The Pastor’s Words

Easter 2009
Text:  Mark 16:1-8
12 April 2009
Topic:  Christ Raises Us Up!
 
Christ is risen.  He is risen, indeed.  Alleluia!
I wonder how many of us got up this morning and said, “Thank you, Lord!”? 
I wonder how many of us went to bed last night and said, “Thank you, Lord!”?
I wonder how many of us really and truly give thanks for what we have this day:  our life, our family, our home, our faith? 
Many of us have jobs and for that, hopefully, we are giving thanks to God.  Some of you, however, are without a job and you are praying God is going to help you.  Well, because of the resurrection, we can count on God being with us in that search.  Thank you, Lord.
Most of us this morning are healthy and are able to get around.  But some of you are in pain.  Some are suffering from one kind of illness or another, and you are praying to God that you will be given a reprieve, some kind of help, some kind of release from the distress you are in.  Well, because of the resurrection, God is with us in our time of need.  Thank you, Lord.
When life is tough and we are struggling to just keep up, we may be tempted to think that God is far off, that the resurrection of Jesus has no personal meaning or effect on us today.  But that’s not the case.  Because of the resurrection, God is right here beside us, walking with us, talking with us, and helping us get through it all.
At least, that was true for Anne Marie Hochhalter.  She was one of the victims of the shootings that took place at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado ten years ago.  Yes, it’s been ten years since that day in April when the whole world was shocked to hear of the senseless and brutal killings of twelve students and one teacher by two other students.  Sadly, today, these kinds of shootings are almost commonplace, but back then, it was new and scary.
Anne Marie had stepped outside her school that day and got shot.  It left her paralyzed.  Her mom, who always made Anne Marie go to church each week (it happened to be a Lutheran church) was also a very depressed person and six months after the shooting, Anne Marie’s mom took her own life, leaving Anne Marie to figure out her faith for herself.
And so, for several years, Anne Marie didn’t go to church.  She struggled to understand God.  She was angry at God.  She moved away, went to college, got a job and tried to get into life.  But all of it was a real struggle.
After a few years, a friend invited her to come to church with her.  She went.  At her new church, she discovered the love of God and the compassion of Jesus.  She came to understand that God didn’t cause the shootings to happen.  In fact, she came to realize, (and these are her words) “God doesn’t cause suffering. He suffers with us.”  She went on to say, “I’m certain God cried over Columbine. [And] I’m certain he cried along with me when mom died.”    
You see, because of the resurrection, Christ raised her up.  And because of the resurrection, Christ can raise us up too.
Last night, at the Easter Vigil, Sento Bangura, an adult, was baptized.  Thirty-three other adults affirmed their baptism.  Last night they embraced the resurrection of Christ in a brand new way.  They affirmed their belief that God is real, that God is alive, that God walks with them and talks with them, and shows them the way.  For them, the resurrection has become personal, it is a new lease on life, a new lease on faith, and a new way of going forward into the world in which they live.
For you see, we do not believe in a dead God.  We believe in a God who is alive.
The angel in the tomb told Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James, “Jesus is not here.  God has raised him.  Now, go and tell all the others.”
However, according to Mark’s gospel, the women were too afraid to tell anyone.  Shaking and confused, they became tongue-tied, and simply ran from the tomb.  Who can blame them?  They were scared speechless.   
And who would have blamed Anne Marie Hochhalter, when after she was shot and her mother died, she stopped going to church.  She was literally and figuratively paralyzed.
But the resurrection was more powerful than the silence of the women.  And, the resurrection was more powerful than Anne Marie’s paralysis. 
Somehow, 2000 years ago, the news of the resurrection of Jesus became known, and people began believing that God in Christ was alive, that the Spirit of God was right beside them, and within them. 
And somehow, that same Spirit of God worked in the life of Anne Marie as she, too, began to see and experience the love of God and the compassion of Jesus in brand new ways.  Because of the resurrection, Anne Marie is gainfully employed and living in her own wheelchair accessible home and going to church as regularly as she can.
When we say, Christ is risen, it’s not just a story in the Bible.  It’s not just for Easter.  It’s a reality to believe with all our hearts, with all our being.
And so, now, I wonder how many of us will go to bed tonight and say, “Thank you, Lord!”?
Now, I wonder how many of us will get up tomorrow morning and say, “Thank you, Lord!”? 
If we believe in the resurrection, then there’s a whole lot for which to be thankful. 
Because of the resurrection, Christ raises us up so we can say, “Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia.   AMEN
 

Vigil of Easter 2009
Text:  John 20:1-18
11 April 2009
Topic:  Growing In Faith Together – GIFT
 
Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus while it was still dark, presumably to wail and to lament, as was the custom of that day, since the body had been fully anointed the day of his crucifixion. As she approached the tomb, she saw that the stone to the tomb had been rolled away.  So, she looked in.  To her surprise, she saw that the body of Jesus was not there.  Startled, and not sure of what this meant, she ran and told Peter and John of what she’d just NOT seen.
Peter and John ran to the tomb.  John got there first, but didn’t go in.  As soon as Peter caught up to John, he raced past John into the tomb and together they saw the burials clothes off to the side.  It was obvious Mary Magdalene was telling the truth and so they went back to tell the other disciples what they’d just NOT seen.

Mary Magdalene, weeping, still in shock, and filled with grief, stayed at the tomb. 
Suddenly, two angels appear and ask her why she is crying.  She tells them, “They’ve taken away my Lord’s body and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”
Jesus then appears to Mary, but she doesn’t recognize him.  She thinks he’s the gardener and so she asks him, “Do you know where they’ve taken my Lord’s body?”
Jesus then speaks directly to her and calls her by name and says simply, “Mary.” 
Immediately, Mary recognizes Jesus.  Overcome with joy, she is now able to go and tell all the others what she HAD JUST SEEN, that Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!
Peter and John were only able to tell what they had NOT seen.  But Mary, who stayed at the tomb, who lingered there, who allowed herself to feel the loss of Jesus, who allowed herself to relive the hurt and the pain of those last two days, was rewarded with an appearance from Jesus. 
It wasn’t by design, and she certainly didn’t plan it this way.  She had no idea Jesus would show up in the garden.  But, Mary did something all of us can learn from.  She allowed herself to feel.  She allowed herself time to reflect.  She allowed herself to just BE in that moment.   She allowed some space in her life – for what she did not know.
And wonderfully, surprisingly, miraculously, into that space, came Jesus. 
Because Mary lingered, because Mary hung around, because Mary allowed some space for herself, Jesus appeared to her.
What Mary didn’t know is that God’s Spirit works best in our lives when we allow ourselves some time to feel, some time to just BE in the moment.  The Holy Spirit comes to us mostly when we have allowed space in our lives for a revelation to occur. 
We have just completed the first phase of our second year of the catechumenate process.  We call our process, Growing In Faith Together, or GIFT.  It is an intentional time set aside for us to listen to God’s Word, really listen to God’s Word, and to listen once again, and then pray for one another.
Like Mary, in the GIFT process, we allow ourselves time to feel, time to reflect, and time to let the Spirit of God show us things we never thought possible before.  In the GIFT process, we knowingly and willingly open ourselves to God’s revealing presence.  We linger, we hang around, we allow space for God, and then we wait…
After six weeks of the GIFT process, after worshipping here for quite some time, after we have allowed ourselves some space, some time to feel, some time to reflect, finally, tonight, we celebrate the baptism of Sento and the affirmation of baptism of 35 others.  Tonight we are Growing In Faith Together.  
Tonight, we have looked into the emptiness of this tomb, we have looked into this room, and we, too, have noticed that the dead body of Jesus is not here.  We have taken the time, we have allowed ourselves the time, to see that he has risen. 
The floral fragrance of the burial spices fill the air.  The burial clothes have been remanufactured into white paraments.  And we are celebrating what Mary discovered, that Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!
The first witnesses to the resurrection went and told others.  May we do the same.  May we learn to know God’s Word.  May we seek to live God’s Word.  And may we willingly and enthusiastically share God’s Word with any and all whom we meet, because Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!
AMEN
 
 

Maundy Thursday 2009
Texts:  John 13:1-17,31b-35 & I Corinthians 11:23-26
Topic:  Three Commands
 
In tonight’s readings, Jesus gave us three different commands: 
1.      “If your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other.”  (John 13:14  CEV)
2.      “I am giving you a new command.  You must love each other, just as I have loved you.”  (John 13:34  CEV)
3.      At dinner that night, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body.  Eat this in remembrance of me.”  And then, he took some wine, blessed it, and gave it to them saying, “This is my blood.  Drink this in remembrance of me.”  (I Corinthians 11:23-25 CEV)
 
On the night of his betrayal, on the night before he died, he gathered his friends, his summoned his colleagues, he sat with his chosen disciples, for one last meal.  And at that meal, he took the opportunity to lay out for them the essentials of what he expected an ongoing mission and ministry would look like once he was gone.
He said we should serve one another.  He said we should love one another.  And he said we should eat and drink of his presence always.
For Jesus, his final words to us on this earth were not just idle chatter, but they were actual commands.  His final words revealed his deepest hopes and dreams for us who have chosen to follow his teachings.
When people are dying, indeed, when people take their last breath, we tend to hang on to each and every word that’s uttered.  We remember everything about that time.  We remember the room, we remember the lighting, we remember the kind of weather there is outside, we remember who called and who didn’t.  We remember everything, especially the words.  We remember the final verbal exchanges.
What we have in our readings for tonight are the final exchanges between Jesus and his disciples.  There would be no more walks along the road.  There would be no more crowds straining to hear him as he spoke to them from a boat in the water.  There would be no more late night conversations, no more healings, no more teachings.  This was it.
He said we should serve one another.  He said we should love one another.  And he said we should eat and drink of his presence always.
In these economically difficult times, it has been impressive to see and hear of people’s concerns for others.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I have.  I’ve seen and heard people ask about folks who are in trouble more than I normally see and hear.  I have had more people come to me offering help to others more than at any other time.  I don’t know if it’s only related to the economy, but, I can tell you it’s happening.  People are looking out for the needs of others.
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, and said we should do the same, he wasn’t expecting us to do the exact same service to others.  He was simply expecting us to serve one another, to look out for the needs of others, as he looked out for the needs of his disciples, his friends, his colleagues.
Washing the feet of someone in that time and place was a really nice to thing to do for someone.  When people walked everywhere, over unpaved roads, with sandals, their feet would be very dry and very dirty.  To wash someone’s feet was to care for that person’s needs.
Caring for someone’s needs in today’s world would look very much different.  All we have to do is look around.   And, again, from my vantage point, people are doing this.
Jesus also said, “Love one another as I have loved you.  When you do this, everyone will know you are my disciples.” 
This is a command, a mandate, from Jesus in our gospel for tonight.  It’s why we call this day, Maundy Thursday.  The word, Maundy, is derived from the word, mandate.  It is a night on which we received a new mandate, a new commandment, the command to love one another.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve all heard people say, “You know, she says she’s a Christian, but by the way she acts, you’d never know it.”  Or, “You see that guy over there.  Well, from his language you’d never believe he’s a member of that church up on the hill.”
We don’t like to be judged by our actions.  We don’t like it when people make comments about us.  But Jesus knew that’s what people do.  And Jesus knew that our actions speak loudly about who we are and what we believe.  That’s why he said, “If you let others see that you love others, truly love them, then, they will know you are my disciples.”  Because that’s what Jesus really wanted and what he still wants from those who call themselves Christians.
Finally, Jesus wants us to eat and drink into our bodies his very presence and power.  Jesus gave up his body for us.  By sacrificing himself for us, he showed us what true love can look like.  And in eating and drinking in his presence and power, we become strengthened to love and serve others.
It’s a simple thing, this Holy Communion.  It’s a tiny meal, this bit of bread and swallow of wine.  And yet, it is the very presence and power of the Divine coming to be among us.   The Creator of the Universe comes to you and to me, touches our very soul, and gives us what we need to carry on for the next day and the next.
Maundy Thursday is the first of these very holy and precious last three days of Holy Week.  It is the first day of the Triduum, which is Latin for Three Days.  Tomorrow, we will gaze upon the cross and reflect upon his sacrifice for us.  The following day, we will anticipate the resurrection that takes place sometime after sundown on Saturday.
For now, we will wash feet; we will eat and drink his presence and power.  And we will be humbled by his example of loving us fully and completely.   AMEN