Focus Scripture Acts 9:36-43, John 13:31-35
I carry you in my heart; I carry you always…
We are part of the beautiful, rich, and complex tradition of Christianity. Each week, as we read passages from Scripture, we tell and re-tell the stories of the ancient Hebrews, of Jesus and his ministry, and of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles. These stories are meant to inspire us, to educate and heal us, to illuminate our understanding of God and our place in the world…who we are, whose we are, and how we are called to live and love. There are many beautiful spiritual texts of different traditions that speak to similar themes of love and justice, peace and hope…all seeking to give voice to something bigger than us, yet something which also binds us together and reminds us of our responsibility in sharing a vision where all of God’s creation is cherished, in which we too feel cherished and affirmed. And I’ve often seen my efforts in sharing a reflection each week as way, through words and stories that to provide you with a glimpse of the sacred, that may perhaps resonate with your own life journey and give you hope on a day you may feel hopeless or peace on a morning when you feel anything but peaceful, and to remind you that God’s love is with you through it all. Let us pray, O Holy One of immense love, may we remember the love that your Son preached; may we carry it in our hearts and share it in our lives. Amen.
“It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.” Mary Oliver.
This morning, we hear a story from the Acts of the Apostles in which Peter performs a miraculous healing and we also read from an important passage in John’s Gospel about love.
The Rev. Terry Hershey shared in a recent reflection the idea that in many Muslim cultures, when you want to ask someone how they’re doing, you ask: in Arabic, “Kayf haal-ik?” or, in Persian, “Haal-e shomaa chetoreh?” How is your haal? And What is this word haal that they are asking you about? It is the transient state of one’s heart. In reality, we ask, “How is your heart doing at this very moment, at this breath?” So we might imagine that when we ask one another, “How are you?” what we really want to know is not so much about the tasks of your day or things which you have accomplished, but rather a deeper and more important question about how your heart is doing, at this very moment.
So. Tell me. Tell me if your heart is joyous or aching. Tell me if your heart is sad or grateful, torn or hopeful. Tell me if your heart craves human touch. “Being in touch with the heart tells us the quality of our existence, tells us how we recognize the truth,” Russ Hudson writes. “The heart also is the place where we know who we really are.” And this we know, our capacity to mend and heal, is fueled by the wellbeing of our heart and spirit.” -Rev. Terry Hershey, Sabbath Moment.
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the story begins to focus on his followers and how they discovered the courage and inspiration to go forth and share the good news. Some of their stories are included in the book of Acts with a particular focus on Peter and Paul. The Acts of the Apostles tells of the early history of the Christian church after Jesus’ return to God. It describes the rise and spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome, focusing on the journeys of Peter and Paul. Some of the important events included in these texts include the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the growth of the church in Jerusalem, the persecution of Christians, and the conversion of Paul. The book of Acts really emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering the apostles which then led to their work to spread the message of Christianity to both Jews and Gentiles throughout the region and beyond.
This morning’s story in Acts 9 is about Peter and his presence in helping heal this beloved woman in the community.
As Rev. Kate Matthews shares about Acts, “This book of Acts is no peaceful meditation on the goodness of God. For example, by the end of this ninth chapter, we have just come off the adventures of Saul, the persecutor of early Christians, who went from “ravaging” and “breathing threats and murder” against them to getting knocked off his horse and blinded by the light, before he rose up again and made his way, with the help of others, to Damascus, where his sight was restored and more importantly, his vision clarified.
We can well imagine that it wasn’t easy for the disciples who had lived in fear of Saul to believe that he was now on their side. Paul finds himself escaping from the Jewish authorities in Damascus by being lowered in a basket through the city walls to escape to Jerusalem. And there he encounters skepticism from the believers and arguments with the Hellenists — the Greek-speaking Jews — who want to kill him. But then the readings speak of “the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria” growing in peace and in faith, and in numbers as well. As it grew, the church somehow lived, mysteriously, in both “the fear of the Lord” and “the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (9:31b).
And in our passage from today, we read about Peter, who we know had actually walked with Jesus and was a witness (after Mary Magdalene) to the Resurrection. Filled with the Spirit, Peter can’t help sharing the Good News of his life transformed and the power of that same Spirit of God to transform the lives of others. He visits “the saints” living in various places, and continues the work of his teacher, Jesus, who had healed the sick and raised the dead. Luke writes this story of the early church as a continuation of the story of Jesus, risen, present and at work through the power of the Spirit in the life of the early church. In the center of Lydda, we hear of a paralyzed man being healed by Peter, with the Holy Spirit, or, as Peter says, by Jesus Christ (9:34b), and the whole region, we hear, come to believe in Jesus.
Today’s story is a tender one of Peter traveling to heal the widow Dorcas or Tabitha. We are still in the Easter season, this time of new life, of resurrection. You may remember the story in the Gospels about Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus. Luke had described that miracle in his Gospel (8:40-56) as did Mark, which was likely the source of the story. In Acts, Luke’s is making the point that Peter, and the other disciples, the early church, are continuing the work of Jesus, of healing and teaching and being present to others in their times of sorrow and loss. In John, we are reminded of Jesus’ words to his friends, perhaps the most important teachings he shared with them…”Love one another as I have loved you.” All these years later, we might ask ourselves…Would those who hear about us, and those who watch what we do, hear and feel echoes from the story of Christ? Would they recognize us as one of his followers, trying to live out that same message of love, healing and hope?
I close with words from poet Steve Garnaas-Holmes in his poem Riverbank
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another
just as I have loved you.”—John 13.34
Look at the river. It has no water of its own. It receives from upstream, and passes on what it receives. You are not the spring,
but the riverbank. You don’t have to have love, you only have to pass it on. Imagine loving as you have been loved, rivering through your heart. The only means to fuller love is to receive more fully.