You and I were given a challenge (albeit a gentle and kindly challenge) two Sundays ago.
In his sermon on the Second Sunday of Easter, Fr. Keith reminded us of the journey we had just travelled in the days that led to the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. The Holy Week journey through the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and on into the Great Vigil of Easter Eve is not an easy journey, as Fr. Keith said, “to go on alone.” Thankfully, we travel together and not solely on our own!
We journey together in community with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in the parish we call home. And, of course, we travel with the whole people of God everywhere, throughout the world. Being on the other side of the Cross and the Resurrection, the challenge, as Fr. Keith put it, is: “What do we do next?”
Hand-in-hand with that challenge is another. It is summed up in the straightforward and honest words Fr. Keith used: “Do we keep our faith under wraps?”
To be frank, I can’t get both out of my mind. These words keep coming back. If not constantly gnawing away at me – certainly they nudge me to deal with them on a personal level. And more than on the personal level. On the ‘communal’ level as well. It is a level we often forget or dismiss if and when we cling to ‘faith’ as entirely a personal venture – you know, ‘something between me, myself and God.’
The Christian faith and the good news of the Gospel is first and foremost addressed to the community – not to forget the whole world God so loves with a love that surprises and shocks us at times. The Christian faith is a faith encountered ‘in community.’ It is a faith that grows and a faith that deepens in community.
A man I met at either a wedding or funeral once said to me: “I don’t belong to any church, Reverend. I can be a Christian on my own just reading the Bible!” As messy as Church life can be, you and I need to be part of the Christian community to grow in faith. Quite simply, Jesus called people, as he announced good news and proclaimed Gods’ kingdom.
“What do we do next?” Well, we have reached the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday! Before we know it, we will be saying ‘good bye’ to the Easter season and arriving at the next great celebrations in the Christian year: the Ascension of our Lord and the great Feast of Pentecost.
If I fail to begin facing the challenge with an inquiring mind and a heart open to answers throughout the final days of Eastertide, I know those words will return (‘return’ I might say – return with a vengeance!) as we mark the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
For the Holy Spirit never comes without a purpose!
The Holy Spirit never comes without a challenge!
“What do we do next?”
Now, I have no complete and stamped blueprint up my sleeve. No crafted program guaranteed to get us where we want to be. I believe we begin with the community getting to know and understand itself. And that leads, I believe, to discovering what God would have us be and have us do in the wider community – and in our own lives.
There is no better place to begin than with worship, the liturgical life of the community. The beating heart of our life together is: the liturgy, the Holy Eucharist, the Mass.
Far from being a religious service, or rite, consigned to a few pages we go through from beginning to end, the Mass has an architecture, a structure to it that makes it whole. Like a building with a solid foundation and walls, and purpose and height, the liturgy is a whole, its component parts knit together with everything in its proper place.
There is an integrity to the Mass informed by the Holy Spirit. And we must never lose sight that the Holy Spirit is present and breathes life into the liturgy like the mortar securing the bricks in a building and the trusses supporting the roof.
Annette (in speaking about the Gathering of the community) has left us with some questions about the gathering of the people and the greeting. Our coming together, our assembling for Mass, is more than our walking into the church and taking a seat. Like our gathering for a family feast or event, a lot goes on.
We are stepping out of our daily lives and activities and concerns and greeting again members of the family. No longer on our own, we enter into a gathered community with a history, a story to tell. The rituals of a smile, a handshake, a hug are exchanged. How we greet one another reflects and recalls recent events. Perhaps we greet someone we haven’t seen for a long time, someone who has had a difficult time with health; perhaps someone who has suffered the loss of a loved one; maybe we greet someone buoyed up by a welcome and happy event, the birth of a grandchild, a new job, the welcome meeting of a new friend; perhaps family concerns and events in the wider world are front and centre for many of us. All of this and more.
We are not a gathering of strangers, individuals unconnected one with another sharing for an hour or more. We are the people of God, a community bonded together by the Holy Spirit.
Let us spend some time thinking about what the Gathering for Mass is and means with the hope our time spent will help the liturgy come alive for us.
May God who comes to us in sacrament, and in community, constantly bless us with his presence. Amen.
Fr. Ted Hales