Easter 4C
May 12, 2019
Acts 9:36-43
INTRODUCTION
This 4th
Sunday of Easter is always known as Good Shepherd Sunday – we hear Psalm 23
(“The Lord is my shepherd”), and a part of John’s Gospel where Jesus talks
about being the Good Shepherd. It’s a beloved and comforting image, and one of
the first images used for Jesus, and one worth reflecting on during this Easter
season each year. But today, I am drawn to the reading from Acts, which tells
the story of Dorcas. I’m drawn to it both because it is Mother’s Day, and a day
we celebrate and lift up the particular ministry of women, and more uniquely
because the name of Dorcas is kind of a big deal here at St. Paul’s! And that’s
pretty cool, because it turns out, the only time the feminine version of the
word “disciple” is used in the New Testament, is in reference to Dorcas. Pretty
cool legacy!
So I’m going to focus my attention
today on the story of Dorcas, though we will also hear these Good Shepherd
texts. So how about this: as you listen to the texts today, think about the
women in your life who have modeled faith for you, or shepherded you in your
faith. How have they shown you what discipleship looks like? How have they
shown you what it means to be sheep, following the Good Shepherd? Let’s listen.
[READ]
 |
| Dorcas / Tabitha, sewing |
Alleluia, Christ
is risen! Christ is risen indeed,
Alleluia! Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.
It was the beginning of the 20th
century, 1902. St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Pittsford, NY, a
rural church made up mostly of farming families, was just 35 years old, and had
fairly recently built their sanctuary on the corner of Lincoln Ave. and
Washington Ave. The women of the church desired a place where they could
encourage a spirit of Christian fellowship among women, a group that could
respond faithfully to the needs of the poor in their own church, or the
community, or wherever aid was needed. In short, they wanted to live out their
discipleship, within a community of faithful women, and be devoted to good
works and acts of charity. They wanted to serve the world. In September of that
year, a society of women was formed with 28 members, and took the name of the
biblical women, Dorcas, who was known for her good works and acts of charity
and notably touched many people in her community, especially the widows, by
sharing her gift for making clothes.
Almost
immediately, the newly formed Dorcas Society saw a need: they did not have a room
large enough to meet in! They held a chicken and ham dinner that raised
$155.14, got some additional aid from the congregation, and with $600 in hand,
St. Paul’s began construction on the Dorcas Room, which was completed by their
first anniversary. That room would be home base for this group of faithful
women as they served the community in myriad ways – supporting missions both
global and local, providing clothes (just like their biblical namesake) for
people during times of war, hosting meals for those in need, and faithfully
meeting each month for devotions and fellowship. When the high school burned
down, they offered this room for the students to meet in until the school was
rebuilt. When the church embarked on a remodel that would add a kitchen to the
building, Dorcas raised some $20,000 toward the project. They donated three
leaded glass windows, and helped build our sacristy. Today, 117 years later,
the Dorcas Circle continues to meet faithfully each month, and the room their
grandmothers made happen hosts myriad church and community groups, from AlAnon,
to a lace guild, to Bible studies, to Sutherland High School AP exams just this
week! As one history written on the group said, “Our group has always been
called the Mother of the church, but a better name today would be the
Grandmother,” and another said, “God has always blessed the Dorcas, and we hope
there will always be a Dorcas Circle at St. Paul’s.” …
It was the
middle of the first century. News of the story and teachings of Jesus was
spreading through Greece, reaching Jews, Gentiles, and even Romans, thanks
especially to the work of Peter, one of the apostles. It had also reached a
successful businesswoman, by the name of Dorcas, or in Aramaic, Tabitha. Yes,
she went by both her Greek name and her Aramaic name, because she ran in both
circles. You might even say she was something of a bridge-builder between
different kinds of people. She was a sought-after seamstress, you see, and
known in the region for her skills and gifts. Yes, she had done well for
herself and her family, and she could be very proud of that.
But then she
heard about Jesus. She was moved by his teachings. The possibility that
someone, that even she, could be forgiven, freed from the power of sin, and
live without guilt, was incredible to her. She had assumed that guilt was
simply a part of life, but these teachings compelled her into a different way
of viewing life. And Jesus also taught her a radical way of loving her neighbor
– for it was a love that depended not upon success or prestige, but only on the
fact that a person in need was a person worthy of love, care, and compassion.
In light of Jesus’ teachings, Dorcas
was moved to use her position, her success, and her particular skills and gifts
to serve the under-served around her. In particular, she had a heart for the
widows – an oft-overlooked segment of the population, and a particularly
vulnerable one in a society in which most women depended upon a man for her
survival. For these widows, Dorcas gave herself: her time, her resources, her
skills, and most of all, her love.
No wonder so many gathered to grieve
when Dorcas fell sick and died. She had shared so much love with so many people
– and they all came to share that love right back to her. So deep was their
devotion to this disciple of Christ, that when she died they immediately called
the apostle Peter to come. See, they heard he was just in the next town over,
and that he had recently accomplished a great miracle: he caused a paralyzed
man to walk again! Though Dorcas was already dead, maybe, just maybe he could
do something for their beloved friend.
Maybe it was Dorcas’ faithfulness.
Maybe it was Peter’s. Maybe it was the fact that Dorcas had been such a devoted
disciple that her own faith oozed onto all those with whom she came in contact,
and it was in fact the resulting faithfulness of the gathered crowd that did it.
Whatever it was, when Peter uttered those words, “Get up!” – she did! She sat upright,
took Peter’s hand, and stood up.
And without skipping a beat, she went
right back to using her myriad gifts to serve the Lord.
There aren’t many women in the Bible
who are of means. Most of the ones we encounter are poor, sick and vulnerable,
and many of them are unnamed, identified only by her ailment or by he to whom she
is related. But in the book of Acts, we get several named women – stories of generous
and successful women who were patrons of the early Church or notable disciples
– and the story of Dorcas is an important one. It would be easy to focus in
this story on the work of Peter, which is far more dramatic (raising someone
from the dead!). But just look at the outpouring of love for Dorcas, the
disciple of Christ who is devoted to good works and acts of charity. Widows
gather round to tell stories of how her love and faith had touched them. They
weep for her, genuine tears. It is such a tender and beautiful scene. You see,
they had been touched by the love of Christ, through the work of Dorcas.
Dorcas’ story – her life and her death and her return to life – brought many
people to the Lord.
Hers is a dramatic story of life
coming out of the death – the very same narrative we celebrate throughout the
Easter season, about the power of God to bring life from death. But this story
is not only expressed by Peter’s dramatic act. Dorcas brought life out of death
by the way she lived, well before Peter came into the picture. She brought life
out of death by the ways she used her skills to serve those in need, especially
the widows in Joppa. She brought life out of death by the love she shared, by
her selflessness, by her devotion and commitment to her Lord.
Hers is a legacy that lives on among
faithful women and men all over the world, including here at St. Paul’s
Lutheran Church, through the long ministry of the Dorcas women’s group, and in
so many other ways – any time we use our particular gifts to meet a need around
us. It can be easy to think little of our gifts, to imagine them as purely
secular, with no possibility to share God’s love through them. But Dorcas did
not do that. She had an abundance to share, and she saw a need around her, and
so she used her abundance to serve the Lord, and bring hope and life where
there was previously despair.
That is our call, too. It is a call
that has been faithfully lived out by the women of Dorcas here at St. Paul’s, and
by the many other members throughout our 152 years history. It is a call we
continue to live out – and we do that by always keeping our eyes open for what
abundance we may have that can serve and bring life to the lack in our
community and in the world. Let us follow in the path of so many women of
faith, and especially Dorcas, as we step into that call each and every day.
Let us pray… God
of abundance, you have lifted up many women of faith over time. On this day
when we celebrate women, help us also to remember Dorcas, and the legacy she
has here at St. Paul’s, and move us all to use our particular gifts to serve
the needs around us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We sang this wonderful hymn as the hymn of the day. It made me cry!
https://www.carolynshymns.com/god_of_the_women.html
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