From May 3: Welcome to an Outsider

Dear People of Christ Church,

This Sunday at our 10 am service, we'll hear from our Costa Rica pilgrims, Emma Scalisi and Julia Wall, as well as a few of their compatriots from St James in Cambridge, as part of our usual first Sunday of the month children's service. Remember to bring your diaper donations! We'll also "pray in" Victoria Sundgren as our new junior warden, and offer thanks for the ministry of Sarah Staley who leaves the post in anticipation of her and Mike's twins, whose due date approaches. We'll also pray for Rob, Emma, and Jesse as the "part two" of our 2012 Confirmation group commissioning.

Our readings for this Sunday are some of my favorites. In Acts, we hear the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who meets Philip on the road. He's reading the book of Isaiah, and asks Philip to help him interpret it. As continue together in their chariot, they go by a body of water, and the eunuch (who isn't named) exclaims, "What is to prevent me from being baptized right now?" And, so, he does and believes and is brought into the Body of Christ. There is so much that I love about this story-the eunuch, for starters, would not have been accepted in many religious communities, and I love that it's a Christian apostle who offers him the love and acceptance that others would deny him. I love his excitement-why not now?- it's a good paradigm for us in the church today.

So much in contemporary life is about meeting others' expectations and qualifications. I find myself even being anxious about my son entering kindergarten in the fall-kindergarten!-as thought we can write off his future if his scissor skills aren't up to par. But Philip doesn't ask his new acquaintance if he's really serious about it, or whether he's thought about the future, or how he will tithe, or if he'll quit working for the queen all the way in Ethiopia. Philip most pointedly doesn't ask him about being a eunuch, even though Deuteronomy clearly says that such a man whose body had been so altered could not be permitted into the assembly. Rather than tell him he's still not good enough, Philip brings him right in, right now. It's not the eunuch's identity or experience that legitimates him, it's his desire.

Our other readings for Sunday keep the hits coming--our epistle is from the first letter of John (Chapter 4): "Whoever loves is born of God and knows God." The eunuch, no matter what was going on in his life, knew God. Finally, in the Gospel, we hear Jesus the true vine, poetically inviting us to abide, like branches in God's love, bearing fruit. There is also some language around withering and thrown into the fire: less romantic, perhaps, but it does remind us that the stakes are high.

This afternoon, take a moment to abide in God's love.

Take a moment to dwell in that place where there is nothing to prevent you from being bathed in kindness and peace and courage.

It is beyond words, it is above thought, it is below your feet.

Blessings,

Sara+