Scripture Readings: Acts 1: 12-14 1 Peter 4: 13-16 John 7, 1-11a
This past week as we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension we heard Jesus give the disciples their “marching orders” if you will:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And know, that I am with you always”.
How do we go from being baptized to baptizing?
How do we go from being taught to teaching?
How do we know that God is with us and how do we make God known to others?
Just maybe the answers to our question came from Jesus
Jesus talks about the poor.
Jesus talks about sharing what we have.
Jesus talks a lot about love and upsets folks by his definition of neighbor.
Jesus tells us to serve each other — willingly, cheerfully, humbly.
Jesus talks about meals…simple meals and sitting down together, not eating on the run.
Jesus tells us to share bread and wine in his memory, as a community gathered in his name.
Simply put, Jesus tells us to look for Christ in each other and to be Christ to each other.
There’s a novel entitled: Vestments.
It’s about a spoiled, self-centered young man who stands to inherit a fortune from his dying aunt. But there is a hitch… She’s a pious Catholic woman who, in her confusion, thinks her nephew is a priest. To ensure his inheritance, he begins to wear a Roman Collar when he visits her.
The young man not only enjoys how people treat him as he dresses as a priest (“Can I check your oil, Father?” “Would you like more Coffee, Father?”) but he begins to enjoy how he treats others. He finds that his is more kindly toward others, more helpful, more understanding. And other things change, too. He starts to drink less, he stops fooling around, he begins to wonder at the purpose of life, he begins to think that maybe there is a God and that Christianity is more than foolish superstition. What started a fakery begins now to change him.
Christ “put on” the vesture of Human Beings so that we could become like Christ. We may at times have to fake it. But if we put on Christ, if we wear Christ on the outside, we may find that we have become more Christ-like on the inside.
You know we hear about prayer today, prayer by the early disciples seeking God’s guidance in being faithful to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, our brother.
Prayer by Jesus, for his disciples, including us, his disicples for this time and place and for the people we will encounter today and every day.
Prayer that is meant to lead us to truly living the gift of faith that has been shared with all of us. The gift of faith we share with our children.
As Mother Teresa shared with her Sisters, “Every act of love is a prayer.
Prayer in action is love and love in actions is service.”
May we pray for one another and for others in words,
But may we also pray with our hands, our hearts,
and with selflessness – more and more and more each day.