Rise & Shine

John 20: 19-23 & 21: 15-17

Roger Lynn

April 22, 2018

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Life is a gift from God intended to be unwrapped and enjoyed and celebrated. It is a gift which features amazing bodies that can touch and see and taste and smell and hear, an amazing world filled with wonders beyond imagination, a variety of people to share it all with and all wrapped up in the ongoing, intimate presence of God. In the words of a song written by my friend Amy Martin, God invites us to “rise and shine.” Unfortunately, all too often for all too many of us, we get stuck in the basement, locked inside ourselves behind bars of fear and guilt and pain. We can’t feel the wonder of God’s presence. We can’t experience the joy of God’s gift of life in all of its abundance. We just end up feeling stuck. Sometimes we notice and just feel helpless to do anything about it. Sometimes it has been going on for so long that we stop even noticing. It’s just the way life has always been. We don’t even look for more.

But I believe God would have it be different for us. The Sufi poet Hafiz writes what might easily be a message to us from God. “Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.” (from “Your Mother & My Father” by Hafiz, found in “The Gift: Poems by Hafiz - The Great Sufi Master” Translations by Daniel Ladinsky) Jesus spent his whole life and ministry trying to offer people another way to approach their living. He recognized that it was possible to live in full and open awareness of the loving presence of God, because God was all around us and within us in every moment. All we need to do is become aware of it. One day he breathed on his disciples and said, “It’s like that. God is that close all the time. Breathe God into your being. Receive the gift.” Of course it’s easier to get the point in Hebrew because breath and spirit are the same word. God is that close. We need not live our whole lives locked up in the basement. Come out into the sunshine and breathe in God’s Spirit. Be full. Rise and shine!

But of course Jesus doesn’t stop there. Jesus never stops with just offering us healing and abundant life. The gift always comes with one caveat – we are invited to share the gift we have received. Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then he goes on to offer them the warning about their responsibility to proclaim the good news of forgiveness. If you tell them, then they will be able to receive the gift. They will be better equipped to recognize that they, too, can rise and shine. If you don’t tell them, then how else are they going to hear about it? They’ll just continue believing that they have no choice but to live their lives weighed down with the fear and guilt and pain. They’ll go on thinking that God condemns them. So after you receive the gift of life that comes with recognizing the presence of God’s Spirit, make sure you help other people to receive the gift also.

At the very end of the Gospel of John, Peter has an encounter with Jesus that sums all of this up. Jesus offers him healing and then sends him out into the world with a mission to care for others. Three times he asks him, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times – to match the three times that Peter had denied even knowing Jesus. Three opportunities to experience the unconditional and ongoing love of God. And then the challenge, the sending forth. “Feed my lambs – tend my sheep – feed my sheep.” Help make sure that others are nourished with an awareness of God’s love. Help make sure that others have a chance to really live the life which God is offering. Help make sure that others experience the freedom to rise and shine.

And so it comes to us. In every moment of every day, with every breath we take, God is offering us the gift of life. And with every glimmer of awareness as we open ourselves ever more fully to that reality, we are called to be agents of God’s love in the world. We do it through the example of our living – when we really live rich, full, abundant lives centered in an awareness of God’s presence, people notice. We do it through our words – when we tell people about an understanding of God that is loving rather than angry, gracious rather than judgmental, welcoming rather than restrictive, people are healed. We do it through our actions – when we reach out in love, when we offer acceptance rather than judgment, when we give of ourselves and our resources to help make the world a better place, people respond.

Together let us celebrate the amazing gift of life which is made possible because we are surrounded by God’s love. There’s no better time to begin. What are we waiting for? Rise and shine!