The Last Word in Jesus is "Us"!
Sermon, 5 Easter, Year A
April 20, 2008
The Rev. John Gaskill, Deacon

Wouldn’t you know the Deacon would be preaching on the Sunday we read about the stoning of Stephen, the first Deacon. Surely that’s just a coincidence.

Bear with me. This is going to be a country music sermon. Last February, while I was still feeling pretty miserable with my shingles, I had the chance, along with my wife and my sister and her husband, to see Roy Clark perform at the Jamboree Theater here in Morehead City. Remember him from Hee Haw? Mr. Clark has got to be in his late 70's or early 80's. He can hardly walk due to a bad back and his voice can’t do what it used to, but he can still sing a song and pick a mean guitar and banjo. He put on a great show, and I walked out humbled by his joyful perseverance and feeling better. In the show he sang a couple of really neat Gospel songs, which caused me to buy his cd of Gospel music after the show. The title and tag line of the first song on that cd seems to me to speak to today’s readings, and to us. It is "The Last Word in Jesus is ‘Us’".

In our reading from Acts today we indeed witness the stoning of Stephen. Stephen had been preaching before the Hebrew Council of Elders, explaining his Christian faith. He was in the midst of, in essence, chewing out the generations of Israelites who were such a pain in the neck even to Moses, and finishes up with (and I paraphrase), "You stiff-necked people... you always resist the Holy Spirit [just like your forefathers]. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? [And now you have betrayed and murdered the Righteous One]." It is when the Council rose up against Stephen that today’s reading begins.

As a commentary illustrated, most of us "have gone through a time when life seems to be closing in on us. Prices are going up and income is going down; ...the doors of opportunity quietly close and the lights on the horizon go out one by one; ...families are fretful and impatient; the crowd is heartless. Then suddenly something happens that clears the air. It may be an event that takes place outside, or it may be something that happens within the secret places of [our] being. Whatever it may be, it is as though the clouds broke [and] the heavens opened." We are reassured that God is good and we can go on.

"Something like that happened to Stephen." The group of men that stood in front of him were reduced by their fears and jealousies and prejudices to a raging mob. Stephen had to be wondering "Are these people for whom Jesus died? Are they worth the price? And then the heavens opened and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he realized love still mattered; God still cared; mankind still had a chance; Jesus still came first. And so he was able to endure, and to forgive.

Witnesses, like us, were required by Hebrew law for a stoning. As we watched, how would we react to Stephen’s prayer, and his witness for Jesus? We know how one witness reacted later - the young man holding the coats subsequently had his own epiphany and became the most prolific Apostolic witness for Jesus ever. Jesus speaks to all of us through those whose faith lets us see him reflected. Stephen was a beacon of Jesus’s love; so was Paul; so are we. "The Last Word in Jesus - is ‘Us’."Our reading from I Peter, a letter that was sent to all those in a number of countries who believed in Jesus, begins with a beautiful admonition on how to live our faith: "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation... Come to him... let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood..." And our reading ends with a powerful description of Christians - US. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people..."

Note how all the references are plural. All the images speak to US, as God’s people, as the Church, as the followers of Jesus. Being a Christian is not just about us as individuals; it is about US as St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, US as the Diocese of East Carolina, US as Christians in the world at large. Being a Christian is about relationships with others, particularly with others who differ from us. How do WE, as St. Andrew’s, as the Diocese, as professed Christians, reflect the love of Jesus to others, especially others different from us? Attending the Diocesan Anti-Racism training entitled "Seeing the Face of God in Each Other" to be presented here at St. Andrew’s on Saturday, May 10th, might help provide some answers. And remember, "The Last Word in Jesus - is ‘Us’."

Our Gospel lesson today is a wonderfully comforting passage, frequently used at funerals, and is also instructive. Comfort is derived in part from realizing the passage indicates that, as a commentary paraphrased from Revelation, "Heaven is a gloriously spacious place, with multitudes pouring in from all nations and peoples and kindred and tongues." Truly we see the face of God in each other - in ALL others.

There’s enough in Jesus’s instructions in our Gospel lesson to fill several sermons, so I’m only going to pick a few today. "Jesus said...,’If you know me, you will know my Father also.’ ...Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. ...I am in the Father and the Father is in me..." And "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do..."

Jesus, as fully human as you and I, was also of the Father, and reflected God’s love in all that he did. So those who saw Jesus, saw God. Now, as Jesus indicated, it’s our turn, and our responsibility. It’s up to us, both individually and as the whole body of Christ, to be the beacons of God’s love Jesus wants us to be, and to do the works he would have us do. And so, yet again, "The Last Word in Jesus -- is ‘Us’."

We all have our moments, moments when the light of Christ truly does shine forth from us, and sometimes has an impact far beyond what we could imagine. I want to end by telling you the story told by another country song, one I heard for the first and only time early this past week. I’m not sure, but I think the title is "I’ve had my moments".

The singer notices, as he’s walking along and about to cross the E-Street Bridge, a shabbily dressed homeless person emerge from a big cardboard box to approach and hang around the singer. The singer tries to ignore him, but the old man just keeps following and hanging around, so as he gets out on the bridge, the singer pulls out some small change to give the guy to get rid of him. The old man graciously accepts the money, but continues to hang around. As the singer’s frustration builds, the old man volunteers that though the singer might not believe it, he used to be an instructor at a community college, adding that he’s had his moments: he remembers his dad coming home from WWII, he remembers getting his college degree, marrying and raising a family - he’s had his moments, before getting into the bottle.

Since the old man apparently just will not go away, the singer breaks down and says he’s had his moments, too. He was raised in a loving family, got a good education, and had a good wife, until he blew it and ruined the relationship. And as the singer finally turns and walks on off the E-St. Bridge, he says that he bets he knows what that homeless old man will be telling his buddies in the hobo jungle that night - how he’s had his moments, - - - like the time he stopped the guy from jumping off the E-St. Bridge.

We all have our moments when we can be the light of Christ, and we need to be that light, because "The Last Word in Jesus - is ‘Us’."

Amen

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