Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Acts 2.42-47 (TIB[1]; adapted):

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42[The people] devoted themselves to the apostles’ instructions and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43A reverent awe overtook them all, for many wonders and signs were being performed by the apostles. 44Those who believed lived together, shared all things in common; 45they would sell their property and goods, sharing the proceeds with one another as each had need. 46They met in the Temple and they broke bread together in their homes every day. With joyful and sincere hearts they took their meals in common, 47praising God and winning the approval of all the people. Day by day, God added to their number those who were being saved.

Other readings:

Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2.19-25; John 10.1-10

Sentence of the Day:

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10.10; CEB[2]; adapted).

The Gathering Prayer:

Good shepherd of the sheep, by whom the lost are sought and guided into the fold; feed us and we shall be satisfied, heal us and we shall be whole, and lead us that we may be with you, with the Abba and the Holy Spirit, where you reign one God now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

The New Zealand Book of Common Prayer (adapted)

                                   

As I write this on 30 April, my state is one of the 21 states planning to “open” some businesses on Friday, 01 May, to get the people of Oklahoma working again and bring back some kind of normalcy to our lives and the state. But according to federal guidelines, states are supposed to open when they don’t see any new COVID-19 cases for 14 days. However, not one of those 21 states meet this requirement.

Not.

One.

“Opening” states before they’ve met this requirement will only lead to a new wave of people infected with a deadly virus that’s already claimed more American lives in 3 months than those who died in the 20 years of the Vietnam war.[3] As of this writing, the global death toll from COVID-19 is almost 230,000. In Oklahoma, we have almost 3,500 confirmed cases with 63 new cases added from the previous day (29/04) and 59 new deaths bringing our total to over 2,300 (compared to just over 1,000 Oklahoman’s killed during the 20 years of the Vietnam war[4]).[5]

And yet…

The governor stated that his “first priority” is for the safety of Oklahoma citizens while our state continues to see confirmed COVID-19 cases rise daily. This looks to me like it’s more about the state’s economy than caring about the people of Oklahoma; more about getting revenue and tax dollars coming into the state over the safety of Oklahomans, especially those people on the front lines. As the spouse of a nurse, I know first hand the toll this pandemic is taking on our health care workers.

While I’m thankful for all of our healthcare professionals during this extraordinary time, I’m thinking more about those people “behind the scenes.” The people who, in recent memory, were considered unworthy of a living wage. I’m thinking, of course, of those people working in the food industry, custodial services, and grocery stores (just to name a few). When people stormed their local supermarkets and hoarded up so much toilet paper and bottled water that would embarrass so-called “doomsday preppers,” who were the people left to restock those shelves? The very people some of us felt didn’t deserve — and still don’t deserve — at least $15 an hour. The people who don’t have any type of healthcare because they don’t make enough money or have full time jobs are the same people putting their lives on the line for the rest of humanity. The people who have been deemed “essential” to our day-to-day lives.

And yet, instead of taking more time in quarantine we’re willing to sacrifice them so we can “get back to normal.” We’re once more turning a blind eye to the “essential” people that make our lives more comfortable — they’re still the invisible heroes of our day. Instead of trying to determine ways to make all lives better — not just our lives — we’re demanding the “essential” workers sacrifice themselves so we can go to a restaurant with our friends or go to the movies with our families.

In trying to “get back to normal” we’re missing a grand opportunity for change. The Gospel lesson speaks of shepherds — the Good Shepherd — laying down their lives for the sheep in their care, as indicated by our Sentence of the Day. That is, the Good Shepherd gave his life — not for us to “get back to normal” — but to lead us into a better normal, a new normal, a new life, a new world.

Those people on the front lines who are putting themselves in harm’s way to help others — the people flipping burgers and cleaning our offices and stocking our grocery shelves — those same people should be seen as our shepherds today. We owe it to them to take this moment and make something better than normal, not only for ourselves, but for all future generations, too.

And how do we go about doing that? 

The Lesson I chose today is our key to a better world. It starts out stating that the people “devoted themselves to the apostles’ instructions and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (verse 42). What is a “communal life” exactly? When people think of “communal life,” they think of monks and/or nuns living a life of isolation without the pleasantries of modern life. And while that might be the definition for some people, “communal life” just means a shared life in a community, a common life. That is, people agree to live together and share the responsibilities of that life. It’s been said that “communal life” is the basis of a successful society. When we look at the world around us, though, we can see that it’s not a success. There are too many divisions and too much inequality to claim that we are living a successful common life together.

A common life is also an intentional life. Notice the text states the people “devoted themselves” to a common life. Devotion takes strength and courage. It’s a loving, loyal commitment to others in the community. It takes faithfulness. That is, it’s a life “full of faith” (faith-full) to be committed to our sisters and brothers of the human race. That’s where we start. It’s realizing that all life is “essential” — that all people are “essential.” There’s no one above us or beneath us. As we’ve heard a lot lately, it’s to realize that we’re all in this together. It takes all of us to make this common life work. And it’s got to start by recognizing that all people are essential and they deserve just as much respect and dignity — a living wage, housing, healthcare, food, etc. — as we feel we deserve.

But our Lesson doesn’t stop there. Luke tells us — 

Those who believed lived together, shared all things in common; they would sell their property and goods, sharing the proceeds with one another as each had need. They met in the Temple and they broke bread together in their homes every day. With joyful and sincere hearts they took their meals in common, praising God and winning the approval of all the people.

In this new “better-than-normal” life, no one should be without. The text states that those in this “better-than-normal” life “shared all things in common.” They would “share the proceeds” of money they made “with one another” as was needed. This wasn’t some so-called communistic life where everyone was given the same things, whether they needed them or not. They gave to one another “as each had need.” If Jane Doe had food and clothing, they didn’t divide up the food and clothing equally and give her some to add to what she already had. No. Things were divvied out “as needed.”

Also, the people met in each other’s homes “every day” and ate together. Notice that the people still had their own homes. This wasn’t a giant house where everyone lived together (though, I’m sure that happened in some places). No, there was still individuality. But the understanding was they all shared what they had with others in the community when there was a need. They didn’t see “mine” versus “yours.” They saw “ours.” 

And these people weren’t all the same. Hardly. There were people from all over the place — people with different socio-economic status and cultures. There were Jews, certainly, but there were also Romans and other so-called “outsiders” by the societal norms of the day. There were women and men fulfilling different roles, changing up what was “acceptable” practice. They recognized God’s call on the person regardless of gender or status. Saint Paul says in another place that when everyone got together, “ … let everybody be ready with a hymn or a sermon or a revelation, or ready to use the gift of tongues or to give an interpretation. It must always be for the common good” (1 Corinthians 14.26; TIB). Not just the people who’d gone to seminary gave a sermon or the people with the best voices sang a hymn. The “leaders” weren’t the best looking or best smelling people or only the men (heaven forbid). There weren’t any “leaders” — there was no “clergy” versus “laity”[6] — but “let everybody be ready” to fulfill whatever needed to be done.

Truth be told, the emphasis is now upside down (or should that be rightside up?). Again, turning to Paul (who’s echoing Jesus; Mark 9.35; et al.), he stated that this new way of being human — 

… is just like the human body — a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many … the parts of the body that people think are the weakest are the most necessary. The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we honor the most (1 Corinthians 12.12ff; CEB).

This new way of living sees Christ within all people. It recognizes the dignity of every human being. This better-than-normal way of living realizes that everyone is essential, that no one’s better than someone else, we’re just different “parts” of the same humanity. The Way forward — i.e., the Way of Jesus — sees all people as our sisters and brothers. That what we have is not ours exclusively. If we see one of our sisters or brothers with less, we’re to give them what they need — not sell it to them or loan it to them but to give it to them; no strings attached. And if that means sacrificing our own comfort for the betterment of our sisters and brothers, well, that’s what a better-than-normal future needs now more than ever.

No. I’m sorry. We do not need to “go back to normal.” We need to go forward to “better-than-normal.” We need to see that this time of pandemic has given us an opportunity to reach out and fix the brokenness of society. To tear down the walls of division that we’ve erected between ourselves which prevented us from seeing the suffering of others. We need to remove the blindfolds from our eyes and see that the people we thought were invisible are really the people of our own family, are our sisters and brothers, who are “the most necessary.” We’ve been given a great moment in history to really make changes to the way our society divides us and create something “better-than-normal.” We can build a world in which all people are truly equal. The way forward is not to “go back to normal.” The way forward is The Way of Jesus.

~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

_________

[1] Scripture quotations marked (TIB) are taken from The Inclusive Bible. Copyright © 2007 by Priests for Equality. Used by permission.

[2] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[3] “Coronavirus Has Now Killed More Americans Than Vietnam War.” NPR, 28 Apr. 2020, https://n.pr/2VOVrg4.

[4] “Oklahomans and the Vietnam War.” Oklahoma Historical Society, 2017, https://www.okhistory.org/kids/vietnam.

[5] As of 01 May, the number of positive cases in Oklahoma rose to almost 2500, meaning we had an increase of 66 cases from the previous day (30 April).

[6] While there are places in the New Testament that speak of “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4.11) and elders or presbyters (Titus 1.5-9), bishops or overseers (1 Timothy 3.1-7), and deacons (1 Timothy 3.8-10, 12-13), these don’t speak so much to controlling the people as to serving the people. Maybe I’ll do a post or series about these much misunderstood roles.