June 28, 2020

Helen Jacobi

Ordinary 13     Jeremiah 28:5-9     Matthew 10:40-42

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

At first glance today’s readings seem to be two strange and short pieces just left hanging there with no context.

But if you recall last week’s gospel – Jesus saying he came not to bring peace but the sword; today’s piece follows directly on.

As Carole Hughes said last week Jesus is speaking into the reality of the persecution and confusion of the first followers of Jesus who in the early days of the church find themselves ostracised from family and community.

After all the scary talk, Jesus’ tone changes – whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

In other words I go with you; God goes with you.

The passage from Jeremiah is there to expand the understanding of what a prophet is as the people try and discern who they should listen to, who might be a prophet for them.

Hananiah and Jeremiah were both prophets in the court of King Zedekiah, the last King of Jerusalem (594BC).

Each had different messages – Hananiah urged the people to revolt against the puppet king of Babylon; Jeremiah said to take their suffering and punishment and wait.

The people followed Hananiah and they didn’t win against the Baylonians, Jerusalem fell and the exile began.

Jeremiah said a true prophet will only be known after time has passed, with the benefit of hindsight.

Think about Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King or Te Whiti o Rongomai from Parihaka; prophets who some saw as true from the beginning but from our vantage point of history all know to be the real deal.

Jeremiah became the prophet to be revered by any people in future times undergoing suffering and persecution.

He had words that were real for them in their suffering and promised a new hope.

Jesus too speaks to a people suffering and says “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me”.

Welcoming is something we place great value on here at St Matthew’s.

We strive to be a welcoming community; a place of hospitality.

We pride ourselves on being a place for all.

This line from the gospel though is not about that, not about welcoming others - it is about the followers of Jesus being welcomed themselves.

Being the recipients of hospitality.

When as followers we go somewhere to receive a welcome we carry Jesus with us, so that Christ is also welcome in that place.

That is quite a responsibility.

As we (finally!) gather today for our AGM – 3 months late – there is lots in our reports about our own activities and the people we have welcomed here.

• visitors every Sunday

• people gathering for weddings and funerals and baptisms

• the vigils we held for Christchurch and Sri Lanka

• workshops on climate change

• business breakfasts

• living wage forums

• our international network and clergy from our partner churches

The list goes on!

There is also commentary on places we have been welcomed as St Matthew’s – the City Mission; the Religious Diversity Centre; Ihumatao.

And we could list all the things we do as individuals in our workplaces and families and communities.

Then think about the last three months – in lockdown we were isolated from each other and our beloved church building.

Yet we connected in a new way as community in our Zoom gatherings.

(While a small number were unable to join, or some preferred not to) we welcomed each other into our homes and lives in lockdown.

I still remember the joy on the first Sunday of everyone coming online and greeting each other with surprise and astonishment that we had managed it!

And as the Sundays went by we had new and deeper conversations, welcoming each other and the gospel of the day into our hearts.

What was also happening each week was that we were being welcomed into the homes of 100s of others via our worship videos.

On Easter day somewhere between 400-500 people viewed our video.

On other Sundays it was at least 200.

We did 21 worship videos in all – including the Wednesday and Holy Week videos.

And it wasn’t just Cate and me our viewers were welcoming – it was each of you – in the welcome clips – or as readers, intercessors, singers, and in the still photos we used.

We have had lovely emails and messages from people across Aotearoa and overseas thanking us and commenting often on how much they liked the different faces – the community of St Matthew’s.

Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.

You were welcomed, and so Christ was welcomed.

We did well; we pivoted, we got organised, we managed the technology.

And we did so in the midst of the anxiety and worry of the lockdown.

In the survey we sent you most of us either enjoyed the peace of lockdown or found it alright.

Most of us are worried about family and friends and economic futures.

We are committed to buy local and support local businesses and to live more simply and to focus on relationships and community.

We want to take the same decisive action on the climate crisis as we did with the virus.

We are though still settling back into our life together as a community.

Like all aspects of our lives things are the same but not the same.

Our collective national anxiety is very focussed on the border controls and the numbers there.

We all are carrying different worries about income, job security, health, families.

We are catching up with our grief.

Yesterday I took a memorial service for someone who had died in Level 4. In 2 weeks we have the memorial service for our own much-loved Tom Pallas.

The grief for those families is frozen in time and then begins again when finally they can gather.

We need to continue to be aware that we are all carrying that stress, and as our PM so often said, be kind to each other.

And as we move forward into our new normal, we will be exploring options for continuing video content (other than the livestream); experimenting with different groups to build on our zoom gatherings; working together on the climate crisis and other issues.

As we explore what our major areas of focus will be one of our guiding questions might be – who is waiting to welcome us?

rather than our more usual question of who can we welcome in.

Who is waiting and wanting to welcome us – online and in person.

The new community who will live next door at the City Mission?

Other faith communities?

Climate activists?

The Living Wage movement?

Where might we be bold enough to go, knowing we take Christ with us?

The prophets of old were led into exile; the first followers of Jesus were led into times of trouble and turmoil.

We are certainly living in a time of anxiety and stress.

I want to celebrate with you today what we have been able to do together in this time and I am confident that we can continue to build our new way forward as we listen to each other and discern as a community.

We have indeed been all in this together – he waka enei noa.

We will go into our future together.

Confident in the reassurance that wherever we go, Christ goes with us and meets us there.