<html><body><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Here's a draft I typed up from notes yesterday. I'll split it in two and let the chips fall where they ma.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Bob</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>3 EASTER b</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">ACTS
3:12-19<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>15<sup>th</sup> APRIL, 2018</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">1 JOHN
3:1-7<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>PSALM 4</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">LUKE
24:36b-48</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span></b></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>“When I was twenty-five,” wrote the
author of a book I’m reading.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Gosh! Twenty-five! Oh, to be
twenty-five! What was I doing then? What did I think I might accomplish? Did I
imagine I’d be standing here?</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Hardly!</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>But, twenty-five, with my whole life
in front of me, sounds about an age when anything would be possible.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>In actuality, though, twenty-five
was just about when Jesus began His ministry. Twenty-five was almost
half-as-much again as the age of the disciples of Jesus. He’d been dead, and
buried, and resurrected before they were even near twenty-five. Even Paul, none
of whose writings were read today, even Paul wasn’t likely to have been
twenty-five when Jesus knocked his socks off.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Twenty-five, then, is an age when we
think we can accomplish anything and still have the energy to do it.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>So, back to the book!</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>“When I was twenty-five, I served in
the Peace Corps in northern Zambia, near the Congo-Zaire border. When I left
home, I looked forward to meeting people as brave and adventurous as I wanted
to be. The villagers welcomed me generously, but I felt lonely many nights, in
a strange place with a different language and different food. Not fitting in,
in that environment, was not a surprise. But I also remember the nights I sat
around fire pits with other volunteers. Often there were tall stacks of beer
crates nearby. In the background, a never-ending series of drinking games went on.
One night, a Peace Corps volunteer I’ll call Ralph turned to me and said, ‘I
don’t trust people who don’t get drunk.’ Because I didn’t drink alcohol, well,
he didn’t trust me.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>“From that conversation and several
similar evenings, I understood that I didn’t really fit in among those
volunteers either.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>“After the Peace Corps I moved to
New York City, still hoping to find the group to which I would belong. A pastor
on Manhattan’s East Side introduced me to wisdom from C.S. Lewis’s lecture ‘The
Inner Ring”. Lewis wrote that we all want to enter inner rings of exclusivity.
… This desire drives good people to do very bad things. It’s the unrecognized
cause of a lot of unhappiness.” Lewis further explains that, unfortunately,
when we do get inside those exclusive rings, we always discover that there’s an
even more attractive and exclusive ring beyond. … this is the trap of the inner
ring.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 48px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“Lewis’s
solution was to find something we like to do and do it often. Then invite
others to join us if they like doing that thing too.” <sup>1</sup></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Fitting in, belonging, being made to
feel comfortable and welcome – the author, Charles Vogl, was unable to find
that. Somehow, society wasn’t ready for him.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>How, then, did Jesus get on? Or His
disciples?</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Setting aside the fact that life expectancy
then was less than ours by a fair bit, those disciples actually did reasonably
well. Oh, they didn’t manage to avoid annoying the authorities. But, on the
other hand, they <b><u>DID</u></b> manage
to attract people who were at least willing to listen to their descriptions of
Jesus’ life, His conversations, and the way that His resurrection had changed
their lives completely.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Somehow, the desire to fit in, the
longing to be appreciated, the hope for accolades and a huge Facebook following
wasn’t what governed their lives. All of a sudden, as Vogl learned, they
discovered that when they found something they liked to do, and did it often,
they experienced incredible satisfaction.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Of course, there must have been days
when people – leaders, socialites, and so on – tried to demean them, to shout
them down, to ridicule them, to bring pressure to bear to make their lives seem
such a burden. But the disciples probably remembered that evening when Jesus
popped in for a fish supper. They were so down – what we’ve heard for the past
couple of weeks – brutality, inhumanity, degradation at any cost, without
regard that we’re talking about the treatment of human beings – this was <b><u>NOT</u></b> on the disciples’ list of
favourite, encouraging activities. Yet they were able not only to weather it
through, but actually to flourish.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>It’s amazing what Jesus’
resurrection appearances managed to do for the disciples. They were, after
seeing Jesus and talking to Him, they were able to work with and encourage
anyone who’d listen and, for the most part, they were able to forget about the
“inner ring’s exclusivity” and to get down to the business of trying to help
others find the same joy, the same enthusiasm, the same compassion that they
had found.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>I can’t help but think of what James
Howard presented to the BAC back in January – the goal not simply of inviting
warm bodies to sit in the pews, but the goal to expand this community, to make
sure that everyone of the outside knows that each is welcome. More than that, though.
The goal is to encourage everyone inside to talk to everyone – yes, I said <b><u>EVERYONE</u></b>! – outside about what’s
important to us in our lives, what helps us face all the discouragements.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>The goal to which Charles Vogl
pointed in his book; the goal to which this new committee of the BAC is
pointing, is what is described in all the post-Easter experiences of Jesus. Last
week and this week, Jesus is described as appearing to the disciples – who
don’t recognize Him at first. It was as if, somehow, He didn’t belong. He
wasn’t a part of them. He was a stranger, an intruder, a foreigner, and a scary
one at that, who, somehow, burst into their group.</span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span></span></p></div></body></html>