Stephen J. Waller
Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B – 5/9/21
Acts 10: 44 – 48
Psalm 98
1 John 5: 1 – 6
John 15: 9 – 17
IN THE NAME OF GOD…
ABIDING IN OBEDIENCE…
Let me begin this morning by telling you that I have no idea why the Rector asked me to preach a homily on what the world around us knows as “Mothers’ Day.” I have spent considerable time pondering his motives. Suffice it to say, however, that I am about as maternal as a fence post. None the less, here goes:
“Obedience and abiding in love are indistinguishable in the life of Jesus.” They go together…
Obedience is not a word that falls easily on our ears…especially if one is usually bent, as am I, on doing nearly anything to “not obey.” Yet, today, Jesus tells us to obey in no uncertain language. What we are to obey is this: You and I are commanded to love one another. Listen carefully: you and I are commanded to love one another…no exceptions, no squirming to get out of it…no agreeing with a “yes, but, Jesus…you do not know that person whom I know to be “less than.” You command me to love even those in this room whom I hardly know by name; who are not people I would invite to a cocktail party at my home; who are not, to use my sister’s verbiage: “our kind of people.” You expect me to love the people you, God, decided to populate this community without ever checking with me if I thought that they should belong!
What sort of command is this? Truth be told, some here may say: I do know some of the people in this room and honestly I do not even like them…..love them? God, are you crazy? Love that person over there who creeps me out? What is the purpose of this command to love? What do you expect to happen if we who are Saint Thomas the Apostle do obey your command and actually love each other…warts and all? What, indeed, is the reason for this command to love?
The reason is so that our light will shine so brightly that others not yet a part of our community and others who may never be a part of this community may know the wonderful love of God through our example, our brightness, and our actions in “loving one another” and in loving those outside of this sacred space.
That is the reason for the command to love, pure and simple…to equip God’s own to do the loving as Jesus did to everyone whom Jesus encountered…everyone…everyone…even that person who causes me to grind my teeth, yes, even that person.
What pray does mothers’ day have to do with all this abiding in love? My mother, of blessed memory, was very selective with her love…you knew who mother loved and you knew whom she did not love…That is not the sort of motherly love we are saluting today in the name of the Church. What we are saluting is this:
Everyone of us came from the same womb of the baptismal font…we were all born into the Body of Christ through the same holy water. That womb, that font is our common mother. From it we are born to New Life. Through it we are untied with the Body of Christ throughout the entire world and over all time. In it we are grafted into the Body of Christ….and as, Episcopalians, into the membership of a particular parish church…you heard that right: we are by right of our baptisms grafted into a particular Body of Christ in a particular location on the earth in a particular diocese in a particular parish…Here, we call that parish Saint Thomas the Apostle. Many holy people have risen from those baptismal waters here to serve this community and to serve the world at large. This parish has a rich history of service beyond its walls and within its walls. It is you who are Saint Thomas the Apostle who are the heirs of all that prior service. It is you who are Saint Thomas the Apostle who now and from now on will do God’s work in this place and in the world…It is you lay people who are the parish, not the clergy. Not the clergy. Not the clergy.
You heard that correctly: Those of us among you who wear our collars backwards are not technically members of this parish or of any other parish. Clergy are members of the Diocese in which they serve, not the rolls of the parish where they serve or attend.
But, let me tell you a little secret about us clergy: everyone of us clergy who are among you wants to experience the love God commanded you to give. We are among you for a particular role in the Body of Christ, true, but, we too are humans, we are fellow Christians, also seeking to serve God here and beyond here and we do that best when we experience the love God commands coming to us from you good lay folk. Clergy are not perfect humans. We are not even better Christians than the average lay person. We strive to serve among you in a manner that will encourage you in your ministries and enhance the overall ministry of the parish. Sometimes we are a smashing success: we preach beautifully; our pastoral care has no equal; our intelligence astounds even ourselves; our humility cannot be beat; our celebrations of the Eucharist are a wonder to behold. Still we need to know that we too are loved by the members of this parish…you good folk…that knowledge of your love will call from us our best. And for it we will return to you love in kind. For that is God’s command: that we love one another.
I close today by confessing to everyone of you that loving as Jesus commands is not easy, not ever easy. It, like any real love takes work. It is the same love married folk must work to have to sustain them through the ups and downs and ins and out of life together. Sometimes it takes more work than we think we are capable of giving.
That is when Grace comes in to aid us in fulfilling the commandment to love.
With God’s Grace, my good friends, we who are Saint Thomas the Apostle can do this loving here and beyond here to the greater glory of God.
AMEN
