Easter 3, April 26, 2020. Leighmoor UC.
I am aware that if we had been meeting for worship this Sunday, the service would have included material for Anzac Day. I have written a prayer, and I have also inserted one after the Sermon, which is from a resource written by Uniting Church chaplains serving in the Australian Defence Forces.
Hymn Suggestions:
161: Tell out my soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ji4y9Q-K0&list=PL5DD548A5057D8327&index=3&t=0s
395: Alleluia, Christ is risen!
254: O changeless Christ, for ever new
514: Be known to us in breaking bread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aOwYeG_jyU
595: O Jesus, I have promised
613: Lord of all hopefulness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8mti7VL3gg&list=RDb8mti7VL3gg&start_radio=1&t=0
47: Our God, our help in ages past [Anzac Day]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsHIwXTjAOU
Bible Readings:
Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19
1 Peter 1: 17-23
Luke 24: 13-35
Prayer
O wonderful God, you who created the earth and the sky, you delight us too by your nearness.
You astonish us through the ordinary ways you make yourself known to us.
May our hearts be filled with gratitude-for you, our Creator, who fashioned this planet and the rest of the solar system, and who created each one of us.
You place us on the road…to faith…to mission…meeting grace, goodness, and compassion, along the way.
We remember today those who were and still are, involved in the bloodbaths of war.
We pray for all affected by war…for war widows, for people who grew up minus a father, and for those who did not recognise the one who returned.
Even though we are in lock down-our hearts are not.
We continue to pray for our armed service men and women who are serving, and pray that one day, there will be no war, and all will live in peace,
We pray this prayer in the name of our Prince of Peace,
Amen
Sermon
The Journey to the Heart
[Luke 24: 13-35]
In the 1960’s, there was a very moving book-and later, a film, released
-a story of three friends
– 2 dogs and a cat, making their way through 400 kms of Canadian wilderness, to get back to their master.
The Incredible Journey.
I must have been about 6 years old when I saw the film-a Saturday matinee-and I cried, and cried and cried!
-the story of the animals, making their way home.
The Incredible Story. There has since been a remake: Homeward Bound,(1993)
Another Incredible Story:
‘Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about 7 miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them…’(Luke 24: 13-15)
The Incredible Journey.
-two disciples on the road to Emmaus that first Easter evening.
-they are walking from Jerusalem after an unsettling weekend.
-they carefully review the events of the past days.
Cleopas and his unnamed companion
(because often unnamed people in the Bible are women, some scholars suggest that the unnamed one is a female disciple), but it doesn’t matter
-They were members of the larger circle of the disciples of Jesus-and they were very depressed.
The promising adventures of these last years in which they had invested themselves, failed to show them the redemption of Israel:
‘But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.’(vs 21)
Their incredible young leader, in whom they had such hope, was arrested, sentenced to death, and crucified.
To be sure that morning there were stories circulating that the tomb of Jesus was empty, that He was alive!
But such reports were not acceptable.
Meanwhile, an unrecognized Traveller appeared and joined with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
The stranger asked about their conversation.
These depressed ones express surprise that the Stranger was unaware of the harassment, and death of the prophet of Nazareth.
Then they shared their own bewilderment at the fact that on the third day when there should have been some glorious fulfilment, their hopes were only further crushed. Even though the women had told them of an empty tomb and the vision of angels, they discounted this report.
So what does the Risen Christ, seen as a ‘stranger ’do?
HE TELLS THEM OFF!
‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!’
Let’s consider for a moment, what their encounter with the risen Christ tells us about their faith:
- The disciples show many of the traits we all show-
In our faith-there is the initial enthusiasm, them disillusionment after the honeymoon period, then a rekindled fervour (later they said ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…’)
- They worked through their disappointment in their sharing with Jesus.
To have someone come and join in, as Jesus did, reminds us what a key element sharing faith is-even when we have doubts.
Let’s keep these points at the front of our minds as we hear the rest of the story.
What happens?
They come near to the village, it’s almost evening, they urge him to stay with them.
Why?
The Biblical precepts of hospitality: it was very important to display hospitality and to extend that to strangers-as Abraham entertained angels, so too, may we…(maybe we have to wait until the end of lock down-or recognize those in our household as angels!)
Also-they may have been eager to learn more from their travelling companion.
THIS is the turning point for them.
This is where they are changed from doubting and despairing disciples, into excited witnesses for their Lord.
Their action-their invitation changes him from a stranger to a companion.
Recognition of the risen Christ comes with the act of breaking bread and the sharing of a meal.
The word ‘companion’ means ‘one who eats bread with another.’
We have all had those meals, haven’t we…perhaps with someone we don’t know very well-maybe even just met-and by the end of the meal, the time together, they have become a friend.
Once He has blessed the bread and given it to them, their eyes are opened.
BUT their journey, their incredible journey, does not stop there. Their journey takes a turn-back to Jerusalem, to share the good news.
Last week we heard about the disciples gathered in lock down. Once Jesus appeared to them for the second time-they were able or enabled-to move out into the wide world.
The church is not to stay in one room-the people are to move out into the community.
Two points I wish to make concerning our role as Easter people:
- The first is a question:
‘What kind of creature are we?
We are born of God, and participate in the large story of God’s love for us. Easter is the opening of our hearts-giving shape and direction to our lives.
The heart needs a story, a human being needs a mission. What drives me? Where is my heart?
- To be human- is to have a mission, it is to know the wounds of Christ, to be enlivened by the Spirit, to be a person of the resurrection-to be a player in the divine plan.
The wounds of Christ are not confined to an event from 2,000 years ago.
People still hurt, are wounded.
-the world, God’s world, is scarred, scared, and battered.
Knowledge and love come together in God in a way that is unlike other ways of human knowledge, or human knowing.
For us-knowledge is power.
For God-knowledge is communion.
It is a different way of approaching the world.
With God, knowing is a kind of loving, becoming loyal to a people, a group, a community.
Loyalty. Fidelity. Faithfulness. Communion.
Where is our heart?
Remember that I said that ‘companion ’meant ‘to eat bread with one another.’
One of the first steps taken by the early Church was to become a community.
-a community that ate and drank together
-that broke bread together,
-as they experienced Christ’s presence in breaking bread together, their eyes were opened-like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
What is our mission?
How can we come alive?
What difference does the resurrection make in our lives?
-in the life of the church?
-in the life of the community?
What is our mission?
At times, our hearts risk being hardened by the vision of a world out of control.
But that’s not our mission
-to switch off
-shut down.
-have a ‘I can’t cope with the world’s problems’ heart attack.
The human soul is in danger.
When the heart is no longer ‘burning within us’-with the compassion and love of the risen Christ
-then we are in trouble.
BUT
The remedy, or the cure, is the message of Easter.
Easter contradicts tribalism, the polarization of world powers- by calling us into a fellowship of reconciliation.
Into a story which throbs with healing and transformation.
We are meant to be here.
God wants us to be here.
We have work to do.
What did the two disciples on the way to Emmaus do after recognizing the risen Christ?
( and-an aside-how did, or why did, they recognize him?
-was it because he broke bread-they weren’t part of the inner circle, the 12-so they wouldn’t have been present at the Last Supper-but they may have been at the feeding of the 5,000
-OR was it seeing the wounds on his hands or palms, from the nails of his crucifixion-when he blessed and broke the bread-and gave it to them?)
What did they do? ‘That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.’(v.33)
Another incredible journey!
It’s evening, they rush back-7 miles!
-to tell the others
-to be part of the community
-to be with their companions, with the ‘ones who eat bread together.’
As Jesus was faithful in his mission, so too are we, his followers-to be faithful in our mission.
Our journey, our road (which is difficult to pick at the moment being in lockdown!) is that of faithfulness, of ‘having a heart.’
As companions of Christ-we are to be towers of strength in the communities in which we live.
As Easter people-we have a mission-which is a love story.
Go out into this wounded world, wounded in an unprecedented way at present-as companions-on the incredible journey as people of faith, on a journey of love-to love.
Like the animals in The Incredible Journey-we, too, are on the journey home. We don’t have to trudge through 400 kms of Australian landscape-He meets us right where we are…right here, now, today.
Amen.
Separate Prayer for Anzac Day (from the Uniting Church)
Prayer Lord God, help us to remember, the sacrifice of the first ANZACs, the generations of men, women and children who have died in the cause of peace. Help us to remember those who bear the scars of their service, physical, mental and spiritual. Help us to remember those who had to say goodbye: widows and widowers, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents and orphans, sisters and brothers, and all who anxiously waited with no reply. Save us from ever glorifying war and its horrors and tragedies. As the sun rises on this day, Lord, help us to remember.
As you leave this place remember those who you have never meet, but sacrificed everything for your freedom. Whoever you meet, wherever you travel, speak words of God’s love and peace. We pray this in Jesus name
Amen
Prayer
Go out with Emmaus hearts-full of wonder, of joy, for Christ is among us, next to us, at our meals, on our walks.
May your hearts, minds, and eyes be open to this great miracle of divine love.
Amen
Blessing
May the Lord Jesus Christ
who walks on wounded feet,
walk with you to the end of the road.
May the Lord Jesus,
who serves with wounded hands,
help you to serve each other.
May the Lord Jesus
who loves with wounded heart,
be your love forever.
Bless God wherever you go,
and may you see the face of Christ
in everyone you meet.
Amen (Bishop Matthew’s blessing)
Rev Barbara Allen
26th April, 2020 Leighmoor UC