FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
(Rogate)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Jas. 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
John 16:33: Jesus said, “I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”
Reflection
Last Sunday, approximately 100 Muslims, Christians, and Jews joined hands to form a symbolic “peace ring” around the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati. The interfaith group drew inspiration from a similar “peace ring” formed earlier this year by more than 1,000 Muslims in Norway, around Oslo’s synagogue, following an attack on a Danish synagogue. However, by cruel coincidence, Cincinnati’s “peace ring” was followed hours later by a shooting in Texas, at the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest”, an event which many Muslims might consider blasphemous. And so, like a never ending roller-coaster ride, criminal acts lead to moving displays of solidarity and affirmation, which only then become overshadowed by more violence, and the cycle goes on.
Today is “Rogation Sunday”, so called because in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus promises his disciples: “Whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you… Ask, and you will receive.” This is why most Christian prayer ends with the formula “we ask this through Jesus Christ”, or some other variation. Chronologically, Jesus said these words in order to prepare and console his disciples for his imminent death. Liturgically, we ponder these words on the Sunday before the Ascension, when he is taken up from us in glory, and we, too, will not see him anymore. The note of triumph, with which this passage ends, makes me think it was deliberately assigned to this Sunday. Jesus’ last words while in the flesh are symbolically made to be: “Cheer up! I have overcome the world.”
And yet, when I sit down and think about the cycles of peace rings and shootings, or natural disasters like the Nepal earthquake which killed over 7,000 people, or the countless other things going on in this world, I’m honestly not really feeling it this week—that is, I’m not feeling prepared, consoled, or even cheery. “Ask, and you will receive.” I want to ask why things have to be so, why both good and bad prosper together in seeming silence. I want to ask for relief, protection, and sustenance for the thousands of people in the world who must daily go without these. I want to ask what I can do to help, or even if I can, or if I should even bother. I want to ask what it means to overcome the world when I feel like the world is overcoming me.
There probably won’t ever be any easy answers to these questions. But in the middle of all of this, today’s excerpt from Epistle of James brings some things into focus. James gives a curious (and biblically rare) definition of religion—and not just any religion, but “pure religion”. What I find interesting about what he says is what he leaves out. Though he, of course, assumes God’s existence, he doesn’t include God in the definition itself, almost as if belief in a deity is secondary in “pure religion”. Second, God’s existence does not mean a world without sorrow or hardship. There will always be orphans and widow(er)s among us; Jesus said the same thing about the poor. But in their affliction and abandonment, we are to visit them—he didn't say “help” because God knows we won’t always know how to help someone; but we’ll always know how to be present by someone's side.
Life is more than just what we can see or touch. Through all of its ups and downs, there really is another way we can live: a way of compassion and love of neighbor; a way of being present and connected with those around us; a way of asking without necessarily expecting an answer, or even knowing the question; a way that seeks peace even in the face of violence. As long as we still remember this way of living, and have the urge to follow it, then hope is not lost—and God really has overcome the world.
Prayer of the Day
O God,
from you all good things proceed.
Grant to your humble servants
that, by your inspiration,
we may meditate on those things which are right,
and by your guidance
may perform the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter, as found in the 5th century Gelasian Sacramentary, the Sarum Missal, the Lund Missal (1514), and the Book of Common Prayer (1662)
O God,
you opened the door of compassion
to your faithful people,
according to your will.
Look down on us in your compassion,
so that, by your grace,
we may follow the way of your will,
and never be swayed from the paths of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero from the 5th century Gelasian Sacramentary.
Hymn: “Sing, my soul, his wondrous love”
(Words: Anonymous, 1800; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘St. Bees’, by John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876)
Sing, my soul, his wondrous love,
Who, from his bright throne above,
Ever watchful o’er our race,
Still to us extends his grace.
Heav’n and earth by him were made;
All is by his scepter swayed.
What are we that he should show
So much love to us below?
God, the merciful and good,
Bought us with the Savior’s blood,
And, to make salvation sure,
Guides us by his Spirit pure.
Sing, my soul, adore his Name!
Loud his glory now proclaim!
Praise him till he calls you home.
Trust his love for all to come.
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