2024.04.14 | Found
“Found”
Luke 24:36–48
Preached by
Rev. Dr. Marvin Lance Wiser
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, CA
14 April 2024
Good morning Church, on this third Sunday of Easter, our resurrection story pertains to being found. Have you ever been lost? Like really lost? I know I look young, but I recall navigating roads before GPS. How many of you recall breaking out the old trusty Rand McNally Atlas before a road trip? I recall adding up the mileage between stops to ensure I’d have enough gas in the tank to make it. Of course, gas was just over $1 back then, at least in some states that I drove through. On one momentous occasion 15 years ago, I recall driving up to Boston in our Volvo wagon. My wife, Yuliana, was the navigator, using our trusty Rand McNally Atlas, and it worked like a charm, that is, until we hit the streets of Beantown. With Rand McNally, one could easily navigate the avenues of Manhattan, but the twisting and winding roads of Boston would prove too much for our road atlas. Exiting Route 9 into the outer edges of the Hub of the Universe, we became truly lost. We needed a more detailed guide in order to make it to Holy Hill, once home to Andover Newton Theological School. And so, as night was fast approaching, we finally found a gas station with a city map, which helped us find our way to our then soon-to-be home.
Oftentimes when we’re lost along our journey, we attempt to go at it alone. Now, I could have made the decision to try and navigate with what we had, and perhaps we would have arrived by trial and error, and then again, perhaps much later. Being vulnerable, however, and stopping to ask for help avoided a lot of headache and spent gas on a tight budget. Of course today, we simply say, “Hey Siri,” and she plots out our routes. But when we find ourselves lost outside of road trips, things get more complicated.
Have you ever been scuba diving and been to depths where you can’t distinguish up from down? I haven’t. . . yet. The late great singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffet as he approached his death penned a song called “Bubbles Up,” which if you know Parrothead culture, automatically conjures into the imagination champagne bubbles flowing upwards or some other tropical libation, however this reference uses bubbles as markers in life to get back home, to one’s place of belonging, just as they orient scuba divers back to the surface. Last week his life was celebrated in a tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl that brought together the usual suspects, as well as Sir Paul McCartney, who sang “Let It Be” to him on his deathbed. Hear the lyrics of one of the verses from “Bubbles Up”:
When your compass is spinnin'
And you're lost on the way
Like a leaf in the wind, friend
Hear me when I say
Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved
There is light up above
And the joy is always enough
Bubbles up
In life, we may feel entire seasons of being lost, alone, isolated. Marine Biologist Rachel Carson in her book Silent Spring reminds us that, “In nature, nothing exists alone.” And yet, we still feel lost even when surrounded by so many others. We can feel loneliness in so many ways. Almost paradoxically, in the era of social media, social disconnection is on the rise, and it takes a physical and emotional toll on all of us. This perhaps has been felt most acutely during the recent pandemic. I’m sure we can all relate to being in physical isolation for 5 or 10 days, some more than once. It was excruciating for extroverts. And yet, there are those who feel ongoing emotional isolation daily.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, in 2020 authored a timely book entitled, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. In it he underscores the importance of human connection and the impact of loneliness on our health and community. Dr. Murthy makes a case for loneliness as a public health concern: a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today from alcohol and drug addiction to depression and anxiety. While perhaps we all felt a bit lost during the social recession that was the pandemic, Dr. Murthy states that healthy relationships are just as essential as vaccines in order to bring us into physical and social recovery and resilience.
In our passage this morning we find such community making. After being away for a few days, Jesus exclaims, “peace be with you,” and then asks for food. He took it and ate it in the presence of the disciples. Of course, the disciples were doubting, yet had joy in being reunited with Jesus. Imagine, a friend at the brink of being truly lost, perhaps on a ventilator, or in a bottle, and then after not seeing them for sometime, they approach you, pale as a ghost, wounds exposed, and ask in vulnerability for help, for food, for companionship.
Pandemic aside, Brené Brown in discussing her book, The Power of Vulnerability, says, “shame and fear unravel social connection.” She describes shame as the fear of disconnection; is there something about me that if others see or know it will make me unworthy of connection. The persistent voice of “I’m not good enough.” Fear, shame, and uncertainty lead toward dissolution of social connections. Brené found in her research that people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe that they are worthy of love and belonging. The antidotes to fear and shame then are courage and self-compassion. The courage to let go of who we think we should be, and to embrace the imperfect with all of our heart. After all, the word courage is from the Latin cor meaning heart, like the Spanish corazón. One must embrace one’s own vulnerability in order to have authentic social connections. God knows that, and that’s why we say, whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Brené encourages us, “when you are in uncertainty, when you feel at risk, when you feel exposed, don’t tap out; stay brave, stay uncomfortable, stay in the cringy moment, lean into the hard conversation. Stay brave.” Embracing vulnerability, finding and accepting our authentic selves, leads to joy and meaningful connections with others. Embracing vulnerability opens us up to new possibilities, to find our true selves and one another.
Luke uses the word διανοίγω or “to open” or “to reveal” three times in chapter 24. In verse 31, of the disciples, “and their eyes were opened and they knew him,” verse 32 “our hearts were kindled within us as he revealed the Scriptures to us,” and in verse 45, “he opened their minds.” In the first instance, the disciples’ eyes were opened when Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it. In the final instance, during Jesus’ final appearance and final commission, he opens their minds so they could understand the Scriptures, in the midst of another shared meal and authentic connection. Did they not want to believe? Were they, like Peter, having thoughts of unworthiness of being in relationship with the risen Christ?
Luke records, “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” Brené reminds us that vulnerability leads to joy and ultimately connection, even amid uncertainty. Thankfully, amid the uncertainty, amid the risk, the uneasiness, the disciples didn’t tap out. In their vulnerability, they found their true selves and true meaning, and we’re gathered here today because of that vulnerability.
Empire, with brute force and unwavering certainty, tried to eradicate the social connections of the suffering servant. Empire isolates. Empire put Jesus in the tomb, Empire, siphons populations, says that some belong, while others do not. The way of empire is to otherize, to sow fear and shame. The way of Christ is one of vulnerability, one of belonging. May we repent from isolation. When we find ourselves wayward, lost, treading in fear, shame, and uncertainty, may we ask for help. May we find ourselves breaking bread with one another. We are not alone. You are not alone. “In nature, nothing exists alone.” We are better together. At the corner of Birch and Grove, come in person and find yourself authentically belonging in beloved community with others.