Through the love that we receive through Christ, we become an embodiment of God’s love in the world by living in love and sharing God’s love with all of creation. 

Vicar Andrea Bonneville
Sixth Sunday after Easter, Year B 
Text: John 15:9-17

Beloved in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Do you know how loved you are?  Created. Claimed. Called. Chosen.
To be an embodiment of God’s steadfast love in this world.

Do you know how worthy you are? Created. Claimed. Called. Chosen.
To proclaim God’s steadfast love to all of creation.

The love that the Triune God has for each and every one of us is at the heart of our Gospel message for today. Abide in my love, Jesus tells us. Rest in the love that has been poured out for you for I have Created. Claimed. Called. Chosen. you to continue in my loving service and care for all.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Jesus’ command to love comes out of the assumption that we have known and experienced what the Triune God’s love can do and continues to do in our very own life.

Love that was present when we were created.Love that was present when we were claimed and called by the Holy Spirt in the waters of our baptism.
Love that is present as we are chosen to bear the lasting fruit of love.

The command to love isn’t as easy as it sounds, and the invitation to abide in God’s love is almost more difficult. Social pressures, shame and guilt, compassion fatigue, you name it.. All make us think that God’s love isn’t enough.

It’s one thing know about God’s love for us, but it’s another thing to live out of the conviction that God’s love is within us. We are all God’s beloved and embodying the image of God’s love is what we are created to do.

Because God incarnate laid down his life for us, his beloved friends, we live through our experience of being transformed by God’s steadfast love for as we become an embodiment of God’s love for all. Love that leads us to lay down our lives for not only our friends, but for all that God has created.

It sounds intimidating, laying down our lives, but we have to remember that Christ laid down his life for the salvation and reconciliation of all creation and we lay down our lives so that people may see the love and grace that has been given to us through Christ.

What if laying down our lives means opening up so that God’s grace can transform us to live out of the love that God has for us, and no longer be held captive to lies that tell us we lack talent, ability, money, or confidence to be an embodied proclamation of God’s love.

What if laying down our lives means challenging the culture of white supremacy and letting go of some of space that we take up and the privilege that we have so that all of God’s creation has the opportunity to flourish in our communities.

What if laying down our lives means stepping out of our comfort zones to hear and authentically listen to perspectives other than ones like our own to help expand our empathy and build more unity and collaboration.

We are capable of laying down our lives because of the love that has been shown to us through Christ, love that casts out fear, so that fear doesn’t have the final say as we live out Jesus’ command to love one another. Laying down our lives in love, care, and service to each other is how we embody Jesus’ command to love. It is how others will see the radiance of God’s love that reflects into our world.

We know that laying down our lives in love is possible because we have witnessed this in community. We have experienced the love of Christ embodied in each other and have experienced this love from being in relationship with each other.

Love that checks in and prays for a friend. Love that tends the gardens for pollinators. Love that cares for their family. Love that shows up when we need it the most and when we least expect it.

We have a first-hand account of being in community and witnessing to the ways that each of us embodies the love of Christ, for each other and for the sake of our communities that we participate in daily.

Of course, this has been challenging as we have been separated for over a year, but even apart we have been the embodiment of God’s love to each other through screens, telephones, emails, cards, and small gatherings.  And we’ve had the opportunity to look into our local community and see the ways that people have embodied love in advocating for justice and social change. 

And we know that following the command to love should come with the caution label: follow at your own risk, because we know the Holy Spirit will lead us to people and places that challenge us to embody love. At other times our heart will grow weary as we look at the brokenness of the world and wonder if our love is enough to bring healing. We will look and ask, do we really need to love that person?

But this is the beauty of God’s love for if we live out of the transformation that God’s love has in our lives and abide in God’s love, the Holy Spirit will led us and guide us into the places where we can radiate the of the image of God, even when we know what we are doing and even when we don’t know how God is working through us.

Our baptismal identity roots us in the nutritious soil of God’s love so that we can extend our branches as far as they can reach so that we can bear fruit that will last, fruit that will regenerate and share the sweetness of God’s everlasting love.

Do you know how love you are? Created. Claimed. Called. Chosen.
To be an embodiment of God’s love and to live out the love that God has for you.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus appears to the disciples and asks them if they have anything to eat. They give him broiled fish and recall their ministry of the past and are called to be a witness to Christ’s peace.

Vicar Andrea Bonneville
Third Sunday after Easter, Year B 
Text: Luke 24:36b-48

Beloved in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

They saw their beloved publicly executed for a crime he did not commit as they watched, even at a distance, all the things that had happened (Luke 23). Mourning the death of their beloved who died at the hands of people who enforced the law, they gathered on that day, terrified and doubting, attempting to put together their fragmented pieces of hope to make sense of the reality of the past and piece together their future.

And then their beloved appeared. Again.

Fully embodied in a human body with flesh and bones and wounds. And they didn’t know if what they were seeing was real. Because why would they? The fresh and raw experience of death and injustice consumed their thoughts. Wondering what they should have done differently. Asking how they had been complacent.  Seeking answers for why and challenging how something like this could happen again and again.  It led them to believe that resurrection wasn’t possible; they needed evidence to hope and reassurance to be filled with joy.

So Jesus asked if they had something to eat.

The embodiment of the Triune God goes to the disciples who gathered in that room. The risen Christ shows up to people who are grieving, looks them in the eyes, says peace be with you, and then asks them if they have anything to eat.

And they gave him broiled fish.

Fish that they probably went out and caught early that morning because even in their mourning fishing was what they knew how to do. When Jesus asks them for food they look around and they see that fish and it is the ah ha moment.

And like how the smell of bread reminds me of my grandmother’s kitchen and her love for me, the disciples see Jesus eat the fish and they see an embodiment of love that took on everything that was broken and unjust and rose bringing peace and reconciliation to all of creation.

The fish reminds them of when they were by their fishing boats, exhausted from a long day of fishing without a catch, and Jesus boarded the boat and suddenly their nets were filled till they broke. Remembering what it felt like to trust in the Word of God and live into their vocation.

Or maybe their minds wandered to when they only had the two fish and a few loaves of bread and Jesus told them to feed the people. They watched as the little resource they had turned into an abundance and all the people where filled. Reminding them of what it felt like to provide food and love to the people in their community.  

Or maybe their minds went back to the last time they were all gathered around the table, breaking bread and drinking wine together, being reminded of what it felt like to be in community together and feel love. And then be told to go out and share that love (Luke 22).

The broiled fish was the food they ate the most of; it was so common in their everyday lives that they forgot it had significance to their identity of who God had called them to be and their identity of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.  

So what is our broiled fish today?  What helps us when we are filled with fear and doubt see the risen Christ in our communities in our lives?

I don’t know what the broiled fish is for you because my assumption is that the broiled fish is different in all of our lives. But what I can say is this: the tangible thing that helps us to see the resurrected Christ in our community is as much a part of our identity as followers of Christ as fish was to the identity of the disciples who gathered in that room on that day. 

We know there are things in our everyday lives that make us look back to the bad things that have happened in our past and if we are being honest with ourselves there are times and places when that is what is needed and necessary, especially when we have to ask hard questions about our privilege in this society.

But we also need the tangible things; a tune of a song, the sound of children laughing, a Bible story, the smell of a home cooked meal, feeding and caring for our neighbors, that help us look back and see the goodness and love of the risen Christ.

Who on that day and on this day is coming to us and our community looking us in the eyes and saying peace be with you and then calling us to witness to these things.

So we bear witness in our community as we mourn the death and cry out for justice for Duante Wright, George Floyd, Adam Toledo, and countless other who have died at the hands of the broken system of violent policing.  Wondering what we can differently. Asking how we have been complacent.  Seeking answers for why and challenging how something like this could happen again and again. 

We have the evidence and we have the reassurance in the hope and joy that the risen Christ in our community and in our lives. Find where you can touch it, feel it, eat it, and see it.

Because we are the witnesses of hope and the embodiment of Christ’s peace.

Amen.