Scriptures for Sunday, April 29
Psalm 22:25-31
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

Thank God, there were wonderful things going on at Bethel on Sunday morning and also across the Massanutten Mountain at Camp Overlook !
While many of you were learning and worshiping in the church building, I was among a crowd of men taking part in the Walk to Emmaus. 
The Walk to Emmaus is a program for spiritual renewal for Christians which is designed to prepare them to go home to their churches and use their God-given abilities for His glory.  Nancy B and I have been participating in the Walk to Emmaus since the early or mid-1990s.  We have found it to be a growing, refreshing experience which has inspired us to stretch our spiritual “muscles” and serve God in a variety of ways.  If you imagine that such a revival might be part of God’s plan for your life, please talk to me or Nancy B about it.  We may be able to sponsor you, or find a sponsor for you, to make your Walk to Emmaus.  Please note: this is about a spiritual journey, not a physical hike !!
 
Coming home to Bethel, I rejoiced to find the CD recording of Sunday’s worship service. 
Please keep in the back of your mind that CDs and tapes of our services are available to share with anyone, whether they are “shut in” or simply want to listen back to something they missed.  It is cheap and easy to make copies, once the recording has been processed (to make plain the things that were said “off microphone” and cut out some of the annoying THUMPs and *CLICK*s that crop up).
This week, for example, I was able to hear all of the names and situations that the congregation raised-in prayer.  Cynthia’s piano-playing always sounds crystal-clear and bold in these recordings.  Janice’s Scripture reading was clear and strong.  I was delighted to hear the interplay between Jr. and the children and Dianne and Pam S and Cynthia about Miracle the calf— God works in mysterious ways !!  The choir anthem came through strong and true, as did Rev. Murphy Terry’s sermon on Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?” and his challenge to “Follow me!”  (John 21)
So, even if you missed it, you can still hear it and share it.  Just ask.
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Our  guest  speaker,  Rev. Terry,  preached  on  the story in John’s gospel about the risen Christ talking with Peter and the other disciples on the shore of Galilee.  This coming Sunday, when I resume the regular lectionary readings, we will again be in John’s gospel. 
This church year is “Year B,” when we read much of the Gospel according to St. Mark.  (In Year A, we mostly read from Matthew; in Year C, we mostly read in Luke)  The trouble with reading the Gospel of Mark is, Mark is a very short book!  The good thing about this year is, we get to cover many of the distinctive stories and sayings that are only found in John’s gospel, in addition to Mark’s.
Jesus’ parable of the vine and its branches is one item which comes to us only from John.  You remember: “I am the vine, you are the branches.”  (John 8:5). 
Of course, this parable is not all soft and romantic, with tender, curling tendrils and juicy grapes:  a major part of Jesus’ message is cutting:
​“... [M]y Father is the vinegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  Every branch that bears fruit he prunes/ cleanses to make it bear more fruit.... “ [A]part from me you can do nothing.  Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”                                            (vss. 1-2, 5-6)
This lesson reminds me of an afternoon I spent with our Vada Hensley in her garden.  She was feeling frustrated, because she herself could no longer prune her grape-vines.  I offered to do the cutting, if she would watch and tell me where and how she wanted the cuts made.  She sat and supervised me closely until the job was done! 
I remember thinking, “Gee!  I doubt if I could do it by myself, even after this hands-on instruction.”
Gary Gao, an Associate Professor with The Ohio State University, provided the following grape-vine pruning diagrams 

Is it just me, or does the pruned vine (the lower one) remind you of a crucifix ?

[The risen Jesus said to his disciples,]
“Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
                            and he ate it there in their presence.
- Luke 24:41-43
 
How would Jesus eat ?  With whom would he eat?
I read Paul Galbreath’s book, Leading from the Table, for a seminary class on Worship.  Rev. Galbreath has served as a Presbyterian minister in the Pacific Northwest, and is currently a professor at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.  His book is about our practice of Holy Communion, especially the prayers we say during the service.  He makes the point that Jesus began the tradition we call Holy Communion at a real meal, and the early Christians continued to break bread together at real meals.  Rev. Galbreath connects our little ceremony, with its tiny thimblefuls of juice and itsy-bitsy croutons of bread, to the basic human need to eat food on a regular basis— entire meals of nourishing food!
Rev. Galbreath brings up the story that Jesus tells in Matthew 25:31-46 about the separation of the “sheep” from the “goats,” where the punchline is, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (verse 40).  He writes:
“This dramatic portrait is often used by preachers to make an emotional appeal about the importance of taking care of those in need.  In some instances, this appeal is delivered with large doses of guilt-inducing language and an implied threat that God is going to get us if we don’t take pity on those who are less fortunate.  What is missing in this appeal is a recognition of the basic premise of this text.  Jesus’ message is not a motivational speech to get his followers to show a little compassion once in a while.  Instead, it is a radical claim that if we want to encounter Christ, we will need to leave our church buildings and embrace the poor, hungry, sick, imprisoned, and destitute.  Our service to them is not simply about generous acts of compassion on our part.  It is about learning to see and recognize Christ.  This discovery begins at the table and extends into the world. 
According to the Gospel, it is the least of these who offer us a chance to discover Christ’s presence.  Rather than reinforcing the self-centered notion that our often limited generosity is a blessing for those less fortunate than ourselves, these people become a source of revelation to us and point us to ways to connect our experiences around the table with our work and ministry in the world.” (p.31)
​
Our Bethel does several food-related things to reach out and bless our neighbors.  We collect special offerings for missions and disaster relief, we donate food (especially peanut butter) to our local Food Pantry, and we open our church meals to anyone who comes in the door.  Some of our church people have been active with Meals on Wheels- providing pudding-cups or sheet cakes, sometimes helping to prepare the meals or deliver them to people’s homes.  Often I hear from our church folks, how they met someone who was in need and got them a meal.  And some among us are known for welcoming unexpected guests to their table at home.

Recently, in our Shenandoah Association (UCC) Church and Ministry Commission, we approved Rev. Karen Mann to be ordained here. 
Rev. Mann attends Sojourners UCC in Charlottesville.  However, she lives and operates a commercial farm in Fluvanna County.  She, along with other folks from Sojourners and her home neighborhood are planning to start a “supper church,” there in Fluvanna County– a congregation that meets around a real meal.  We will watch and learn.
This may be a concept we can practice at Bethel, too.

Would you like to meet the risen Christ?  
How will you know him when you meet him?  
The gospels say that he looks as human as any of us: Christ is old and young; of all skin colors; male and female.  This week’s gospel reading is from Luke’s account of how the risen Jesus visited the gathered disciples and shared their food.  The meaning of this story is deep, yet simple: Jesus meets us at the table— and he may be hungry!

Beloved, we are God's children now;
     what we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this:
     when He is revealed,
          we will be like Him,
               for we will see Him as He is.
                                                 -1 John 3:2

Happy Easter, everybody! 

I hope you enjoyed Easter Sunday worship and fellowship as much as I did, this year.  We at Bethel were blessed with the most splendid Spring weather, beautiful flowers, dramatic music, and a happy crowd of family and neighbors and visitors from far away. 
Any time we have a meal at church is a good time, in my opinion !  And this one was super !  And what a milestone, when Haley stepped out in faith and courage to take responsibility for organizing breakfast !  Praise God !
Thank you, all of our willing workers who made music, cooked breakfast, decorated, and brought people to church. 

Easter is one of a few Sundays when folks who don’t usually go to church every Sunday come in and experience what we have to offer.  This means that the ‘regulars’ need to provide our most loving hospitality, in the servant spirit of Jesus Christ himself, to woo them to make worshiping a regular habit in their lives, too.

As you may know, Easter is not only one day, but an entire season of the church year.  The first Easter came on the Sunday following the Jewish feast of the Passover.  While the Jews have stuck to the ancient lunar (cycles of the moon) calendar for thousands of years, Christians have adapted the Roman months and modern astronomy into a mishmash calendar mostly based on the Earth’s 365-day circuit around the Sun.  For this reason, the Jewish Passover date is often not the same week as Christian Easter.  This year, though, it happened to be the same Holy Week for both Christians (Eastern and Western) and Jews.  This year’s season of Easter continues until the Day of Pentecost, Sunday, May 20th.
You will remember the classic Pentecost story from Acts 2:  the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ disciples fifty days after the Passover (when Jesus was crucified).  The scene in Acts 2 portrays the disciples overflowing with preaching in foreign languages, as the Holy Spirit made them able.
 
But this Sunday in worship, another story of the Holy Spirit’s advent among Jesus’ disciples will be shared:  instead of loud wind-noise and visible flames,  the Holy Spirit  emerged  from  the  mouth of the risen Lord Jesus.                                                  (John 20:19-22) 
It takes place on the first Easter Sunday:  When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”...
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit....”
What the Day of Pentecost event (Acts 2) has in common with this Easter Sunday miracle is the Greek word, pneuma (think of pneumatic, pneumonia, and so forth).  Pneuma refers to breath and wind and also “spirit”— all three.
So, the breath of the risen Jesus was the Holy Spirit, to the fearful disciples gathered on that first Easter Sunday. 
Think about that scene: one man... breathing... on a small crowd of others....  It would have to have been a small room, an intimate setting.  Jesus’ followers must have been in very close quarters, a close group, to have all shared in one Breath as they did.
In the first centuries of the Jesus Movement, Christians met in small, intimate groups to fellowship around the Lord’s table, sharing one breath, one Spirit.  Acts 4 describes the Christians’ behavior this way: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all....”                              (Acts 4:32-35)

​May our crowds never be too big to share in that one Spirit.
 
Behold how pleasant and how good it is
    for brothers and sisters to live in unity...
 for there the LORD commands the blessing:   
​     ‘Life forevermore !” 
                                               Psalm 133:1, 3

     and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
          so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
     stricken for the transgression of My people.
They made his grave with the wicked
     and his tomb with the rich,
  although he had done no violence,
     and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
     he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
  through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
     he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

The righteous one, My servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
                                - Isaiah 52:13 – 53:11 (NRSV)
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Before there is Easter joy, there is the sacrifice of God’s suffering Servant. 
During Holy Week, facing Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples and his Passion and death on the cross, we Christians clearly see Jesus as the suffering Servant in Isaiah’s poem.  Jesus is high and lifted up, yet he is also injured and disfigured.  Jesus is “the arm of the LORD,” yet he is also nothing special to look at.  Jesus is “despised and rejected by people” yet he also carries us through our weakness and our sickness.  And so on. 
Jesus is “all that.”
In the end of this passage, we see God’s plan to make us righteous through what Jesus has done for us. Jesus Christ wants us to share his new life:
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,  arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.                -1 Peter 4:1-2

Come, walk with God’s Servant into the Easter joy!