We are in the midst of weather crises here in Oklahoma: damaging windstorms, widespread flooding and crumbling neglected infrastructure. With so many people displaced, evacuated, injured,or even dead, it is easy to focus on the negative. That's why we have today's collect reminding us that God wants to give us good things that surpass our understanding and exceed what we can desire. What could that mean?
Let's take a look at a couple of post-resurrection tales. In one, the dejected and defeated disciples return to fishing, only to have Jesus show up for breakfast! The men on the road to Emmaus are hurting because their hopes were dashed by Jesus' execution, but then Jesus shows up! These stories remind us that our human lives vacillate between happiness and sorrow, joy and disappointment. Part and parcel of our existence. What we must avoid is the tendency to focus on the negative, not to see the big picture, not to trust that God wants to help us through the crisis and on to a better day. The earliest Christians found Resurrection Life in the faith community despite persecution, torture, even death. And so God will get us through all that we have to face in this life.
In our Acts reading, as Saint Paul begins his european tour, things have not gone well. He even runs into a not-so-friendly ghost and gets thrown into jail. But then he takes a break, goes down to the waterfront, and strikes paydirt. He meets Lydia and her family, converts her, and baptises the whole lot. Now Lydia is apparently one of those God-worshipping gentiles who attends synagogue; and furthermore she is a seller of purple, for royalty who attire themselves in that colour. So she is a merchant to one-percenters, wealthy and well-connected, a great leader for the nascent Jesus group. Paul gets past his crisis and finds the blessing.
We have the Holy Spirit to guide us through dark times. Jesus promised his Catholic Church that God's Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth. That's a gift for all time. But what does "Catholic" mean to us? We speak of the faith coming down from the apostles, reflected in the Scriptures, summed up in the Creeds, and clarified by the seven true ecumenical councils. That solid faith persists, however imperfectly, within the Roman, Orthodox, and our Anglican Communion. Our Communion is a confederation of thirty-nine churches round the world, 85 million people, the largest religious affiliation in the English- speaking world. In apostolic succession, we are firmly planted in sacred history, with hearts and minds open to the Spirit, as we move confidently through dark times and on to the fullness of God's promise.
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