In the last few weeks we have been immersed in images of the toxic and corrupting influence of power exercised for its own sake. We know the proverb, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The exercise of unrestrained power and the unchecked pursuit of power, by people who seek it only to dominate others, has been on the rise around the world in the last couple of decades.

At this point in our common experience it is important for us look deeply into what the Gospels have to say that would critique that rise. In Jesus’ own time the great power was Rome and the Empire sought to project an image of peace within their region, what was referred to as the Pax Romana, or, the Peace of Rome. Peace was an illusion because it was brought with violence and terror against anyone who dared to buck the status quo. There was no peace and there was no justice (unless you were a Roman citizen). The Gospel reminds us that if we want to know peace, wholeness, shalom, we must first work for Justice. It is important to remember that the definition of Justice was not, everyone gets what they ‘deserve’…in the Scriptural understanding Justice was a reality where, in alignment with God’s vision for creation, there would be self-giving love, mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation and inclusion extended to all. If we want to Know Peace, we must first Know Justice. In short, this is the revealing of the Kindom of God, the beloved community.

These are challenging days to be the church that was born to bear witness to God’s grace through Jesus, the Christ. The scourge of systemic racism, the stain of economic inequality and the corruption of institutions that are supposed to safeguard the common good have led us to a time of community brokenness. While this generation is new to this depth of brokenness, it is not the first time that the historical church has faced it. The church was born in a time of struggle when empire ran roughshod over the entire Mediterranean region. The church was a religious minority within a religious minority. It was not merely by human will and gritty determination that the church endured. The Holy Spirit empowered these simple people to make a faithful witness and reveal the beloved community that was woven into everything that Jesus did.

Pentecost is the celebration of the Spirit’s power to enable us to overcome fear, pain, anger and frustration in order to stay focused on the call and work of restoring the integrity of the human community and all of creation. In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police and the nationwide demonstrations that followed, we celebrated Pentecost once again. We celebrated with anger, resolve and most of all hope, trusting in the presence of Christ in our life to lead us into the Kindom of God.

As many congregations have scrambled to respond to the needs of people in this pandemic there has been an interesting consensus emerging. In the many interactions that I’ve had with colleagues there is a realization that the lessons we have learned about virtual worship will have an impact far beyond the time that Safer at Home orders are lifted. Many of the friends I’ve spoken with share stories of how important virtual worship has been for their congregations. In many cases, the number of people logging on to worship online was larger than their in-person worship prior to the pandemic. The gift of grace during this difficult and unprecedented time is that we are remembering what worship is really about and who we truly are as a church. Our spiritual DNA as the beneficiaries of the Wesleyan Way is being demonstrated in new and vital ways. The reach of online worship is carrying the church to people across our communities and even around the world. We are able to reach and inspire people who, due to any variety of needs, have not been able to attend or be part of a worshipping community. Just as Wesley and his cohorts would take the church outside the walls to serve people who weren’t previously served, the use of available technology is making it possible for us to do the same. A day is coming soon when we will be able to celebrate in-person and online worship simultaneously. In the meantime, we are grateful for the opportunity and means to extend our vital witness throughout the community.

In the era of interactive GPS in our cell phones it has never been easier to get from Point A to Point B.  An equally valuable part of this technology is the ability to get un-lost.  Neither do we need to panic anymore if we take a wrong turn.  Siri is very good at getting us back on track.  In our spiritual life we have had such a guide from the very beginning.  Jesus spoke to the disciples about the one who would come as teacher and guide.  The Holy Spirit would keep them oriented in their life, faith and ministry by keeping them connected to everything that Jesus taught and lived.  The good news for us, 2,000 years later, is that this gift wasn’t limited to the first generation of the church.  The Spirit works just as powerfully today to keep us oriented to the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus.  In every circumstance, but especially in times like this, when much is changing about how we conceive of our self and work as the Body of Christ, the Spirit still leads us.  As we open our life to the Spirit’s movement through prayer, study and service we will continue to grow in our understanding of and connection to how Christ is at work in the world today.

The call to radical hospitality is the basis of Jesus’s work toward the beloved community, the Kindom of God. Jesus demonstrated time and time again that welcoming the stranger, restoring the wounded and including the marginalized is essential if we are to be his disciples. As we consider the effects of the COVID 19 spread the disproportionate effects of the disease on communities of color, the generational damage by systemic marginalization are being laid bare. The call to reverse this legacy through the expression of radical hospitality is essential as we consider ministry in a post COVID world. We do this not because it is easy, we do it because it is necessary. We do this because the early church did this work in spite of the persecution they faced. What was true for them, is true for us, it was more important to be faithful than it was to be safe.

When our sense of self or our identity as a community of faith is premised on recreating some version of the past, we can easily close ourselves off to new possibilities of faith. When we find a pattern of living, believing and serving we have tendency to normalize it. After we normalize it, we calcify it. Stories and ideas that are meant to shine a light to guide us end up becoming shackles that bind us. Luke’s vision of the post-Pentecost church is striking in how dramatically he paints the church as a radically different community. Because the outcome is so far outside of our experience, it becomes easy to dismiss it. It’s not about the outcome. The outcome is a product of the context, we could never reproduce it. However, the process they followed…growing in our understanding of Scripture, growing in grace through worship and fellowship and sharing the grace through service to others will be the gateway to faithfully fulfilling what it means to be the church today. This shift is a vital part of our work moving toward a post-COVID world.

With everything we’ve endured in these last weeks, I suspect that most of us have dealt with feelings of dejection, defeat and maybe even some depression. Being so abruptly separated from our routines and physical connections took a good deal of adjustment. In moments like this, losing sight of the place where grace is being poured out would be understandable. Cleopas and his friend, as they left Jerusalem on Resurrection morning, were unable to recognize the risen Christ as he walked with them. Some would say that there was some supernatural reason, like somehow God was preventing them. That interpretation has always seemed a bit cruel. I think the reason is much closer to our experience. When gripped with grief or some other deep shock to our life, it would be common to have our sight diminished. The Emmaus Road story gives us great insight for our life today. When Cleopas and his friend, though they were tired and worn down, extended hospitality (made themselves vulnerable to a stranger) they put themselves in a position to experience the life altering grace that came when the unrecognized Christ became known in yet another act of self-giving love. As it renewed and energized them, so it can do for us. The Emmaus story today reminds us that there is power and possibility at work when we extend our self in love and self-giving for another.

There is no doubt that we have had great success in using science and ingenuity to shape our world. We have mapped the human genome and put a human on the moon. And yet, with all that has been accomplished there is one fact that we too often forget: At the end of the day, we are still part of creation and not above it. The coronavirus is reminding us that we are not omnipotent in creation. A virus that is smaller than one micron has wreaked havoc across the globe. It is, to be sure, a rude awakening. It seems that we are in the maelstrom with chaos knocking on our door. It is all the more important to remember that the faith of Genesis 1 is still the operative truth. The work of God to bring order in the midst of chaos is still our vital hope. The second piece is to remember that we, too, still have a vocation. From the very beginning, humanity had the role of being a steward of this creation. It means that we are to be partners with God in this extraordinary work. To be faithful in this work it means that we need to reconcile ourselves with the creation of which we are a part. We need to reclaim our proper place. Rather than continue the work of exploiting creation, we turn our best efforts to its restoration.

These weeks of physical distancing remind us of our need for resurrection. The Easter miracle that we celebrate isn’t an event relegated to the dusty annals of history. Thankfully the power of resurrection continues to ripple through creation. We are the beneficiaries of this gift each and every day. It is rooted in the original experience of faith. From that first moment of grace, when we became aware of God’s deep love for us, the ongoing power of resurrection became the engine of our growth in grace. As we move down this path in our life, we also carry the important memory of every step on the journey.

On that first Easter morning, when Jesus instructs the women to tell the others to return to Galilee, it is an invitation to go to where it all began for them. Go back to the beginning and remember what it was in the beginning that drew you to faith. It is against that backdrop that the disciples will be encouraged and instructed how the reality of new life and resurrection will shape their life going forward. It is more than recollection of facts; it is a reclamation of meaning and purpose. When life can easily degrade and diminish us, this simple act, woven into the Easter story can renew and restore us.

The experience of physical distancing has begun to yield a powerful community dynamic. Our hearts are warmed by the sounds of New Yorkers opening their windows and going to rooftops throughout the city to thank hospital workers and emergency medical personnel. In one of the most diverse cities in the world, across the different ranges of experience, people are speaking with one voice to say ‘thank you’. This image is woven into the fabric of the Palm Sunday procession story from the Gospels. Even though they didn’t all agree about what it meant, this vast crowd had been touched by some aspect of Jesus’ story and at the beginning of the Passover week they were going to acclaim Jesus in the image of the prophets who foretold the coming the Messiah. There is power when the community is able to speak in one voice. There is power when they realize that there is more that holds them together than holds them apart.