Homily for Trinity Sunday

Rev. Tommy Thompson

Trinity Sunday, Year C 2010

30 May 2010

The great fifty days of Easter have been a true gift this year. We’ve journeyed together from resurrection to ascension and from ascension to pentecost. I celebrate the new creation that continues to grow around us as we faithfully celebrate the good news of Easter. But all good things eventually come to an end...well, not really, as the ultimate good will never end, but you know what I mean. The great fifty days are now over...at least until next year.

But why the white and gold you ask? If Easter is over, why not green? Don’t we need a bit of a rest after all that celebrating?

Because Easter has been leading us somewhere. Jesus death, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost are not ends in themsevels...instead they open a new door for us, and indeed a new door needed to be opened.

Our lives were characterized by sinfulness...ill-being. We became obsessed with ourselves. Rather than living out the mission that we were given in our creation, our mission became the mission of those annoying birds in the movie Finding Nemo: “Mine, mine, mine, mine...” Our slogan became: It’s all about me. We learned to serve a new but unholy Trinity: me, myself, and I.

Jesus death and resurrection...his ascension to the Father’s right hand...the sending of the Holy Spirit...all this is God’s response to the mess we got ourselves in. God is putting the world to rights...the one that we distorted through sinfulness. That’s what we’ve been celebrating the last eight Sundays.

And today we begin a new season with white rather than green because today we are invited to preview what lies behind the door that the triune activity of the Easter season has opened for us.

And what do we see when we crack open the door and peek our heads inside? We see the life of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our original home...the space where a place has been prepared for us...the world’s true future.

But this life is so different than the life we’ve learned to live in sin. This life is not a life of “mine, mine, mine...” It is not the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. Instead, it is the life of ultimate love. power expressed in loving humility, not pride. selflessness, not selfishness. other centered, not self-centered. Through Easter, the door is opened for us and it reveals the truth of our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, yet one God.

We were not accustomed to seeing anything like this...a multiplicity of persons unified perfectly in love so that they are one. A world that has been torn apart by division and war cannot understand how this could be, but it is. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...three distinct persons unified perfectly in love.

Can you hear the music when you crack open the door? God is like a great fugue, where there are two or more melodic lines in two or more voices which is moving us somewhere...from exposition, to development to recapitulation. All the melodies working together, sharing the same subject or theme, alternating differing ways of presenting the same theme...just one of the lines wouldn’t make much sense by itself...but all together they present one beautiful and dynamic musical composition.

God’s life is like the fugue. The three persons do everything together, alternating back and forth, presenting the same life of love...which is why the Son says he only does the work of His Father and the Spirit is revealed as only speaking what He hears and the Father says, “Listen to Him!”. The three persons, like the melodic lines, do not work apart from one another, that’s impossible, they’re that inseparable! And the life revealed is the order of beauty, of life, of love--the kind of order that God intends for all that He has created.

The door Easter has opened for us has revealed the right way of being: The Father, Son and Spirit live in a life of constant giving and receiving from the other and into the other. Each person emptying himself into the other and receiving the fullness of the other and that constantly. The result of such loving interconnectedness is fruitfulness, new life springs into existence without ceasing.

Brothers and sisters, when Jesus took our humanity upon himself in the incarnation and then sat down at the right hand of the Father in our flesh in the ascension, we entered this life. The Spirit was poured out upon us so that effects of the Son’s work on our behalf might come to fruition in our lives and the disease of sin’s working in our lives might be cured!

The door of God’s life has been opened for us so that we might be healed from the disease of sin and join God’s mission by revealing the triune life to the world through the way we live life together in triune community. The early Christians got this. They didn’t have to put on huge programs to attract people from the outside...the pastor didn’t have to preach from the roof...they didn’t have to sacrifice the worship of God for the entertainment of people. No these early Christians had something that sinful human beings wanted...the church possessed the food and drink that was the ultimate hunger and thirst of every human being in God’s created world: the life of the triune God.

The early church grew not because they had the best options for the children or the most interesting small groups for the adults. No the early church grew because they had a sense of believing, behaving, and belonging that drew the world to itself.

I have always been amazed by Acts 2.42-47 which reads: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

Devotion to the life of God through worship led to a holy awe coming upon everyone...but what stands out as much as anything in this passage of Scripture is that “they had the goodwill of all the people.” The togetherness and other-centeredness of this first Christian community resulted in much fruitfulness for the kingdom of God. Living signs of the new creation were all over the place. This is the natural result of living in triune community. Fruitfulness is inevitable.

Brothers and sisters, times have changed but God has not. The call of God on our lives this day is to abandon all the programs and shows we put on that calls folks to anything other than the triune life of God!

The mission of the baptized is to reveal this life to God’s world by living this life together.

As we die with Christ in baptism, we rise with Him to the place where he ascended and joined our humanity: the right hand of the Father...In the Spirit, we are with the Son at the Father’s right hand. We experience the vibrancy of this interconnected life of self-giving and other receiving love. And when the world looks at us they experience a sense of believing, behaving, and belonging like they’ve never known before...it is the drink that will quench their ultimate thirst and the food that will satisfy their deepest hunger.

Brothers and sisters, we are connected with the life that brought forth the universe...we are connected with the life whose love has set us free. May we go into the world and live in such a way that God’s children are welcomed into God’s saving embrace.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

Announcement Sunday, Transition Letter

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

The day of Pentecost is a day of new beginnings. The Holy Spirit comes to us and leads us in new and unpredictable ways. We don’t seek to understand exactly how the Spirit leads, but we trust that He continues to lead us further into the realities opened to us through our being clothed with Christ in baptism.

Today I announce to you a new beginning. I have been given a new appointment in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. I am being sent to the Eastern Shore District and will be the pastor of Grace UMC in Parksley, VA beginning July 1, 2010. Though it is difficult for me knowing I must leave a people who I have grown to love deeply, I trust that the same God who has faithfully led us in Faber will lead us faithfully to Parksley and beyond. My prayer is that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will be found a faithful witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ regardless of where I am sent.

My last Sunday with you will be June 20, 2010. On that day, I will lead you to the table of our Lord for the last time as your pastor. Even though I will cease to be your pastor, I will always be your brother who loves you and who prays for you. There will always be a special place in my heart for my brothers and sisters at Rock Spring United Methodist Church.

May the Holy Spirit continue to mold you more and more into a living sacrament of the life of God as you continue to faithfully worship and serve Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Pastor Tommy

The Holy Spirit: The Clothing of Resurrection

Rev. Tommy Thompson

Pentecost 2010

Acts 2: 1-21

May 23 2010

The Holy Spirit: The Clothing of Resurrection

We had been waiting as Jesus had told us. There was very little sleep for us as we kept vigil those nights…wondering the meaning of the many events that had just taken place in our lives as we awaited the fulfillment of the promise. Will we ever see Jesus again? He ascended into heaven…why did he have to go? What did he mean by asking us to stay here in the city? What is this power from on high that we will have as our new clothing?

Could you imagine the days of waiting that took place? Not knowing when the promise would come to fruition or even what it would be like.

I remember taking Daniel and Hannah to see fireworks a couple years ago. It was a huge event. There was going to be good music, lots of people, good food, and most importantly, a huge fireworks display. We arrived early…well before dark so that we could find some food, and find a good place to get settled for the festivities.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard one of those two little voices ask, “Daddy, when are the fireworks going to come?!”, I’d be a rich man. They were so eager with excitement … “Is it about to start?” “Not yet, Daniel; just be patient, its coming.” “When is the music going to start daddy?” “Don’t worry, Hannah, you’ll get to dance…just be patient.” I can remember the few sideshows that happened before the main performance… you could see it in their eyes… “Is this it?” Then the residents in the community started shooting a few fireworks… “Has it started now, Daddy? Has it?” “You’ll know when the real thing happens, Daniel, you will know…trust me.”

I remember the flash of excitement in Daniel’s eyes…when he knew that his waiting was over…when the real fireworks finally were fired, illumining a perfect summer night. I didn’t have to reach over and tap him and say, “Daniel, pay attention, this is the real thing.” He knew it. Hannah knew it…as her hands cupped over her ears, wondering when the booms would finally end…

I wonder if the disciples experienced a similar situation as we did that night? I wonder how many things happened that made them ask, “Whas that it?” No, … “what about this? is this it?” No…not that either huh…when is it going to finally happen!?

I’m not sure whether or not their vigil was like Daniel and Hannah’s waiting for fireworks, but you can bet your heart that no one had to reach over and tap the disciples after the promise finally came to fruition. There was no mistaking it. The clothing finally arrived…and it enveloped them.

It was a different kind of clothing than that for which they were accustomed. They didn’t have to put it on…they won’t need to take it off before bathing and going to sleep. It was such a different kind of clothing.

They were familiar with robes and tunics, but not clothing that begins on the inside and works its way outward. This is a new kind of clothing…the clothing of the soul, if you will. The clothing that is the remedy for the disease of our sin. The clothing that changes us from the inside out.

This is the clothing of Pentecost…the promise of the Father…being clothed with power from on high. The disciples were all gathered together, different people yet seeking the same clothing. They were waiting with eager anticipation when it finally happened.

The receiving of the new clothing was so amazing…it is unexplainable. The best the disciples could do was to describe what it was like…such an unfathomable mystery…the coming of the Holy Spirit…it makes since that’s the only way we’d be able to describe it…

It was like the sound of a violent, rushing wind…filling the entire room where they were sitting. When this came out of nowhere, they didn’t have to ask, “Is this what we’ve been waiting for?” It was obvious…the Spirit filled not just an individual, but the entirety of the consecrated space.

But it was also like tongues of fire, resting upon each and every individual in the consecrated space. The Spirit who came to clothe the apostles was in all places and in one place at the same time; this must be God!

And it happened…they received their new clothing. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

You ever noticed how we act differently or play differing roles depending upon what kind of clothing we’re wearing? I don’t know about you, but when I have my overalls on, my accent tends to be a little plainer…maybe even a bit more country…but when I have my suit on, well, I talk a little more sophisticated…I walk with my head held up a little higher…when I wear my pajamas, I kinda get in the mode of relaxing…of stretching out on the couch, preparing for a good rest…depending upon the kind of clothes we wear, we tend to take on ourselves different personas.

What kind of persona does one who has been clothed with power from on high take upon herself? hmm…I wonder… [at this time 7 or 8 parishioners will get up from their pews and walk around the church telling folk, “Christ is risen” in languages other than English.]

Wow…that’s what happens? Speech? Well not just any speech, but yes, speech...but speech with more conviction than anyone had ever heard before; speech also known as testimony…testimony also known as giving witness to something…And this speech that was the immediate response to Pentecostal power occurred in varying languages…like we just heard in this space just now.

Now for those clothed in the Spirit to begin going throughout the city speaking in the native languages of all the people who were in the city must have meant that what they were saying was of utmost importance. It needed to be clear. It needed to be intimate. Yes, some of them understood Greek…but it is the native tongue that one learns to speak most clearly and most intimately.

So it wasn’t simply that they were speaking in these varying tongues…no, that was only the means. Pentecost wasn’t about people not being able to understand the language of the Spirit. It was about speaking the language of the Spirit to everyone who would listen; though, admittedly, many could not comprehend yet.

What is the language of the Spirit? What were these disciples speaking about with such joyful conviction? They said something of note…I mean all who heard it, none left out, were amazed and perplexed…bewildered…

Maybe a translation from our speakers of the day would be helpful. Tell us, what were you all saying in those various languages? Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That’s what they were talking about!? That’s the language of the Spirit! … It makes sense. I mean it was the Risen Jesus who, before he ascended, told the disciples, “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It makes sense that this is what the Spirit-filled were speaking about with such joyful conviction. Acts 2:11 does record the astonished and amazed crowd telling us why they are so perplexed, so amazed: In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

Brothers and sisters, this is what the clothing of Pentecost does to us. It changes us from the inside out. We who were once only witnessing to the age ruled by the evil powers are now clothed as embodiments of the incarnate and risen Son of God…we who once were no people become the body of the ever crucified Lamb of God who reigns for ever and ever!

So today we gather round this font, the wardrobe of the new creation. When you take off the clothing of the world that is passing away and allow the Spirit to clothe you in the power of resurrection, you take on a new persona…the persona of the Holy Spirit who is the clothing of resurrection. You join the people of God as the body of Christ giving testimony to the new life that His resurrection has opened for us and for the entire world.

The Spirit is the clothing of resurrection and today Carter will receive the promised gift of the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism. As we covenant together to grow into this clothing, we will teach Carter how to properly wear his clothing in the world for the sake of the risen Christ who has saved us.

May the Spirit continue to mold us to fit more and more into our Easter clothes, brothers and sisters so that we might continue to faithfully witness to the new creation that Jesus resurrection has opened to the world He was sent to save.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Amen.

Plotting the Story

Rev. Tommy A. Thompson

7th Sunday of Easter, Year C

16 May 2010

We were dead in our sins, wandering aimlessly. Jesus became one with us. Jesus lived as one of us and did not sin. Jesus was faithful even to the point of death, and death on a cross at that. Jesus died and was buried. On the third day, Jesus rose again. Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised, and he ascended into heaven...and this is where we are right now.

The Christian year is a journey that unfolds the divine plot of salvation to us year after year. And so, today, we are people who have been on quite a journey! From purple to white, from white to green, from green to purple, from purple to white again, and soon to make the shift from white to red, all in only five months.

We’ve had quite a lot to take in, haven’t we? So many things have happened since that first Sunday of advent, it is easy to get confused...we need some way of looking back at it all...someway to look at it afresh that helps put everything in perspective.

Consider a well designed plot. There are many events/scenarios that take place. And we go with the flow...following the movements from rising action to climax. Once our minds get into the plot, we are looking for that climactic moment in the story that eventually brings with it the resolution that we’ve been looking for all along.

From the journey we’ve been on thus far, we have to ask ourselves, what is the climax? The story begins with a problem...the people of God have disobeyed God, choosing to embrace death rather than to have life. The rest of the plot is the saving activity of God, rescuing us from the misery that we’ve put on ourselves. But where is that one point in the plot that we could name as the climax of the entire story?

It shouldn’t be too difficult for us to name that part of the story, should it? We love-sick fanatics who can’t stop singing and shouting the glory of Jesus’ resurrection! We know that if we celebrate Easter for a season of fifty days plus every other Sunday of the year that is in itself a “little Easter,” it must be of crucial importance. And it is! The resurrection of Jesus from the grave is the most central and climactic event of the story of God’s rescue of the sin-marred creation. It is the victory of God over that which has enslaved and killed us. It is the beginning of a new era...the new creation.

Everything that happens before the resurrection leads to the resurrection, which is the climactic victory and goal of the story;

That’s the way a plot unfolds. It is a story that is going from problem to resolution, usually via some kind of climactic victory, so that the climactic victory is the central element of the plot. We could circle the climax of the story and then draw a line from the beginning to the circle as the action rises to its highest point in the story...then you could draw another line from the circled climax throughout the remainder of the falling action.

So we have the resurrection of Jesus Christ circled. What absolutely needed to happen to procure our salvation has happened. Yet the story is not finished. But we wouldn’t expect it to be, would we? Following the climactic event of the plot, other activities still must take place to bring complete resolution to the story.

Christ has risen, but if Christ does not ascend into the heavenly realm, then the resolution is not ours. The One who took upon Himself our flesh and won the victory in our flesh must ascend into the heavenly realm, joining our humanity with the life of God once and for all. We celebrated this homecoming of all homecomings on Thursday evening when we gathered here in the church to celebrate the ascension!

But when Jesus ascended, he said something to the disciples: “Wait here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

And this is where we currently are in the grand plot of salvation history. We are told to wait on this 43rd day of Easter. Something that we don’t like to do so much...wait. After all this excitement...reaching the climax of the plot...now Jesus ascends and we’re told to wait. At least we know exactly what we are waiting on: the day of Pentecost...the fiftieth day of Easter....we know that day is soon to come...next Sunday as a matter of fact. But the disciples were not privy to this information. They were told to simply stay in the city...not knowing how many days would pass before they were clothed with this mysterious power...but that Jesus said that they should wait...and that’s just what they did...they waited.

And it is worth waiting for. It is worth consecrating space and time for. Because what is about to happen in the story of salvation history, though it is not the climax, is of utmost importance, because it brings the climactic victory to us...it releases the benefits of the climax of the story to us human beings...

Without Pentecost, we cannot benefit from Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.

But when the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, then we are clothed in resurrection...clothed in Christ...clothed with power from on high...to be witnesses of the resurrection here on earth for the sake of continuing in the falling action of God’s grand plot of salvation history.

But for now, we are called to a time of holy waiting. It takes preparation to become a completely new person, you know. For everything that requires great change, there is a season of preparation.

Today the church is called to get ready. To consecrate space and time, not only on Sunday, but for the remainder of this time between ascension and Pentecost. For we are headed to the font come next Sunday! And one of God’s little ones will receive the clothing of resurrection: the power of the Holy Spirit that is poured out on us in baptism.

My prayer is that not only this little one, but all of us will experience the power from on high clothing us for the purpose of witnessing boldly to resurrection in the world. We need the Spirit to fall afresh on us, brothers and sisters. We need to live further into the reality of ascension to which the Spirit connects us.

Through the ascension the risen One took our humanity into the heavenly realm, and now at the right hand of the Father is a human being. In God’s life is humanity! The purpose of God’s work has been accomplished! But without the Spirit, we cannot live in that new reality.

Thus Jesus prays for us this day. “I ask...that they may all be one...as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Let us set apart time and space this week, preparing for the Holy Spirit, the clothing of resurrection and the reality of the ascension to fall afresh upon us, so that we might be one as Jesus prayed for us to be one.

One...not uniformity across the board, but diversity unified in love...as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father by the Holy Spirit, and yet one God and not three, we find ourselves in the Son, who is in the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, many people, yet one people in the One God.

Though we are many and though we are different, when the Spirit fills us, we have the same purpose...the same mind...the same clothing--the clothing of resurrection and the mission of resurrection for God’s world.

The world will know we are one with God and one with one another when the resurrection becomes so central in all of our lives that everything we say and do is through those new lens.

I look forward to the Spirit falling down upon us, upon you, upon me, so that we might use the various gifts the Spirit has given us for the purpose of being resurrection for God’s world.

So let us enter into a time of festive waiting; for the Spirit is coming to bring the victory to the the people of God so that the people of God might take the victory to the rest of the world! Amen.

There's No Place Like Home

We’ve all seen the classic movie, “the wizard of Oz”... In this movie, Dorothy and Toto find themselves in a foreign but magical land full of strange scenes and exotic creatures. Though they meet some fantastic friends, they never quite find a place to call home in this place. Toward the end of the movie, Dorothy repeats that line that we all know so well, “There’s no place like home...There’s no place like home...”
There truly is no place like home...and I bet you can identify with Dorothy can’t you. We find that we are restless until we are finally at rest where we belong. Dorothy felt this way. I feel this way; i believe we all feel this way. We want to be welcomed home into that space where we truly belong. Some of us might have already been invited there...some of us might have even accepted that invitation...but others of us are still wondering.
That’s what we human beings have been doing for such a long time haven’t we...wandering...seeking....searching...looking for home even while we have places we call home. We know there is something greater for us...some greater mission we are supposed to be involved in....so even though we settle from time to time, we keep on wandering...much like Dorothy and Toto...repeating that phrase, “There’s no place like home....there’s no place like home....
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We once weren’t doing so much wandering ... so much searching for meaning...for our true home. There was a time when we human beings were home and satisfied. Oh what a time that must’ve been!
In the beginning, when the God began creating the world as we know it, His masterpiece was humankind. The Triune God formed humankind out of their rich love life. In love, we were made from the dust of the ground and breathed into by the Divine breath of God. Like a newborn baby who comes out of the womb and looks passionately in the eyes of her mommy, knowing immediately who is and who is not mommy, so the humanity Father Son and Spirit formed in love came into existence and looked into the eyes of God as if to say, “mama, dadda.” There was warmth in that look...trust...contentment. We were home...not in a temporary dwelling place like our houses, trailers or apartments, but in the place we are meant to be: in the life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That is our true home: to be in communion with our Creator. To receive all the good he gives to us in love and offer it back to him in thanksgiving. To experience that which we offer back in love to be transformed into communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...that is being at home as a human being! And there is no place like home. There is no place like home.
We click our heals together just like Dorothy, because whether we realize it yet or not, we are not truly back at home until we are living life in this blessed communion. Our entire being is to be in communion.
But that is exactly what we decided we’d take a chance on. The Lord warned us like a mother warns a child not to play by a certain tree because there is a hornets nest in it. The mother does not want the child to get stung or face the consequences of being stung by so many angry hornets. But we went outside and instead of playing under the good trees that provided shade for our play, we rebelled and began to stop trusting “mama” “papa.” We went and played under the hornets nest and the venom proved to be deadly!
The venom of sin’s sting has severed our relationship...it has broken our home. Like a rebellious teenager who wants it his way or no way, we packed our bags and ran away from home. When mama and papa came looking for us we hid. They made us clothes to hide our shame...but we kept on running...And we have not stopped running ever since!
Every human being that has ever lived since then has metaphorically clicked their heals together, sighing, “there’s no place like home...there’s no place like home...” ... “wherever home is...whatever home is...” We’ve been wandering in misery .... harming ... abusing one another, playing the role we were never made to play...worshipping the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.
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Oh but mama and papa never forget that first look...when we looked into their eyes with so much love...so much trust...contentment...when we were home...and they know we have fallen ... they know more than we do....they know we have rebelled and ran away wanting it our way...and like a good mama and papa, they have not stopped reaching out to us...coming to us...making entrances into our chaos inviting us back home.

That’s what the entire Old Testament is all about isn’t it!?! It is The triune God calling us back home through Abraham, through Moses and Aaron, through Joshua, through Samuel Through the prophets. But no matter how much our Creator...our Father, our true Mother has called us back, our pride keeps us running like that teen that ran away from home and never came back...not truly remembering why he was so upset with his parents, but knowing that he cannot go back and face all the pain he caused. So in his pride he pretends he is right and everyone else is wrong. He keeps running, though deep inside through the layers of hardness that have developed over the years, his heals kick in the recesses of his being, “there’s no place like home! there’s no place like home!’
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And even though we kept running, our God, the Lover of us all, no matter how rebellious we have been, kept on seeking us out. And in the fullness of time, he sent His only Son, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to make the most Holy of entrances ever made into our chaos. He came down to us, humbling himself, since that is the nature of our mama and papa, and becoming completely one with us...feeling the consequences of the sting of those hornets oh so long ago. He represented everyone of us in the life he lived, in the death he died and in the new life he opened through His glorious resurrection!
Like a big brother who sees his little brother or sister take a nasty fall, he ran to us and got down on our level, looked us in the eye, wiped away our tears, gently lifted us up in his loving arms, comforting us, all for the purpose of putting us in the hands of mommy and papa.
And that is what this feast of the ascension is all about. If Jesus doesn’t ascend, big brother doesn’t pick us up and put us in the lap of His Father! The ascension is Jesus, our sinless and victorious big brother who loves us and represents us all, lifting us up from our mess and uniting us with the Father once and for all!
That is why today is homecoming...Because Jesus became one with us...becuase he represented each one of us...because he took the full force of the consequence of our rebellion head on and whipped its butt through his death and resurrection...Because he took that which he assumed, namely the entirety of our wanderings as human beings and went back to the Father, now we can be at home ... where we truly belong! We can abide in God’s deep love for us like never before...
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Have you ever seen a mother or father look into the eyes of a child who came back? A child who stopped loving and once again started loving and trusting and finding contentment in their care? When we accept in the Spirit what the Father has done for us through the Son, and we go back home, OH THE JOY OF THE TRIUNE GOD! He remembers that wonderful day when he breathed His life into us, making us in His image and likeness...he rejoices knowing he gets to walk that journey with us again...the journey of becoming fully at home...becoming everything He already knew we could be.
Today there may be somebody here who has been clicking their heals together for so long wandering where home might truly be. Maybe today God has revealed to you that His life is your true home and that because Jesus has ascended into the heavenly realm, now our humanity has been joined with the life of God. Maybe you hear the Spirit whispering deep with you, inviting you to simply believe in faith that this story is true...that you can come back home...that he can restore that broken relationship and begin a journey with you of becoming everything he already knows you can be.
The invitation is open. Come home...big brother saw our nasty fall and came to our rescue...he has lifted us up to His Father and His Father wants to heal your wounds. Amen.

Oh the Memories- Ascension 2010

There seems to be something about goodbyes that awakens the instinct to reminisce. I have seen it again and again in a variety of contexts. There’s something about saying goodbye that jolts the memory, that gets the juices flowing. We start speaking a whole lot about the past, re-hashing the stories and events that have led up to the present, rehearsing them again, rehearsing the wisdom that has come with time, considering the meaning that has been made…and this we do to make sense of what we are experiencing in our goodbyeing…the farewell, whatever it may be.

I have a sense that this instinct was awakened in the disciples that 40th day after the resurrection. I can’t prove it or anything, but I just have a hunch. I think it happened after the crucifixion too… its instinctual…when there’s a loss, a goodbye, you tend to gather with whoever is left, huddle up, and tell stories. Fearful of the Jews they may have been, but I think it was more…I think they were hashing it all out…what the years with Jesus meant, what he had said….done…demonstrated and embodied in their midst.

It’s a lot to take in, you know. There’s the reports of the day John was out preaching and baptizing at the Jordan and Jesus shows up and John reluctantly baptizes Jesus…you remember, don’t you? The heavens seem to open, then that divine voice of affirmation over the beloved Son revealing his identity, confirming his mission. They each had their story of their call…that moment when the Savior looked them in the eye and invited them to follow. Remember what it was like to just drop those fishing nets and take those first steps with Jesus? And then what a journey. Trying to keep up with him was enough to wear you out. The teaching….the parables, the riddles that didn’t seem to make sense. There was the healings….blind people walking away seeing, crippled people frolicking without pain, dead people living again. Man, those were the days, weren’t they? I mean, we were on to something. What he said touched us to the core….it stuck chords within us that we didn’t even know were there. Before you knew it we were in this thing. We were enthralled with our Rabbi. He seemed to have the very words of eternal life. He really threw us some curve balls along the way too. That way that he seemed to relate to the ladies…so not what we were used to. He loved on the kids too. Then those cryptic messages again, this time suggesting that somehow he was going to suffer and die and rise again. Rise again? We’d heard of the possibility of being raised at the last day, but never anything quite like he was trying to describe. We’ll never forget when things started heating up…we’d heard the threats, we knew they wanted him…but Jesus is calm, collected. Then the meal…he says the bread is his body broken for us…the wine his blood of the new covenant. Then the garden, the betrayal, the fake trial,…..Golgotha. Man we really didn’t know what to think then. Sure seems like we had put our eggs in the wrong basket. Then he appeared. It was him….alive…very much alive… we touched his wounds…we shared food. And he kept teaching, kept opening the scriptures to us, helping us to understand. And now, some cryptic words about being his witnesses… he blesses us…and then he’s gone…well, gradually I guess, but he’s gone. He told us to wait until we were clothed with power from on high…that the promise of the Father was coming to us. We would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

The memories are richer and deeper each time we rehearse them…and yet, even with countless tellings, I still find myself coming to this moment with a sense of wordlessness, a silent awe as we contemplate his homecoming. Some will continue to pick it all apart and decide the story is just too ‘exotic’ for us…that was what one writer wrote. Some will say we had to come up with some story to give some answer to ‘what happened to the body of Jesus?’ question. Perhaps this accounts for why so few find reason to gather on a Thursday in late Easter for worship. Maybe it isn’t all that big of a deal anyway. …..or is it?

If we’re willing to embrace holy mystery then today is a high and holy day for us as Easter people.

Hans Seuss von Kulmbach paints a poignant rendering of the Ascension. The disciples, gathered, huddled, predominates the foreground…their faces are vivid…the confusion, the amazement. The upper dimension of the painting simply portrays two pierced feet amidst the clouds.

I must admit, beholding a scene like this awakens that reminiscing instinct within me. We’ve come along way these many generations since those first followers….and what tremendous layers of meaning we have unpacked as the years have gone by. I see those pierced feet that are being enveloped by those clouds, in the same way that Jesus is being enveloped and taken behind the veil into the heavenly realm of God’s full presence. I can’t help but remember Bethlehem- where the Word was made flesh…flesh…that profound demonstration of God’s intent to lend us a hand….to offer us the hope of redemption. I consider what it means for Jesus, the God-man to be among us. God truly is with us! And it colors everything that Jesus then does…because now God is not just a mountain top awesome presence…but God is enfleshed in Jesus…and so the Word continues to speak, and God heals, forgives and delivers people in the flesh. I can’t help but on Ascension day be reminded of how far God has gone to save us…He stoops down all the way and takes on our frail human flesh, so he might redeem us in the flesh. This is what God does for us. And so on the cross God is scarred for love of us wayward folk. And in the resurrection it is not a ghostly apparition, no, it is Jesus…alive, risen, with scared hands, feet and side….among us again….and he gives us a few days to get used to the idea of it all…and then, the God-man, the eternal Son, second person of the holy trinity, ascends to the right hand of the Father. And those precious nail scarred feet popping out of the clouds call to us as a final reminder of the truth... a testimony to the lengths God has gone for our salvation, for in that taking on flesh, Jesus never takes it off!...and a very human Jesus enters behind the veil and takes his place again in the full presence of the Father…what a homecoming! And when we remember all the vivid imagery the scriptures have given us….wow! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world steps into the holy of holies having made the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Hands and feet scarred with love stand in the presence of the Father pleading for us. And the triune God who has forever changed because of Jesus’ taking on flesh now receives our frail humanity into his very heart and embrace in our Representative, Jesus Christ. We say he is our representative, for he is for us the foretaste of what will be for us, for we too, his redeemed fleshy ones will one day put on imperishability and immortality and in our flesh stand in that wonderful embrace of the very life of God, that precious, holy, life-giving space which is the joy of the new creation, the source and summit of our hope in God.

Jesus enters the heavenly realm of God…and so is released from the limits of our understanding of time and space. He ascends to come again. Coming again, yes at the end of the age to herald the fullness of the new creation. Coming again, as well, through the blessed promise of the Holy Spirit…that precious baptismal gift, first poured out on Pentecost, and poured out again and again as beloved sons and daughters of God die and rise with Christ in the waters of baptism, for it is the Spirit who communicates the life of God to us here and now. It is the Spirit who makes the Risen One known to us. It is the Spirit who empowers us to live as witnesses of the Risen Lord rehearsing this story, these many wonderful memories and truths in every language, culture, and place. It is the Spirit who draws us into our living into the new humanity modeled for us in the Risen Lord more and more each day. Is it the Spirit who moves us from God doing for us to God’s making his abode in us.

If you think about it, we could simply proclaim the good news of the gospel by remembering these three realities: God with us…God for us…God in us.

Indeed it is a high and holy day as we contemplate the mystery of the Ascension. It’s not just some exotic notion…it’s foundational to our faith and we join generations who have confessed this faith in acknowledging that, ‘on the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.’

We are called again to wait for yet another fresh outpouring of the Spirit upon us calling us to new and greater ventures of life, vocation and witness for the sake of the gospel.

And tonight, we’re privileged again that the divine Word speaks again in this place…and we celebrate this meal where the Risen Lord, not bound by the limits of time and space will be communicated to us here by the Spirit’s power. As we commune, we enter into that precious, holy, life-giving space of God’s life in the most fullest of ways as a foretaste of what is to come. And having tasted of something so precious as this, why would we gather here for anything else?

Alleluia! Christ is risen! ….and he lives and reigns in the unity of the Father and the Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. Amen.

Easter 6C: "Coming, Going, & Home"

Rev. Tommy A. Thompson

6th Sunday of Easter

John 14:23-29; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

9 May 2010

“Coming, Going, & Home”

There are three main threads that run through all the readings today...and there are three main threads that run through our lives: coming, going, and home. There’s not much that happens in life that does not include at least one of these three words, is there? It seems we are always on the move...going there...coming here...and when its all said and done, resting, relaxing, or whatever we do when we are not coming or going but simply at home.

For some of us only two of these words seem to be reality...particularly for those of us who are restless...who can’t seem to pin down where home really is...life is always a continuous journey of going and coming...but no rest...no relaxation...no place to hang the proverbial hat...

But there are others of us who don’t know so much what it is like to be on the go...to be headed somewhere...we are satisfied with the place our hat hangs...we have made a house a home...and there is very little going or coming in our lives...

Some of us can relate to the full picture of coming, going, being at home...others relate well to going and coming but no so much hanging the hat and settling down...while the rest of us are quite satisfied where our hats hang...which best describes your situation in life? coming? going? or home?

Regardless of which word best resonates with our present life context, the Word intersects with our lives right where we find ourselves...coming, going, or at home...because that’s what the Word is all about...

The Word came to us who are ultimately restless in order that we might begin a procession of going to our home which he came to reveal, and this is full of significance regardless of whether we are coming, going, or resting at what we understand to be home. The Gospel reveals to us that Jesus, the Son of God, the Divine Word, came to us, became one of us, in order to redeem us.

His coming to us, going to the Father, and His sense of being at home has revealed so much to us concerning going, coming, and home...

For those of us who never seem to find home in this world, Jesus comes to us as one who has no place to hang his proverbial hat...no place to lay his head...always coming or going...but never settling down...YET he is always at home...

For those of us who never seem to go anywhere, whose lives are cozy and warm...who have found the proverbial hanger to hold the hat, we don’t know what to do with a human being who is so at home even when life is not cozy and warm...

What is it about Jesus that is so right? How can he be so at home all the time, regardless of where he is...what he’s going through...whether he is resting or going or coming?

Jesus reveals to us what we once had but have been away from for so long we’ve forgotten what its like...Jesus is truly human and Jesus is truly at home. We are merely human, and whether we are coming, going, or at home, we never truly feel satisfied...never truly feel as if we have found our true home...the place where we REALLY belong.

Some of us have always thought that our original home was a garden, but what Jesus reveals to us is that what made that garden home was the relationship we enjoyed with the God in that Garden... In the same way that a child’s home is not brick, mortar, dry wall and carpet, but the source of her life...the love that brought her forth...the love of her mom and dad that was so deep that it literally constituted a new person that is deeply connected to that same love...the Garden was home because we lived there as the fruit of God’s love...the love of the Father and the Son in the Spirit cannot help but to create space for the other...and that other is the creation...it is the crown of the creation, human beings.

What Jesus rests in even as he is restless...what he finds so much satisfaction in as one who is truly human is what every human being was created to rest in ... the source of his life...the love that brought him forth....the love of his creator, redeemer, and sustainer that is so deep it constitutes new creation that is deeply connected to the source of its existence. It is in this divine space that we belong...and this is what Jesus’ coming is about and this is what his going is all about.

Thus, knowing he must go away from his disciples and return to His Father, Jesus looks at his disciples and says, “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that i am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now i have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

Why can’t Jesus just settle down?! He has had our emotions on the world’s fastest roller coaster...he came to us...we felt at home when with him, even though we left our homes behind to follow him...then he went away from us when he was crucified, died, and buried...then he rose from the grave and came back to us...and now he is leaving us again in the ascension!? Why can’t Jesus just settle down with us...hang his hat on the world’s hanger with ours?

Because in Jesus going, the greatest coming of all occurs for us human beings...the beginning of the fulfillment of the great promise of Revelation...The Father and the Son are coming to humankind and making their home with them! And this cannot happen unless Jesus goes away from us, which is truly the greatest coming to us that could ever happen!

Jesus’ return to His Father is a refusal to allow us to continue to hang our hats on hangers that will not last. Instead, he takes our hat and hangs it where it belongs...on the hanger of God’s life, where we were created to be in the beginning, when the love of Father and Son in the Spirit constituted our very existence. It is this life of love that truly is home. The child’s home is where the love that brought him forth lives...his mom and dad...the human person’s home is where the love that brought her forth lives...the vibrant life of God!

No wonder that when John receives a sneak peak into our ultimate future, what he sees is humanity so closely bound together with God’s life that its hard to imagine how they could ever be separated.

What Jesus is trying to tell his disciples before it happens so that they believe is this: Unless I go away from you again, I cannot truly come to you as you truly need. If I do not go, then your hat is not hung in the life of God...if i do not go, then the Holy Spirit, does not come to you...the Holy Spirit is the bond of love that joins Father and Son so strongly that it is impossible to imagine how they could ever be separated. If Jesus does not go, then the Spirit does not come to us and bind us to that same life of love!

Oh, if we truly loved Jesus, knew Jesus, we’d rejoice that He is going to the Father...because his going is the greatest coming to us that we could ever imagine...it invites those of us who are restless to find ourselves at home in the life of God! ... it invites those of us who have “settled” for a home other than our true home to let Jesus put our hats on the right hanger!

Some of us are wandering...we’ve had so many houses that we’ve called home...we can’t seem to pin down where home really is...we are amazed by Jesus’ life of constant motion and yet his life of constant abiding...of being at home even while not having a physical place to lay his head...

Some of us have settled...we have known one or 2 houses our entire lives...we have pinned down where home is...yet we are not satisfied...and we are amazed by Jesus’ sense of being so at home regardless of the fact that he has no place to lay his head!

Today Jesus calls us home...to accept what his coming and going is all about: The Father and the Son making their home among us in the Spirit who is coming to us. Oh for the grace to accept that invitation and begin to finally be at home even while making that grand procession. Amen.

At the Blessing of the Garden for 2010

Fourth Friday in Easter

April 30, 2010- The Blessing of the Garden

Gen. 1:1-2:4a

Psalm 8

Rev. 21:1-6

John 20:1-18

Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. –John 19:41-42

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our responses to questions are often windows into the deeper realities of our lives. I’m sure most of you have been asked at some point or another something like, “If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have three or four things with you what would you have,” or even better…being mindful of some of our persecuted brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, “if you could only have 1-3 pages of scripture to read [because there are people in these kind of predicaments] what pages would they be?” Well, as I have reflected on our gathering this evening it occurred to me that if I could only have three pages of scripture at my disposal, the lessons we read this evening would probably be those three. …the fourth page, if I could have one, being 1 Corinthians 15.

Not that these three texts are my personal favorites (though they certainly are at the top of my list) or something like that, but these three texts really are the meat and potatoes of the story of our salvation…they are the heart of what we proclaim is the good news of God in Christ, the proclamation of God’s grand and glorious agenda to renew the very creation spoken into existence through the divine Word, our Lord Jesus and breathed upon by the Holy Spirit until it radiates with the glory of the Risen Lord so brightly that we, the redeemed, may dwell in the full presence of God that has made his abode in our midst, having been transformed from mortality to immortality, resurrecting us to the very glory of which the Risen Lord is the latest showroom model, the prototype, such that we will have no need of lamp or light for the Lamb of God, who is the center of this whole newly renovated enterprise will be its light. And with that, I sincerely could take my seat and say Amen. …but I’m not done yet.

I am aware that I’ve committed mortal sin grammatically here, and if some English major were present they’d probably go sit in the corner and have to weep… but I say it like that intentionally because too much of the time we settle for little snippets, little nuggets of wisdom, little promises that we occasionally string together to give light and hope for our journey as God’s people. But the good news of the gospel is this marvelous movement, this journey of transformation, this work of renewal that is happening even now…even in ways unperceived by us, thanks be to God, to make the creation new….to renew all things, to make all things new.

We stepped outside the bounds of the order God had created. The wonderful image of God in which we were formed and fashioned was marred by our disobedience. Creation itself is polluted and instead of order and harmony we reep chaos and destruction. Sin destroys… but God who is rich in mercy did not abandon us in our mess but takes on our human flesh as the eternal Son becomes incarnate and sets about the work of reconciliation among us… it takes a lot of work… a great amount of toil, and there were plenty of weeds to deal with along the way, but Jesus comes among us and does the work that only God could do for us…to free us from our bondage, our allegiance to the kingdom of darkness, and in his death and resurrection opened the way for us be washed up, to rise with Christ, and for us to become a new creation, created to reflect again the glory of God.

And what is the wonderful backdrop for all of this work? What is the setting of this renewal? ....a garden. Six days of creation formation…and humankind is set among the rest of the creation in a garden paradise. God rests from all the work he has done on the seventh day. And there you have it…creation. God’s mercy responds to our disobedience, and God sets about renewing this creation. That new creation work is most poignantly focused in the person of Jesus…and interestingly enough, he starts pointing us to the signs of times…Jesus’s work is finished on the sixth day (we put him to death on Friday), and is in the tomb on the seventh day, …and then…the first day of the week, He rises as the first glimpse we get into this new creation…a resurrection that we too will share at that last day. …and with His rising to resurrection life, so begins the great 8^th day of creation…the day of the new creation… that has stretched from that resurrection morning into the here and now, right here today…as God continues his work of renewal in us, through us, in spite of us, as we anticipate the glory that is to come when indeed all of creation will be made new….once again, in the paradise of the new heaven, the new earth, that will overlap and become one as the heavenly realm of God is finally wedded with the new earth and God dwells with us and we with him. …a union which is described to us in revelation as looking a whole lot like another, you guessed it… a beautiful, fruitful, garden. …and just to remind you, where was it that the Risen One made his first appearance after he comes forth victorious over death inaugurating this new creation? a garden… a garden in which that tomb was. If you ever can only have three pages of scripture…these might be good choices.

So, tonight, we’re having church at the garden. Not because we just need some change of scenery or something. No, we’re here at the garden because it really is one of the two places where the story of salvation is most brought into focus….the other one being the cemetery…and we already made our pilgrimage there Easter morning… tonight we’re here at this garden, this land we work and we toil, in cooperation with, in response to the Risen Lord who has in his resurrection inaugurated the new creation. Interestingly enough, my love for being in this space is not ultimately about a harvest to come, though there is nothing like fresh corn from the garden. And while we will pray for God to bless our efforts and bring forth a bountiful harvest, that’s not the main deal here. We’re here because the Risen Lord has called us as partners, as ambassadors in this great mission that God is up to in renewing the creation…in making all things new. And something as simple as setting out and working a garden is iconic, is a small way of working a little bit of land, in sanctifying some space to be a sign here and now, a foretaste of what is to come. And that, my brothers and sisters, is a holy work. Amen.

A Journey to Emmaus

Wednesday in Easter Week

April 5, 2010- Rock Spring United Methodist

Acts 3:1-10

Psalm 105:1-8

Luke 24:13-35

It is possible to experience sensory overload during bright week. The sights, sounds, smells, the wetness of the water, and the many stories…even just the ones that have the setting of Easter morning and Easter evening are enough to keep us worshipping all week. Tonight we return to that first night of Easter and to a story that is as much beloved in as many Christian circles as there are layers of meaning testifying to its significance. It too can send one into sensory overload, but the shock value is not there like some of the other stories….there are no pyrotechnics, no earthquake, no lightning from heaven or the like…the setting is all too familiar to us for it reflects for us the very pattern we enter into every time we gather for worship as God’s people.

Keep in mind there is a journey going on here…these two disciples, whoever they are, are headed somewhere….there’s the movement of the disciples and there’s the movement of the Risen One, alongside, toward them, with them, unrecognized for a time, but present, active, very much alive…the fount of wisdom and light that has always been.

But what happens on that journey is all too familiar to us…so much so that the story really isn’t as romantic after a while as it could be I suppose…it actually kind of seems pretty mundane… we all love those moments when the Risen One does something really out of the ordinary to get our attention… I would love a dollar for every story I’ve heard of someone who has made an Emmaus Walk or Chrysalis journey or the like and had some profound encounter with grace. But the reality is that day after day, week after week, we journey in and out of this place, and not every Sunday is as glorious as Easter, and not every day of our week is filled with bright lights, bell sounds and what seems like Easter glory. I mean, even this coming Sunday has come to be known as ‘low Sunday’….less people will probably be here, and I dare say you’re not busting out the windchimes again to welcome the second Sunday of Easter.

The pattern of this journey, quite sadly, can become something we take for granted… and after a few rounds through the whole thing we just might find ourselves wondering if it even matters at all… after all, why go through all the trouble of all that water stuff and then the bread and the wine? It just makes the service longer…and the Lord knows our real encounter with grace is when we fill our stomachs at dinner time and evaluate how well the preacher did this time around. …and don’t you think for a minute we don’t know it happens. Long before I ever became a preacher I attended many a Sunday dinner where roast preacher was served.

Perhaps the story is as much about teaching us something as it is about reflecting what we understand about this great mystery that is our Christian worship. If you listen closely you can’t help but begin to realize the story is quite familiar…if you get beyond the physical posture of walking the movement of the story is almost straight from the book of worship… the opening of the Scriptures, the proclamation that brings to light the focus of the entirety of Scripture as the looking glass that is Jesus…the Messiah who suffered and died for our salvation. And that same Messiah, the Risen One, hangs around for a while, breaks bread…feeds His kids and makes sure they have what they need to continue on their journey. I mean, when you really begin to understand that we’re going somewhere with all of this, the emphasis on the preacher hitting a home run every Sunday since that’s the main event of the service anyway almost fades a bit into the background…well, it doesn’t fade away, but it really becomes the preparation for the main event.

There’s just nothing like this in all the world. Where else but the church do you have a group of people who can gather together and just like it happens in all these Easter stories have the Risen Lord show up and make himself known? And that being the case, why would you want anything else?

I’ve come to the place in my own spiritual journey that I am afraid that to not come to the Table of the Lord is like telling Him to just stay home and put his healing, reconciling, forgiving, freeing, washing, and feeding energies to work at a more convenient time…and that is so far away from the spirit of this story….the response of these disciples is powerful… remember how it describes them? Hearts burning while the Scriptures are opened to them and they are aided in their understanding. And it is in the breaking of the bread that they finally encounter Him openly and clearly… and it changes them forever.

It will change you too.

There’s nothing like the graciousness of our God who has determined to feed us with his very life week in and week out, and in those times when we’re particularly faithful…even on some of the weekdays too. We break this bread as a constant ‘thank you’ to the One who has given everything for us… and even in our offering our time to do it, the creatures of the bread and the wine, and even paying the electric bill for the building in which we gather to do it, Christ takes our humble offering to Him and offers us all that He is and has back to us in return.

The Emmaus journey is the journey of the church when she is faithful to follow where her Lord is leading. No more the journey of fear and despair. No more the doubting. No more the wondering what has come of all our hopes and dreams. No more the burden of guilt over sin, failure and shortcoming. No more going half way and stopping and going home. No, the journey takes us right into a place of rest and refreshment where having remembered the good things of God we feast on His love, His life, His presence in our midst as the Risen One breaks bread with us, feeding us…making sure we are equipped to continue on the journey of our discipleship…. And this we MUST DO no matter who stands in this pulpit from week to week… and no matter who would raise their voice to oppose it…we have nothing else to offer the world than the hope of Jesus Risen and the window into that reality that the Eucharist truly is.

Oh how my heart burns within me tonight… what a precious gift of grace that Christ has explained himself to us in the Scriptures… and now He invites us to feed on Him in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.

Amen.