Homily for the 5th Sunday in Easter
May 15, 2022
ECOOS
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When we visited our family in Pennsylvania, I was captivated by the home they have created together. Inside and out, it is a Sanctuary. As *I* remembered our children at 7 and 2 1/2 years old, the parents (not for want of teaching) were the main ones singing the “Pick Up Clean Up” song. I think that piece may be hereditary. . .
Mercifully, this Wilson home is not a house of perfection, although Hillary’s storage aspirations and Case’s woodworking ability to bring those dreams to life definitely bring it close. But it is really more about love and family, and creating as gracious and serene a way of life as is possible.
The last morning we were there, Hillary was busily reading a book called The Home Edit. (https://smile.amazon.com/Home-Edit-Guide-Organizing-Realizing-ebook/dp/B07DZLJF1C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SIAGT47WSDYQ&keywords=edit+home&qid=1652404882&s=books&sprefix=edit%2Cstripbooks%2C73&sr=1-1). Glamour Magazine calls it, ““A master class on how to arrange even your most unattractive belongings—and spaces—in an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-navigate way.” Alas, my mother in law knows me well. We still sport the needlepoint pillow she gave us that says, “Martha Stewart doesn’t live here.”
Nevertheless. . . when we got home, I
observed my kitchen counters. I must confess that due to less counter and storage space than in our previous kitchen, Mount St. Wilson has been erupting across the granite landscape with regularity. My lovely basket for onions and potatoes (and other handy-to-have-on-the- counter items) overflows toward the edge of the counter like lava to the coast. So, last Monday when Shannon was at EfM, I faced the challenge. “I’m an English Major,” I muttered to myself, daintily disposing of growing things which had no doubt been transformed during Holy Week. “I know how to Edit. It won’t be magazine-worthy, but I can do this!”
Now, . . . I promise that there really is a Scriptural connection. And no, it is not that The Home Edit is the Way, the Truth and the Life. That is still Jesus, and it always will be. But there is always something to be said for having the space to see, and hear, and feel the presence of God.
Actually, the Scriptural connection I mentioned resides on the last piece of counter I attacked. It is a little turquoise ladle that resembles the Loch Ness monster; the handle curves to form her head, and the bowl of the ladle is her body, set on tiny, out-turned feet. “Praise the Lord from the earth, *you sea-monsters and all deeps. . .” She could go in a drawer, but has somehow always lived beside the canister of other ladles and spoons and spatulas. (Don’t ask me why, but I think she cannot breathe upside down and jammed in with the others.) I tucked her discreetly in the corner, and she was not cleared away with the other debris. But, I did not really know why. . . until I began to work on his homily.
It turns out that I need my Sea Monster on the counter. Psalm 148 is a glorious Psalm about ALL of Creation praising our Creator. Some people might find a Loch Ness monster to be a threatening enemy. But just like the people who cut us off when we drive, or schmooze to get the job we thought we wanted, or who are so completely not who we are that we find it utterly terrifying: they—and we— are all God’s Creation. G. Campbell Morgan says that “Psalm 148 calls upon all creation to praise Yahweh. ‘What a wonderful song this is! Look over it again, and note that there is no reference in it, from first to last, to the mercy, or pity, or compassion of God. But that is because there is no reference to evil in any form.’” (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-148/) God’s Created Beings have just one job: “Let them praise the Name of the Lord, *for his Name only is exalted, his splendor is over earth and heaven.” If we can find it in our hearts to understand that we have so much more in common with others whom we dislike or do not understand, we would truly begin to love one another the way Jesus loves us.
But wait—there’s more!! Loving in the way Jesus commands takes a lot of effort, and it is not just for Love’s sake, transformative as that absolutely is. “I give you a new commandment,” says Jesus, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Barnes encourages would-be disciples , “That. . . your love for each other[must be] decisive evidence that you are like the Saviour, that all people shall see and know it. It shall be the thing by which you shall be known among all [people.] You shall not be known by special rites or habits; not by a special form of dress or manner of speech; not by special austerities and unusual customs, like the Pharisees, the Essenes, or the scribes, but by deep, genuine, and tender affection. And it is well known it was this which eminently distinguished the first Christians, and was the subject of remark by the surrounding pagans. "See," said the pagan, "see how they love one another! They are ready to lay down their lives for each other." (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/13-35.htm)
We have all read about—perhaps even met—those Jesus followers for whom this description applies. Is it apathy or fear which prevents us from carrying God’s love into the world? The process is clearly laid out for us in the Collect for today. “Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the [Way] . . .”
A good cleaning or judicious edit may give us the space to know God, but it won’t transform us. Perhaps, we might remember that God’s Creation is full of beloved Sea Monsters, . . .
. . .and some of them look just like us.
Amen.
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