On what promises to be another glorious day in this, the early weeks of the Easter season, we have some awkwardness to get through in the readings today. During Easter, you will have noticed that the first reading, usually from the Hebrew Scriptures, is now from the book of Acts. The emphasis in Easter is the building up of the Body of Christ, the building up of the followers of Jesus who are learning how be 'Christian' communities. Acts is a bit of the history of the early church and a 'how to' manual. How to be witnesses - ouch - did I feel some of you cringe slightly? Witnesses: does the image of bible thumping fundamentalists spring to mind? It is even worse in Greek: martureo = martyr. Oh, let's all learn to be martyrs - and on such a nice day too!

Well, there are a few words in today's reading that may 'up' the cringe factor including sin and repentance. We don't like to talk about those words either. Let's just skip over them and focus on others. The problem of having a student (ex-student now!) being asked to give you a homily is that we are going to do some work- even on this sunny day! We will explore together and deepen our understanding of what we have heard proclaimed and what we have experienced.

Today we are exploring with Luke what it means to be a witness. What does that mean in terms of our relationship with God? What place does an 'eye-witness' have in the early church and what place those who must believe without having seen: what do we testify to? What are the human responses, from the beginning of the church up to today? What are the responses to divine revelation, to an experience of the divine?

Last week Jackie spoke so well on the 'doubting' Thomas episode. I don't know about you but when I read that passage I often feel a bit miffed! Maybe I am jealous as it all seems so simple for Thomas; he doubts, Jesus shows up and says "See, touch" and Thomas believes - easy for him! Well, that is John's version of the story, the gospel of John, today we are hearing Luke's version of events and Luke has quite a different 'take' on the whole 'seeing is believing' scenario!

Luke has an especially gifted way in which he crafts his telling of the gospel. It is full of stories that unfold and build on each other leading to a coherent whole. As Luke narrates the events following the crucifixion this, the story that we read today, is the third in a trilogy of stories he has to tell about post resurrection encounters.

1. Women at the tomb: The women come to anoint the body, find the tomb empty and are frightened by this and the appearance of two angels; these angels remind the women of Jesus' words: he will suffer die and be raised from the dead. They remember and return to tell the men who are locked away in a room. The men do not believe the women, calling what they say an 'idle tale.' Hallucinatory grief. Peter does go to see the empty tomb and is amazed.



2. The road to Emmaus: A stranger appears on the road as two disciples, downcast, walk home from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The stranger asks: "Why?" They are amazed, how can he not know. Their hope is gone, their expectations dashed and now, the women say even Jesus' body is gone and they have seen angels who say Jesus is alive - what is with that!!? When they went to the tomb it was empty but they did not see him! This stranger chides them and goes on to open the scriptures explaining it all, law and the prophets, why the Messiah has to suffer they are amazed. At their insistence he stays for a meal and they finally recognize the stranger as Jesus when he breaks the bread. They run back to Jerusalem to tell the news and are greeted with "He is risen and has appeared to Simon" and then, as they are discussing these things, our story today begins.

So, let us look into this account: Jesus appears and says "Peace be with you"- and after the experience of the women, the Emmaus road and Simon's experience all of them believe, right ? NO! They are startled, terrified and think he is a ghost! So Jesus does the 'gospel of John thing' to all of them, not just to Thomas. Jesus says "Look, See, Touch." Now the disciples believe, right? Not on your life! There is a stirring of joy but they are still disbelieving. This is a tough crowd; we think we are skeptics today! So Jesus asks for food and eats with them. As he is eating, over table fellowship just as he did before the crucifixion, Jesus OPENS their minds with his transforming presence. What does that remind you of? A meal celebrated in community with the transforming presence of Christ = Eucharist!

Jesus explains the fulfilling of the law and the prophets and the psalms - he does not explain away the suffering - slathering it with love and denying its occurrence. It is vital to understand that that we, who do not see the embodied, pre-ascension, risen Christ, that our hope is not a denial of reality. As Joan Chittister puts it: Hope is not some lighter than air spiritual elixir, nor is hope an infused placebo; our hope is remembering what happened in a difficult, painful past, with a new understanding. Remembering with new understanding.

It is a transformative, mature, adult faith that faces squarely the pain and suffering that occurs in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love. It is a faith that hopes and loves by our experience of a loving God: it is to this experience we are witnesses. For Luke then, seeing is not what precipitates belief and creates witnesses - it is reflecting and understanding on our experience (whether one of sight as in this story of the early followers - or through others, and as the psalm says, in the room given to us by God, to experience God's abundant love - to be illuminated by the light of God's face and to be at peace.

Once Jesus has explained all this, and the disciples can perceive the life, suffering, death and resurrection from a different perspective - an Easter view - a perspective which calls them to turn to God - to repent - to reorient themselves to God and live in the freeing love of God. Jesus calls it "forgiveness of sins" The Greek word translated as forgiveness here means release from sin; to be freed from burden of error, from sin, from anything that interferes with our relationship with God.

In the letter read from John today, the writer speaks of the abundant love of God: we become children - we enter an intimate relationship with God; the Spirit abides in us and our sins are taken away. Peter in Acts is even more forceful - he says our sins are wiped out - anything that gets in the way of our loving relationship with God is obliterated. But this is not a one time event. In this letter John explains that what we will become has not yet been revealed - we only know that we become more and more like Jesus. While we are described as children of God we are called to a maturing faith: remember that children are expected to grow and mature in their image and understanding of God. Often as children we are presented with the "God as vending machine" image. As long as we insert the correct coin we can manipulate God into doing what ever we want. If we pray hard enough, if we go to church enough, if we ... you can fill in the blank. This image of God must mature and we need to acknowledge that Jesus did not say there would be no suffering, or that we could avoid suffering by our actions; by being righteous or just. Nor did he say that all suffering was some kind of indication of error or sin. Jesus himself suffered. A fully human/fully divine revelation of God suffered. God's promise is not 'no suffering' but abundant love and to never, ever leave us. God promises to walk with us always; not even death could part God from us. It is through witnessing, that this message, this understanding, is passed along.

It is true that in this story that we read today there is still one element missing: to be fully equipped to proclaim the good news there is this matter of the Spirit... Pentecost - after which the followers of Jesus, are no longer disciples but witnesses. The definition of a witness: One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced; testimony.

These early witnesses were able to proclaim the Good News knowing that God, through the Spirit, abides in them, strengthens them to preach Christ crucified and risen with all the pain and suffering that will entail. Peter, in the reading from Acts, is being a witness He begins by remembering the past: Jesus' trial and execution. He reflects on the human response to divine revelation - You killed the author of life - then the divine response to the event -from death rises new life. God renews the promise of fidelity, of never ending abundant love in the name of Jesus. It is in this crucified Lord, to all appearances weak in suffering and death but in reality radically strong in life and love. The loving response from God is unchanging while our understanding is constantly growing as we are transformed more and more into being fully human ourselves.

We are called to be witnesses today in this fashion: we gather together and share our experience of this risen Lord. It is this experience of God, that we each have, to which we are witnesses. It does not have to be an eye witness - as the apostle Paul can attest. It does have to be an experience of a loving God which we share together, celebrating and commiserating; witnessing to each other, with each other; giving and receiving strength and reassurance, hope and love in times of suffering and joy; knowing that we are not alone, that we abide in God and God in us and we are freed from 'sin' from all that which blocks our openness to knowing of the presence and love of God. We are freed, released to be open to reflect on our experiences by ourselves, as the psalm says "to ponder on our beds in silence" and we are open to each other. We celebrate together the transforming meal which we share with all who come forward seeking to know more - to experience this abundant love of God.

We are called to be witnesses... have I said anything that means standing on the corner hitting people over the head with prayer book (we are Anglicans after all) and dragging them inside? NO! Witnessing is not about changing the other, it is about sharing the joy, the support and the love we have found in God, revealed through Christ, and in the continuing presence and action of the Spirit. It is about sharing our experience of God with others from all faiths and walks of life and being open to be enriched by their experiences. Being a witness is about SERVING others. Testimony by our actions that we believe what Jesus taught; to love and serve others regardless of their beliefs, regardless of how they feel about us: we are trying to love as God loves us all. Love God, love your neighbour and love yourself. We are to striving to be sin-free; that is, to remove all obstacles which takes place over time, a journey in understanding:

Sadly we often react the same way those early disciples did - fearful and clinging to what we know is possible for us and not allowing for the possibility of God working in us - we rigidly hold to known interpretations instead of being open to change and transformation.

Peter, along with many in the early church, interpreted the message to witness to "all nations" to refer only to the Jewish Diaspora. They grew in understanding and came to realize the witness was for the gentiles too. This evidence of growing and maturing in understanding has been with from the beginning. We are called to discern our path and response in communion with the Spirit, with each other and with all those around us, from the church or not. We are continually growing in our understanding of what it means to be witnesses; what it means to repent and to be released from sin. We are to invite others to reorient towards God. This orientation to God cannot be narrowed to sexual orientation. It is about spiritual orientation and the fruits of all our relationships: are they free from sin, from that which impedes our relationship with God, with others and with self? Are our relationships free from domination and power struggles that break us down? It does not matter whether our relationships are hetero, homo, or bi-sexual; whether they are within our Anglican tradition, between other Christian traditions, with those of other faiths or with who profess no faith. We are called to love as Jesus loved. He never sat down before healing, serving, loving someone and brought up a list of their affiliations, sexual orientation, righteousness or any such thing. Jesus recognized and affirmed the presence of God within each of them, within all of humanity, and encouraged everyone to be open to their full potential to love and be loved.

Luke shares with us today, in this gospel reading, the steps of faith. Beginning with our experience of God we then come together to deepen our understanding of that experience. We celebrate the presence of God within each of us and among us; recognizing and rejoicing in our common bond we share a transformational meal in the presence of Christ. Then we go out to serve all of the world God loves... And of that we all are witnesses.