A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Rogation Sunday
May 9, 2010
Scripture: Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29
I
In ancient times, parents bestowed blessings on their children. This blessing was so treasured that Jacob went to great lengths to fool his father in order to preempt his brother Esau from receiving the blessing given to the first born. Do you remember the story? Jacob dresses in Esau's garments and puts goat skins on his arms since his brother Esau was a hairy man. When his father Isaac feels the hair on Jacob's arms he thinks that this is Esau and he gives the blessing to Jacob.
While we don't want to go to those extremes in order to obtain a blessing, I think we probably all agree that it is a good thing to receive a blessing. If given a choice between receiving a blessing and a curse, is there any one here that would say, "Yes, give me the curse. I'd rather have that instead of the blessing?"
No, given the choice we would all prefer to receive a blessing. And we have all been blessed in many ways. Please take a few moments now and think of a way that you have been blessed.
There are many kinds of blessings. There are blessings of the crops and fields that occur at this time of the year on the rogation days. Today is Rogation Sunday; at the end of our service, we will process outside and we will bless our gardens and also all gardeners, farmers, and the plants and crops that they tend. Today, a week after the Walk for Hunger, we are aware of the number of people in our state and in the world that do not have enough food to eat. Our prayer for the farmers extends to include concern for those who do not have sufficient water or nourishment. Our prayer also extends to include a concern that we will use the precious resources wisely and safeguard our fragile planet for future generations.
In our service today, we will bless our mothers on this mother's day. We will also bless our confimands who were confirmed a week ago and pray that they might accept their responsibility of caring for their brothers and sisters.
And we will bless our graduates who take another step in their life-long process of learning. We will ask God to bless them and to show them how they can use their learning to benefit the human community.
II
Our readings today develop our understanding of blessing. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul is on one of his missionary journeys. In the days of St. Paul, the Mediterranean Sea was a great highway and Paul traveled across the sea frequently to bring others the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. No doubt it was exhilarating for Paul to serve as a missionary for Christ. Perhaps like travelers in any age, he experienced the excitement of going to new places. But, also, like any traveler, he may have experienced the tedium and sheer exhaustion of travel. Perhaps that is why he thanks Lydia for her great hospitality. Lydia was a business-woman, a dealer in purple cloth; since purple cloth was highly prized and expensive, we can assume that she was a wealthy woman. She opened her home to Paul and his companions and Paul experienced this hospitality as a true blessing. The mention of Lydia's hospitality in today's reading reminds us that we should all practice hospitality for the stranger and welcome newcomers to our community here at All Saints.
Today's psalm, Psalm 67, is full of blessings and requests for blessings: May God be merciful to us and bless us. May God, our own God, give us his blessing.
In today's Gospel, Jesus says that God our Father will love us and that God and Jesus will come and make their home in us. What a great blessing it will be for us to welcome the Lord God into our lives. Like Lydia who welcomed Paul into her home, we will provide hospitality for God to dwell with us, because God will not force himself upon us.
III
John O'Donohue, the great Celtic poet and theologian, thinks that blessing is so important that he wrote a book about it. The book is entitled, "To Bless the Space Between Us."
O'Donohue says, "It would be infinitely lonely to live in a world without blessings. The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else. Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench the inner light of providence."
Three years ago, I spent 10 days on a Celtic retreat with John O'Donohue in Connemara in western Ireland. My wife Barbara had told him that I was celebrating my 40th ordination anniversary on May 1st, the first day of the retreat. To my great surprise on the opening night when all the retreatants were gathered together, O'Donohue mentioned my anniversary and then offered a special blessing for me. I was deeply touched and felt truly blessed.
Today, as I mentioned earlier, we would like to offer a blessing for the mothers on this mother's day. I would like to extend this blessing to all of the women who are here today because mothering is done by teachers, mentors, coaches, and friends. We all are called to bring forth and nurture life. As I offer this prayer for mothers from John O'Donohue, we can remember our mothers whether they are living and deceased and we can pray for all women in their mothering role. I ask the men in the congregation to please stand and extend their hands in blessing to the women as I say this prayer:
Mother,
Your voice learning to soothe
Your new child
Was the first home-sound
We hear before we could see.
Your young eyes
Gazing on us
Was the first mirror
Where we glimpsed
What to be seen
Could mean.
Mother,
Your nearness tilled the air,
An umbilical garden for the seeds
Of thought that stirred in our infant hearts.
You nurtured and fostered this space
To root all our quietly gathering intensity
That could grow nowhere else.
Mother,
Formed from the depths beneath your heart,
You know us from the inside out.
No deeds or seas or others
Could ever erase that.
Amen.