Acts 3:12-19; I John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
The Reverend Paul DeLain Allick, St. George’s Episcopal Church, April 26, 2009

I’m sure by now most of you have heard the story of Susan Boyle the Scottish woman who made a big splash on the UK program, “Britain’s Got Talent.” As she walked on stage the audience laughed and the celebrity judges rolled their eyes; they mocked her in their questioning. But Susan was used to this. As a child growing up in Blackburn she didn’t like going outside because the children teased her. Ms. Boyle looked “different” and was a bit awkward. At birth she suffered oxygen deprivation which makes her responses a bit slow.

Susan was used to everyone judging her by her looks. She took the taunting of the audience and judges in stride. And then she sang. She sang so beautifully that the mockers were amazed and then hopefully ashamed. Now Susan is an internet sensation. Local officials and the paparazzi can’t get enough of her.

It turns out, once again, that seeing isn’t always believing. Making an assessment with our physical senses doesn’t always tell us the whole story.

When Samuel is sent by the LORD to find the next king of Israel he makes the same mistake. He is sent to see Jesse’s sons to find the next king. Seven sons are presented to Samuel. The LORD tells Samuel, “No, none of these will be king.” The LORD says to Samuel after he assumes that it must be Eliab, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Of course it is Jesse’s son David who will become king: the youngest that Jesse hadn’t even bothered to consider. (I Samuel 16)

We are in the Season of Easter. This 50 days of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly a season of “seeing isn’t always believing.” Throughout this season in our lessons and Gospels we will hear the fantastic stories and testimonies about the risen Christ.

Today in the Gospel according to Luke Jesus appears to the disciples. He says to them, “Peace be with you.” They need peace because they are upset and lost. When they “look” at Jesus they don’t see him. We read, “But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit.” They like us, know very well what they are “looking” at.

Jesus asks them to look closer; to look deeper. He shows them his wounds. They still disbelieve. He asks for something to eat because “a spirit has not flesh and blood.”

Now the disciples come closer. Jesus “opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Their minds were closed to the possibility that their Teacher had risen from the dead, not just as a ghost but as a physical being. They like us know what they “saw” at the crucifixion.

In this Season of Resurrection Jesus is trying to open our minds. He comes to us in Word and Sacrament. Notice this is how it works in our Gospel story and we see it in other resurrection stories: the risen Christ shares a meal and opens scriptures to the disciples. This is what we did this past Thursday for the Feast of St. George: we shared the holy meal of Eucharist and then miraculously, without much planning, had a feast at the potluck. We gathered to open our hearts and minds to each other and to our Lord.

This is what we are doing again today. We know what we are “seeing”. We see the actions of the liturgy. We hear the lessons and the Gospel. We see wafers and wine. But what are we really seeing and hearing? Are we going through the motions or are we encountering the risen Christ? Can it really be true that he is present to us in this Word and Sacrament?

In our collect we asked God to “open the eyes of our faith“. We want to see Jesus in the breaking of the bread. We want to “behold him in all of his redeeming work.” We want to see him so that we can participate in that redeeming work. That is the mission of the Church: to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. That is our redeeming work which is the ministry of reconciliation.

This parish is in a discernment process. We are being called to practice deep listening and seeing. We cannot know who we are as a parish is we focus only on appearances and not on the heart. Your Transition Committee will be leading this work but all of you are called to participate. The discernment work of the Transition Committee is not about who we want St. George’s to be nor about who St. George’s used to be. It is not about what we want or beating up on ourselves because there aren’t enough people. It is about the self-discovery of the here and now.

What are our strengths? What are blessings? What do we value the most in communal life and clergy leadership? Where do we need to heal divisions and hurts?

Discernment is always at the core of Christian living. We hear of this from St. John in his First Epistle: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Seeing isn’t always believing but believing will always help us to see.

Pray that God will open our minds and the eyes of our faith so that we can do good discernment which will embolden our ability to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.