5th Sunday of Easter

April 10, 2008


Are We Keeping the Keys?


We have returned from a very restful, refreshing, and delightful time seeing new places, being with friends, and having new experiences.

The first night of our journey we stayed in that delightful Danish village of Solvang.

That evening we found a very nice restaurant and during the course of the meal the owner and chef sat down and began to visit with us.

From the beginning we detected a foreign accent and I finally asked him where he was from.

“Jerusalem”, he replied.

That immediately whetted our interest since we have been to Israel several times.

In the course of the conversation he told us that he was Palestinian, and then, needless to say, we began to talk about the sadness of so much violence in such a Holy Land.

He told us that in 1948, when the state of Israel was established, many Palestinian people had to literally flee from their homes even in the midst of having dinner, and they were not allowed to return.

They very quickly found themselves homeless.

He then told us something that I find fascinating: Almost without exception, the Palestinians took with them the keys to their homes, as symbols of hope that someday that would return home again.

These keys are prized possessions, and they are even passed down from generation to generation.

Grandchildren of those who had to flee in 1948 are proud inheritors of those coveted keys, for those keys are tangible hope that someday they would return home.

Our new friend told us that young Palestinian people who have immigrated to other countries will, when asked their address, give the address of their ancestral home, hopeful that someday, somehow, they will return home.

We found this fascinating and incredible.

What hope. What faith….after all these years to hang on to those keys.

In today’s gospel Jesus is with his disciples on the night of his betrayal and he tells them.

“Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also.”

Doubting Thomas typically replied, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”

Jesus replies with ten words that literally sum up the Gospel: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Christ the way, Christ the truth, and Christ the life.

What more could there be, what more could we need, in fact, what more could we ask for?

That says it all about Jesus, the son of God, who declared that when he was lifted up he would absolutely drawn every human to himself.

My brothers and sisters, in the resurrection, Jesus of Nazareth has drawn us into the eternal kingdom of God, and, in fact, has given us the key to the heart of God.

In fact, Jesus once said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

So, we are, keepers of the key.

But, when I heard our Palestinian friend talk about the keys, I began to wonder if we have the same hope, the same trust, in the key we have been given by Christ.

I find it interesting that Jesus began by saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

When life becomes unmanageable, when things began to go awry, when fear grips our hearts, do we remember the key we have to the heart of God?

In our first lesson, it is obvious that St. Stephen remembered.

It was obvious that Stephen was on the brink of death by stoning, and yet, his faith never failed, his hope never fell short, and he actually saw Christ with him in his final hour.

And, in the end, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and, at that moment the key to the heart of God opened to Stephen his heavenly home.

I wonder if we would have the faith of Stephen?

As the Immanuel congregation, and as baptized individuals, we need to look beyond ourselves, look beyond the obstacles we see in our path, and look beyond our surroundings of the things we can see and touch.

For, our true home is Christ, and, we are, in fact, the body of Christ.

That is why I rankle at the statement once made, “O, we are just a poor little church.”

Poor little church?

Listen to what St. Peter tells us: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”

Is he talking about us?

You bet he is.

And, there’s more.

As chosen, royal, and God’s holy people, we have a task and Peter lays it solidly on the line.

“That you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We are given the key to the heart of God in order that we can open the love of God to the world, and, in our case, to open the heart of God in the heart of this city.

That’s kind of a big order, isn’t it?

For after all, what can we do with our limited resources, what can we do in a world that is increasingly overshadowed by fear, injustice, and violence?

Listen to what else Jesus had to say:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

Do we really hear what Jesus is saying?

Anything we ask for, greater works?

My brothers and sisters, does that describe our life together.

What are we asking for, what works are we doing?

We cannot do the works of Christ, we cannot ask in his name if we are imprisoned by fear, by our own ways, or by the shortsightedness of our vision.

We can do the works of Christ, we can have our prayers in his name answered, if we have the same faith, the same hope, and the same courage as the Palestinian keepers of the keys.

At Ascension Church in Savannah, Georgia, our pastor friend, Curtis Derrick, had his confirmation class choose a verse of scripture that they would read at their confirmation.

One of the confirmands was a young girl who suffered incredible physical deformity.

She was wheelchair bound, and had many physical limitations.

When it came her turn, she, with great difficulty, wheeled up to the front of the chancel and she read her verse:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

When she said that, there was not a dry eye in the congregation.

But, then again, isn’t that what it is all about?

Isn’t it time for us to make use of the key to the heart of God, isn’t it time to ask in the name of Christ that right here, right now, we receive the strength, the faith, the courage, and the hope to truly proclaim Christ and his love for every human being.

We have the key…we are keepers of the key…we need to use the key.

And then, I do believe that we as a congregation will be astonished at what Christ will do at the corner of Moorpark and Leigh.

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