Sermon for Easter 7 (Yr C): Paddington and Prophetic Imagination

June 1 | Seventh Sunday of Easter | Year C

Deacon Rebekah Hays Estera

 Acts 16:16-34

 Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21

 John 17:20-26

 Psalm 97

Paddington and Prophetic Imagination

The 2017 movie Paddington 2 tells the story of the eponymous bear getting into a

spot of trouble. Paddington, an immigrant making is way in a new land, is

mistakenly arrested and unjustly imprisoned. While his chosen family sets about

working for his freedom from the outside, Paddington goes about changing the

culture from within. When he introduces his fellow incarcerated persons to his

beloved marmalade, he sets off a chain of events that transforms the prison from

an inhospitable place to a warm, albeit, imperfect, home, filled with the scent of

baked goods and decorated with handmade banners. And the changes are

effective; after their release, his prison-mates apply their newfound skills for a

better, more community-oriented way of life.

It is nothing less than a gentle tale of radical prison reform.

In our reading this morning, we remembered the imprisonment of Paul and Silas.

Paul and Silas are outsiders in a new place. Paul rebukes a demon, leading him

and Silas to be rounded up and brought before the authorities on trumped up

charges, many having to do with them being different.

Too many times, over the last few months have I opened a news tab to read about

the imprisonment of another immigrant trying to make their way in this land, only

to be arrested for something incredibly petty – a student opinion piece,

assumptions and misidentifications, for simply being different.

This story of Paul and Silas isn’t feeling too distant these days.

As so many do in times of grief, Paul and Silas turn to prayer and song for comfort

while imprisoned. Oppression has birthed a litany of music – many songs of

freedom that we still sing today were first sung by enslaved African Americans.

While deep in worship, an earthquake shook the chains and released not only Paul

and Silas, but that of all held captive -- everyone's chains were unfastened –

reminding us that freedom is not freedom if obtained on the backs of the

oppressed. Our freedom is tied up with that of our siblings.

Here’s what caught my attention while reflecting on the story this time: the guard

didn’t even check on the prisoners. He saw the doors opened and assumed.

Assumed they were gone and assumed his own life was no longer valuable.

Oppressive systems oppress us all.

Just like Paul and Silas had been imprisoned for little reason, the guard knew that

he would likely be put to death without consideration of the circumstances. While

he had power over some in this system of oppression, he was still oppressed by

the same system. We may experience privilege in some areas of our lives, because

of some of our attributes, while living under oppression because of who we are in

other ways. No one is free when someone is oppressed.

I started my homily with Paddington because in its whimsy, these stories help us

imagine what many of us cannot – a different way of being. Perhaps a small bear

in a pink prison uniform opens us up to wonder.

Being called to be a deacon means that I stand at the prophetic edge. My vows

call me both to attend to the current ills of this world and to work for a world as it

should be. And to help the church along in that as well. Working for a world as it

should be is hard. So often we are bogged down with reality that is hard to

imagine anything different than what is.

The next part of the story of Paul and Silas help us see what can happen when we

imagine into being a world that is different than the one that we inhabit. When it

would have been so easy to leave, to leave the jail and the city behind, Paul and

Silas stayed. And not only did they stay, but their actions seemed to have

impacted all those around them. Not one prisoner left. I don’t think this is a tale of

obedience like I was once taught – that these prisoners didn’t leave because they

knew that would be wrong.

I think this is the seed of a radical revisioning of the world. One in which the guard

would realize his reliance on those below him. One in which the guard would

understand our interdependence, that rather than being self-serving, they stayed

and in doing so, spared his life. One in which he would nurture their humanity,

tending to their wounds. One in which the world is upside down, when the guard

invites the prisoner into his own home.

We are all called to the work of prophetic imagination. In a little while, we will

pray as Jesus taught us ‘’your kin-dom come, your will be done, on earth as in

heaven.” On earth, as in heaven. We are called to the work of bringing the upside-down kin-dom of heaven to earth, here and now. And that is going to look a lot

different than a world filled with oppression.

In these final days of Eastertide, think about out Jesus turned our world upside

down. A world in which a child refugee became the Messiah. A world in which the

king rides a donkey. A world in which death became life. A world where Saul

became Paul, and Paul set out to persecute Christians and eventually found

himself in a jail witnessing to the upside down kin-dom the Christ calls us all to. In

these final days of Eastertide, as we wait on the Holy Spirit, wonder. Wonder

about the world around you and how it might look different. Wonder about the

role we are called in building the upside down kin-dom of Christ here and now.