Paper: Cathedrals of Continued Reformation

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EASTER 6A-2017

in a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

This morning we are confronted with a very different Easter text.

Up to this point Jesus has been present; Jesus died and then there were resurrection appearances.  This week the Ascension happens, the time when Jesus ascends into heaven – Jesus will no longer be physically present or in resurrected state; he visibly departs earth.

The word for this Sunday of Easter, takes us back to the words Jesus had for the disciples at the Last Supper.

These words are different --- they are a complete change in understanding; an understanding not expressed by the Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke.   John, in this passage, has Jesus giving a unique insight into relationship with God; and what the relationship looks and feels like.

in a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

There are a number of old favourite hymns.  Hymns like: O Master Let Me Walk with You, I Come to the Garden Alone, Precious Lord Take My Hand, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, The Lord’s My Shepherd; hymns that describe our relationship with Jesus as a shepherd or friend.  The description is of a person who walks beside us, with us; guiding us, leading us; a person to pray to.  In the hymns, there is a sense that Jesus is a holy friend who brings comfort, grace, and support.  We are reminded of the Easter texts that have graced our ears --- the disciples on the road to Emmaus where Jesus walks with them, a Jesus who pulls up a chair at the dinning table and is recognized in the breaking of bread; a Jesus who appears in the room where the disciples are huddled in fear and says, “Peace be with you.” This is an aspect of relationship with Jesus, however, John the Evangelist expresses something far more intimate.

in a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

When I served in the New Denmark parish, I was the protestant padre at the Grand Falls legion.  One of my duties was to participate in the short service offered at the funeral home by Legion members, at the death of a veteran.  Part of the service was reading the first and last verse of the hymn Abide With Me. I usually found this to be a powerful moment --- with veterans and family gathered around the casket--- the sadness seeped from our hearts, but, all was not gloom for in the words there was hope. There was an intimacy in the moment: as the veterans shared a silence of memories in the respect and honour given to a fellow comrade; there was a moment of intimacy as the family was given a glimpse of one friend for another; there was an intimacy in mix of raw emotion shared in a tiny room amongst communities of people only united through the one who had passed.  And in this space, to hear the words, focused on by all present, prayed to   God:  abide with me. The hymn doesn’t say walk with me, hold me in your hands, or Lord take my hand --- it says, abide with me, over and over again.  For me, this understanding of relationship with Jesus, with God, becomes internal.

I always loved my grandmother’s gingerbread boy cookies.  When I moved away from home and was not home at Christmas, I started to make grandma’s recipe.  Although the cookies were good, they never tasted like my grandma’s. I walked through the recipe, as it was written.  I tried to remember how she made them, when I would watch her in her kitchen.  Year after year, they just were not the same.  That is until the year that she died.  That year as I was making the recipe, I felt like grandma was with me --- a big change happened… WAY MORE ginger was added because it felt like that was whispered to me inside my head. The whole time I was mixing the batter I thought about my grandma. And after 8 years of trying the cookies came out tasting just like hers!  It was if she was abiding with me; in my heart, my conscious, my memory.

The Legion service and the grandma cookie experience are stories that fit with what John is trying to explain in his Gospel. Jesus’ words to the disciples, on that last evening, understands his relationship with them in the future to be intimate.

in a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Jesus invites the disciples, Jesus has invited us, into an intimate relationship – the relationship ship of the Trinity (Father-Son, Jesus-Advocate, Spirit-Creator). This relationship, as expressed in the hymn Come, Join the Dance of  Trinity, is an understanding where Jesus the Incarnate, is Incarnate and resurrected, and in us, draws us into the Mystery of  God.

I found it intriguing, early on in the week, Republicans were making relationship decisions, deciding which bed-fellows with which to lie, so to speak; to stand with the president or perhaps distance themselves. I wondered who are our bed-fellows? Jesus counsels the disciples, If you love me you will keep my commandments.  Do our worldly bed-fellows help us love? Help us keep Jesus’s commandments?  Do our bed-fellows show an intimacy with the Mystery?

In John’s Gospel, Jesus opens a conversation and idea that God-relationship is intimate.

Perhaps you have known two people in a relationship who exude their love for each.  You see it in the looks passed between them, unspoken signals, the finishing of each other’s sentences, a doting on each other; the kind of relationship that shares openly the love shared between the two… and it rubs off on the world around them.  This is the relationship talked about in scripture today; an indwelling abiding.

I don’t want to pooh-pooh the old favourite hymns I mentioned in the beginning.  Relationship with God is a dance ---in fact different kinds of dances --- where the stories of resurrection from Matthew, Mark, and Luke are foxtrots, quicksteps, and two steps; John is advocating the sensuous tango.  When dancing the tango --- spectators are drawn into the passion between the dancers, enthralled by the sparks exchanged, energized by the interplay, whelmed by the emotion.  Does the world see this in your relationship, your dance with God?

Our hymn of the day, has a little bit of Matthew, Mark, and Luke walking side by side with Jesus; and John’s intimate relationship. The 2^nd and 3^rd verses are walk beside theology, speaking of external relationship; this external relationship though leads to the intimate. In Verse 4 we will sing, to God these words:  Friend and lover, in your close-ness I am known and held and blessed

My prayer for you this week is as verse 1 and 5 state:  you have drawn me to your wonder.

I would love nothing more than for each of you to practice being in an intimate relationship with God – think about Jesus as in you, around you, in God, through God, dancing in and out.  Begin your daily prayers, Holy Lover. Yes you heard that correctly, pray, “Holy Lover,” by addressing your prayers in this way you direct your prayers to a place of intimacy. I suspect calling God, Lover, will change what it is you pray. This week take steps to change your understanding of relationship with God, such that it changes your relationship with God.  And of course, as always, as your understanding and experience of God changes, so too does your love relationship with the world around you.  It too will become more loving, more intimate.

Holy Lover, you give me a new day and with it comes the promise of: You to be adored, others to be helped, good to be done, gifts to be given, love to be expressed, joy to be shared, friendships to be enjoyed, lonely to be comforted, kindness to be shown, happiness to be passed on, forgiveness to be asked for pardon to be granted, hope to be offered, gentleness to be exercised, blessings to be imparted, praise to be expressed, justice to be upheld, truth to be told, thanks to be rendered, life to be lived. Oh! What a day you and I are going to have together, Holy Lover! Amen.  -james m. Fitzpatrick OMI