The Pastor’s Words

Easter Sunday 2008   
Text:  Matthew 28:1-10

23 March 2008
Topic:  We are resurrected!
 
Christ is risen.  He is risen, indeed, alleluia! 
We have come here today to celebrate the anniversary of God’s Son being raised from the dead 2000 years ago.  We have come here today to celebrate God’s Son conquering death and assuring each of us a place in his kingdom.  We have come here today to honor and praise our God for delivering us from an eternal death and promising us life eternal.  Of this, we are absolutely certain, and grateful.  That’s why we are here.
But let us also be clear about one more thing.   Let us celebrate one more monumentally important facet of our faith.  In addition to celebrating the resurrection of Christ, we are also here this morning celebrating OUR resurrection from the dead.  Yes, we are also here this morning celebrating OUR resurrection from the dead.
In the gospel for today, when the angel appeared at the tomb, “The guards,” it says, “shook with fear and fell down, as though they were dead.”  (Matthew 28:4 CEV)    You and I, my friends, before faith entered our lives, were like those guards.  We were like dead men and dead women.   At some time in our lives, we have been living, breathing dead men and women, anticipating and dreading our final breath, worrying that when we died, we would join the ranks of the forever dead. 
But glory be to God, because of Christ’s resurrection, WE, TOO, ARE RESURRECTED.   Because of Christ and his resurrection, you and I have something absolutely personal to celebrate, namely, OUR resurrection.  
Let no one leave this room today without believing there is nothing to fear about death for, in Christ, we are alive for all eternity.   Let no one leave this room today without believing that the future is open, that hope springs eternal, and that not even the sky is the limit.  Because of Christ’s resurrection, we are alive forever.
Mickie Pagliarone, one of our elderly members, is dying.  Her liver is failing.  In various visits with her over the last several months, and specifically in the last week, she and I have spoken about death, her death, and what it was going to mean to her, to her family and to all those who know her. 
On the one hand, she says, “I want to live.  I really do.  I don’t want to die.  I’m going to really miss my family.  I’m really going to miss my church family.” 
And then, on the other hand, she would also say, “I am ready.  I don’t want to live this way anymore.  I can’t do anything.  I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.  It’s time.  I look forward to seeing God and telling him how much I really enjoy being a Lutheran.”
In the end, medically speaking, Mickie doesn’t have any control over her living or her dying.  But, faithfully speaking, of one thing she is absolutely certain, she has a place in God’s kingdom.   She knows God has reserved a place for her at the banquet table in heaven.  She knows, without a doubt, by the grace of God, she is one of the resurrected ones who will live forever in the loving embrace of God.
In a few minutes we will be affirming our baptism into Christ.  We will be celebrating that gift of God’s embrace.  We will be celebrating the gift of faith, and the gift of grace.  For in and through our baptism into Christ, we believe we are resurrected for all eternity. 
Affirming her baptism is what Mickie was doing when she said, “I want to live and yet it’s time.”  Affirming OUR baptism affirms our life as we know it now, and yet also anticipates life with God in eternity.  Affirming our baptism allows us to say, “I’m excited about all the ministries God is allowing me to participate in in this life.  But, I’m also excited for the day when I will be feasting with the communion of saints in heaven.”
So, come, renew your baptismal vows.  Along with the six people who last night were baptized and joined the ranks of Christendom, and the thirty others who affirmed their baptism and became members of this congregation, declare your allegiance, tell us whose side you’re on, proclaim your faith and celebrate your resurrection in Christ.
Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed, alleluia.    AMEN

Easter Vigil 2008
March 22, 2008
GIFT – Growing In Faith Together

Tonight we are celebrating a Gift, the most important Gift of all.  We are celebrating our Baptism, our Baptism into Christ.  Jesus, who came into this world to redeem us, has accomplished our salvation through his life, death and resurrection which is made fully present in the waters of Baptism.  Tonight, the three sad days have passed and we are now rejoicing in our common faith in Christ.  It is Easter.   Christ has risen.  He is risen, indeed, alleluia!
For the past six weeks, we have been gathering people interested in growing closer to Christ and His Church.  Sojourners, people who have come seeking this closer relationship to Christ and His Church, along with their Companions in Faith, have journeyed together, have told stories from their lives, have studied the Bible together, have prayed together, have grown closer to one another, closer in Christ, and closer to the Church.  In a word, for the past six weeks, we have been given the GIFT of growing in faith together.
Now, these same sojourners are making a commitment to affiliate with this specific community of faith by being baptized or by affirming their baptism.  In this action, these thirty-six individuals are proclaiming to themselves, to their families, to this community of faith, and indeed to God, they want to continue to grow in the Christian faith, they want to celebrate their faith, and they want to share their faith.  It is a wondrous occasion, a night for the angels in heaven and the angels on earth to rejoice and to be glad.
From the gospel reading we have just read, the disciples, Peter and John, got to the tomb and found it empty.  They didn’t know what to make of this startling discovery and simply went back to the other disciples who were still hiding.  When they got back to the place of the other disciples, we don’t know what they told them, other than, “His body is gone!”  All we know is that they went back to their hideout and stayed there.
Mary Magdalene, on the other hand, when she had first gone to the tomb, found it empty, ran to tell the other disciples that his body was gone.  Then, she returned again to the tomb.  She persisted.  She was more curious than her male counterparts.  She was more intent on finding out why Christ’s body was gone.  She didn’t necessarily know what she was looking for when she returned to the empty tomb, but, she put herself in the place and in the position to find out.
And lo and behold, Jesus appeared to her.  Jesus shows up and lets her see him.  Mary is rewarded for her persistence.  She is rewarded for her tenacity.  Mary is given a new faith, a new faith by which to live and to love and to serve her Lord.  And once again, she goes back to the other disciples, to the men who were hiding, and told them, “I have seen the Lord.”
May we be as persistent and tenacious as Mary Magdalene.  May we not just look into the empty tomb and, like the men in our gospel, wander away confused.   May we not come to this night, celebrate the night and never return.
Rather, like Mary, may we hang around, look around, linger a bit, do a little search and research and find Jesus in the garden bidding us to come to him and do his work here on earth.  May we truly grow closer to Christ, and grow closer to the Church, in and through our continued participation in the life and ministries of the Church.
May God bless our celebration of the GIFT of faith.  May God grant us grace as we grow in faith together.  May we truly celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior all the days of our lives.  AMEN

Text:  John 11:17-27
9 March 2008 
Topic:  God is with us always.
 
How very sad.  How very difficult it was to be there yesterday.  In the prime of life, one who was so full of life, so full of love is no longer with us.   So many people said at his funeral, he will be missed, a whole lot!   And the best that any of them can do now is to hang on to one another and give the support they can, in whatever ways they find possible.
Danny Kimes was 45 years old when he died.  Danny was the sister of Tracy Varga and the son of Barry and Linda Kimes.  Tracy, Linda and Barry are members here.  Yesterday was Danny’s funeral here at church.  It was a sad day, and yet a day we were able to celebrate his life.
 
Lazarus was a friend of Jesus.  This explains what happened to Jesus when he found out that his friend, Lazarus, had died.  He cried.  Yes, Jesus, the Son of God, cried.  And that makes it okay for all of us to cry as well – women AND men.  In fact, it more than okay to cry, it’s actually a very healing thing to do.  All the emotion that gets pent up inside when things like this happen need some kind of outlet.  Tears are a gift from God.  They can be a kind of salve that can heal one’s soul.
 
So, when tragedy strikes, when an unexpected death occurs, go ahead and cry.   Go ahead and let it out.  It’s better than letting it all well up inside and it coming out in ways that could be destructive.  Jesus, the human side of him, wept.  We can too.
When Martha, the sister of Lazarus heard that Jesus had come to visit she went right up to him and fairly yelled at him, “You know, Jesus, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!  Where were you?!?” 
It happens all the time.  When a sudden death, or an unexpected death occurs, we look for somebody, or something, to blame, or try to explain why the death occurred.  For Martha, it was the fact that if Jesus had gotten there sooner, her brother wouldn’t have died.  Now, there was no rational reason for her belief that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would still be alive.  But, Jesus was an easy target and, being the good and gracious person that he was, Jesus took the misplaced blame all in stride.
Lazarus died.  People die all the time.  And very often, you will hear people say, “Well, it was God’s will that he died.  He’s in a much better place now.”  There’s no doubt that people of faith who die are in a better place, but, to say it was God’s will that people, like Danny, die so suddenly is far, far from the truth.  God wants us to live.  In fact, if we look at the Garden of Eden experience in the book of Genesis, God wanted us to live forever.  
No, God doesn’t decide on a given day to simply pluck someone from this earth to have them in heaven.  People die because they were sick, or had a bad heart and didn’t know it.  People die because they are old and worn out.  And sometimes people die in accidents.  But none of it is caused by God. 
Instead, God – like Jesus with Martha and Mary in our gospel reading – comes to grieve with us.  As this crucifix hanging above this altar so vividly demonstrates, we have a God who suffers with us, who truly cries with us, who holds us in the palm of His hand and reminds us He will never let us go.  He will never, ever leave us alone.  We may suffer all kinds of grief and tragedy, but he remains with us, forever, and ever.
Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe that everyone who believes in me, even though they die, will really and truly live?”  He asks us the same thing of us.   Do we believe that even though we die, we will live again?
Hopefully, our answer will be the same as Martha’s, “Yes, Lord, I believe.  I believe you came to save me, and the entire world, and that all I need to do is live in that belief and I will be able to deal with the death that is all around me.”
Jesus wept.  That was his human side.  We can appreciate someone who knows how hard it is to lose a loved one.  Jesus also saves us.  This is his divine side.  And thank God for this, because without it, we would have no hope nor any future at all.
So, let us believe, like Martha and Mary.  Let us trust Jesus to guide us through this life-  time.  And let us give thanks for all who have gone before us, trusting that one day we, too, will see them again.  AMEN

Text: John 9:1-41
2 March 2008
Topic: God’s Mighty Works
 
You may or may not know this, but every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, children from this community, and around the county, are bused to this building for school. 
Eight children, ages 3 to 5, with developmental needs stemming from autism, come here, to a classroom downstairs four days a week.  The class is called Early Intervention as the teachers attempt to guide and encourage students who have special education needs.  
In addition to the teachers and teacher’s aids from the Chester County Intermediate Unit, speech therapists, physical therapists, and school psychologists come here to help children with their developmental delays. 
In addition to these children, an additional thirty children come here those same four days, fifteen in the morning and fifteen in the afternoon, for a federally funded program called Head Start.  These children, also ages 3 to 5, come from economically disadvantaged homes.  They are typical children who just need a little help getting started in school which will be upon them in just a year or two.  That’s why the program is called Head Start.
On occasion I have gone downstairs to see the children learning how to play, learning how to interact with other children, and just plain learning.  And sometimes, I get goosebumps when I watch these students and their teachers, because I am seeing real change, and real learning, taking place right before my eyes.  Children with special needs are being cared for, right here, in God’s house!
It makes me proud that our congregation rents space to Early Intervention and Head Start because they are part of our outreach ministry of Sharing God’s Word.  And if you ever came here during the week and saw what we get to see each day, you’d be proud too.
            Going to our gospel reading for today, I doubt if any of us would come here on a weekday morning, see all the kids getting off the bus, and ask, “Who sinned?  This child?  His father?  His mother?” 
Would any of us say, “Surely someone sinned which caused this child to be autistic.” 
Or, would any of us say, “This child, born into a poor family, must pay for the sins of his parents and live the rest of his or her life condemned to poverty and want.”
            Doubtful.  I doubt anyone here would make either of these statements.  And the reason is that we just don’t think that way.  We don’t see life in such a “cause and effect” way.  For along with the Chester County Intermediate Unit, we believe God has created each of us in God’s image.  And the way we are made is a reflection of God and therefore good.  We believe children are born with the potential to be anything they set their minds to.
            But in our gospel for today, when Jesus was asked if the man who was born blind had been born that way as a punishment for his sin, or perhaps punishment for the sins of his parents, Jesus responded by saying, “No, this man is not blind because of his sin, nor is he blind because of the sin of his parents.  He was born this way so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  And then he made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and healed him.
            But for the religious authorities, that was too simple.  There had to be some reason this man was born blind and they determined to find out why.  First they questioned the man.  Then they questioned his parents.  Because they believed that people suffer the consequences of their sins, and to them, it was their job to find out who and what and why.
            But Jesus said, “I alone came to judge the people of this world.  I alone am here to give sight to the blind and to make blind everyone who can see.”  It was his not-so-subtle way of saying, “Leave the judgment of this world up to God.”  For the very people on this earth who claim the right to judge the sin of others are blind to the sin in their own lives.
            I believe we know what Jesus was talking about.  We all know people who love to stand around telling others how wrong everybody else is, but never look at the sin in their own life.  In another gospel Jesus said, “Don’t look at the speck in someone else’s eye when you fail to see the log in your own.” 
            It’s the same thing here.  Jesus is reminding us that judging the sins and failures of others is not for us to judge.  That’s God’s work.  And if there is any reason for someone to have been born blind, or with autism, or just plain poor, then they were born that way so that God can do mighty  works through the rest of us who aren’t blind, autistic or poor.
            That’s why we need to celebrate what happens here four days a week.  God’s mighty works are being done through us as we assist others who are teaching children how to walk and talk and play and get a head start the best way they can.  God’s mighty works are done through us whenever we leave the judgment of “who sinned or not” up to God and instead roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can best serve the needs of those around us. 
Judging others is so easy.  And yet, it gets nothing accomplished.  Jesus didn’t get sidetracked by those who thought he was doing the wrong thing.  He was on a mission.  And when he heard that the man he had healed had been cast out from the religious meeting places, part of his mission included finding that same man and bringing him back into the fellowship of faith.
We, too, have been healed by Jesus.  We, too, have been found and included in the fellowship of faith.  God alone has judged us and has said, “Come into my kingdom.  Come into my home.  Come into my fellowship, eat and dine at my table.  Rejoice in your salvation.”
Along with the man in our gospel we have been given new life.  Along with the man in the gospel, we have been given new eyes and new faith.  Let’s celebrate it.  And then, let’s share this Good News with others.   AMEN