Psalm 66 (Rural Life Sunday Adaptation)

John 14:15-21

Rural Life Sunday

Easter 6

May 1, 2005

            During the past weeks of the Easter season we have met several people who “wrestled with the Resurrection.”  On Easter we met the two Marys who trembled with both fear and joy at the tomb.  Later we encountered “doubting Thomas,” who had to be convinced that his friend Jesus was the risen Christ.  Still later we joined Peter “on the road” as he grew in his understanding of Christ’s mission for him.

            These were Bible people.  But things are not that different today.  I remember a woman named Emily Dickinson, who sat in her room and wrote poems.  She wrestled with Resurrection, sometimes questioning, sometimes wondering, and sometimes saying “yes!”  Listen to what she wrote:

At least – to pray – is left – is left –

Oh Jesus – in the Air –

I know not which thy chamber is –

I’m knocking – everywhere –

Thou settest Earthquake in the South –

And Maelstrom, in the Sea –

Say, Jesus Christ of Nazareth –

Hast thou no arm for Me?

In a more faithful spirit she wrote:

I never saw a Moor.

I never saw the Sea –

Yet know I how the Heather looks

And what a Billow be –

I never spoke with God

Nor visited in Heaven –

Yet certain am I of the spot

As if the Checks were given –

            This was in nineteenth century New England.  But in our day people continue to wrestle with Resurrection.  Just recently the famous (or infamous) Jane Fonda wrote a book about her life, and in that book she described her journey from hedonistic secularism to a growing and evolving faith in the Risen Christ.  In an interview with Belief Net she described her struggle and the hostility she faced from both fundamentalists and atheists.  Her unwillingness to accept a patriarchal form of Christianity rankled some.  And her move to faith annoyed others, including her husband Ted Turner, who described Christianity as a religion of losers, but who himself had been “saved” seven times, twice by Billy Graham.

            Wrestling with Resurrection.  People have been doing this for a long time.  Perhaps you have also had such a wrestling match with Jesus, our absent yet present savior.  I had such a wrestling match as I tried to decide if I wanted to be confirmed and later if I should be ordained.  Present day confirmands and post-confirmands continue to wrestle with what it means to say yes to Jesus and where he will take them.  I had a couple great conversations this week as we explored the wonder and wildness of this God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

            This risen Christ did appear to his disciples.  But then he left them.  And now all we have is his promise that another ---- he calls this person the Advocate or Helper ---- will be with us to guide us and comfort us.  We would call this Advocate or Helper God’s Holy Spirit.  This third person of the Trinity. ------ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

            This is not so easy.  We can’t touch him like Thomas did.  We can’t hear his voice like Mary did.  We can’t eat fish with him like Peter did.  All we can do is love him and follow him.  Jesus says:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

            What are his commandments?  Love God.  Love one another.  Stay together.  A couple weeks ago we remarked at the “awesome” community of Christians who gathered in those early days after the Resurrection.  Today we also gather together as the followers of the Risen Christ.

            Sometimes we wrestle with what this means.  All Christians are not exactly agreed on the “rules of Christianity.”   I suppose that is one reason why there are so many different churches.  But we keep on wrestling.  Like a poet named Emily Dickinson.  Or an actress named Jane Fonda.  Or a farmer cultivating his field.  Or a teacher raising her crop of students.

            As we continue to wrestle with what it means to worship and follow this Resurrected Christ we gather for a simple meal.  We call this meal “Holy Communion.”  Here we join other wrestlers as we eat some bread and drink some wine, just as Jesus did with his own disciples in a room the night before he died, just as Jesus did the evening of his resurrection with two of those disciples at a home in the village called Emmaus.

            Those disciples wondered and rejoiced.  So do we.  They didn’t understand everything.  Neither do we.  They decided to keep on loving Jesus and follow his commandments to love others.  So must we.  Let me share one more Emily Dickinson poem with you:

Perhaps you think Me stooping

I’m not ashamed of that

Christ - stooped until He touched the Grave -

Do those at Sacrament

Commemorate Dishonor

Or love annealed of love

Until it bend as low as Death

Redignified, above?