<html><body><div>An early draft for Sunday.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>6 EASTER a</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>ACTS 17:22-31<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>21<sup>st</sup> MAY, 2017</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>1 PETER 3:13-22<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>PSALM 66:7-18</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>JOHN 14:15-21</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Let us Break Bread together on our knees” – we sang it a few weeks ago. It’s a well-known hymn. We might be able to recite a few lines from memory. Certainly the first line. It’s not simply a matter of frequency of singing these words, though. It’s the concept, the encouragement behind these words. To Break – to fracture into at least two pieces, probably more. Bread – one of the stapes of life in just about every civilization, but in Christian ritual and ceremony, one of the gifts we’ve been given as a symbol of unity with and in Jesus, the Son of God. Together – the act of being and interacting with others, doing things not necessarily in lock-step, but in a common effort, working towards a common end. On our knees – a deliberate sign of our acceptance of Jesus as our Saviour, of our recognition of the indebtedness we feel to Jesus, of our joy in being invited into Jesus’ company.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Let us break bread together” – a confession of our faith and a sign of our commitment. As is reported in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, “One and all … breaking bread in their homes …” or, as one of the baptismal promises has it, “</span><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?</span><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This bread-breaking, then, is in our blood. It is, or should be, second nature to us, no matter where we are. No, not <b><u>SECOND</u></b> nature. It should be our <b><u>FIRST</u></b>, our primary, our most instantly recognisable nature.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But how do we get there? What about risks? <b><u>ARE</u></b> there any risks, and how severe might this be in order to break bread?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” wrote the writer of the First Letter of Peter anywhere from thirty to eighty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Who can argue with that? Who might quarrel with the person, the group, who seeks to “do what is good”?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I’ll take a wild guess. Many may have a slightly different idea – or even a substantially different idea – of what <b><u>IS</u></b> “good”. People of reason CAN have different opinions. So, what’s the answer? Jesus, as least the brief sound-bit we have from Him today, isn’t completely helpful. He seems to talk in such generalities. He’s not clear.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, think for a moment. If Jesus had said that “good” was paying $10 an hour as a minimum wage; of Jesus had said that “good” was allowing fifteen year-olds complete autonomy – and, as an aside, a fifteen-year-old in Jesus’ time was, if male, fully enfranchised; if Jesus HAD been more specific, then all sorts of things could have been justified today, which is simply untenable and quite likely immoral today.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is not to say that Jesus was never specific. In the seven and a quarter lines printed as our Scripture insert this morning taken from John’s Gospel, twice Jesus said, “keep my commandments” and “those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.” Jesus was being quite specific and completely basic. These verses followed directly after last week’s ones about reassurances and God’s Love and God’s preparations for us, and tied in with what He had been saying about how Love is expressed and demonstrated. Keeping the commandments is all about the way we are to interrelate with God and with one another. Keeping the commandments means paying attention to what we can hear, and how what we hear is expressed. Keeping the commandments is more than just being nice. It means looking to see and listening to hear what may be troubling someone, what may be preventing any person from being able to live a full life liberated by love.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On this, Jesus was very specific. If you have even a smidgeon of doubt that what is happening may inhibit anything in any one person’s life, then that’s enough for a full examination of what’s going on, both in our personal lives and in the greater, public arena.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This isn’t always clear, though. Jesus knew it. Countless messengers from God in prior times knew it. Even the most devout person since the time of Jesus knows it. So Jesus hinted at how we’re to develop our consciences, our moral compasses that point to the loving purposes of God. Jesus talked of another Advocate, Someone who’ll be present for us and work with us.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Other than a few, brief, earlier references, such as at the baptism of Jesus, there have only been hints about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Here, though, as Jesus prepared for His final weeks on earth, Jesus began to comfort the disciples and all who’d follow after them. He talked about the way in which God wouldn’t take people to a crossroads of decisions in life and simply leave them to make the best of it. Jesus said that although <b><u>HE</u></b> wouldn’t be visible, although His direct Presence might not be there, God’s Advocate would be present. But then, there’s another difficulty. It’s like, “Yes, but!” Yes, you’ll never be alone as you wrestle with what the commandments are, and how they’ve to be applied. <b><u>BUT</u></b>, you and I will <b><u>ALWAYS</u></b> have a role to play, a role that’s not always plainly delineated.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Maybe that’s what may have been going on in Athens.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In many ways the Athenians’ culture bore many similarities to ours. Theirs was a very sophisticated society. They had dramatic presentations for entertainment and the time to enjoy them. They had everything from slapstick, to farce, to serious philosophical discussions about anything and everything. Nothing was off the table. Everything that impacted the lives of the citizens <b><u>HAD</u></b> to be discussed and analysed. For instance, the very basic, How was the health of the people?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In Athens, there was a constant ebb and flow of trade, from within the local area as well as from far beyond it. <b><u>AND</u></b> the city was dotted with places for religious rituals to be practised. Just as in this city, and most U.S. cities, there were worship places about every five blocks or so. You could pick and choose, probably for at least some of the same reasons: where you attended; what sacrifices were made; what your expectations were and what your comfort level was.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"><br></span></span></p></div></body></html>