7 Easter Yr B

These readings we have before us in these days, the story of the resurrection, the story of the road to Emmaus, the story of the Ascension, the story of the birth of the church at Pentecost, are all stories that challenge our perspective, stories that challenge us to remove the limits we have put on our own humanity. As I challenge you to change your perspective, I offer this about a young woman I know. Today I challenge you to see life, death and resurrection from a new perspective, and to do so, I want to tell you about Pam. I know Pam from my days of coaching swimming at the Blaisdell YMCA. Pam was in high school when she swam for the team. She was one of those who showed up for practice, who worked very hard, who had some good times but wasn't a first place swimmer, and who had a lot of fun. I remember Pam most clearly as one of four on the relays. In those days she was all about supporting her teammates, swimming her very best, having a great attitude, and helping out when and where she could. Pam actually reminds me of myself. Rick and I were married during one of those swimming seasons, and Pam, with all the other girls in her relay, were at our wedding, we have pictures of all of them at the wedding, the whole team in fact. Pam's children, two little girls, swim for the Blaisdell YMCA swim team. Now my sister, Mary, who coordinates aquatics there, knows Pam and her husband and their children well. About six months ago, Pam was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After a little radiation, it was clear there was nothing to be done. I have kept up with Pam's dieing by way of the Caring Bridge website. Her sisters write about once a week, they write about their sister, they write about their nieces mother, they write about their brother-in-law's wife, and as I read what they write I am reminded of the young woman I knew so many years earlier. Today she is a sister who is supportive and present, a mom who is filled with joy at the live's of her children, and a wife who is attentive to her loving husband. And the story they are telling about life and death is heartbreaking, honest, and grace-filled. Pam lives in a thin place, the door to her new life is open wide, and soon she will step through it. Her sisters also tell a story of perspective. Pam has lost so much, she has lost the ability to run and play, and yet every smile and laugh and hug are treasured. The gap between Pam's life and death is minuscule, really non-exsistent. It really is no different for us. I share this story with you today to illustrate perspective. The value of our lives and our relationships all depend on where we stand and what we see. We perceive a time and space gap between us and God. We perceive a chasm that stretches from here to eternity. But, you see, the gap between this life and the resurrected life only seems big and wide and deep from our perspective. I am pretty sure from God's perspective, the gap between new life, the resurrected life, is not so big. From Pam's perspective, there is no gap, that place is thin and holy. With Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the gift of the holy spirit, the gap has been closed. Why can't we live in those thin places, where God's love and grace are so very close. We get so hung up in that perceived gap. We get so concerned with time and space that we can't even seem to function. We ask questions that miss the point. We wonder how much time we have before we must or are forced to turn around and pay attention to God. We ask about what happens to us after death. Some people focus so desperately on right and wrong behavior. And we wonder why, why do good people, young people, get brain tumors and die. But all of that misses the mark. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus show us that God's love is operative right now. God's love was, is, and will be forever. God's love is available to all, no exceptions. There is no gap between God and us. God is with us in love, God is with us in the gift of the spirit, God is with us in one another. Our job is to respond to that love, not at some later date, not once and for all, but now, and again, and again, and again. Our response to God's love looks a lot like the fruits of the spirit; love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Our response to God's love looks a lot like how we live our lives, and how we die our deaths. Our response to God's love changes our perspective. And the story of the ascension shows us that Jesus is with us always. I don't quite understand how that works, it's the gap thing all over again, but that is the wrong perspective. The ascension shows us that somehow in this Good News that love wins, God's love is made available to every one at every time, when life is good and joyful, and when life is hard or broken. At some time and in some space, Jesus physically walked this same road we are on. But one of the limitations of embodied humanity, Jesus' embodied humanity, your embodied humanity, is that we occupy physical time and physical space. Another limitation of embodied humanity is that we stop occupying physical time and physical space. What changes with Jesus is that God shows us that God loves everyone, no exceptions, at all times and in all places. What changes with Jesus is the gift of the Holy Spirit. What changes with Jesus is that the gap is closed between God and creation, God and us. Our response to God's love changes our perspective. The story from John we have before us today is actually a Jesus prayer, it's the other Lord's prayer. In it, Jesus asks God for joy and protection for us, for all of us who occupy this life. With the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the gap is closed. Our response to God's love changes our perspective. The cracks in our hearts are filled with God's healing love. The cracks in our relationships are filled with God's forgiving love. The cracks in our perfection are filled with God's perfect love. The space between God and us is thin, the gap is closed, Jesus does that for us. From God's perspective, we are already enveloped, engulfed, we are already one. Our job is to respond to God's love with mercy and compassion. As we respond with mercy and compassion, as we respond with the fruits of the spirit, as we respond with joy and grace, our perspective changes. We are transformed, and Love wins. As we respond to God's love with joy and grace, the situations in which we find ourselves are transformed. We become the peacemakers, the graceful ones. We become the bridge between God and those whose hearts have been hardened, and their perspective changes. The space between God and us is thin, the gap is closed. Love wins. Amen.