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June
2002
Following
Jesus
In the midst of a series of fifteen Diocesan confirmation liturgies
between April and June, I have heard myself repeatedly asking
the question, "Do you renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?",
followed by the candidates' response, "I do, and with God's
grace I will follow him as my savior and lord." Frequently
in these liturgies we sing Kathleen Thomerson's hymn, "I
want to walk as a child of the light, I want to follow Jesus."
There are two seemingly different thoughts I want to share with
you under the heading of following Jesus.
Who is this Jesus we seek to follow? This Jesus is God, caught
up in all the imagery and language and mystery of the trinity.
This Jesus lived among us at a particular time and place in
history. In the recorded events of the life of this Jesus,
we frequently find him with crowds of people.talking, teaching,
feeding, healing. From time to time, in the midst of those
crowd experiences, something happens.lives are changed, meager
resources become sufficient, voices are heard, bodies are
healed, rushing mighty winds are felt and heard, and tongues
of fire dance above the participants. Why would it not be
so today?
Numbers are not the only significant measurement of a crowd
event. Some of our diocesan confirmations had smaller numbers
in smaller spaces, but other services were experienced by
four hundred persons each at two different settings. The largest
service thus far counted seven hundred fifty participants,
with ninety-eight persons being confirmed or received. The
location for that service was St. Paul's Church in Paterson.
We presented a bilingual serviced in Spanish and English,
with the service booklet providing the full text of the service
in English on one side of the booklet, and Spanish on the
opposite side. We did the opening sentences in English and
Spanish, as well as the reading of the Gospel. The sermon
was in English and the Eucharistic prayer was offered in Spanish.
For a moment, as I stood at the chancel steps, looking out
at the congregation, I saw the face of the Church, in all
its diversity and richness (and imperfection) and strength.
It was for me the face of God, and I wept with tears of great
joy. After the liturgy, some parents spoke to me, telling
me how much they did not like the idea of diocesan confirmations
when they first received the news, but now they felt so moved
and pleased with the experience that they were convinced that
we had made the confirmation experience not less important,
but in fact more important. Some of our young people came
for pictures and used the word "awesome," describing
what it was like for them to be shaking with excitement. Do
I believe that everyone present shares those feelings? Of
course not. A few reports were passed on to me of people commenting
as they left the church after the liturgy, that they did not
appreciate the Spanish and would not have come if they had
known it would be part of the liturgy. I can only attribute
those comments to the racism that continues to dwell within
the church as well as outside the church. How will we square
all of this with the account of this new-born church of ours
at Pentecost, when the spirit came among us and everyone seemed
to be able to hear in their own language about the marvelous
works of God?
Part of following Jesus has to do with building up the body
of Christ, and gathering the crowds to encourage opportunities
for the spirit to do its mighty work. But, there is another
side to following Jesus. In the midst of Jesus' ministry,
there were in fact frequent times when Jesus simply went away.backed
off.left. He emptied himself, having given all that he had
to give, he went away.to the mountains.to the shore.out on
a boat.to a quiet secluded spot. I wonder sometimes what makes
any of us think that we don't need to do what Jesus seemed
to need to do. And then I notice in the aftermath of 9/11
that there appears to be an increased sense of being driven.we
need to try harder, keep busy, be watchful in the midst of
our vulnerability. Some of us might find it more difficult
to give ourselves permission to play, to rest, to re-create.
A healthy church will pay attention to different periods
and cycles as we move through this time in our life together.
There will be many opportunities for us to gather the crowds
and do the work of an evangelist.be certain that in your life
there are also opportunities for God's re-creation. Blessings
on your summer.
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