The following is a link to our reading today:
Luke 24:13-35
If you were here on Easter Sunday you heard much joyful noise and many ringing bells. I love this joyful noise. For me it is a powerful symbol of the joy that is Easter. It is a way of hearing God’s love for us. It is a happy noise an uplifting noise. I believe it was a new idea for St. Paul’s when I arrived here, but it was not an idea new to me. I was first part of a congregation that rang bells on Easter with the alleluias when I was in college. I loved it so much that I have brought the idea to each congregation I have served. For me it brings the high of Easter Sunday even higher, it audibly expresses the love of God for each of us.
One congregation I served in decided to take this bell ringing a step further. They decided to invite the congregation to ring bells every time we said or sang alleluia throughout the entire Easter season, the entire 50 days from Easter to Pentecost. Theoretically it was a good idea, for Easter is not a day in our church but is instead an entire season, but practically it just did not work. Each Sunday there were fewer and fewer people ringing their bells, until by the last Sunday of Easter the rector and I were the only ones still ringing our bells. We felt pretty stupid at that point. You see, the high of Easter, no matter how wonderful it is and how much we might want to remain there, is really impossible to sustain indefinitely. We want to stay on the mountaintop, but eventually we have to come down from the mountain and get back to our day to day lives. The Easter moments in our lives are important, they provide us glimpses of the kingdom of God, they provide us moments when we are in touch ever so briefly with the power, love and peace of God, but they are but moments. They aren’t our day to day lives. And that can be terribly disappointing.
Think about the doldrums that often come upon us after Christmas and the New Year.
Or perhaps you have heard an inspiring sermon or speech that lifted you up for several days. Or maybe you’ve been on a spiritual retreat in which you felt as though you were on top of the world and then you returned to your everyday life. We have all had Easter moments in our lives, but I would be willing to bet that your Easter moments always came to end. And I bet that you felt a little deflated and let down as you went back to the daily grind of your life. You may have wondered to yourself, did that moment really happen? Was that really a moment with God? Maybe I just imagined it all.
Think about the doldrums that often come upon us after Christmas and the New Year.
Or perhaps you have heard an inspiring sermon or speech that lifted you up for several days. Or maybe you’ve been on a spiritual retreat in which you felt as though you were on top of the world and then you returned to your everyday life. We have all had Easter moments in our lives, but I would be willing to bet that your Easter moments always came to end. And I bet that you felt a little deflated and let down as you went back to the daily grind of your life. You may have wondered to yourself, did that moment really happen? Was that really a moment with God? Maybe I just imagined it all.
We hear about just such a moment in our Gospel reading for today. Jesus has died and been raised from the dead. Two of his disciples are walking down the road together and talking with one another. They know that Jesus was crucified and they know that the women and other disciples went to Jesus’ tomb that morning and found it empty. They are sad about the death of Jesus and they are confused about the reports they are hearing about the empty tomb. They are more than a little lost. And in the midst of their sadness and confusion Jesus appears to them. He explains the scriptures to them and he opens their eyes and causes them to see that he is alive. They are truly having an Easter moment. When I think of this story I always imagine these two disciples leaping and dancing with joy when Jesus opens their eyes and they realize that Jesus is not dead, their teacher, their Lord is not gone from them. Jesus is alive. And then what happens? Jesus vanishes from their sight. This Easter moment does not last forever. Jesus gives them a moment of sheer joy and peace and then he leaves. Life as they know is completely changed forever, yet at the same time nothing is changed and life goes on just the same.
So how do we continue to live an Easter life after our Easter moments have passed? Do we simply allow ourselves to ride up and down the rollercoaster of highs to lows and highs to lows? Do we simply allow ourselves to become skeptical about the highs, questioning whether they were real or even really happened? Do we try to keep artificially recreating the highs as my church did that one season by ringing our bells Sunday after Sunday? I think we can find the answer in the end of the passage from our Gospel reading for today. Jesus leaves the two disciples and they don’t lament this. They don’t complain or feel down because their Easter moment has passed. They don’t try to get Jesus to come back. Instead they go and find their companions. They rejoin their community and they share their experience with them. Jesus gave them a moment of connection with the divine and in turn these two disciples pass this moment on to others, they share their divine moment with other people.
I am often struck by how reluctant we Episcopalians are to share our faith, our Easter moments with other people. Now, there are some good reasons for this, Christians have often done a very bad job of sharing our faith, our God experiences with others. Over the centuries, under the name of evangelism of spreading the Good News, we Christians have done some pretty terrible things. We have conquered and subjugated entire peoples.
In the name of spreading “the Good News” we have tried to annihilate entire cultures.
And on a smaller scale in the name of Christ, many Christians have told other people that they would go to hell if they did not accept Christ. Some Christians have even told some of their fellow Christians that if these Christians did not accept and follow their brand of Christianity, their understanding of Christianity, that they were not really Christians and would not be saved. In the name of sharing our faith, many Christians have tried to take on the role of God, have decided that they know who is in and who is out, who is saved and who is not. This is God’s job, not ours. In attempting to spread the “Good News” over the millennia, many Christians have spread only “Bad News.”
In the name of spreading “the Good News” we have tried to annihilate entire cultures.
And on a smaller scale in the name of Christ, many Christians have told other people that they would go to hell if they did not accept Christ. Some Christians have even told some of their fellow Christians that if these Christians did not accept and follow their brand of Christianity, their understanding of Christianity, that they were not really Christians and would not be saved. In the name of sharing our faith, many Christians have tried to take on the role of God, have decided that they know who is in and who is out, who is saved and who is not. This is God’s job, not ours. In attempting to spread the “Good News” over the millennia, many Christians have spread only “Bad News.”
But often the reasons we have for not sharing our faith, our community, our experiences of God’s love for us, our Easter moments with others has nothing to do with the bad things Christians have done under the name of evangelism. Often we don’t share our experiences, we don’t pass on our Easter moments because we are afraid. We are afraid that other people will think we are weird, they might judge us or maybe they won’t be our friends. For we are living in a world in which most people are not a part of a faith community. We are living in a world where it is a little strange and a little odd to get up on Sunday morning, to come to church, to be a part of a community that gathers to worship God. Some people might judge you if you make your Christian community a higher priority in your life than other more secular pursuits. I think we also worry that we might offend other people if we share our Easter moments with them. We want to show respect for people who come from other faith traditions.
But I think that the reason we often end up in the doldrums after we’ve experienced the high of an Easter moment is because those moments cry out to be shared. When we have a God moment, a moment in which God touches our very hearts and our very souls we have to share it with others. It is sort of like trying to put a cork back into a champagne bottle that is overflowing. It has to be let out. When we cork ourselves back up we don’t feel so good. The love of God that we experience in our lives cries out to be shared with others. But the sharing I’m talking about has nothing to do with evangelism as you probably think of it.
But I think that the reason we often end up in the doldrums after we’ve experienced the high of an Easter moment is because those moments cry out to be shared. When we have a God moment, a moment in which God touches our very hearts and our very souls we have to share it with others. It is sort of like trying to put a cork back into a champagne bottle that is overflowing. It has to be let out. When we cork ourselves back up we don’t feel so good. The love of God that we experience in our lives cries out to be shared with others. But the sharing I’m talking about has nothing to do with evangelism as you probably think of it.
I’m not talking about walking up to people and telling them they have to or even need to become Christian. I’m talking about keeping your eyes and ears open for opportunities to share the love of God with others. This may happen through a kind word or look. Maybe it will happen in a simple conversation when you find an opportunity to tell a story about something wonderful and exciting you’ve experienced here at St. Paul’s. Maybe it will happen when a new neighbor moves in next door to you and as you get to know them you invite them to a worship service or a meal here at St. Paul’s. Maybe you will share God’s love by volunteering to feed someone who is hungry or teach someone to read who does not know how. I believe that when we Christians begin to live lives that are truly modeled on the love of God--on the life of Jesus--others become curious. When we allow our Easter moments to transform who we are and how we love others, people want to know why we are doing what we are doing, why we are living as we are living and they give us opportunities to share with them our Easter moments.
Evangelizing in this model is not about converting others or making others Christian, we don’t have the power to do this. Evangelizing in this model is about sharing God’s love, the love that we experience in our lives as members of the Body of Christ, with others, and there are many many ways to do this. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.”
Don’t hide or cling to your Easter moments, instead, let your Easter moments transform you and overflow from you. Show others what has been made known to you. Pass your Easter moments on.
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
Evangelizing in this model is not about converting others or making others Christian, we don’t have the power to do this. Evangelizing in this model is about sharing God’s love, the love that we experience in our lives as members of the Body of Christ, with others, and there are many many ways to do this. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.”
Don’t hide or cling to your Easter moments, instead, let your Easter moments transform you and overflow from you. Show others what has been made known to you. Pass your Easter moments on.
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!