April 13, 2008
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Pastor Anita Hill

Spirit Community

Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

“They devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42)

Sounds like a description of a Sunday morning. But look again, it’s a description of the whole life of an early church community, one that came together in all things, shared together, ate together, worshipped together, broke the bread, retold the stories of Jesus our Christ. The community described in Acts had the goodwill of all the people in mind as they approached their lives with glad and generous hearts.

This story is a starting place of Liberation Theology that comes out of Latin America, and focuses on Jesus Christ as not only the Redeemer but also the Liberator of the oppressed. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, through political activism and service. The Lutheran Church of El Salvador is a leading voice for the protection of the poor, the oppressed, those suffering injustice, children at risk and women.

St. Paul-Reformation’s Sister Parish in El Salvador is the Lutheran Church of Christ the Liberator in Nahualapa. It is a rural community of people bonded together in their care for ecology. Their Pastor Conchita Angel, whose name translates as “Conception Angel,” also does ministry of education and care to persons living with HIV/AIDS.

The Lutheran Church of El Salvador emphasizes something beyond Liberation Theology’s strong understanding of “God’s preferential option for the poor.” Bishop Medardo Gomez is teaching that God’s longing for humanity is even more subversive than that. God’s option is for abundant life for everyone, especially for any who have need. And while need is a word we most often associate with the poor and oppressed, need also describes the wealthy and influential. God calls all of us into community, and that is still as subversive as it was in Jesus’ day.

We experienced there the gladness and generous hearts of the El Salvadoran people. Many we met owned next to nothing, sometimes living in tiny hovels barely balanced on steep sides of ravines with no electricity, water, or other amenities we think of as necessary for human habitation. It was humbling to know that people who lived there had just spent precious resources to make sure that we, their visitors, received hospitality, lunch and sodas. We learned that receiving is an important part of the equation of community, even at times when we felt guilty to be their guests.

It’s not an easy lesson when we realize that having “glad and generous hearts” requires us to receive, too. In our oft-times lonely American world of individualism and small nuclear families, we are uncomfortable with the demands that life in community brings. And conversely, while we long for the life-affirming benefits that community can bring, we are quick to dismiss the model of communal life with shared resources that is described in our reading from Acts.

The image of the gate and its keeper in our gospel lesson also brings to mind an image from El Salvador. The entrance to the Bishop’s Compound, including Casa Concordia Guesthouse, was through an enormous arched metal gate, probably 12 feet in height and wide enough to cross a suburban driveway. The gatekeeper slid it across the driveway each time our bus came in and left. San Salvador is not among the safest cities in the world. The gate provided protection and security that felt good. The larger gate included in it a door sized opening for those who arrived on foot. The gatekeeper’s quarters were in a small room beside the gate.

It wasn’t literally a shepherd’s gate, but it served as our main entrance into the communal life of the Lutheran Church of El Salvador. We met Jesus in the “least of these”: homeless people at a shelter, orphaned children, the cooks and housekeeping crew who kept Casa Concordia ready for us, Lutherans in the city and the countryside, people with deep love and community who know in their hearts and minds what it means to “endure pain and suffering unjustly” during years of civil war. They had family members who had been killed, sometimes by neighbors.

The image of Jesus bearing the sins of the people on his body were boldly and tenderly depicted in the Chapel at the Jesuit University where six priests who were leaders in liberation theology were murdered along with their housekeeper and her daughter.

Yet, despite all they’ve endured and are still facing, our El Salvadoran sisters and brothers know that Christ is with them in righteousness. They are living the righteousness of relationality in community that responds to others justly and fairly.

It takes me a little off track, but the Second Reading, from 1 Peter 2:19-25, requires special attention this morning. I thought about dropping this reading altogether, because it is sandwiched between verse 18 admonishing slaves to obey their masters, and verse 26 telling wives to obey their husbands. But this needs to be addressed. It is sad truth that too often the church has left the message that because Jesus was abused and suffered, people who are abused in life should follow in his steps, accepting their fate without complaint. I want to make it very clear that no one is called to suffer abuse because Jesus did. Not slaves. Not women. Not children. Not immigrants or exiles. This is not about physical, mental, sexual or other abuse of individuals. This lesson is addressed to the plural “you” in the Greek, to a community suffering together because they are followers of Christ.

It is precisely because Jesus suffered and was killed that peoples across the world who are experiencing the ravages of war, civil unrest, abuse, and exile from their homelands understand so deeply that God is with them each moment of each day. The depth of faith in a loving God who has known suffering brings hope to those who seek asylum and safety. It was true in biblical times. It is still true now. They know what it means to have thieves who come to steal and destroy. And they know, as we continue to learn, that Jesus came that “we may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

St. Paul-Reformation stands as a gateway for many who are seeking solace and a place of safety in which to worship, to find community, to experience language and teaching that includes, and to enter into fellowship and hospitality. It is in the breaking of bread at this altar table the that our loving and equalizing Christ is known to break down barriers. It is in the prayers for the sick and dying, prayers for each other as we say names of those for whom we care, prayers for the many we do not know, prayers for enemies and those in power, prayers for wholeness, prayers for our growth in community, that God is known among us. We stand in a unique community to extend Christ’s life-giving voice of invitation and welcome.

Let’s talk together in the days ahead about the many ways entry into the fellowship of the church can be opened, to those who come to in and go out find themselves safe and encouraged to find the green pastures of God’s possibility.

Our forays in Global Ministry are central to the gospel, central to our growth in faith as a community. Let’s pray for the ways the global will affect how we are in ministry locally. Let’s open ourselves to the possibilities that come from “going glocal”, learning what sheep and goats, shepherds and gate-keeping have to do with abundant life and glad, generous hearts in our congregation and community.

Resurrection is ours. Easter is now. The Holy Spirit’s winds are blowing not only across the globe, but also here in St. Paul. We’ve glimpsed the Spirit in El Salvador and in Nigeria. We will feel the Spirit blowing as we try a Spanish liturgy from the new ELW. We will hearing more about the Spirit it in the next few weeks through the sharing of guests John Nunes, President of Lutheran World Relief; Archbishop Nemuel Babba of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria , and from Rev. Pieter Oberholzer, my ELM colleague in South Africa who works with Inclusive and Affirming Ministries.

We are devoting Sundays to teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayers. As we expand that to the community of our daily lives, start looking for gates to open in our community as we share of Christ’s life-giving meal and story both locally and globally. Amen.