St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 16, 2010
The Reverend Deacon Art Bass

God Is One of Us

Believe it or not, Episcopalians do not hold a monopoly on theological truth and wisdom. I remember very well how I learned this important lesson. It was over thirty years ago, and I had a friend, a young lawyer named Ed Riddle. We worked together. Back then we were both attorneys with the legal aid program in Southeast Tennessee.

Ed was a brilliant lawyer. He was a graduate of Yale Law School, and I believe he now practices law in New York City. But in college, Ed and his wife had been what we used to call “Jesus people.” By the time I met him, he had become a little more conventional. He had joined a small Baptist congregation in Chattanooga, but he was a very evangelical Baptist, a very charismatic Baptist, and a very, very fundamentalist Baptist.

Now, considering how intelligent Ed was, how brilliant in fact, I considered it my Anglican duty to enlighten him.

Ed and I had several religious discussions together. You might more properly call them debates, but we kept them very polite, and I think we both enjoyed those discussions. It was during one of these talks that I found myself literally preaching to Ed about something. I can no longer recall the exact topic, but I do remember I kept talking about what Christ said, what Christ taught, what Christ did. It was “Christ” this and “Christ” that.

Through all my rantings, Ed listened politely and intently. When I had finished, Ed looked at me, and with a smile, he said calmly: “Art, I think you would find him a lot easier to understand, if you would just call him ‘Jesus.'”

Talk about putting someone in their place. I think I can honestly say that I have never consciously been critical of anyone else's religion since that day.

But the point of my story is this. In a church building such as we have here at St. Luke's with all its historic splendor and beauty; with our majestic Anglican liturgy, so full of grace and ceremony; with the richness of our hymns and music, which can inspire and transport the soul; with and in the presence of all these gifts, it is easy to remember and be aware of our Lord's divinity, but it also can be easy to sometimes overlook his humanity.

We are nearing the end of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. During this Easter season, we have heard stories about how Jesus made a number of post-resurrection appearances and about how when he appeared, Jesus did things to demonstrate that he had been raised with his humanity intact. He ate food, he bore the marks of his human wounds and suffering, and he could be touched. It is through the fact that God was able to raise Jesus in the fullness of his humanity, that we can know and believe that God will be able to raise us also.

Last Thursday on our liturgical calendar was Ascension Day, and this Sunday, the Seventh Sunday of Easter, is also known and celebrated as the Sunday After the Ascension.

The Ascension for Christians is not merely a time to remember and commemorate an historic or Biblical event. In large measure, it is the Ascension which shapes Christianity. It helps us define how we relate to God.

In 1995, singer Joan Osborne recorded a song called, “What if God was one of us?” It got a lot of radio play and I think I still have the CD somewhere.

I enjoyed that song, but each time I heard it, it also bothered me. And it wasn't just the poor grammar - - yes, the singer should have said “were” instead of “was.” But it bothered me because it raised the question as though it were hypothetical. For Christians, there is nothing hypothetical about it. God was one of us. Our whole religion is built upon that premise.

Now, where does the Ascension fit into this? It's not just that God “was” one of us. He still “is.” He still is one of us.

Through Jesus, God was born a human, he received a human name, he lived a human life, and he died a human death. But God raised Jesus in his humanity, and after forty days, when Jesus ascended into heaven, when he returned to the Godhead, he did so in his humanity.

Even though he is now transformed and glorified in unity with the Father as he sits enthroned in holiness, Jesus is still and always will be one of us.

Whatever we experience in our lives here on earth, be it fear or pain, joy or happiness, God understands. We know he understands, because in Jesus, all our experiences have also been experienced by God.

It is good to be able to stand in church, to face God's altar, and to address God with high words of praise which befit his majesty and glory, words such as “Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One.”

But it is also good and very comforting to know that when we need to, we can simply cast our eyes toward heaven, and call a name - - a human name - - the name, “Jesus”, and to know that when we do, we will be heard, and we will be understood. Amen.