Well, Glory Be!

First Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)
Bellingham, WA
April 23, 2017

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9 (John 20:19-31)

Lacey bit into the apple, the juice rolling over her bottom lip and

dripping down her chin. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled up at her mama.

Mama, this apple is juicy! she announced around bits of apple and

dripping juice.

As Mama wiped her daughters chin with a napkin, she bit into her

own apple. Mmm hmm. She concluded. Quite yummy. Shall we sit out on

the swing as we finish eating them?

As mother and daughter sat out in the yard, contemplating bees and

butterflies, sunshine and dandelions, the swing swaying in the breeze,

Lacey kicked her feet to pump the swing into swifter motion as she

chomped away on her fruit. One big bite after another.

Lacey, remember not to eat the seeds. Theyre not good for you.

I know, Mama.

Mama could see the wheels turning, so she just waited. And then it came.

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 Hey, Mama, could we plant the seeds and grow them into a big,

gigantic apple tree? And maybe the birds could live in it. And we could put

our swing under it. And we could have picnics there.

The dubious mother thought of previously failed attempts with

avocado pits, sprouted potatoes, and stalks of celery rotting in glasses of

water. Science gone wrong, she thought.

Mama knew her daughter was a tiny, young woman on a great, big

mission. From frightened birds rescued from the clutches of determined

cats to picking up litter on the beach, Laceys plan was to save the world

with one small random act of kindness at a time.

Mama looked at Lacey, the apple juice now cascading onto the collar

of her shirt. Even with the doubts swirling in her mind, as she looked into

that determined face, there was only one answer. What she said was, We

can certainly try.

Failed experiments. The disciples gathered together in the upper

room, their fear and their grief filling them, weighing them down. They had

to wonder why they had spent the previous three years doing what theyd

done, only to have it end up at this point, back in this room.

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 Their teacher, their leader, their best friend and brother was gone.

And taken from them in the most horrendous way. Had they seen the

writing on the wall? Had they tried to, perhaps, dissuade him, in any way?

Maybe, Jesus, dont speak out quite so much? Maybe we skip the trip to

Jerusalem, just this time? Theyd certainly been unable to save him.

And now, Jesus was gone. Just gone. It was the greatest and most

tragic of social experiments. Of course, they knew the stories of their faith.

The stories of their history. They knew of the prophets of old and the

martyrs. They knew that people died because they stayed true to their

cause.

But Jesus was different. Somehow, Jesus was more. Just more.

Theyd known him as the Christ. The anointed one. The one who would

save them all from this terrible Roman Empire and the evils around them.

The evils within them.

And now, Jesus was gone.

Mama and Lacey walked into the house, their apple cores cradled in

their napkins. Once they were in the kitchen, Mama retrieved a knife, as

Lacey dragged a chair from the dining room table over to the sink. Lacey

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watched as Mama began to dig the apple seeds from their hidden nests in

the cores.

Lacey held out her cupped hands and Mama carefully placed each

tiny seed on Laceys palms. When the last seed had been recovered,

Lacey smiled at Mama. Okay. Now the paper towel.

Mama folded a paper towel, wet it in the sink, and held it out to her

daughter. Gently placing the seeds on the soft, damp bed, one by one,

Lacey instructed. Now the baggie.

Once the seeds were safely in their new home, Lacey set the baggie

in the windowsill. Well check them every day and soon theyll be a giant

tree for all the birds and the bees can sniff their flowers.

If nothing else, Mama loved her daughters optimism.

Hidden away, carefully wrapped in the safety of their despair,

suddenly the disciples found they were not alone. Jesus had appeared in

their midst. Just. Like. That.

Now, I dont know how it happened. This is one of those stories you

just have to read and ponder. He can walk through walls, but they can

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touch his wounds. Hmmm. Yeah, I dont know. Just read it and nod and

smile. And say, Yay, Jesus! And realize that heres the point: Somehow,

some way, they knew they werent alone anymore. They knew their lives

had changed and his presence had not left them forevermore. Somehow,

some way, their mission, their grand social experiment had not failed. Gods

mission had not failed. And, in that moment of wonder and beauty and

restoration and exploration and touching wounds and asking questions and

maybe even being grossed out, in that moment, something else

happened

Jesus gave them another command

Did you miss it? I think I did. Ive read that story again and again, and

generally swooped right over the beginning of it and headed straight to the

part about Thomas and his lack of understanding and belief about what

was happening. It wasnt until the other day when I was reading a

commentary about it that I noticed that Jesus was not done with them yet.

That Jesus is never done with us. Because, in that upper room, where his

friends were hiding away from the world, in fact, in any room, where any of

us might retreat from our worries and our stresses, Jesus breaks in and

finds us and gives us that one more thing to do.

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 First, of course, he says, Peace be with you. Thats always first. And

then he says, As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

The Rev. Dr. Rob Nash, a church historian, says this,

Jesus' sending was an all-encompassing sending. It was a day-in

and day-out sort of calling. Ours is no different. Every moment of life
is to be lived under the lordship of Christ. We're called to engage the
world for the good of the world. We're not just called to pull a few
people out of a congregation and send those folks into the world.
We're all called into the world to be the presence of Christ, to follow in
the footsteps of Jesus, to minister in word and deed to those whom
we meet. Global engagement is not the responsibility of a few of us. It
is the responsibility of the whole church.1

So, the disciples heard this message from Jesus and they went. And,

oh, how they went. They took that global engagement seriously. Well, as

global as they could be in a first century world with limited resources.

And the stories of Jesus spread. And the faith grew. The faith in God.

The ways of God. The love of God. It spread far and wide. As did the

turmoil.

Because you cant have a new religion without turmoil. You cant plant

new things without turning over some old stuff. Thats just the way of it.

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 By the time we get to the First Letter of Peter, our early Christians in

Asia Minor in what is now Turkey are having an identity crisis. Its the

end of the first century. Theyre forging a new path in that neither the

Romans nor the Jews really see them as having the history or the antiquity

of the Jews and theyre not granted any of the privileges Rome granted the

Jews. Theyre disparaged, aliens, outsiders.

But they have a mission. They have faith. They have purpose. And,

the leaders of the faith want to keep them from despair. Like Jesus before

them, the disciples reach out to the faithful in times of need, times of fear,

times of chaos. And this letter is true to form.

The writer of First Peter begins by claiming the identity of Peter, the

apostle. This is typical. You need the authority to speak to your audience.

And then comes the blessing.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God

and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given

us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ from the dead.

Grace. Peace. Mercy. New birth. Living hope.

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 For people living as disparaged aliens and outsiders, these words

were a balm. Think how restorative, how encouraging it would have been to

hear this message.

When this writer used the words new birth, he was borrowing a

phrase from Paul to show that the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles

no longer existed. The waters of baptism have made us into a new creation

so that we can go. Grow. Do. Be.

No matter who we started out as in life. No matter where we come

from. No matter how snarly or gnarly or backwards or forwards; no matter

what, we are created anew when we come through the waters of baptism

and we are now one in Christ and we are called into one inheritance that is

imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. No, it will not be easy. There will be

trials and our faith will be tested, but we will survive. And we will serve the

one who called us into this new being, this new creation.

Lacey sat in the swing, lazily pushing her foot on the ground beneath

her, slowly moving the swing back and forth, back and forth. She took a bite

of her apple, savoring the sweet juice as it burst in her mouth. She smiled

as she contemplated the scene before her.

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 Mama and Laceys three-year old daughter were seated on a blanket,

sharing bites of an apple, recently plucked from the branches of the nearby

tree. Sheer perfection, Lacey thought.

Lacey looked up at the tree. Nearly thirty years old, it had weathered

much. Mighty snowstorms and wind gusts from the north, annoying leaf

eating bugs from the east, lichen creeping up its trunk. Yet, it was a home

for birds and a shady respite on sunny days. And, oh, those apples. How

many people had benefited from those apples, over the years? How many

people had enjoyed pies, applesauce, and just biting into one of those

crisp, yummy apples?

Mama kissed her granddaughter, handed her another slice of apple,

then looked up to see her daughters gaze caught upon the tree, its

branches laden with fruit. Mama smiled. You did that, Lace. Your hope,

your determination.

Lacey looked up at the sky and laughed. And a little bit of Gods

sunshine make all the difference.

1Nash, The Rev. Dr. Rob, Global Mission Coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,
headquartered in Atlanta, GA.http://day1.org/1095-
on_chocolate_chip_cookies_and_dirty_water_and_being_church_in_a_shrinking_world

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