Finding God in the Pandemic #2

The Third Sunday of Easter (April 26)

Acts 2: 14a; 36-41

I was 15 years old when I felt "called" to preach. "Call" is a slippery term. I never heard the voice of God, but I suppose my call was a confluence of the encouragement of others, that I may have some gifts to be a minister, and the fact that my faith had become so important to me. My home church pastor said, "You need to start preaching". With no idea of what I was doing, I preached at various places, but primarily at the Miami, Florida, Rescue Mission. Dishevelled men who had become slaves to alcohol came off the streets for a small meal and a cot on which to sleep. What they didn't know was that they had to hear me preach before they got the meal and the bed.

I remember that there were a few people who paid attention to my preaching, but most of them looked at the ceiling or closed their eyes to sleep. The second time that I preached at the mission, I had a big surprise. A man sitting on the second row raised his hand. I had never seen anybody ask a question during the sermon. I tried to ignore him and continue to preach, but because he kept waving his hand, I asked him if he had something to say. I still remember what he said: "Who are you to come down here to tell us how to live?" I have no idea what I said, if I said anything. But he put his hand down, and I finished the sermon. Since that night, I have been haunted by that question. Who am I to speak to anybody about things that are often too deep for me to understand?

"Who are you...?"  I understood a part of what he was saying. I was 15 years old and had no idea what it was to be addicted and to spend most of your nights sleeping on the streets. I wondered, do these people have families; did they ever have a steady job; was there a time when they had a future that bristled with promise? I knew in all probability, these men didn't understand the addiction that possessed them, much as you and I don't really understand some of the destructive cravings of our own lives.

Who is any of us with our personal struggles, our own dark places which others never see? All of this reminds us that we are as flawed as anybody else. "Come to Jesus and get your life right." My message as a 15 year old was as simple as that, but far too simplistic and failed to factor in all the complexities of our lives.

The book of Acts is really the second volume that Luke probably wrote. Luke's gospel is a selected biography of Jesus. Acts is an overview of the early history of the Church. The Spirit comes, and the followers of Jesus, frozen in fear, burst out of the locked doors of the room in which they had been hiding. They emerged with a new passion and a new power.

That's why Easter is more than just one day. That's why we call it the 50 days of Eastertide. Jesus is alive. The Spirit of the Triune God fills Jesus' disciples with an inner strength. The Creator God continues to recreate a broken world. One God, three persons - the Trinity, which I've long since stopped trying to explain to myself or to others. Father Richard Rohr, the Franciscan writer and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, states that the opposite of "rational" is not always "irrational", but it may be "transrational", which is beyond our ability to reason. The whole Easter story is "transrational". Try to explain the resurrection of Jesus, the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit to enliven the early Church.

Simon Peter stands to preach. Try to explain how someone who has denied Jesus is suddenly so devoted. His audience is those Jewish people who had come from all over to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks and the Jewish Pentecost. What most impresses me is not the content of his sermon, but it is the powerful and passionate way in which Peter speaks. Something or someone had transformed his life.

That was his message. We don't need to be little nicer, a little more moral, or even a little more religious. We need to be transformed by the God of Easter. How are we transformed? By reason? By understanding all of it? I don't think so. Try telling people to be reasonable about the pandemic we face, and they will tell you they are too afraid, too anxious, and too confused by all that is happening.

Maybe what we all need is something that transforms us from the inside out. Something like the Grace of God that turned Simon Peter from a cowardly disciple to a preacher whose sermon was filled with the power of God's Spirit. Can we take the message of Easter, internalize it, and live as if Jesus is alive in each of us giving us the strength we need? That's "transrational". That's the Grace of God, for giving us and making us new creations. That's why we live by faith and not by sight. Trust in God is really hard in a time like this, but it's the message of Easter and the only way that I know to live.

"Who are you to tell us how to live?", the man at the rescue mission asked me. Who am I? That question has stayed with me for all of my ministry. There is so much that I still don't understand, but I've wagered my life and ministry that by faith and trust in God, we can make it through this day and every day that God gives us.

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly,

Listen reverently and respectfully,

Pray daily,

And then... leave the rest to God.