Sixth Sunday of Easter - Homily

                                FULL TRANSCRIPT OF FATHER SWANN'S HOMILY:

Welcome on this 6th Sunday of Easter and Mother’s Day. You may (or may not) remember last week in the Homily we were talking about how ‘’connectedness’’ with God is the first step in bearing ‘’good fruit’’ for the Kingdom. This week we are going to be talking about our ‘’connectedness’’ – our relationship – with each other. As we move through the ‘’Great Fifty Days of Easter’’ toward Pentecost our lessons high light the ‘broad spectrum’ of what the Christian faith brings to the people of God. Both the Epistle and the Gospel lesson today are about the great commandment God gives to ‘’love one another as I have loved you.’’ Most of us have a basic understanding of this simple message. The question is –How well are we able to follow this commandment of God.

The Epistle today – 1st John –is a guideline to developing fellowship with Christ. In our lesson we discover

that it takes confidence in our lives to be able to relate to such fellowship. To express the truth of love toward others as we love ourselves is NO easy task. Many people have difficulty in loving themselves.’’ The great glory of our Christian faith is that it is designed to prepare us for life and to fit us for living that life. God created us to be confident, adequate, and full of assurance so that WE can do that which God has planned for us. It is told of John Wesley that when he was a very young newly ordained Anglican priest, he became aware of his own sin and the immensity of God’s grace in Christ –his first reaction was to go to an isolated hut in the wilds of Yorkshire—to dedicate his life to meditation and prayer.

In the end- his plan to ‘’shut himself off from everyone’’ came to nothing. Wesley was reminded by an older and wiser Christian that –‘’there is no such thing as solitary Christianity.’’ The New Testament has many things to say about the life of the Christian community. However the foundation of that life is in the foundation statement; ‘’As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.’’

This might possibly seem to be contrary to our usual understanding, based on the teaching that - we are saved by the good News of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, unconditionally, and regardless of behavior. But- NOT REALLY – Jesus is NOT speaking to ‘’unbelievers.’’ He is speaking to people who are already His disciples. This passage only makes sense when we remember that it is a continuing part of last Sunday’s reading. The disciples to whom Jesus’ words are addressed are the ‘branches’ that are already ‘attached’ to the vine, to Christ. What Jesus is teaching us is NOT the way to be ‘’saved’’ BUT—the kind of life Christians ‘’ought to live’’ – BECAUSE they are saved.

In thinking of “Christian love” – what does it really mean to love my brother or sister? Who is my brother or sister? From the first verse of our Epistle today we heard; “Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ has been born of God…. Is a child of God. WE are family. If we love the Father , we will likewise love the other children of the family. We are talking about the ‘’extended family’’ of God. WE are talking about a relationship with each other in the body of Christ. C.S. Lewis, the great lay Anglican theologian, once wrote: ‘’Don’t waste your time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this – we find one of the great secrets.

When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone, that you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a ‘good turn,’ you will find yourself disliking him less. AS most of you know, the Episcopal Church has orders of monks and nuns. The convent of the Order of Saint Mary is situated at Sewanee, Tennessee. Sister Miriam Brasher, of St. Mary’s Convent gave a sermon that connects well to Mother’s Day. It contained a story showing the great love of a Christian mother for her son and her husband, and her commitment to ‘’truly follow Jesus’’ in the worst of situations.

The story is ‘’set’’ in South Africa in a courtroom. It is after the time of Apartheid when South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was working to bring to justice those who perpetrated many ‘’horrors.’’ The scene is a courtroom trial in South Africa. A frail black woman, over 70 years old, gets slowly to her feet; Facing her are several white security police officers. One of them, a Mr. van der Brock, has just been tried and found guilty in the murders of the woman’s son and husband. He had come to the woman’s house, taken her son, shot him at pointblank range, and burned his body while he and his officers partied nearby.

Some years later, the same van der Brock and his cohorts returned for her husband as well. For months she heard nothing of his whereabouts. Then, almost two years after her husband’s disappearance, van der Brock came back to fetch her. How vividly she remembered that night. They took her to a riverbank where she say her husband, bound and beaten, but still strong in spirit, lying on a pile of wood. The last words she heard from his lips as van der Brock and his fellow officers poured gasoline over his body and set him on fire- his words were; ‘’Father forgive them…’’

Sometime later --- when the woman stood in the courtroom and listened to the confessions of van der Brock--- a member of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission turned to her and said; ‘’So what do you want? How should justice be done to this man who has brutally destroyed your family?” The old black lady said, ‘’I want three things.” 1.) ‘’I want to be taken to the place where my husband’s body was burned – to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial.’’ 2.) “My son and husband were my only family. So I want Mr. van der Brock to come twice a month to my house and spend the day with me, so I can pour out on him whatever love I have remaining in me.’’ 3.) “Finally,” she said, ‘’I would like Mr. van der Brock to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the wish of my husband.’’

‘’I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr.

van der Brock in my arms, embrace him, and let him know that he is truly forgiven.” Amen.

Collect:
O GOD, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives an reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Pray Especially for:
John Cunningham, Betty Stenger, Terese Gluck, Rose Mauzy, David Garber, Pete Walburg, Ella Lane, Sara Pace, Bill Gardner, Katie Armstrong, the Heaton family, Lisa McNelly, Jimmy Milas, and Pete Stanish.

(1st Reading Acts 10:44-48, Psalm 98, 2nd Reading I John 5:1-6, Gospel John 15:9-17)