The Fifth Sunday after Easter--Youth Sunday-Mary Margaret Lemburg

 Fifth Sunday of Easter 

May 15, 2022 

    A couple of weeks ago, when I was sitting in Latin class, we were going over the terms that would be on our upcoming vocabulary quiz. My teacher often explains connections to help us, as students, remember the English translation of the Latin word. In an effort to help us understand the meaning of “limen”, or “threshold” in English, she stood up and pointed in the doorway of a closet attached to the classroom. She exaggerated the act of walking from the closet back into the classroom and saying that she was crossing over the threshold. She pointed out the strip of wood along the floor separating the two spaces, and she explained to us that the word “threshold” originates from many, many years ago when the threshold was a raised piece of wood or stone that kept the straw floor inside of a house. What my teacher did not mention during this lesson was the symbolism behind thresholds. A more generalized definition of threshold from Merriam-Webster dictionary is “the place or point of entering or beginning.” Thresholds represent the boundaries between places, worlds, or periods of time. They signify a point where something changes. 

    When studying the readings for this week, I was struck by the turning points depicted in multiple readings. In the Acts reading today, Peter is faced with objections from members within the Jewish community about his association with Gentiles, or non-Jewish persons. Peter is criticized because it is an unlawful act for Jews to associate with Gentiles, and Peter had just shared a meal with them, a special sign of fellowship in this time and culture. Peter receives a vision from God instructing Peter that “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” At first, Peter thinks God is referring to the food shown also in the dream, but he realizes that God is talking about the Gentiles when the Holy Spirit tells him to go with three men “and not to make a distinction between them and us.” Peter explains to those criticizing him that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles, just like it had come upon them at the beginning. Peter says “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” This story marks a turning point in the church when the teachings of God through Jesus are to be spread to even those that had previously been deemed unworthy. Instead of maintaining their old prejudices, they change and adapt to the direction that God is calling them to take. They pass over the threshold separating the old way with the new. 

    Then, the Gospel reading for today describes a message given by Jesus to his disciples right after he has washed their feet at the last supper. This message also serves as a change within the teachings of God. The Ten Commandments given to Moses serve as the laws determining the behavior of God’s people. They tell the Jews all of the things that they shall not do. Then, Jesus during this passage, gives the disciples a new commandment: “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Instead of telling the disciples what not to do, He tells them what they should do. In this moment, Jesus tells God’s people that they are loved, and they ought to love each other. To me, this is certainly a change from the instructions given in the Old Testament. In both of these readings, we witness moments where God leads God’s people through turning points. God is with them as they cross the threshold. As a graduating senior, I am about to cross a major threshold in leaving my home and going off to college. However, this is only one example of the changes that we all endure everyday. In life, people grow older, people move to different houses or cities, people buy new cars, people start new jobs, people get married, people die, people meet new friends, people elect new leaders, people face new challenges bearing many different faces. Yet, through it all, God is with us along the path. God is there crossing the thresholds with us, regardless of whether we feel God’s presence or not. 

    Before I close, I would like to share a poem that I found when researching different points for today’s sermon. The poem, titled “Threshold”, was written by Maggie Smith in February of 2020 for Poetry Magazine. 

Threshold 

You want a door you can be 

on both sides of at once. 

You want to be 

on both sides of here 

and there, now and then, together and—(what 

did we call the life 

we would wish back? 

The old life? The before?) 

alone. But any open 

space may be 

a threshold, an arch 

of entering and leaving. 

Crossing a field, wading 

through nothing 

but timothy grass, 

imagine yourself passing from 

and into. Passing through 

doorway after 

doorway after doorway. 

Amen

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