Love letters

A sermon for Sixth Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 5th, 2024
St. Saviour, Penticton
Ken Gray

“The great living God of heaven and Earth who made the sea and all that swim in the waters, the skies and their flying birds, the solid land and all the creatures that grow, slither, burrow, lumber, or walk upon it on two or four or more legs, this great Love brought forth the beauty and bounty of the evolving world out of sheer unfathomable goodness. At the same time, while determining the number of stars and calling each of them by name, this same ineffable Giver of life has the biblical reputation of being gracious and merciful, hearing the cries of the poor, loving justice, freeing the enslaved, healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds. Not only Creator, then, but also Redeemer, of human beings and of the whole creation.”

Composed by Elizabeth Anne Johnson, a Roman Catholic religious sister and retired academic, arguably the most influential living theologian (at least in North America), the woman who helped us see God and each other through the eyes of women, now helps us see God through the lens of creation.

Hers is the first “love letter” I want to share with you this morning, as John’s testimony on love surrounds us in today’s scripture lections. Even the first hearers of these texts (or in earlier versions) in the last days of the first century (CE 90-110) would not likely have met or physically encountered Jesus in the flesh. These faithful listeners were like us, disconnected physically from Jesus, though deeply engaged. We have these words in our hands (or on our iPhone) because of “the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” (John 21:24-25) We also know they are part of a larger whole: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

With Elizabeth Johnson’s words, they celebrate the real presence of love, the lingua franca of Christian faith, the experience we all seek for ourselves and for all, an experience seemingly in short supply some days in what feels like an increasingly competitive and conflicted world, though always available to us due to the disclosure and reality of God who we call amongst other names, Creator:

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15)

Archbishop Lynne loves both music (she married a professor of Church History, music and worship after all) and the Celtic tradition of Christian reflection and spirituality, especially Brigid and the Irish saints. In her recent note in the Kootenay Contact she wrote: “Because we ourselves have experienced something of the peace and freedom of knowing we are loved by God, beloved friends of Jesus, ‘we sing despite the world.’  We become people of hope with a persistent word of hope even in the midst of the crises of war and threat to the planet.  We have energy to continue our small (and together, large) acts towards peace, justice and safeguarding Earth, because of this hope which rests in God.” Her language of a “persistent word of hope” is helpful to me personally, and possibly for yourself.

Back to John, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (JOHN 15:9-17, extracts)

Loving one another is the characteristic pose and practice for Christians. Hence my interest in an event developed by a Summerland friend, Jim Hodgson, coming up this Tuesday, May 7, 9:30-11 a.m. at Oasis United Church, 2964 Skaha Lake Rd (near Green) in Penticton. Jim invites us to come for coffee with Neydi Juracán, a Guatemalan land defender and promoter of fair trade(+) coffee. She will share stories of how small farmers work to protect land rights, using fair trade coffee as a tool for social change. Neydi is a Kakchiquel Maya and national coordinator of the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (known as CCDA).

[For more information, contact Jim Hodgson, jhodgse029@gmail.com or 416-880-1670.]

Jim writes: “The ‘plus’ is about the relationships that extend beyond paying fair prices to producers, into strengthening the participation of women and youth, supporting CCDA’s work in defence of the land rights of Indigenous communities across Guatemala, and building people-to-people relationships with BTS.”

In my experience, such programs and initiatives flourish when the people-to-people relationships remain the priority. COVID challenged this process and we are still emerging into some kind of “new normal” in all this.

Speaking of people to people let me reflect for a moment on your work with your street-engaged neighbours here at St. Saviours. Admittedly, I still have a sour taste in my mouth when speaking about ministry with street-engaged folks. It is difficult work, and not to put too fine a point on it, during my time as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops it caused myself and others serious anxiety and hurt. Our overnight shelter eventually moved elsewhere, with serious congregational hurt feelings, even raw anger remaining afterward. I know you folks bear some scars from your engagement with marginalized persons. I was pleased to see that your parish profile named this challenge clearly and honestly; your new rector will need to be deeply engaged with the task; they will need to assume some sort of managerial role along with others. This is work that must continue, though the form and practice will always require reassessment. So as I love to say, “Carry on carrying on,” knowing there is a cost to such work, a necessary cost resulting from love’s constant challenge. As “The Arch,” The late Desmond Tutu said: “Every church should be able to get a letter of recommendation from the poor in their community.” As always, The Arch had a wonderful way with words, and people—both his friends, and his enemies.

In a meeting this past week at the Vatican, Pope Francis joined with Anglican primates from around the Communion including our own Primate Linda. In this context, one where church union and unity remains still a dream of a very distant reality, he brought things down to earth, to people-to-people relationships. With his words I will conclude this morning’s Love Letters:

“Only a love that becomes gratuitous service, only the love that Jesus taught and embodies, will bring separated Christians closer to one another. Only that love, which does not appeal to the past in order to remain aloof or to point a finger, only that love which in God’s name puts our brothers and sisters before the ironclad defence of our own religious structures, only that love will unite us.”

No one ever said love was easy—just ask my wife! It must be learned, and practised, repeatedly. It requires resilience, passion, and courage. Forgiveness helps; community strengthens; necessity demands, and our inspirational model, the totally inexhaustible source, Jesus,  makes it possible. Of this we shall later sing:

Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heav’n to earth come down,
fix in us Thy humble dwelling;
all Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love Thou art;
visit us with Thy salvation;
enter every trembling heart.