Acts 2:1-21 The Coming of the Holy Spirit (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

     I have wondered for a while now if the movie LA Story has a sneaky, discrete reference to the Holy Spirit in it. Steve Martin is the main character. He’s unhappy in his work and dating life and searching for meaning, creativity, magic, and beauty. One night, he’s driving with his girlfriend, and the car breaks down on the interstate, right in front of one of those big flashing signs that the DOT uses to warn people about road conditions. While he’s forlornly poking around the engine, the wind kicks up and the words “FREEWAY CLEAR” on the sign click off. He looks around at the sign, and it suddenly reads “HIYA,” which he thinks is strange. He goes back to poking at his engine.

     The moment his back is to the sign, a big flash, like from a broken bulb, shoots off and crackles, getting his attention. When he turns back towards it, the sign read “I SAID... HIYA.” It dawns on him that the sign is addressing him, much to his consternation. He looks around, trying to figure out what is going on. He, with no small measure of disbelief, says “Hi.” The sign then flashes these letters: R U O K? He reads them aloud as one word roo-ock. This is the part that got my attention the first time I saw it, because ruach is the Hebrew word for spirit.

     The reasons I think this might be intentional is 1) there’s wind blowing through this whole scene and the word for spirit is related to the word for wind and the word breath and 2) this sign becomes a guide for Steve Martin’s character throughout the movie. You know how some people ask for signs to help guide them? Well, Martin gets one, a literal signpost, that helps him find the meaning, beauty, and connection that he was missing in his life. He has no idea how it works. He describes it as one of the magical, unexplainable things that have happened in his life. It showed up in his life when he needed it but didn’t expect it. And, it changed him. That sure sounds like the Holy Spirit to me.

     Wind is powerful. A snowstorm becomes a blizzard because of the wind. When I think of the storms in the last few years that have done the most damage to the land and home where I live and the places I drive, it was the heavy wind that gave the rain the power to squeeze through gaps in the chimney. It was the wind that picked up the woodshed and broke it off its posts. The wind knocked down some big trees, too. On my drive to work, on my road, I still see downed trees from the January storms from a couple years ago and the windstorm from October of 2018. Wind is powerful.

     Across the Arab-speaking world, particularly in windy places that are hot and dry or hot and humid places, there is a traditional kind of architecture called a wind catcher. An article that I read described them as being kind of like large chimneys visible on a city’s skyline. There are vents in the tallest parts of the chimney shaft. They capture that powerful wind, directing it down into the lower areas where people and animals live. They may be on private homes or public buildings, like mosques, or utilities, like water cisterns. There are different ways to build these towers depending on your needs. You can create ones for more cross ventilation or ones with a bit of a vacuum effect that draws overly-warm air out of a building.  In places where you need to increase indoor humidity, the wind may even be directed over a fountain before going into the rest of a building. Wind is powerful. But, we can harness it for good, too. This also sounds like the Holy Spirit.

     A bunch of my preacher colleagues were talking about what they were reading in anticipation of Pentecost, and they mentioned a scholar named Kate Bowler’s most recent blog where she talks about having a porous sense of self. She has adapted this idea from a philosopher named Charles Taylor, who says that a porous self has a permeable boundary between their inner life and the outside world. She says, “Meaning, grace, beauty, the divine, even sorrow can cross into you from elsewhere.” This is a sense of self that is capable of being moved by forces beyond the individual person. Joy and suffering alike will enter into this vulnerable self. Bowler argues that “The porous self is the soul, open to God, to others, to feeling fed by the world and everything in it.” It is not a soul that is self-made by your own will to create it. This is self as a posture of connection and receptivity that allows you to receive a gift when it comes your way unexpectedly.

     It is also a posture that allows you to be affected by the good and the bad you witness. It is building a tower to harness the wind. It is gathering with your friends in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. In her commentary on this text, Dr. Wil Gafney reminds us that Pentecost is an ancient Jewish holiday marking the end of the 50-day Festival of Weeks (Shavuoth). By the time of Jesus and his friends’ ministry, this festival had shifted from mostly being a harvest festival to also being a celebration of God revealing the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. When you are gathered in the wake of resurrection and ascension, among your most trusted compatriots, during the festival celebration the gift of the covenant of God, open to the holiness happening all around you, you just might receive more than you bargained for. The Spirit cannot help but move when the conditions are right.

     Thank goodness Peter is there to try to make sense of things. Did you know that rocks can be porous? Peter, whose name meant the rock, certainly seems porous but also seems ready to pour into others. He says, “my friends are not drunk. Something amazing is happening here.” And, then he quotes the promises of communal, national salvation found in the book of Joel:

In the last days it will be, God declares,
That I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your elders shall dream dreams,
Even up on my slaves, both men and women,
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
And they shall prophesy.
​
     That’s the part about who will share the information from the Spirit that we need to be open for. This is a vision of the Spirit moving through a diverse group of people to work in the world. And, what they share will be a sign for those who are willing to pick it up when it passes by. It will be even more obvious than a DOT sign on the interstate: portents in heaven, signs on the earth below, blood, fire, and smoky mist. The signs will include witnessing forces that you considered immutable and unchangeable actually changing in front of you.

     The signpost in LA Story goes on to explain that it is the embodiment of the spirit of Los Angeles that sees people in trouble and stops them, a potent metaphor for a city known for traffic. Don’t many of us want a sign to show us that we’re going the wrong way... and probably the right way, too! Like the Holy Spirit giving the disciples the power to speak languages they don’t know, the DOT sign uses familiarity to inspire. May we, too, hear words that we know that have the power to move us.

     In her essay, Kate Bowler invites readers to work on cultivating some porosity as a kind of summer homework. The challenge of this particular moment in history is that there is much floating around in the world that hurts when we take it in. I will add the image of the wind tower to accompany the idea of the porous self. There are powerful forces coming at us whether we are prepared to receive them or not. It is, therefore, a spiritual practice to find ways to harness and redirect what we receive for the good. Jesus’ followers heard Joel’s promise for communal salvation from war, occupation, and natural disasters, and turned into inspiration for continuing Jesus’ mission. May the Spirit move through you, changing you in ways that serve your neighbor, and creating an environment where life can flourish, even in the most challenging environments.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Here's the clip from LA Story: https://vimeo.com/20401910
Thomas R.W. Longstaff's entry on the Holy Spirit in the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul Achetemeier, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1996)
Wind tower/windcatcher: https://www.melkart.net/p/the-wind-catcher-lessons-from-traditional
Kate Bowler's essay: https://katebowler.substack.com/p/joyful-porous
Wilda C. Gafney, A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Year A (New York: Church Publishing, 2021)

John 17:1-11 Jesus Prays for His Disciples (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people,[a] to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.​

     In his notes on today’s text, Obery Hendrick’s calls it “Jesus’ Final Prayer.” It is the last part of his farewell address in the book of John. He is spending time preparing them to preach the Gospel without him. It takes him about four chapters after washing his friends’ feet (and warning them he would be betrayed) to say what he needs to say. He made sure that they understood that he would be preparing a place for them and instructed them to keep his commandments. They are to keep loving their neighbor and keep loving God. He reaffirmed them as branches to his vine, extensions of his love into the world. He also warns them that bad things will happen, but that doesn’t mean that they should stop loving. And, then, he prays.

     The scholar Cláudio Carvalhaes, in his commentary on this text, says that this final prayer is “as if Jesus is wrapping up his ministry by telling God what happened and what will be needed as the disciples move forward.” Gennifer Brooks describes the prayer as “read[ing] like a narrative of Jesus’ role as Savior and guide, as leader and example for the present disciples and those yet to come.” He prays to God, stating his readiness for what is coming next, and he also prays for his friends. He asks God to empower them. “They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” He goes on to pray, “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those who you gave me, because they are yours.” This is a kind and generous intercession on Jesus’ part, an intercession said in such a way that his disciples likely hear him praying for them.

     Dr. Carvalhaes also points out that in his prayer, Jesus beautifully reasserts the relationships that connect the disciples to him and all of them to God. “All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.” Jesus prays for their protection, asking God “protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” Jesus knew that they must work together... that their many must also be one if they are to help the kindom come. Jesus wanted his joy to be complete in them, for them to be made holy in God’s word, and for them to be protected from evil, even as they find themselves in conflict with the powers of the world. Who has been praying for you lately? Have they prayed so fervently? Who have you been praying for God to empower?

     He prayed in earshot so that they knew he was praying for them. Brooks says that Jesus wants to make sure that they know what they are receiving from him. The last thing he will be able to give them before he is arrested is this assurance of his on-going love and their capability built by this love. The last time I preached on this scripture I described this passage as Jesus “doing that Good Shepherd thing again: making sure they know they are not alone in the valley of the shadow of death.” Dr. Meda Stamper, in her commentary on this text, notes that Jesus is basically asking for two things for his friends: that they will be protected and that they will be made holy by the presence of Divine Love in their lives. In being made holy, they will be able to continue Christ’s mission.

     I’ve prayed for a lot of people in my life. We pray for each other every week. I’ve witnessed people countless times be moved by having someone pray for them. To be fair, not everyone wishes for prayer. But, for those who do, it can be a balm. Sometimes the prayers are simple and sometimes more complex. Sometimes they are ones that I make up on the spot. Sometimes, they are prayers we know and have memorized as part of Christian tradition. I’ve shared before about how, when I was a hospice chaplain with many patients with memory loss, one thing that most of the Christians could remember was the Lord’s Prayer.

     I learned over the 5 years that I worked in that job that if I started the Lord’s Prayer, I could almost always count on someone who had been actively religious to pray with me, even if they no longer could speak many clear words. Some people would pray clearly, occasionally even saying the most clear sentences that they had said during the whole visit as they recited the familiar phrases of the prayer. Sometimes people would only remember the rhythm of the prayer, mumbling alongside me, and maybe saying a few words clearly. Sometimes they would only remember the Amen. Sometimes they would just hold my hand tightly while I would pray. These experiences really helped me appreciate the power of a communally known and memorized prayer.

     I officiated Ray Baillergon’s funeral this week. His wife Georgia made sure we prayed the Lord’s Prayer. She said it was his favorite. When I looked around at the attendees of his service, his relatives and coworkers, his friends in suits and ties and his friends in Harley jackets and high viz vests, and began the Lord’s Prayer, most of us prayed it together. Our words were able to be unified because the love of Ray brought us together and because tradition had given us a common prayer to reach for in times of grief. It was lovely.

     Another place that I’ve witnessed the power of shared prayer is AA meetings that I’ve been invited to attend. The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous had deep roots in the Episcopal tradition, which might not surprise you if you are aware of their view of a higher power. I think this may also be why they incorporate the Serenity Prayer into meetings. This prayer, likely originally written by UCC theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, may have been rolled into AA practice when some folks from AA came upon the prayer after it had been shared with service members by military chaplains.

     The first version I remember hearing goes like this: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. I learned a while ago that there is a different version that Rev. Dr. Niebuhr evidently preferred: God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. As much as I like this prayer, I also appreciate Dr. Angela Davis’ reminder that we don’t have to be serene in the face of that which is unacceptable. She said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” That’s a prayer I’ve needed sometimes, too.

     I’ve been co-teaching a class through the Maine School of Ministry called Organizing for Relationship and Repair. It’s a class ultimately about helping churches of people who are the descendants of settlers on this continent work on relationships that support the sovereignty of native people who were here first. It has been useful to talk in community about concrete actions of repair. One thing that consistently comes up in discussions of best practices for a settler Christian community that wants to repair relationships is that we must root ourselves in spiritual practices that sustain us for the solidarity work we are undertaking. Communal prayer, either through shared prayers that bolster us, or prayers that are more off the cuff, like that of Jesus for his friends, are a part of those spiritual practices.

     It matters deeply to us that we are listened to and remembered. We often feel better to know that someone hopes good things will happen for us. It is powerful when someone sees and hears what’s on your heart, and acknowledges it before God, and then prays for your relief or your protection or clarity or a change of heart. Jesus hoped his friends would hear him praying and that those prayers would give them strength for the hard work ahead. As Brooks notes in her commentary on this text, the final words of this portion of his prayer for his disciples is for their unity, “so that they may be one, as we are one.” Brooks calls this an “realized petition on behalf of our Savior.” We are still working on our oneness.

     In fact, much of this farewell prayer could be for us, as well as the first disciples. In just a few verses after this one, in verse 20 and 21, Jesus says that he is also praying for those “who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” That’s us. We’re the ones who have come to believe. Jesus has been praying for us, for our protection and empowerment, for a long time. May we go into this week feeling those prayers alive in our hearts and praying for each other. These prayers will bolster us for what’s ahead and connect us to God and each other. Jesus prayed on his friends’ behalf. Let us pray on behalf of each other.

Resources Pastor Chrissy consulted:
Obery Hendricks, Jr.'s notes on John in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Gennifer Benjamin Brooks: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/seventh-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-171-11-6
Cláudio Carvalhaes: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/seventh-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-john-176-19-5
Meda Stamper: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/seventh-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-john-176-19-3
About the Serenity Prayer:

• http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2008_07/serenity.html
• https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/articles/the-serenity-prayer#:~:text=The%20Full%20Serenity%20Prayer,-God%20grant%20me&text=To%20accept%20the%20things%20I%20cannot%20change%3B,wisdom%20to%20know%20the%20difference.&text=Forever%20and%20ever%20in%20the%20next.

1 Peter 2:2-10 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)
Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

     The scholar Angela Parker writes about today’s scripture, “This week’s pericope begins and ends with love.” This is part of the Gospel of John that is often called The Farewell Discourse. It is the part of John that is just before the crucifixion. In his notes on the text, Obery Hendricks calls it “an interpretation of Jesus’ completed work on Earth.” When you look over the story of the Gospel, this is the part of the story when Jesus knows that something bad is about to happen, and he’s trying to give a final summation of this teaching plus a reminder of the promise inherent in that teaching: love for me is expressed though love of God and love of neighbor, and this love cannot be stopped, even by death. The world will no longer see me, but you will see me.

     Friday night into Saturday this week was the Maine Confirmation retreat at Pilgrim Lodge. Our church does not currently have a confirmation class (though I think our next one starts up next year), but I still help host the retreat for other churches in the Conference. One of the activities on Saturday morning was a worship service that involved stations. Two stations seemed resonant for today’s scripture. One was a big paper with the words “God is still speaking...” across the top. We invited everyone, confirmands and mentors alike, to come and write where they hear God still speaking. They wrote of hearing God in the loons who serenaded us to sleep, the woods we walked through, and through the people working at camp to host us.

     They also wrote of the protests they attended with church members and watching other Christians work to extend Christ’s grace into the world in such a merciless time. In just a few words shared by a group of about 20 teenagers and adults, we witnessed how loving God and neighbor is going on in this very moment, and we witnessed a group of people certain of the on-going presence of God in their lives. God is still speaking and they hear echoes of God in so many peoples. In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.

     Another station was a mirror. Daniel, who works as the Community Ministries coordinator at High Street Congregational Church in Auburn, invited all attendees to walk up to the mirror and see themselves as God sees them: a beloved part of creation. In a world where a small group of people benefit from us not liking what we see in the mirror, it is powerful to take a moment to take our reflections back from the people who make money off of us not liking ourselves. Daniel then invited people to write in erasable marker one word that people thought God would use to describe them.

     I didn’t have a mirror to bring in for us to do this exercise, I will have you take a moment and consider: what word would God use to describe you? Keep that word in your heart and mind as you go into this week. I imagine one of those words could be beloved. “They who love my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by God, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” In loving neighbor as yourself, you recall your own belovedness. This belovedness is the gift Jesus told his friends would carry them through until he returns. It is the gift passed down to us to carry us through our own challenging seasons.

1 Peter 2:2-10 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

      Some parts of the Bible are credited to people who wrote them. Like, the book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul. Some books, like the Gospels and like the book where we found today’s reading, have been traditionally understood by one person, but now we’re pretty sure they weren’t written by that person. But, they are still important and holy books for us and we learn things about how to be a Christian from them. Also, some things we call “books” in the Bible were really letters written to either one person or a group of people. The letters were usually shared between people and churches if the readers found them particularly helpful. That’s how they ended up being gathered up into the Bible. People thought these letters were filled with Wisdom and guided by the Spirit.

     Today’s reading was credited to Peter, the apostle, though his co-worker and traveling companion Silvanus was said to do the actual writing down of things. A scholar named Eugene Boring says the letter was probably written after Peter had died. The way it’s written and many of the points in the letter make more sense to have been written later, like around the year 90, than just a few years after Jesus and Peter’s lifetimes. The letter is written, Boring said, to help churches that were struggling in a challenging social situation. When they decided to follow Jesus, their neighbors began to mistrust them, with some people even thinking they were dangerous. The government wasn’t targeting them in an organized way, but they also were increasingly being treated poorly in the communities where they had always lived.

     It is usually easier to survive something hard if you aren’t trying to do it all by yourself. This letter reminds people that Jesus’ Spirit is with them and that they can build a community of support for one another. The scholar Jimmy Hoke says that today’s reading in particular is about rooting your identity in your community of faith so that you can live out your faith bolstered by God and by one another. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people,” verse 10 says. How do you become God’s people? You build your house on the Rock.

     One of the ways the person who wrote this letter describes Jesus is as a living stone or a cornerstone. Now, I know when I last preached on this passage, I asked this question. But I’m going to ask it again. Who here has heard of a “cornerstone" before? It’s a block or stone that is set in the corner of a building, often the first corner to be built. While people have been building things in all manner of ways for a very long time, we figured out a long time ago that having a strong and stable stone in to help guide construction. Our reading for the day quotes an even older scripture from Isaiah 28:16: “See I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” The idea of a cornerstone is old! And, it became an important way to describe Jesus, especially for people who weren’t experiencing a lot of stability in their lives.

     In older parts of the Bible, when books use the metaphor of a cornerstone to be about a particular person, they are talking about a leader who will be strong and stable and guide the direction of a nation. God builds the community starting with the cornerstone that will set the direction for the nation. While I don’t think Jesus’ earliest followers were especially interested in starting a nation. They were mostly trying to survive in Rome, which wasn’t always easy. They needed something to draw them together. That would be their faith in Christ.

     They also needed assurance that their suffering wasn’t a sign that they were on the wrong track. Jesus became an inspiration for surviving unjust suffering, too. Verse 7 quotes Psalm 118:22: “To you who then believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.” Christ suffered, too. But, he was still the Messiah. Shively Smith, in her commentary on the text, talks about how the people are encouraged to identify with Jesus, not simply as Messiah, but also as one who was rejected but also as one who was “honored in resurrection by God.” As any of us who have come out know, making changes in how we function in community, how we engage with accepted social practice, and with common behavior in a community comes with a risk. The author of this text wants to encourage this church in Rome to understand that the risk is worth it. “Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Remembering this will help them maintain their faith.

     We are in a challenging moment for talking about persecuted Christians. There is a long history of Christians, even when a powerful majority in a nation, using stories of our abused and marginalized ancestors to prop up stories about Christians being treated poorly in the present moment. There’s a report that’s been commissioned by the federal government that claims giving civil rights to LGBTQ people is an example of anti-Christian bias. It does not acknowledge at all that many Christian churches affirm the lives and leadership of LGBTQ people. With the way they’ve written this report, it sure seems like the Government is deciding what a “real Christian” is and has decided to leave a lot of people out.

     It’s good to remember that the Christians described in this letter were actually, really a religious minority and actually, really dealing with persecution. They weren’t simply being asked to treat a small group people fairly. We should remember these ancestors as people who figured out how to remain faithful at great personal risk. Perhaps they can show us a way to worry less about meeting societal expectations and worry more about aligning our actions with Christ, even if we risk angering powerful people. I pray that Christ is building a strong church with us, strong enough to withstand the forces that would punish us for daring to love as broadly and foolishly and justly as he did. May we take our place as stones laid upon the cornerstone, building the spiritual house we’re called to be. Let Christ’s love be our cornerstone and justice be our guide.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Carolyn Brown: http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2014/03/year-the-fifth-sunday-of-easter-may-18.html
The entry on "cornerstone," written by Robert A. Wild in the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul Achetemeier, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1996)
Shively Smith: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-1-peter-22-10-3
M. Eugene Boring’s, intro to 1 Peter in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Jimmy Hoke: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-1-peter-22-10-7