"To All The Nations"

Michael Powell:

It is a joy to welcome Jed for his very first time “into the pulpit” this morning.  Jed and his wife, Lizett, have organized a new mission project that they’re very excited about, and they’d like our support.  I baptized Jed this past year and shortly afterward they became members of our church family.  Jed is planning on going to seminary this fall and, in a few minutes, he is going to share his personal testimony with you.  Lizett was born and raised in Mexico and, as you’ll hear, that’s where Jed’s faith journey as a Christian began.  That’s also why this ministry, which benefits Mexican youth, is so personal to them both. 

Before I turn it over to Jed, I’d like to share some reflections on this morning’s Gospel.  As the story opens it is the evening of the first Easter Sunday and the resurrected Christ has had a busy day.  First, he’d appeared to Mary Magdalene in the early dawn at the site of the tomb. Later that day he’d appeared to the two walking toward the village of Emmaus. And then, even as these two were reporting their experience to the disciples, Jesus appears a third time.

The message we get from these multiple appearances is that the Good News is for everyone. God's salvation has come for all people.  "Peace be with you," had been Jesus' opening words. Jesus told them that God was bringing peace and healing and a universal message of gracious love.  The message of this Easter season is that death is not the end and that out of the triumphant victory of Easter one day all of God's people, every single nation upon the face of the earth, will hear of God’s love and the gift of peace.  "You are my witnesses of these things,” Jesus told them, and his words echo down through the centuries. 

One of our former District Superintendents, Minerva Carcano, was recently elected a bishop. Minerva is the first Hispanic clergywoman to be elected a United Methodist bishop, but she spent years as a pastor in local churches.  One of the stories she tells is about a 9-year-old girl named Erica who was in one of the first churches she served.  Erica was so filled with joy when she learned about God’s love through Jesus Christ that one day she took her minister to her neighborhood to invite the children to vacation bible school.  “We went with colorful flyers in hand,” Mirerva writes. 

“ I expected that we would tell the children and their parents about the dates and time and place of the vacation bible school, leave them a flyer as a reminder, and be on our way.  But Erica saw our job differently. When we got to the first home and the door was opened she stepped right up and said, ‘We've got great news about Jesus and my pastor will tell you all about it.’ I stood there flabbergasted, but she was right. Our job was first and foremost to spread the Word, proclaim the Good News, and tell others about our Risen Lord. Erica and I worked hard that day because she did not want any child in her neighborhood to miss out in hearing about Jesus and the vacation bible school. Erica knew, in her own way, Jesus' claim on our lives and the magnitude of that claim. We are Jesus' witnesses and those who need to receive our witness is the entire human family.” (1)

Like Erica, Jed and Lizett know the joy and the power of their risen Lord, and they want to share that Good News with everyone.  The disciples were instructed to go out and share the testimony to all the nations of the earth.  But, they first heard that Good News in Jerusalem, and so they were instructed to start right there, right where they were.  Lizett was born and raised in Mexico.  Jed became a Christian in Mexico.  It’s only fitting that they should launch their first ministry together there, because Mexico is their personal Jerusalem. 

The Lord is Risen!  Christ lives among us, blessing us with his presence and his spirit, and empowering us to be his witnesses. Bless Jed and Lizett, and guide us in our faithful response to the task of sharing the Good News with all people. Amen.

(1)  Bishop Minerva Carcano, “The Good News Is For Everyone”  

Jed Maclaurin:

I want to thank Michael and the Church in the World Committee for giving me this chance to share my testimony and to mention briefly a ministry project I’ve been working on recently. As many of you know, I start seminary in the fall, in preparation for a life of service, and it is exciting for me to be here today, getting a little taste of my future.

It wasn’t long ago that Michael baptized me in Ashland Creek. In my short time as a Christian I have been trying to focus in on the heart message of Christianity and try to really get that. It seems to me that the heart teaching of Christianity is the Great Commandment: “to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength. And to love our neighbors as ourself.”

One of my favorite Bible passages is 1 John 5:16 “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” (NLT) Adding two nearby verses we get: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God... God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. As we live in God, our love grows more perfect.” (1 John 5:7, 16-17, NLT)

The centrality of love is what made Christianity “click” for me. I remember sitting on a bench with Lizett’s pastor in Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca, Mexico, outside of the funky little concrete-walled church where Lizett grew up. Her pastor, Agustin, caught me off-guard by asking me if I was prepared to open the doors of my heart to Jesus, and a voice inside me said, “Yes! Do it!” I was surprised, it didn’t seem like a very enlightened thing to do, since I already had Buddha in there, and what would the two of them do in there together. It sounded kind of crowded. But I knew, powerfully, from my heart that I wanted Jesus in my life. Since then, and especially since my icy cold baptism with Michael up at the swimming hole a year and a week ago, which several of you witnessed, since that time everything has been so different. Buddha left, but I don’t miss him. He was too quiet, passive. Instead of retreating from the suffering of the world, now my heart reaches out, with passion and determination to make a difference in the lives of others in any way I can.

Before I met Lizett, and Jesus (because, remember, they both came into my life at the same time), I used to sit around a lot “meditating” on compassion. And while that was a beneficial thing to do, preparation for going out to make a difference, it really was quite worthless in comparison to the transformation that has taken place in my heart and my life as a result of Christian service, in the form of direct action in the world.

This summer we visited Lizett’s family in Mexico, and a passage from 1 John (again) inspired me to start doing something to fight poverty, in Huajuapan (think globally, act locally): 1 John 3:17-18 “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?... Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (NIV)

One of my favorite things about this church is the way we close every Sunday service, holding hands in a circle, singing Shalom together, united as one. This is a mystical experience for me, as we join hands, voices, and spirits, to bless one another in Christ‘s name.

After the resurrection, Christ appeared to His followers briefly before ascending. Since the ascension Christ is not bodily present in the world, at least not in the way He was before. Now we, the church universal, the body of believers, we are the earthly Body of Christ. We now bear the responsibility of performing God’s will here on Earth.

In John 17:22-23 Jesus addresses His Father saying: “I have given them the glory you gave me [and here I think of the transfiguration, light and glory flowing down, garbing us in glowing robes of light], so that they may be one, as we are - I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one.” (NLT) It is so beautiful for me to contemplate the fact that we are the Body of Christ. Our hands become His hands, and in His name we reach out to those in need, fighting oppression, poverty, and injustice with the weapons of peace, love, and kindness.

It is my hope that our circle of Shalom, our circle of fellowship and concern might grow ever larger, until it covers the Earth completely, blanketing it with love like fresh falling snow.

Thank you.