pain and sorrow and brokenness and hatred in the world, yet is able to see just a bit farther, some kind of cross-beamed light. It is not the ways of the world, it is the ways of eternal life. This grace began on that road to Emmaus and the church has participated in it, week in and week out, with sacraments and song, Word preached and prayed, hands held and lifted up until today. Perhaps two of you will say, “were not our hearts burning within us when He was talking with us and scripture was opened to us?”

The Country of Salvation. Amen