Sunday Homily, May 18, 2014, 5th Easter, Cycle A
Readings:
Acts 6, 1-7, The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly.
Psalm 33, Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
1 Peter 2, 4-9, You are a chosen race.
John 14, 1-12, Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Observations on Acts:
What : The second half of Luke’s work, the first part being his gospel. Acts starts after the Resurrection. We will read Acts all through May and read the last selection June 1, then June 7, Pentecost. The work focuses on the spread of the early church with special attention given to Peter and Paul and their conflicts over who was to be a Christian, and Jewish laws, like circumcision. The conversion of Paul is described.
Who: Luke, an educated and civilized Jew who wrote in Greek.
Date: around the year 65, or about 30 years after Jesus’ death.
Our Selection: growing pains in the early community.
Watch for two special lines in today's readings. "Do not let your hearts be troubled" and "You are a chosen race." They are not in Acts. I want to talk about these lines.
Do not let your heart be troubled. You are a chosen.
I would like to talk this morning about those two lines I mentioned. “Do not let your hearts be troubled” and, “You are a chosen race.” I have two propositions.
1. You and I are the chosen race.
2. Everyone, all humans are the chosen race, even those hurting and doing mean things.
I have seen this. You have seen this. Simple things, things we don’t even take account of at the moment. They come up when we reflect on the blessings of our day or when we take a moment to contemplate. Here are three little vignettes about people who are chosen, just like you.
Recently Rosemary, Aviana, and I went for an evening walk on a new stretch of bike trail. It is a northern extension of the White Rock Creek Trail, our favorite. It starts at the Hillcrest & Valley View parking lot, goes west under the Hillcrest bridge, takes a right, and follows the White Rock Creek north up to Spring Valley, running behind the large Greek Orthodox Church on Hillcrest. It will be a delightful trail when it gets finished.
The evening was one of the few warm ones we had this spring and the trail was longer than we expected. By the time we got back to the car, Aviana was gassed and thirsty. We had no water. We looked in the park. The water hydrants were turned off for the winter.
I went off to check some other hydrants. Rosemary & Aviana stayed near the first hydrant and near the car. Families and kids were everywhere having picnics and playing.
Suddenly a Hispanic man came out of the crowd and offered Rosemary a bottle of water for Aviana.
This past week our across the street neighbor, Joyce, who is 85, full of life, and whom we visit every day, Joyce goes to Walgreens. She is checking out and tries to pull her credit card out. It came out, but with it are all her other cards.
The cashier tries to help her stick them back in her bag. Without knowing it, Joyce drops a few of the cards on the floor, one of which is her Chase Bank card. She pays and leaves.
She crosses the parking lot and is approaching her car. Suddenly from behind she hears a man saying, “Ma’am, ma’am.” She turns around and a tall black man is coming toward her. He is bringing her dropped cards to her, including the Chase card. He gives them to her and even refuses to take a cash reward she offers.
The third vignette took place in Strasbourg, France, another French story, again in a little grocery shop, again at the checkout counter.
This time Rosemary & I are approaching the counter with maybe 2 or 3 items. We arrive a step behind a little French lady with a cart partially loaded. She does not push on ahead of us. Instead, she smiles at us and invites us to go first.
I am touched by all three of these events. They take place every day and everywhere. We live with a chosen race. Don’t let your heart be troubled, because you are part of the chosen.
Where and when do you see this?