Sunday Sermon - 18 May
When I was in my leadership role at Lakefield College School I’d get many requests from my staff to go to conferences and workshops. After confirming the value of the experience I would approve the request, but always with the caveat that the growth experience provided by the conference must be shared with the larger team. The conference attendee had to make a presentation, write a paper, or find some means of sharing “the juice” (as I call it) they gained from the experience.
A couple of weeks ago, many of our parishioners were away at the AWARE conference. For those of you who don’t know, AWARE stands for:
All Christian
Women by God’s design
Alive in Jesus Christ
Renewed by the Holy Spirit
Enriched for Service
Let me just say, they definitely came back with “the Juice!” Full of the joy and the charisms of the Holy Spirit.
The AWARE conference theme, “Shining His Light”, and its symbolic image of the lighthouse resonates with our Gospel today. It’s important to understand today’s reading in its context because, although we are still in the Easter season, Jesus’ words we read today were his departing words, spoken while they were in the upper room, just before his arrest and crucifixion. Jesus is commanding his disciples to love one another just as he has loved them. It is by the tangible, visible display of their love that everyone will know that they are followers of Jesus even after he is gone. They will be bearers of the light of love guiding people through the hardships of life.
The AWARE conference used a lighthouse as a symbol representing the bearers of Jesus’ light of love. Like a lighthouse, Jesus calls his followers to love one another, to love others unconditionally, and to be like the lighthouse that provides guidance and direction to a safe harbour. It’s a wonderfully perfect metaphor for our role as Christians. Not just to love one another but to visibly and tangibly let people see the love we share with one another and have for others - by our words and our actions - so that they know when they are in our presence they have safe harbour, whether it is in our church, in our homes, or wherever you meet the lost, forgotten, and forsaken of our world.
Like our new AWARE banner says, ‘Gather Us In’. This isn’t a call from us but a plea to us for we are already here together in faith and love, gathered in. ‘Gather Us In’ is a call to us from those ships lost at sea, those people out there looking for a beacon of light, a ray of hope in, sadly, what is becoming a dark and dangerous world. As followers of Christ, as those called by our Lord to love, we must actively listen with our ears and openly listen with our hearts to the pleas of those out there crying, calling out for help, “Gather us in!”
In Acts, Peter faces criticism for welcoming Gentiles into the community of faith but he pushes back, challenging the critics. He says that the Holy Spirit had clearly already moved among the Gentiles, establishing that it was God’s will that they be welcomed into the fold of followers, and no one has the right or power to hinder God’s will.
Sometimes it may feel to us like the Holy Spirit isn’t working as powerfully for us as today it was for Peter in his day. I’m not sure that’s the case, I think the Holy Spirit is present and moving in the world, recreating God’s kingdom, recreating church, in ways we don’t yet understand.
Our Anglican Church in Canada is in the midst of change, whether we like it or not. This is the reality. Throughout the country, throughout all Dioceses, and especially in ours, we are in the midst of change. This is absolutely not to be confused with decline, demise or even death which I think many who don’t understand what is going on believe is happening. The current structure of our Anglican religious institution has a sustainability issue, yes, but only structurally or organizationally. I believe our Christian faith and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us is stronger and perhaps more vibrant than ever. Just because ‘organized church’ as we know it is waning, doesn’t mean that God’s active presence in our lives and the world is also waning. In fact, if we look at what is going on in the world, the Holy Spirit is alive and moving as powerfully and profoundly as ever.
For example, the amount of people who are rejoicing in the election of a new Pope that seems committed to continue the good, loving, work of change in the Roman church is but one sign. The fact that the American President, believe it or not, visited the Abrahamic Family House, and put this wonderful symbol in the public eye, is another.
Who knows about the Abrahamic Family House? I had heard about it a few years ago, but I knew nothing about it until I was inspired by the President’s visit to learn more - which is my point of God’s presence and grace in action today.
The Abrahamic Family House is a building inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, which is based on joint dialogue between Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (the largest religious institution in Egypt), supporting human compassion and solidarity. It is a powerful document and well worth reading. It grew out of their expressed belief that different faiths can live peacefully together in this world. It serves as a guide on advancing a “culture of mutual respect.” The Abrahamic House itself is an interfaith complex that encompasses a church, a mosque, and a synagogue.
Of all people, it was the American President who spoke of unity as he visited the House and brought this powerful symbol once again, to the public fore. Yes, the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, is working in mysterious, unknowable and unbelievable ways.
So, as we enjoy and appreciate our AWARE banner which will hang in our church this year, let it be a reminder to us that we are called to be beacons of light to those lost in the sea of life. To bring hope to those calling out to “Gather Us In” and not just to those who are lost but also, as the Holy Spirit reminds us, to Gather Us All In - All of God’s children, together, in unity.
Just as Jesus calls us to love one another, just as envisioned by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed in their document on Human Fraternity and symbolized by the Abrahamic House, we are called to gather together. Despite our differences, the Lord our God is one, a God we all share, a God who calls us to be a light to gather in the lost and to come together, united peacefully in love.
Amen.