Sermon for Easter VI Year C 2013 Down to the River To Pray I don t know about you, but for one am grateful that we are still in the season of Easter. Because, we need it. Our hearts are broken from national tragedies like the bombings in Boston but also by more personal grief at the death of a loved one or dear friend. And our hearts are troubled by all manner of political, social and economic hardships and controversies. So I am grateful for these Easter words in this season of new life: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not let them be afraid. These words remind me of the young girl Paloma, in the French novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Paloma is keenly intelligent, and she is also cynical and world-weary. She writes in her Journal of Profound Thoughts that the world, in its present state, is no place for princesses and so she s going to end it all on her 13th birthday. But life interrupts her. Young Paloma meets a neighbor, a reclusive widow who is as keenly intelligent, cynical and world-weary as she, and the two become friends. Long story short, the widow dies in a car accident, and in the face of death Paloma discovers life. Life interrupts her. She writes in her Journal of Profound Thoughts: So that s what it s like? All of a sudden all possibility just vanishes? A life full of projects, discussions just started, desires not even fulfilled it all vanishes in a second and there s nothing left, no going back? Paloma goes on: For the first time in my life I understood the meaning of the word never. And it s really awful. You say the word a hundred times a day but you don t really know what you re saying until you re faced with a real never again. But when someone you love dies well, I can tell you that you really feel what it means and it really, really hurts. 1
And then, in the middle of her fresh grief, something happens. She hears music, a neighbor playing the piano, drifting out into the evening air. She listens for a moment, and then concludes: maybe that s what life is about: there s a lot of despair, but also the odd moment of beauty, where time is no longer the same. It s as if those strains of music created a sort of interlude in time, something suspended, an Elsewhere that had come to us, an Always within Never. Yes, that is it, an always within never. An Always within Never. I d say that s as good a description of Easter as any I ve heard in the usual Easter stories: a voice in the garden on the morning of the third day, a breakfast of grilled fish on the beach, a greeting of peace that cuts through the closed doors and broken hearts in an upper room, broken bread at an Emmaus supper, an appearance on the Damascus Road: an Elsewhere comes, a moment of Always within Never. In fact, in all our texts this morning we hear of people who have grasped the Easter message of Always within Never People who like Paloma are interrupted by Life. Take for instance Lydia. We know almost nothing about Lydia, but what we know fascinates me. Who was this woman making her way independently in a man s world? Who was this Gentile who sought the God of Judaism? The text tells us only that she was a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. In those two brief phrases, however, the author of Acts show us that work and worship both had their place in the life of this remarkable woman. Lydia rises from the text this morning and stands before us as both a contemplative Mary and an active Martha her heart set on God even while her work gets done in the world. 2
Another detail of this story that fascinates me and captures my imagination is that she came to the riverside to pray. Perhaps she came to the riverside expecting to meet other women Jewish worshipers, Gentile seekers for prayer together. What she did not know or could not anticipate was that on this particular day outside the city gates, she would be met by the Apostle Paul and his companions who would preach the message of the Always within the Never. There at the riverside, Lydia unexpectedly found the God who was finding her. Life interrupted her. But stop for a moment and consider that it almost did not happen. Think of the long list of improbable events that led to Lydia s encounter with Paul. Remember the controversy in the early church over the preaching of the gospel to Gentiles, which we considered last Sunday. Think of how Paul had to be nudged and redirected again and again to get him to Philippi. It was not enough for the Spirit to guide Paul and his companions. Twice the text tells us that the Spirit prevented Paul from going the wrong way. Then, of course, there is Paul s vision of the man of Macedonia who pleads for help. Only when Paul discusses the vision with his companions do they conclude that they must go to Philippi and they leave immediately. Did they ever meet the man of Macedonia? Or was Lydia the one to whom the Spirit was guiding them? It almost did not happen, this meeting of the businesswoman and the missionaries. And it surely would not have happened were it not for the convergence the coming together of human faithfulness and divine guidance. Paul and Lydia and the Holy Spirit all work together in this event, this chance meeting at the river. Paul would not have arrived there had he not been guided to this place at this moment had he not been flexible in his responding to the Spirit s guidance. Lydia would not have arrived at the river, had she not first of all been a seeker already on her way. Paul does his part. Lydia does hers. But it is God who guides all things and works in and through all things not just for good but for what would otherwise be impossible. It is the Spirit the Elsewhere who comes who brings Lydia to Paul to hear the good news of God s Always within the Never. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ prepared Lydia s heart to hear, receive, and understand. 3
Here is the center of the story the moment of intersection between human obedience and divine initiative. Longing and grace meet there on the bank of the river. The longing heart, the need of this woman is opened by the gracious impulse of a faith-giving God. Like Lydia, perhaps we are astonished when, in looking back, we can say only that our steps were guided and our hearts were opened. The Spirit guides both Paul and Lydia outside the circle of the known and the comfortable. Instead of going to the temple on a Sabbath as he always did, Paul went outside the gate of the city and found a river there. By the river Paul sat down, and there he preached and prayed and worshipped with Lydia. The Spirit uses both prayer and worship to bring about transformation. And Lydia is baptized along with her entire household. With her heart open to God, she offers her house to Paul and his companions and others who seek to gather to pray and worship. God opened her heart. Lydia opened her home. She becomes the first Christian in Europe and many believe from this account she was a bishop of the early church, using her wealth to support the missionary work of Paul. Ah, the surprising work of the Spirit! Just when we think we have it all worked out, if we listen to the Spirit, if we pray extraordinary and unexpected things occur. This morning, surrounded as we are by all the symbols of baptism in the texts we heard, we remember Lydia s baptism, and we have the chance to remember our own. In fact in these troubled times, it is especially important to take Luther s advice to remember your baptism. To remember that we are not just of the flesh but also of the Spirit, that the Spirit of God dwells in each of us. And that through worship and prayer we will not be conformed to the ways of this world, but by the Spirit we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to remember our baptism to remember the wild mystery that God that Great Elsewhere, that Gracious Always comes to us and claims us and gives us gifts of his own Spirit. 4
We need to remember our baptism not as talisman from all suffering! But as a reminder of who we are called to be in the face of evil and suffering; to remember the promise of Christ s presence with us and for us even unto the ends of the earth. Today we are given the opportunity, the invitation to come and sit down by the river once again. To bask in river of living water. To be renewed by its fresh pools of grace. To be accepted, not because of anything we have or haven t done, but because we were loved by God before we even knew it. To let our restless hearts find rest in the peace that only Christ can give. The Elsewhere is breaking in--prompting us, calling us, claiming us and blessing us so that we can go out into the world to seek to use our gifts of the Spirit to return good for evil, to outdo one another in showing honor and mutual affection, to rejoice in hope, and even to grieve in hope, be patient in suffering, to persevere in prayer, to bless those who persecute us, and, (as the Apostle Paul told the Roman Christians) in so far as it depends on us, to live peaceably with all, giving food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty even if they are our enemies! We remember our baptism so we remember who we are and we take hold of the promises of the love of God in Christ that will never let us go. To remember that he has has told us if we abide in him, he will abide in us the living river of his peace will flow through us. We remember our baptism to recall that through water and the word we are reborn Easter people that is, people of the Resurrection. So all you Lydias and Pauls remember your baptism. The Spirit is calling you to come down to the river to pray! As we sing the hymn of the day, we will pass the light of Christ in remembrance of your baptism and the exhortation to let your lights so shine that others will see and glory their father in heaven. 5