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Some years ago a film appeared based on a celebrated murder trial.  It was called “Reversal of Fortune.”  Here today we are celebrating a “reversal of fortune.”  Jesus of Nazareth, the servant of God, who had been executed on a cross as a common criminal, is vindicated by his heavenly Father, for whom he had offered up his life and death.       

During his earthly life Jesus had brought his friend Lazarus back from the dead
(John 11).  But Jesus’ own resurrection, unlike that of Lazarus, was not a return to the status quo ante.  Lazarus would have to die again, but “Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more” (Romans 6:9). 

Jesus’ reversal of fortune entailed a reversal of fortune for his disciples, which became apparent fifty days later at Pentecost, the birthday of the church.  On that day, the Jewish Feast of Weeks, pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all over the Roman world: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia (Acts 2:9-11). 

This list makes me think of the countries of origin represented in our congregation: Samoa, Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent’s, Guyana, China, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Portugal, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mexico, England, and the United States of America.  Our diversity will mark our “reversal of fortune” as a parish.

Whenever I walk from my office to the sanctuary, I pass by the photo gallery, assembled with such love and care by those who have lived all their lives in Mount Dennis.  But we all realize that our “reversal of fortune” can never be a return to the “glory days” of the past, just as Jesus’ resurrection was not a return to the life he lived in the circle of his disciples.  But what we may lack in numbers we shall make up for in diversity.  Our past as a parish was, we must admit, distinctly monochromatic.

The “reversal of fortune” which we hope for will follow upon the near-death experience which the Good Shepherd and the Mount Dennis community have been undergoing.  Just last month a young man was shot to death in the pizza shop across the street, at the same time that the Girl Guides were meeting here in the church.  The church itself has its trials: break-ins, graffiti, litter on the lawn, cars parked illegally in our parking lot, a garbage bin which hasn’t been emptied in over a month, despite repeated requests made to our Councillor.

Without a Rudi Giuliani to help us, our “reversal of fortune” is clearly not going to be brought about by our politicians.  But, thanks be to God, we now have, for the first time, an organization devoted to improving the quality of life in our neighborhood: the Mount Dennis Community Association.  Eleven days ago it sponsored a safety audit, in response to the disheartening pattern of acts of violence and vandalism in the neighborhood.  Members of our congregation participated, for it is surely better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

The Feast of Easter is a feast of hope.  Here, at the intersection of Eglinton Avenue and Weston Road, we are “a city set on a hill” (Matthew 5:14).  We cannot be hid!  Just as pilgrims made their way up to the holy city on that first Christian Pentecost, so we hope that people from our diverse community may make their way to us and find here among us a warm welcome and a spiritual home.  In the words of Paul to the Philippians, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, we press on toward the goal, that we may know Christ and the power of his resurrection
(Philippians 3:13.10). 

April 16, 2006

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