A Multi-Dimensional Faith, April 25, 2010

John 10:22-30
Acts 9: 36-43
Robert Browning provided the poetic invitation
“Grow old with me for the best is yet to be, the last of life for which the first was made!”
There is a tension balanced in the words, that somehow the future, the present, the past, are all one. There is a constancy to change, where youth is the seed of later years, and the fullness of life, the drawing together of all the threads and memories of human existence. The circumstance of decades ago affect us. We can no more wish that that experience had never happened, that that relationship had never been, than we could remove a freckle; some relationships are chosen, more occur and effect us not because we wanted or desired, but because when presented with circumstance, we responded.

In each of us, everyone, there is the infant, we once were. Innocent and malleable, the genetic predisposition of blue eyes, hazel, green or brown, Red hair, brown, blonde, or black. In each of us is the potential of being a great-grandparent, with cataracts and hair as white as snow, possessing the wisdom to reflect upon what has ben lived, finally appreciating every person, taking time because we want life's experiences to be remembered to endure.

We live in a youth obsessed, death denying culture, ever focused on how we would have responded if we had known then, what we know now. Ignoring that circumstances would have been changed and we never would have learned what now we think we know.

I love this passage from the book of Acts, on so many different levels. A week ago, we heard how Saul of Tarsus was knocked to the ground by a blinding light, his life turned round by faith to no longer persecute others for believing differently, but to instead serve others. Then the evangelist returns to the story of Peter at Joppa. Aeneas is a very old man who has been confined to bed. Peter sits with him and commands Aeaeas “In the Name of Jesus Christ to rise”, and the one who was bed-ridden does rise! Tabitha, whose name translated into Greek is Dorcas meaning Gazelle, is one of the few women named as a Disciple. She had created her own system of caring for the poor and those in need. She provided sweaters and shawls, food and clothing, to all who were in need. Tabitha died, which not only created anxiety at her death, but a hole in the community because without her no one was caring for the needs of the widows and poor. Peter prays with her and calls her by name, and she rises. SO in this community you have one who was named GAZELLE, who lay dead, who through faith rises up to care for others. You have Aeneas who was bedridden and others had made accommodations to keep him in bed all the rest of his days, who gets up to walk. You have fishermen who preach to the Religious authorities. You have one who was torturing and persecuting others, who suddenly gives his life to serve others. Faith is not about wishing things were different, but changing our lives to do what we thought impossible, because we believe. SO first, this is story of people responding to act in faith.

Second, and this takes conjecture. I believe that part of raising Tabitha before the community, was that by Peter naming her as doing these things as an act of faith in Jesus Christ, rather than focusing on just how beautifully she stitched, others in the community were no longer intimidated about taking up the work she had done and carrying it on.

Third, How often, when someone has died, do we want to eulogize and immortalize them for what they have done. All the community were bringing out the sweaters and shawls and gifts of Tabitha to describe what a talented seamstress, what good works she had done, but Peter called her from death to life because of her faith. How often we describe that he served in the Navy; she had 16 grandchildren; he built his own home; she was active in the Garden Club; he was a Rotarian... all of which are good, but like displaying Dorcas' gifts are just the things of a life lived. What was important was not simply what she had done, what brought smiles to other people's lives, but that she had been a disciple! She had been baptized and she believed!
There is a monumental shift taking place in Christian Faith today, from a singular belief in Salvation After Death; to searching for satisfactions and meaning IN life. For the last thousand years, Christianity, like most of the world's religions has been about Eternal Salvation, answering the fears of folk about an after-life, after a plague, after War, can there be hope. While for us, this is still an important question, there is now also a search to experience, to share in feeling fulfilled by what we do, can our lives prevent a war, can we ease suffering. Christian Faith is not only about life after death, but the search for meaning, for relationships and satisfactions that are more than entertainment. In this way, the Sacrament is the washing away of Sin, but more than this, Baptism is the beginning of a life in search of meaning.

There was a time in human understanding in which we believed there was a Singular Correct Answer to life's mysteries, discerning the Natural Law would objectively answer our questions. But just as Youth and Age can be enjoyed and lived independently, there is also beauty and power in perceiving youth as the seeds of what is to come, and age as the harvesting of work throughout our lives. Life can be understood in multiple dimensions.

The difficulty of this Passage from John, is that it plays a vital role within the Gospel, as well as in Church Doctrine, though the two are separate and distinct.
Doctrine is for understanding form interpretation, the Nicene Creed relied heavily on this passage for explanation of the relationship between God and Jesus within divergent parts of Christianity. Eastern and Western thought, Catholic and Protestant, Evangelical and Social Gospel, Can we all agree on who Jesus was and is?
The Gospel is not primarily concerned with understanding or interpretation, the Gospel was not written for controversies between different parts of Christianity. The Gospel is Story, the revelation of Jesus as one united with God among us. In John's Gospel more than any other, we cannot separate Theology (What we believe about God) from Christology (What we believe about Jesus) from Ecclesiology (The role of the Community of Faith in the World).

In a time of horrific oppression, when citizenship required obedience to the Roman Gods, to the Roman Empire, and to the Roman Army; In a time when logic and reason of the Greeks was all brand new; In a time after Exile diaspora when the Nation have lived among other nations and faith was Cultural: John's Gospel revealed that GOD and CHRIST and OUR LIVES are intimately linked.

The people were looking for a direct answer from Jesus about blasphemy: “Are you saying you are God, or not?” To which, Jesus describes being so intimately connected that God is in all Christ does, and Christ is in God. To many, the scrolls of the Old Testament address whether God can be trusted? God formed the world and everything therein, is this world out to destroy us, is God intent on our destruction, what are the Laws of the Creator, and what happens if God's Laws are broken?
The Gospel of John affirms that God is the Creator, personally revealed to us all as like a Father, a loving parent, to whom honor and respect are owed, but who is also loving and forgiving. Jesus is the REDEEMER, who when we have broken God's Laws, when we have done harm to ourselves, to others, to the world, done harm to God, does whatever is necessary to make the relationship with God healed, restored, and new. The question of the New Testament is not whether God can be trusted, but rather Knowing we CANNOT BE TRUSTED, Will God love us, no mater what?

The question of this current era, is whether there is meaning to life, whether Christian faith makes a difference? And whether, being forgiven, being Baptized and sharing in one Communion, we will live our lives differently?