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Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you.
Life Together In The Goodness Of God
Please be seated. How many of you feel the heaviness of the world right now? Because y'all, it's been a week. Gas prices, groceries, and everyday essentials climbing every day. The price of beef up 16%. The literal erosion of voting and civil rights, so much that it feels like Jim Crow is being reestablished. And oh yeah, happy Mother's Day. A couple years ago, I had one of those weeks. In the middle of my second year in seminary, in a span of seven days, my computer crashed, and I lost several midterm assignments, including a sermon, none of which were finished. My brother had a health emergency that almost had me flying to Baltimore to see him. I received the lowest grade on a paper that I had ever received in all my years of schooling. And the week ended with me having a car accident, which my car was totaled. The accident was, of course, my fault. Luckily, no one was injured. The only thing bruised was my sense of self. If you are anything like me, it's times like these that you need a reminder to count it all joy, because God is near, God is with us, and God's presence is real. It's days like today that I know that the lectionary readings are divinely inspired. So let's take a look at them by going in the order in which our readings appear in Holy Scripture. Well, kind of. That means we're going to start with our Gospel reading from John. Here, Jesus is speaking to the disciples the night before he is handed over to death, trying to calm their fears and reassure them that he will always be with them. He reminds them to keep his commandments and tells them of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Paraclete. Now, don't worry about what that word means. It's just a fancy theological word for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will live in them, will be with them, and will be their comfort and reminder that Jesus, and thus all of God, is in them and with them. Jesus assures them, quote, I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you. And again, he reminds them, they who have my commandments and keep them, for those who love me, those who love me, will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. This passage, this reading, is here to remind us that when we set our eyes on following Jesus and loving as he loves, that we are filled with God. Even when that loving is difficult for us, even when we fall into sin and forget the God that lives in us, we are still redeemed, y'all. We are still loved, and God is still with us. And that is the reminder that fills me with joy. That gives me the joy I need. That is what helps me to count it all joy. And our reading from Acts continues this theme. In Acts 17, Paul is addressing Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Athens, the educated leaders of the day. And though he acknowledges the shrine they built, an unknown God, he assures them that the God who created heaven and earth and all that is and that will be the God who sent his only Son to live as one of us and die for our salvation, that God does not live far away in shrines and in temples. Rather, God is with us, reminding that in him we live and move and have our being. And it is because of this closeness that Paul calls his audience to relinquish the worship of idols, saying, quote, since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. Paul is calling us to the worship of God that is real, that is tangible, that is joyful because God is so intimately close with us. Paul reminds us that we are to turn to the risen one, to Jesus, because he provides that joy in his resurrection. It is in Jesus that we can count on all joy, a healing balm for me indeed. And that brings us to our reading from 1 Peter. Now, I'm going to admit, 1 Peter is a tough reader. See, the passage before the one we have today is known as the household codes. It says slaves should submit to their masters, women should submit to their husbands, good luck with that one, even those who are not believers so that the good actions of the wise can lead the non-believing husbands to Christ. These codes tell people who are being subjugated and marginalized that they should suffer in Christ because Christ suffered for us. Now, that passage, as problematic as it is, deserves a thorough and critical look. That is another sermon or perhaps a Bible study for another day. But what we get today is Peter reminding those in Rome that even though it can be difficult, even though we are facing trouble, we should rest in the joy that Christ is with and in us. He tells the Romans that their baptism in Jesus Christ quote, now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What I like to think Peter is saying is that in our trials, in our struggles, and even in our joy, God is always with us. This is partly why this reading pairs so well with the portion of Psalm 66 we get today. In it, we see that though we are tested by God, we are still called to praise and worship him. In it, we see that our worship, our joy is actually a form of resistance. And Peter reminds us that through the love that Jesus has for us and his redemption for us and in the sending of the Holy Spirit in us, we are to remember the intimacy and the closeness we share with God. And with that knowledge, y'all, I can count it all joy. Our readings today remind us of our closeness and again, our intimacy and our love. Count it all joy. When we remember that we are filled with the love, grace, and mercy of our creator, the one who calls good in our creation, that we are filled with the love and grace and mercy of the one who died for us, the one through whom we are redeemed and we follow through our baptism. That we are filled with the love, grace, and mercy of our comforter, the advocate, the paraclete who sustains us and moves in and through us that we are filled with the love, grace, and mercy of all of God. That, y'all, means we can count it all joy. The prayer Father Sean prayed a few minutes ago, the prayer that asked God to pour into our hearts such love towards God that we may obtain the promises of God which exceed all that we can desire. That prayer is asking for God's joy to fill us. Right? Y'all don't know this yet, but our closing hymn today is one of my absolute favorites, All Creatures of our God and King. I love it because it reminds us to sing joyfully to God. Hallelujah. It calls us to have mercy in our hearts, to forgive others, to take our pains and sorrows and cast them unto God and then praise him. Hallelujah. You see, from the love and mercy that fills you and always has filled you, respond to love and mercy that fills me, fills us all. That, y'all, that is we can count it all joy. That is when we get to sing with the Georgia Mass choir. Joy, joy, God's great joy. Joy, joy, down in my soul. Sweet, beautiful, soul-saving joy. Oh, joy, joy, in my soul. Amen, y'all.