C5Easter

Acts 11:1-18: Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

May 6, 2007

Rite 13 graduation

Today (at the 11am service) we are going to celebrate a special liturgy

for the young people in our church who are 12 and 13 years old.

The liturgy is called “Rite 13”.

The word ‘liturgy’ means ‘the work of the people’

and expresses who we believe we are in the presence of God.

Our liturgies also reveal God and God’s many gifts to us.

Today’s ‘Rite 13’ liturgy is a rite of passage

where we recognize the blessing of God’s gift

of mature manhood and womanhood

to these young people who are leaving childhood

and beginning their journey to adulthood.

Our celebrities - the young people we celebrate are:

Haley English, Joseph Gresham, Megan Mikeal, David James Todd, Walker Whited, - and Zach Perry who is away this weekend.

On Friday night we had a banquet for them.

At the banquet their parents and advisors toasted them

and presented to them wooden crosses, made by John Moss.

And the kids shared what the Rite 13 program has meant to them this year.

Then, yesterday, we went on an all-day retreat at Camp Mikell.

We all, kids, advisors and priest, looked at our own identities

and the changes we have already gone through

and changes to come as we continue to grow.

They spent some time with a reading of scripture from Colossians

And then spent what seemed like a LONG time in silent reflection.

And we had Eucharist together.

Today culminates the preparatory time of these 12 and 13 year olds

as they embark on their Journey to Adulthood.

It’s fitting that today’s gospel begins a long teaching of Jesus

on what it means to be a disciple.

In the 13^th chapter of John today, Jesus is at the table with his disciples.

He has just shared the Passover meal with them,

and he has just washed their feet,

giving them an example of servanthood and humility

- qualities that are essential to the way of life he calls them to.

As Judas gets up from the table and goes out into the night,

Jesus tells them that his work on earth is completed.

Quite a bit of action will go on in the coming days:

The actions of Judas and Peter,

of the Jewish and Roman authorities and the soldiers

as Jesus is betrayed, denied, tried and convicted and killed.

But in his words to the disciples at the table,

he explains that the REAL action

is what is going on between him and God.

The ground breaking action,

the death shattering action going on

is the bond of love between Jesus and his Father God.

It is being exchanged between them

uninterrupted, not violated, by all the surface activity.

And nothing, not even death, will invade or weaken it.

Then, Jesus, in the next four chapters of John’s gospel,

talks to them about their life after his departure.

He teaches them about the believer’s relationship with the glorified Christ.

He tells them the pattern of the believer’s life.

He describes to them the believer’s relation to the world.

But the first thing he says to them in this section

is what we heard read today – the first step at learning that kind of groundbreaking, death shattering love:

Is for them to learn and practice loving one another.

Just as I have loved you, love one another.

This will be the identifying mark of my disciples –

that they are able in this world to love one another

- with humility, seeking to serve one another,

in a strong, unbreakable way,

that can’t be invaded or weakened by the surface action of this world.

One disciple stands out in our readings today

and he was highlighted in Eph Davis’ toast to the kids.

Good old Peter.

Eph quoted a song to the kids about Peter:

Peter, Peter, what are you doing hanging ‘round that man?

You gave up your life of fishing.

Will it really last?

Peter, Peter, what are you doing slipping in the waves?

You thought you could walk across the water,

Now you’re sinking down.

Peter, Peter, what are you doing crying by the fire?

You said you didn’t know him, now he’s gone and died.

Peter, Peter what are you doing hanging upside down?

Peter, Peter you know you’re dying, dying for your Lord.

Think about the way things might have been,

If you’d remained at sea

you’d still be a fisherman.

Peter, you’re such a fool.

And Eph toasted the kids with the hope that they, too,

will be ‘fools’ for Christ,

Willing to take some risks to love as Jesus has commanded us to love.

Much of Peter’s life as a disciple of Jesus exposed his flaws.

And it helps us that the writers of the gospels were honest enough

to include the flaws of this most prominent ‘lead’ disciple.

Peter didn’t understand the ‘moment’ of eternal destiny

that he witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration

As he saw Jesus illumined and standing with Moses and Elijah.

And he tried to interject and participate in a most inappropriate way

by offering to set up tents for them -

so missing the mark.

He bravely said that he would lay down his life for Jesus

at that same table where Jesus had washed his feet.

And when given the opportunity to stand by Jesus,

he denied him three times.

When Mary Magdalene told him of the empty tomb,

he ran to the tomb, but stopped short outside

and the disciple who ran with him,

went in and witnessed it first.

And there are more stories that especially highlight Peter’s

initial fervor and then failure to follow through.

Yet with all these flaws,

Jesus renamed this man known as Simon, and called him Peter, the Rock:

An example to us of a disciple, whose faith in Christ

undergirds all the flaws and shortcomings

and stands firm in the end.

The kind of disciple who will learn to love

with the groundbreaking, death shattering love

that joins with Christ’s love for all the world.

Those were Jesus’ final words to Peter:

Peter, do you love me…feed my sheep.

And, so, in Acts, we find in Peter, at last, a mature and wise leader.

Someone open to the movement of the Holy Spirit

and yet able to interpret that free and moving Spirit

in ways that are consistent with the love Jesus commanded.

Peter shows that he is able to change and conform

to new ways of understanding God.

And, at the same time, remain consistent in his understanding

of the quality of love a disciple, and this Church of disciples,

is commanded to enact.

The book of Acts records that Peter was the leader

of the fledgling Church in its first 15 years of life.

And so, Peter… warmhearted, impulsive, gifted and imperfect.

He was finally “won by love,

deepened by training,

disciplined by hardship,

and used by God to be an outstanding instrument of God’s purpose.”

[Interpreter’s Dictionary]

Grounded in the love of Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit,

Peter was free, mobile, responsive, adaptive –

AND consistent to the life of a disciple.

That is the kind of life that we hope, as a community of faith,

to encourage in our young people – and ourselves

as we all, with Peter, continue on that journey

toward mature discipleship.

To be mature enough to move with the freedom of the Spirit,

grounded in a love ever conformed

to the REAL action of Christ in this world.

Oh, to be such a fool!

---------------------------------

As we begin our Rite 13 liturgy,

our teenagers will begin the service on the right side of the church,

sitting with their parents.

They will be called to the communion rail to receive their blessing,

but when they are finished, they will move to sit on the left side

as a symbol of the widening world of the teenager,

expanding from family influence to the larger community,

including adult advisors and peers.

You, the congregation, are witnesses of this rite of passage.

You are here today to actively help in the process by your presence, your prayers, and your love. Remember that when we are called to reply “Amen”

We are literally saying, “Yes, Lord, let it be so.”