Why More Churches than Starbucks?

3 Easter Sunday  B      April 15, 2018   

Acts 3:12-19  Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7  Luke 24:36b-48

Lectionary Link

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John present different accounts of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus and these presentations don't seem to be in exact agreement in the specific details of place, persons, time and activities.  One would assume if the same 11 disciples and the group of women involved would have been able to present a single agreed upon account of all of the details and an exact sequence of the events of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.  But this is a view and a critique from the perspective of modern historical writing, which did not exist until like the word implies, the modern era.

What we call "historical" accuracy and a consistent narratives is a modern criteria of truth which some would try to impose upon the Gospel writings.  Some people might say, I cannot believe in the resurrection of Jesus because the accounts are all so different and even contradictory if one tries to work out the details.

The defenders of the accuracy of the resurrection, then twist and contort the narratives to try to harmonize away the contradictions.

It is wrong to treat the Gospels as modern historical writing; they is not that.

The Gospels are true to the faith experiences of people who lived in the 6-8 decades after Jesus when the Gospels were being written.  We can better appreciate the Gospels if we understand that they are presentations of what had already become the practice of the early church decades after Jesus was gone.

What are those practices and beliefs of the early churches, whose leaders are intent to show how they derive from the oral tradition about Jesus of Nazareth and the oracle tradition of the Risen Christ in the early churches?

The Jesus Movement was a universal movement.  It was not to be limited to the Jewish people.  It was not going to be limited to the Jewish homeland in Palestine.  If the Caesar was a universal king in the Roman Empire which reached to far off places; the Jesus Movement was to go to every place where the Roman Emperor was in charge.  One could say that the Jesus Movement was going to be a spiritual parasite upon the Roman Empire.  The Jesus Movement would ride the coat-tails of the Roman Empire.  You may not see the power and control of Jesus Movement but it was going to be there, spreading from person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, under the radar in private house churches throughout the Roman World.

The Jesus Movement was a universal movement because of how Christian interpreted the Messiah and how they held that Jesus was the Messiah.  One view of the Messiah was that the Messiah was to be a great King like David who would restore the homeland and free it from any outside rule.  What did this mean?  It meant that a Davidic Messiah would have to be stronger than the Caesar and his armies to liberate Palestine from Roman control.  A Davidic Messiah would be re-established in Jerusalem.  This did not happen; Jesus did not make this happen, and so Jesus could not be such a Davidic Messiah.  How could Jesus, a Jew, still be the Messiah within the traditions which derived from Hebrew Scriptures?  Jesus was the suffering servant Messiah; this was a tradition found within Hebrew Scripture.  A suffering servant Messiah could fly under the radar within the Roman Empire because such a Messiah would not be seen as a military threat to the Caesar.

But how could a suffering messiah be a real messiah in the sense of making a noticeable difference in the world?  The suffering Jesus, the one who died upon the cross made substantial reappearances to people in various charismatic events.  Why didn't the disciples of Jesus simply disperse after Jesus died?  Why didn't the Jesus Movement dissipate after Jesus died?  The John the Baptist movement, a strong movement, slowly passed away after John the Baptist died.  The Jesus Movement did not go away.  It experienced charismatic renewal.  It had the power to convene gathered communities.  Though Jesus suffered and died, there is the uncanny evidence that the community of Jesus continued to survive and thrive and grow after his death.  The appearances of the Risen Christ were given as proof of the kind of power that God used to make the suffering Jesus into the Risen Christ.

There had to be a powerful explanation for how the Christian churches survived  and continued to grow within the Roman Empire.  I believe the post-resurrection stories derive from oral traditions of the spiritual events in the lives of the early leaders of the Jesus Movement.  The truth of the resurrection of Christ was the truth of the Jesus Movement that soon had more franchise locations than the modern day Starbucks.  The social success of the Jesus Movement in the Roman Empire was traced to the power of these charismatic appearances of the Risen Christ.

The resurrection appearance stories of Christ include the themes of early church.  "Peace be with you", is a theme of the church.  We continue this in the Eucharistic liturgy today.  The Risen Christ is evident when people live their lives in reconciliation; people can be different but still live reconciled lives together.  The passing of the peace in our liturgy is how people with difference live in reconciliation.

The Risen Christ stories include stories of eating with Christ and his presence being made real in the Meal event.  Eucharist was the practice of the early Church. Eucharist is a fellowship meal.  It is the practice of eating together and when we do it the great alter-personality of the Jesus Movement looms present.

One of the mistakes we make in reading the Bible is that many people literalize the physical, when the Gospel writers spiritualized the physical.  You and I allow ourselves to make a metaphor out of physical presence, but somehow we won't allow the Gospel writers to do same.  Physical Presence, the use of empirical experience is used to say that something is really real or substantial.  We often say that a non-empirical experience is so real that it seems as though it was happening here and now.  The physical is used as a metaphor to indicate that something is real and significant in its impact upon our entire life.  If you and I can use physical and empirical existence as a metaphor of significance, surely we can allow the Gospel writers to be saying that the experiences of the Risen Christ were very significant, in fact, so significant that they account for the fact that there became to be more home churches in the Roman Empire than MacDonalds restaurants in our world.

The Jesus Movement was becoming a universal spreading social movement.  The only way for accounting for the power of this success was to relate the traditions of the stories of the re-appearances of the Risen Christ.

The Gospel writers were saying, "the Jesus Movement is here to stay and will continue to grow because the experiences of the Risen Christ are really real.  And you can have one too, one that is tailored to how your various life experiences have constituted you."

You and I are still in the Jesus Movement.  That we are still in it so many years after Jesus has been gone, should keep us incredibly curious about the staying power of Jesus Christ in our lives and in the lives of people in this world.  The Resurrection Story traditions of Jesus are still a valid reason for the power and the success of the Jesus Movement.  You and I in modesty, but with gratitude can add to the Risen Christ story tradition, as we try to prove every day how the Risen Christ is alive and well in us.  Amen.

The Jesus Meal and the Resurrection

3 Easter Sunday  b      April 1,  2018   

Acts 3:12-19  Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7  Luke 24:36b-48

 Lectionary Link

I would like to tell you a story about a little girl named Sally.  It may seem like a sad story, because Sally was a young girl who got sick as a baby and she lost her eyesight.  Sally was blind.  But Sally had good parents, grandparents and friends and she had a brother and a sister. 

And the family had a special name for Sally; they called her Super Sally.  Why?  Because even though she could not see, she had a super sense of touch, she had super hearing and she had super smelling ability.  Her brother and sister would sneak into the room and Sally would say, ”You guys are so loud, I know you are here.  I can smell you Jim in the corner and Sarah, I can smell you on the other side of the room.  You can’t trick me.” 

Sally had a special grandma and she really loved her Nana’s cooking, especially her chocolate chip cookies.  Nana had a secret recipe and Sally could recognize Nana special cookies, while her brother and sister could not recognize the difference between Nana’s cookies or store-bought cookies. 

   Sally and her Nana always had a special time together, but Nanas take vacations too.   And Nana and Papa went away for a long vacation for an entire month.  And Sally really missed her Nana.  Every day she would wake up and ask her mom, “Is Nana home yet?”  And mom would say, “Not yet.”  And every day Sally would wake up and ask the same question, “Is Nana home yet?”  And mom would say again, “Not yet.”

Well one morning Sally was awakened by her nose; she could smell something very familiar.  She ran into her mom’s bedroom and said, “Mom, Nana’s home, Nana’s home, get up!”  And Mom said, “how do you know?”  And Sally said, “I can smell her cookies.”

So they went down stairs to the kitchen and there was Nana and she had a plate of her special chocolate chip cookies.  Sally said, “I just knew you were home because I could smell your cookies.”  After they hugged and kissed they sat down and they broke the rules of breakfast.  They had milk and cookies for breakfast.

   Today we read a story about the disciples who were friends with Jesus.  Jesus left and went away.  They were very sad that they lost him.  Jesus died.  And yet some of them suddenly had the ability to see Jesus alive again.  And many of them did not believe this.  So, Jesus proved that he was alive.  He ate some fish with them.

  Before Jesus left this world, he asks his friends to gather and to have a special Jesus meal in his honor.  And this is what we do every week; we have a Jesus meal.  We remember Jesus and when we remember Jesus in the Jesus Meal, we know that he still lives close to us inside us because like Sally,we have something Super;  we have the Super Spirit of God to know that God is inside of us to help us know that Jesus is close to us.  Isn’t that wonderful?

Sunday School, April 15, 2018 3 Easter B

Sunday School, April 15, 2018   3 Easter B

Theme

Jesus eats again with his disciples

Before Jesus died, Jesus had a meal with his disciples.  And he told them to continue to gather in this special meal when they gathered together.  And he promised that he would be present with them when they gathered for the meal that we call the Eucharist.

A meal is a time of not just sharing food; during the meal we talk with each other and we share our stories and our friendship.  When we eat together and share friendship we experience the very best of our relationship.

When Jesus died, he was gone, and he could not be seen.  But he promised his friends that they would see him again.

In the Easter stories, we read stories about how the friends of Jesus saw him again and he ate with them again to prove to them that he was really present with them.

He did this for his friends, so that they could tell the entire world that Jesus was still alive and that he promised to be present with us always.

Jesus ate with his friends after he was raised from the dead.

We eat with each other on Sunday and when we do we celebrate and we recognize how Christ is present with us, because we believe the promise of Christ to be with us always.

The Risen Christ is inside of us and we become the replacement for Jesus in this world.  Jesus, when he was alive could only be in one place at a time.  After Jesus rose again and sent his Spirit to be in us, Jesus can be in us and be present everywhere in the world.

Jesus ate with his friends after he rose again to prove to his friends that he lived after dying, and because he lived, we too will live again after we die.

Sermon

  How many of you have a body?  Do you know what a body is?  Your body is wonderful because it is made up of many parts.   Head, eyes, nose, ears, tummy, arms, legs, feet, hands, muscles and tiny things that you cannot see nerves and blood veins and vessels.  And each part of my body is me, but it is not my entire body.

  In our words we use body in another way.

  We often say that a group of people is like a body.  Why would we say that?

  Have you heard of the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps?  They are the soldiers, sailors and marines who protect our country.  What does Corps?  It is spelled differently than we pronounce it.  C O R P S…looks like Corpse and we know what a corpse is; but we say “cor” because it is the Latin word that means “body.”  A large company is called a “corporation” and so it too is a body.

  Did you know what “we” are called in the church?  We are called the “Body of Christ.”  Why would we be called the body of Christ?

  Can we see Jesus?  Can we touch him and talk to him?  Is Jesus here on earth now to see?  No, he isn’t.

  When Jesus lived he could only be in one place at a time.  And there was so much good work to be done and so he had to leave and give his work to other people to do.

  When Jesus left, he gave his work to other people to do so that his good work could be done in places all over the world.

  And since Jesus only had two hands, he said to his disciples, “I want to use your hands to do good. I want to use your voice to tell people good news.  I want to use your feet, your mind and your eyes and ears to do the good work that I want to do in this world.”

  And since Jesus is using our lives to do his work, we are called the body of Christ.

  And even though Jesus is not here, we are here, and we are the body of Christ because we are doing what Jesus would do if he were here.  And what would Jesus do?  He would love his neighbor.  He would help.  He would tell people good news.

  So when you think about your body today, think about another body.  The body of Christ.  You and I are the body of Christ because we are to do the things that Jesus would do if he were here.

  Raise your hand.  Say this is my hand.  Say, “But this hand is the hand of Christ, as I use it to help others.”

  To remind us that we are to become the body of Christ, Jesus gave us a special meal…It is call Holy Eucharist, Communion, The Mass.

  And at our Holy Eucharist, I will give you some bread and what will I say to you, “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.”  When you receive the bread, it goes into you and becomes a part of you, reminding you that Christ is very near to you.  It also reminds us that we are the body of Christ, now that Jesus is no longer seen.  Can you remember that you are a part of the body of Christ?

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 15, 2018: The Third Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah; I’ve Got Peace; Amazing Grace; When the Saints

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah (Christian Children Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah, praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah, praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord, hallelujah.  Praise ye the Lord, hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, hallelujah.  Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the First Letter of John

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 4

You have put gladness in my heart, * more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; * for only you, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

While the disciples were telling how they had seen Jesus risen from the dead, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Song: I’ve Got Peace Like a River, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 122)

I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.  I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

I’ve got love like a river….

I’ve got joy like a river….

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Holy Baptism is a celebration of our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Amazing Grace, (Blue Hymnal, # 671)

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures; he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ‘tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: When the Saints (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 248).

O when the saints, go marching in.  O when the saints go marching in.  Lord, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

O when the girls go marching in…

O when the boys go marching in….

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Physicality as Metaphor for Real Presences of the Risen Christ

3 Easter Sunday  b      April 19,2015     

Acts 3:12-19  Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7  Luke 24:36b-48

 Lectionary Link

   If you were living two or three decades after the time of Jesus and you were a part of a spiritual movement which was catching on in the cities of the Roman Empire and the people in your religious gathering were of mixed demographics, some from the city, some recent arrivals from of rural areas,  some a part of that group of Jews who were dispersed far from Israel in the Diaspora communities, how would you explain to new members in your community the origin of the Jesus movement and why it was significant?  There would be many questions to answer.  Some of the questions might be?

  You Christians; are you members of one of the Jewish sects or not?  How is that you claim some Jewish heritage and yet why are you no longer a part of the synagogues?   And why do you still read from the Hebrew Scriptures?   Why do keep referring to your Judaic heritage but most of you no longer practice the ritual purity rules of Judaism?

  How come you behave like cafeteria Jews?  You take what you like and ignore what you do not want?  Why is it that you seem to have a love/hate relationship with Judaism?

  The answers to these questions lie in the fact that the Christian movement was formed out of Judaism.  Christians did a whole scale reinterpretation of Judaism with significant innovations and departure from ritual Judaism.   The Christian movement took “literal” practices and topics of Judaism and spiritualized them.  So the church was interpreted to be the new Israel and there had to be 12 disciples who would be the spiritualized new leaders of the “12 tribes of the New Israel.”  Jesus was not a Levite but he was interpreted to be the new exclusive “High Priest.”

   It is true that personal and community identity get formed by what we used to be.  And if we are too vociferous about what we have left,  it can result in a very negative polemic against the former group which we once associated with.  Parents can be offended when their children choose a significantly different path in their lives.  Children can find the traditions of their parents inadequate to the ways in which they have come to define their needs.  People when changing parishes or religious communities have various rites of closure to enable them to feel justified to embrace their new calling.  Part of the closure has a negative side; I have to feel bad about what I am going to leave, in order to justify the good and positive which I feel in a new situation.

  One could say that most of the New Testament writings are writings of closure for the people who came to become a part of the messianic movement centered on Jesus of Nazareth.

Since you and I do not need any closure from Judaism, we do not have to identify with any of the negative relationships which are evident in the writing of Christians who were both leaving Judaism at the same time they are being excommunicated from the synagogues. It is important to understand the formation of Christianity as a movement during a time of achieving closure from Judaism.

  The post-resurrection appearances of Christ figure prominently in how people like Peter and St. Paul came to lead the Christian movement out of Judaism.

  Remember that Rabbi Saul of Tarsus was chasing down the Jews who had had post-resurrection experiences of Christ.  Such people for him were regarded to be heretics of Judaism; persons with wrong interpretation about the identity of the Messiah and the meaning of the Messiah.

  By the time the writings of Luke and Acts were completed,  the church leaders had to explain to new members how they had received most all of their traditions from Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures but how they understood this tradition differently than the Jews who remained within the synagogues and completely committed to traditional ritual Judaism.

  There had to be a way of accounting for the active success of the Christian movement.  Why were people still following this Christ, even after he had been gone for two or three decades?

Why were the Christian communities successful at inculcating this effervescent life and energy into new people?

  First of all, Christ was seen to be a renewable and dynamic presence within the lives of people in various ways.  The renewal and dynamic presences of Christ were traced in continuity with all of the events in the life of Jesus.  His birth, childhood, baptism, ministry, teaching, wonder working signs, wisdom parables, apocalyptic predictions, his misrepresented kingly competition with the Caesar which got him crucified, and yet his profoundly effective afterlife appearances to his closest followers.  His afterlife appearances continued in visions and apparitions to people like St. Paul and there was a Spiritual energy and the experience of a Holy personage which got transmitted from person to person in gatherings and meetings which could only be explained as the presence of God and Christ in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

  The post-resurrection appearances of Christ were important teaching tools to explain the progression and transition into the many varied presences of Christ which came to be known and experienced by the early communities of the Risen Christ.

  If many Jews were rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as being the true Messiah, how could followers of Jesus Christ explain him as a real and genuine Messiah?

  The preachers and writers looked at two strains of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures.  There was the Davidic and kingly Messiah and there was the Suffering Servant Messiah.  So the early Christian apologists said that Jesus of Nazareth united these two interpretations of the Messiah.  In his passion and death Jesus was the suffering servant Messiah, but in his post-resurrection appearances and his ability to morph into a continued Spiritual presence in the lives of many, he was indeed a kingly Messiah now, but who would be the delayed Davidic and earthly kingly Messiah at his future return.

   The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are recounted using a familiar habit of language.  Physicality becomes the metaphor for establishing the fact that something was truly a significant and telling experience.  We know that physicality as a metaphor can sometimes be wrongly interpreted, as when Jesus said, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me.”  This is a prime example of how Physicality can mean the experience of a significant presence of Christ without having the literal meaning.  So in the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, there was the Risen Christ who seemed in his spritely appearances to be more like an angel or ghost in his resurrection body, and yet the Risen Christ is presented as real and actual enough to eat of piece of fish to prove his substantiality.  In our habits of language we use Physicality as a metaphor for asserting the substantial validity of an experience.  (As when it seems so real, I could also reach out and touch it).

   The Gospel writers in the early churches were affirming to their members that their experiences of the risen Christ were real, actual and substantial in the truth of their meanings because these truthful meanings were driving the moral and spiritual transformation of their lives.  Moral and spiritual transformation were the substantial results of their true encounters with the risen Christ.

  So we have the apology or the reasons given for the success of the church in the writings which we have read from the New Testament today.

   The proof of the risen Christ is the experience of peace and well-being.  We know that Christ is present because we are genuinely interested in the well-being of each other.  The presence of Christ was known in eating.  Bread and wine were only two items of the meals which eventually got exclusively associated with the Holy Eucharist.  But fish and lamb and greens and other foods were generally a part of a meal before two elements got isolated in our Christian ritual.  The metaphorical point is this, you can be as sure of the presence and closeness of the Risen Christ as the food which you eat and the wine which you drink.  The food and drink becomes you and part of you; The Risen Christ has become you.  And the Risen Christ is a real and certain experience.

   Another proof the presence of Christ is through Word and especially the specific words of Scripture.  The Risen Christ told the disciples that he was not an alien dropped out of the sky; he was in fact an expected fulfillment of their own religious and spiritual tradition.  He was saying that one could find signs of his life in the writings of the Hebrew Scriptures.  And so the Risen Christ is continuous with our human experience.  We don’t have to go out of our way; we are met within our human situation and can know the presences of the Risen Christ to be events in our common life pathways.

  You perhaps have heard about the Gnostic Gospels.  There were other writings which were destroyed because they were regarded to be heretical by later Christians.  From these other writings we can know that the Risen Christ also was significant to groups of Christians who were not specifically formed in the tradition of Judaism from which Jesus came.  Later Christians, decided that the specifics of the Judaism tradition were crucial to the identity of the church and that the influences from other Greek and Roman philosophical and mystery traditions were to be seen as incompatible with the Risen Christ.  We need to know today, that during the first two centuries of the Christian movements there was quite a diversity of interpretations of the valid post-resurrection appearances and manifestation of Christ to many people.

  Today, we do not have to understand ourselves as those who have left Judaism, because we cannot leave what we never were a part of.  The Gospel for us is that Risen Christ appears to us in continuity with the events of each of our own lives so that we can be certain of the substantiality of the real presence of Christ.  And so again today we take the metaphor of Physicality as way of convening a real and certain presence, as I will say again today.  Take, Eat, this is my Body.  Drink this cup; this is my blood.  As sure as  bread and wine are on the altar today in the physical sense, so too is certain and significant the presence of the Risen Christ to us.  Amen.