Sermon for Easter 2C
April 11, 2010
Texts:  Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29; Revelation 4:1-8;  John 20:19-31

Yesterday Carol Brudnicki and I
Attended the Northern Area Mission Assembly,
A gathering of folks from all the Lutheran Churches
In Maine, NH, and Vermont.

The topic of this Gathering was
“Where are the Millennials”
Or where are the 20 and 30 somethings?

This is a topic we have been grappling with at CLC.
Our outreach task has looked at a myriad of ways
In which we can reach out to people in our community
With a particular focus on young adults and families.

One of the things that I took away from yesterday’s conference
Was a different way to look at outreach,
Particularly to the Millennials,
And I would like to share some of these perspectives with you,
Through the lens of this morning’s Gospel lesson.

And to help think about this collectively,
This morning’s sermon will be partially interactive.

I would like to thank Pastor Kari Keyl of by the way ministries for some of these insights.

First, I would like to ask you to consider this morning’s Gospel lesson.

Where were the disciples at the initial scene of this text?

Why were they there?

What do you think they were doing there?

How do you think they felt?

Do you think they believed the women’s tale that Jesus had risen?

What do you think would have happened if they had stayed where they were?

Do you think you would know about Christ today, if they had stayed in the room?

Now think about what actually happened.

Jesus arrives in this locked room
Among terrified disciples. 

What’s the first thing he does?

How do you think the disciples felt at Jesus’ words?

How do you feel when you hear Jesus’ words?

What happens after the initial greeting?

Then Jesus says to them again
“Peace be with you.”
And “As the father sent me, so I send you”

Listen to those words,
“So I send you.”

Think about this,
Jesus does not command the disciples to stay in the locked room,
Nursing their fears and their griefs.
He does not command them to go out
And bring other people back to share the locked room with them.

He sends them out,
And he sends then out, not alone, but with his peace.

He literally uses his breath
To blow them out into the evening light,
Out of the closed up room with its stale air.

Jesus provides the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit
To give them flight, guidance and power. 

The Spirit will take them when and where it wills.
And with them will go the Good News
Of the peace of crucified and risen Jesus Christ,
Who gives life in abundance to those who believe in him. 

Now what relevance does this text have for us
As we ponder how we reach out to people in our communities,
Twenty somethings, as well as sixty somethings?

We have a group of people
Who have thought of a number of excellent ways
In which we might reach out to people
Both physically and electronically.

Following their lead
Will give us lots of possibilities
To reach people in our communities.

However, I think this text calls on us to reflect about our motives for outreach.
Because our motives will affect how our outreach is perceived.

Do we share anything in common with the disciples?

Are we sitting here in our beautiful sanctuary
And our gracious fellowship hall,
Praying that our outreach will bring people
Here into this building,
Into our worship service and into membership in our community? 

Are we praying for people
Because we are at least a tiny bit afraid
About our survival as a community?

Are we looking for an infusion of 20 somethings
To protect the institution of this church community. 

Do you want to reach out in fear,
Fear that will be felt and smelt by any perceptive 20 something within a mile of here.

Or are you looking to reach outside of these church doors
Because you feel the breath of Christ in the Holy Spirit giving you peace,
And sending you out,
Just as he sent the original disciples out.

Pastor Kari Keyl yesterday, related a transformation that took place within her,
During her initial attempts to reach out to young adults in the Nashua area.

She initially believed that she was called to create a congregation of young adults.

So she set out to reach them in places that young adult congregate,
Places like Barnes and Noble, and Starbucks.

She advertised that she would be available there to meet with people,
Talk with them, or even study the Bible with them.

Her first reaction was to pray that people would come to her,
So that she could share the Good News of Christ with them.

And sometimes people did come,
And sometimes they did not. 

After a while, she began to see God’s presence in these places,
And she began to pray for the people that she saw there. 
Her heart was transformed to be open to God’s work in the world.

She found that God was calling her to work in the world on God’s terms.

Rather than a narrow mission of forming a congregation of young adults,
Pastor Kari felt God calling her
To reach out among people
And form a community around Christ in different ways.

When Christ breathed on them,
And infused the Holy Spirit into them
The disciples became apostles--Ones who were sent out.

There was no prescription for what they were to do.

They were sent outside the doors of the closed room,
Equipped only with the Holy Spirit,
And the power of the risen Christ.

From this small band of apostles,
People were given the Good News,
People were converted,
And people were baptized.

From this small band of followers,
The Christian Church, as we know it today emerged.

Not in even steps,
But with fits and starts,
Conflicts and schisms,
Changes, reformations and transformations.

The Holy Spirit, sent by the breath of Christ,
Released tremendous power.

And I believe that the Holy Spirit is still blowing through this church today,
Empowering each and every one of you in ways that you cannot see or understand.

The Spirit is opening the windows and doors of this sanctuary
And whooshing you out into the community.

Can you see the Spirit blowing you up and down Main St.
Stopping to let you look inside George’s, the Laundromat,
The houses, the Library, the Town Hall,
And in the cars of the smelt fishermen who are parked here on these spring evenings.

As you whoosh past,
Pray for the people you see sitting on the porches and in the front rooms,
Pray for the mother, loading the baby and toddler clothes into the washer,
Pray for the fisherman and his young son who walked past our Easter Vigil campfire,
Pray for the person counting out change at George’s to pay for her evening dinner.

Pray, not necessarily that God will send them in these front doors,
But that God might act in their lives in God’s way,
And that God might help you to see the role that God wants you to play.

I know that I have often prayed for God to send people through these doors,
And God has done so, more times than I can count.

But maybe, just maybe, I have been praying the wrong prayer.
Maybe, I should be praying that God would whoosh me and you out these doors,
And open the eyes of our hearts to the needs that we see out there,
To the outreach, not necessarily the in-reach. 

One thing that several of the 20 somethings that were present yesterday told us
Was that if they are going to go to a church,
They want to go to one that is doing something,
They want to go to one,
Where they can contribute and make a difference.

May the breath of the living, risen Christ,
Float over you,
And help you to see the spots where you can out reach
And make a difference.

May the breath of the living, risen Christ
Give you peace and life abundant in his name.