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First
Reading
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Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
Acts 10:44–48 |
Psalm 98 |
1 John 5:1–6 |
John 15:9–17
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One of my favorite stories, in which I can vividly picture myself on the front steps in Saranac Lake, is about a young priest who stood at the door shaking hands after his first service in his new parish. People were reserved, but polite, and wished him well. The last person in line was the senior warden, a formidable patriarch of the town. “Young man,” he said, “you conducted a fairly decent service. But you see how long the grass is here in front?” “Yes sir,” said the priest. “Well, when Fr. Smith was here, if the grass ever got that long, he would always cut it before Sunday services.” “Yes, sir, I know,” replied the priest,“ but when I phoned him, he told me that since he had retired and moved to Florida, that he didn’t want to do it any more.” Yes, indeed, when a new priest comes, a congregation must expect change.
It is just as true for people joining our parish family. Ithaca is always graduating and sending people on their way and then a few weeks later is welcoming a new class. Over the years St. John’s has changed in ways unanticipated, but the parish has always richly benefited from those who have been welcomed and made a part of our continuing fellowship. I would suggest it is the continual welcoming process, openness and incorporation that makes both Ithaca and this parish such a dynamic place and if I may use the word, a blessed place. Change always comes with the potential to multiply and deepen our blessings.
The first lesson today in the Book of Acts describes a truly watershed event. Peter has just baptized the Roman soldier Cornelius and his family. The baptism is the third part of the trilogy of baptisms mentioned last week. Afterwards, Peter understands the significance of the event by exclaiming, “ The truth I have come to realize is that God does not have favorites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
The Lesson for today is attempting to articulate some of the implications for the young church. Any religious barriers between those of Jewish heritage and those of gentile heritage have been breached. Hence, the life of people of faith will never be the same. Of course Peter and everybody else there who heard him didn’t know how the future would play out. They just knew that it would. .
We, as people of faith today, must allow that the church as we know and cherish it may be on the threshold of profound change, too. I don’t know what the implications would be to life at St. John’s in particular or to the Episcopal Church in general. Many of us sense that something is afoot and our task seems to be to continue to seek the steady guidance of the Holy Spirit and not to be taken in by what may prove to be a shallow, ephemeral fad, but being perceptive and open at the same time.
When I read the Gospel for this week, I thought of the last scene in that classic movie Casablanca. I will admit one appreciates and admires that movie the older one gets. Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, is saying goodbye to Elsa, sending her and her husband Laslow on the last plane out, and staying behind to face the police inspector. Rick realizes that all of them are involved in a destiny much more important and larger than the personal issues of just their individual selves. Where Elsa needs to go, Rick cannot, and vice versa. In some way, saying goodbye on a foggy night on the runway at the Casablanca airport is a lot like what people of faith experienced in the weeks following the resurrection, as Jesus offered concluding words of encouragement and took his leave as a person walking on this earth, and as the disciples realized that the Holy Spirit was leading them in directions and to places they never had contemplated. The final scene from Casablanca is a lot like the eve of the Ascension, when Jesus says his final goodbye and sends us out on our way, for it becomes the moment when we realize none us can remain protected in our own sunny and clear emerald city of Oz anymore. Our task is to embrace and face the foggy future in hope, rather than resent or fear it.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
