St. Mary's Episcopal Church

St Mary's Episcopal Church
Easter IV: Acts 13:15-16, 26-39; John 10:22-30

Our Time of Trial

Good to see a local pub knows that Easter lasts 50 days, I saw a sign that read "Hop on down the bunny trail…"

It is Easter, and Easter goes on for 50 days. We are encouraged to wear our "Christ is Risen" buttons to remind ourselves and others of that.

This is the fourth week of Easter, and we might remember that the first week the women found the tomb empty, but there were angels to tell them that Jesus was not there but is Risen. The last two weeks our Gospel showed us that, Christ showed up in the midst of the community of his followers. He had them touch him, see him, and eat with him. They could see our Lord risen and alive in their midst.

This week our Gospel takes a radical shift. This week Christ does not show up resurrected in the midst of the community. This week we have events in the Gospel and in Acts that are almost like trails, or tests. We hear about Jesus and Paul, as if on trail teaching others about who the Messiah is, and of his risen presence with us. Their task is not to see and believe, but to share with others, to show others that Christ is Risen, and that Jesus is the Messiah.

In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a young boy sets off on a journey, following his dreams of finding great treasure. He leaves his job as a shepherd in Spain and travels to Africa. At first on his journey he finds that things come easy, there are signs and encouragement, and he is sure that God is with him and encouraging him on his journey. But soon he finds difficulty, and considers that his dreams were illusions and that his journey is foolish. Fortunately, he meets mentors on his journey that teach him about trails in life. They tell him that at first we experience encouragement on our journeys, some people call this beginners luck. But eventually we are tested, we are challenged and we may think God is no longer with us. But these are the times that we are tested, and we learn important lessons for our future. …The boy continues his journey, and eventually finds his surprising treasure.

It seems to me that for the first three weeks, we have found this encouragement from our lessons, and now we are, with our readings, facing trails. It is the time of trail, and it can strengthen us on our journey.

One time in my own faith journey was a summer that I went to work in Jasper during college. I was a timber cruiser, which meant I spent a lot of time counting and measuring trees. My dad was transferred to Jasper from Silsbee, where I had gone to High School, so I was a stranger in the town. That summer was a time of trail for me because I was away from friends, I was a way from the church community of my college, and because I was facing blatant racism, that thought I had turned my back on when I moved away from Silsbee…My parents were faithful people, and did their best to shield us from racism, but I could look at my town and see where the black people lived and where the white people lived. It was a part of the culture around me, and it really didn't make much sense to me. I thought when I moved away from that blatant racism, that I would never have to live around it again. That summer in Jasper my coworkers participated in the culture of racism. They would, almost daily at first, tell racist jokes. They usually began them with the disclaimer, "I'm not racist…but…" I fought with them, these grown men, and I a young college student, almost daily at first. They had grown up with that talk like I had, and they perpetuated it. I struggled to explain my perspective that racist jokes encourage racism because some people may hear you and take you seriously, some people may believe the lies that racist jokes perpetuate…by the end of the summer, they had stopped. Maybe they just got tired of fighting with me. There were times when I wondered if I was wasting my time with them, when I found everyone else around me playing along, in a seemingly good-natured way. But I continued to follow Jesus, and he seemed to remind me of the message of Paul: that God is for all people, that all of us are creatures of God, and the Jesus forgives us and gives us freedom not because of our biological family, but because of our spiritual one.

It is Jesus, the messiah we believe is raised form the Dead that brings us salvation. It is not anything else in the world or anyone else, even if we live in the illusion that those save us. It is not
Staus
Skin color
Family
Not even the religious institution, for the institution can forget what is essential.

These trails bring us back to the simple truth. Truth that Jesus is our saviour, and that Jesus offers salvation to all people, to everyone. The trails we may face will likely challenge us and our culture, but if we remain in Christ, we know that the trails we face will make us stronger, and teach us lessons for our journey.

The pattern that Jesus set was to be the Messiah not for one group, not only for the religious institution he found himself in, but for all who hear his voice, and who believe. In fact the ones who expect themselves to be chosen are not of his flock for they do not believe. Jesus breaks the edges of who is saved and who is not, extending life and freedom to all.

Then there is Paul, who has was persecuting the church, experienced a call to follow Jesus, and did not just hang on to that salvation and be satisfied, but went back to his community and addressed them. He addressed the synagogue in two groups.
-Israelites
-God fearers
The Israelites understood themselves to be saved, and the God fearers drew near to the community, but were technically outsiders. But when Paul addresses them he warns that any who do not believe are just like those who condemned Jesus. Those who believe find forgiveness of sin, and freedom. There is no one who can be excluded, there is no one who is an outsider for Jesus and for Paul, but they know what is essential, that God's love is for all God's people.

This week, when we consider the trails that we might face in our world, we might consider
Who needs to be set free from sin?
Who has been excluded from our institution?
Who do we consider outside of God's salvation?
What trail do we face in our lives through which we can extend God's grace?

Sometimes the trail we face is inside of ourselves. Sometimes we have excluded a part of ourselves from God, or we have mistakenly excluded someone in our world from God's love. But here, everyone is welcome to come to the table and see, touch, and taste God.

On our journey, sometimes we see that God is with us, and we receive the encouragement that we need, God seemingly giving us good luck…but sometimes we feel that sense of trail and test that may be an opportunity or us to learn so that we are better prepared for our journey. And in those times, we lean on the one who is Risen, on Christ and know that if we are in Christ, then we are on the right journey.