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This Weeks Message From Our Vicar:
Dear friends,
What would it mean for us to become Episcopal Jesus Freaks?
Admittedly, the phrase sounds slightly contradictory. “Episcopal” usually suggests careful liturgy, thoughtful restraint, and a certain dignified moderation. “Jesus Freak” sounds rather less measured, more hippie, and a lot more 'bumper sticker'. Yet, as we conclude our teaching series on the Eucharist, I wonder whether that unlikely combination describes exactly what we are called to become.
Throughout this series, we have considered why the Eucharist matters—not only to our tradition, but to us as a congregation. Week by week, we gather around the table to proclaim Christ’s death, celebrate his resurrection, and receive again the reality of God’s life made available to us in Jesus. But our readings now press us into faith’s ever-important “So what?”
If we believe what we have been proclaiming and receiving, how then shall we live?
Paul’s answer in Romans 12 is sweeping. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Let the renewing of your minds transform you and change how you see the world. Love genuinely. Show honor. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Overcome evil with good. In other words, allow the resurrection of Jesus—and our baptism into it—to matter everywhere as we live against our cursed existence of strife.
That is what makes someone a Jesus Freak. Not being odd. Not an over-the-top Christian eccentricity. Rather, Jesus Freakiness (I think I just made that word up) is the refusal to restrict Jesus to one carefully managed corner of life. If Jesus rose from the grave, if we have been baptized into his death and resurrection, and if God is truly available to us, then every relationship, decision, habit, conflict, hope, and use of our bodies takes on a new shape.
Perhaps becoming Episcopal Jesus Freaks means bringing our whole lives to the table—and then carrying the reality we receive there into the whole world....and doing it in our way, in our tradition, with our worship. Maybe it means living as though the astonishing story we proclaim each Sunday is not merely beautiful, but actually true.
Peace,
Joe
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