It’s a very good thing that the Church hears passages from the Acts of the Apostles every Eastertide. In the afterglow of Holy Week and Easter, the Great Fifty Days of Easter often get short shrift. While the days of Easter could seem anticlimactic, they’re precisely the time in which we’re challenged to put words into action, where, as the collect for the Second Sunday of Easter reminds us, we “show forth in [our] lives what [we] profess by [our] faith” (BCP, p. 173).
The modern Church desperately needs to immerse herself in the Acts of the Apostles. If you haven’t read and studied this incredible book authored by St. Luke the Evangelist, I encourage you to do so. In Acts, we see a group of people learning to live in the aftermath of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. We read that they’re on fire with love for Jesus and the Gospel, a palpable response to the Pentecostal fire that lightens upon them following Jesus’s ascension into heaven. The passion and love for the Gospel that are described in Acts might be smoldering a bit in the contemporary Church, but the embers are still glowing. The fire is not put out, and it will never be put out. It can’t be because Jesus is alive and the Gospel is still alive.
How, then, do we reclaim our fervor for the Gospel if we sense that it has diminished? For starters, we could look to the newly-baptized. At the Great Vigil and First Mass of Easter on April 19, Abolfazl Baloochiyan, Emma Simpson, Hassan Baloochiyan, and Melika Balouchiyan were all welcomed into the Church. Journeying with them towards Holy Baptism was inspiring to me, and, I suspect, to all those in our Pilgrims in Christ formation process. The enthusiasm for Christ of the newly-baptized has reminded me of what I should never take for granted as a lifelong Christian. If you’re looking for spiritual invigoration, look to the newly baptized. Look also to those who are new among us. They love being in the parish, and they readily tell of it. They should be examples for all of us.
But there are other ways to live in the joy of the aftermath of Easter Day. Come to church and participate weekly in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. This is part of our baptismal promises. Make the celebration of the Lord’s Day and Jesus’s resurrection the center of your existence. Let it become a priority over any other obligations or commitments. Rather than fitting church into your busy schedule, shape your schedule around the Church’s life. Let the Church’s ongoing sacramental life feed you and restore you to health. If you’re feeling discouraged by world events, remember that the Gospel is quite literally good news for a confused world. If you’re feeling lonely, remember that the Church is your family, and this parish is, too. If you’re feeling aimless, remember especially this Eastertide that God has given particular gifts to you, gifts that should be used in service of the Gospel. You’re more than just a number. You’re a name and a person, a soul loved and redeemed by God, who is called to make a difference by sharing sacrificially of your gifts. Your gifts are very much needed at Good Shepherd as we heed Jesus’s commandment to love and serve in his name and to make disciples of all nations.
Eastertide is nothing less than a season for evangelism. Evangelism, which derives from the Greek word euaggelion is “good news.” It’s not forceful conversion or browbeating or scaring people into finding Jesus. It’s about pointing to the living presence of Christ in the world, among all people. And it starts with knowing our own personal stories. How has Jesus changed our own lives? What does being in relationship with Jesus do for us? How do we find fullness of life in him? How are our lives imminently better because we know him and are a part of the Church? We are not to be shy about this. And while evangelism won’t ordinarily look like handing out tracts and knocking on doors, it will look like confident and bold speech (see again the Acts of the Apostles) that doesn’t deny Jesus or shy away from honoring him but, instead, affirms his activity among us.
The future flourishing of the Church depends, of course, on the grace of God but also on our response to that grace. In this broken world, now is not a time to be ashamed of being Christian or to apologize for it. Now is a time to reclaim the good news from those who would make it judgmental bad news for those they deem unworthy of salvation. If the Church and our parish are to continue to flourish and find the abundant life that Jesus offers, we must be bold in proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed as our baptismal promises enjoin us to do.
So, this Eastertide, go and tell the good news. Go, tell your friends about the risen Christ and his effect on your life. Invite people you know who are yearning for meaning in their lives to join you at church. Tell them about what this parish and Jesus mean for you. Speak openly about how our Lord has found you in your sorrow and pain and given you hope. Tell others how Jesus is there for them, too, if they can open themselves to receive his gift. Tell out the good news of forgiveness in a deeply unforgiving world. Let nothing or no one intimidate you. May we be like those early disciples who, when faced with opposition, yet proclaimed, “we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). The Gospel is good news and it can’t be kept private. It should be bubbling out from our souls and into a world that is longing to hear it.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle