The awaking of Easter was crazy. There was grief and despair. There was shock and disbelief. As Jesus had predicted at the Last Supper, he
was gone, in the grave. Most of the
disciples were terrified and hiding. Mary Magdalene, risking her life and safety
is at his grave alone. Mary stays
expressing her love and gratitude for Jesus.
She assumes the body has been stolen or taken elsewhere. She tells John and Peter and they run to see
and sure enough it was empty. They have
little clue about what it all means? One
believes and one does not. What John
believed then we do not know. They see
nothing so they sigh and go back home. And someone she thinks is the gardener
speaks her name and she knows this is Jesus.
And she says in startled recognition, “My Lord.” Her life is changed.
As Jesus calls our names, we receive comfort and a
challenge. The comfort is that Jesus who
died is alive. His death was not
forever. Like Mary we are
comforted. God through Christ conquered
forever death forever. Then, like Mary
we also receive a wake-up challenge. The
challenge is that the story of Easter continues today through you and me, and
our church.
The comfort Mary received was that Jesus was there. Her heart jumped with joy. Her mind swirled with disbelief. And Mary wanted to hold on to him. We sing the hymn: “Abide with me, fast the
evening falls.” Mary wants Jesus to
stay with her. “Make it be it the way it
was before. Stay with me…stay with
us…please.” I told Jim Tubach that
whenever I though I had things ready or done, something quite different comes
up. And Jim said to me: “And life goes
on.” And when he says that, he knows
what he is talking about.
One part of Easter we can never change. What actually happened in that tomb was
between God and Jesus and no one was there and we will never know that.
Our experiences of the Risen Christ are when we go from
grief to gratitude because God is there.
Mary could not see Jesus because of her own problems, grief, and
tears. She did not expect to see
Jesus. When we are in grief it is hard
to see the possibilities because all we can feel is the pain. When life does not go as we expect or fit
into any categories we know, it takes a major shift. We have to let go of what was and grasp what
is new.
The challenge of this story is that Jesus returns and asks
us to stay with him. The trouble is we
are committed one moment and then not the next.
How can Jesus expect these people around him…or us….to be consistent in
our devotion?
G.K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been
tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
Last Wednesday night, our confirmation class pondered their
vows as they join the church. On behalf
of the whole church I ask you, do you renounce the spiritual forces of
wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin? I do.
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist
evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? I do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole
trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the
church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races? I do.
We say vows in our weddings.
The vow is not: “I love me and I
want to use you to love me even more.”
Or do you Larry, feel like you want to love Penny?” A vow is an act of will, a decision, a
commitment, a dedication, and a promise.
The earliest disciples discovered Christ who gives us
special, specific, unavoidable, prophetic, spiritual content to guide our
faith, hope, and love. They became
overwhelmed with comfort as Jesus called them by name. It is like when God created the world…it is a
new identity and a fresh understanding God’s new world. It is a miracle. If we make an opening for Christ to come in
and allow that light to shine, we are playing a part in God’s transformation of
the world. It is something like what God
did through Jesus resurrection.
Our story with God does not end, thank God, on the Good
Friday cross. The Last Supper was the
beginning supper of a new way of doing life together. Thank God the Risen Christ shows up and
appears to the very ones who betrayed and disappointed him. We don’t have to go looking for Jesus; Jesus
looks for us and he finds us. He
forgives us and challenges us to live like him.
The disciples might have been saying things like: “It was a
great campaign while it lasted. That
Jesus School of Religion was interesting.
We did not get him elected Messiah like we hoped. Weren’t the road trips fun! Sometimes it was tough: all those people who
need healing. Let’s plan a reunion and
relive the good old days: a memorial
meal for the veterans of the Jesus campaign.
Let’s go to some nice retreat center and find one with a place to go
fishing. Let’s find a safe place where
we will not here God call our names.”
Instead they faced a world of Roman brutality with love and kindness.
The risen Christ comes back and invites us to the table,
giving thanks to God, breaking bread, giving food, communion. Then he says things like “love me and feed my
lambs. Create that new community of
love. The same living God who was at the
table with the disciples is with us now the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not orphans; he abides with us. Love as I have loved you. Do the same things I’ve done to you.
This week you have received a special brochure that offers
one the greatest challenges this church has ever faced. We are involved in a campaign that invites
your participation. On Friday night I
had the strangest dream. It was about
this campaign. Amy Westfahl, you were in
that dream; your request to me was that I was to provide more photos. And I was so worried and concerned, because
in my dream I had to provide all of the photos with a Go-pro camera.
If I would interpret the dream…perhaps it is God’s dream
that College Avenue wake up to a new level of activity that could only be
covered by a camera built to capture the wildest action.
This building project is huge. And one thing about Easter teaches us is that
it’s not up to us alone. Communion and
community are things that God does through the risen Christ. The risen Christ pops up at almost any
opportunity.
The expansion of our facilities makes it possible to live
out our faith in more powerful ways.
Signs of the resurrection:
our youth just distributed $7,500 to agencies working to transform
people through love. It is like a light
shining into the darkness. Our church is
forming a committee to study how to make our church activities more available
to all persons with differing abilities.
If we adore and worship Jesus, we then imitate him in the
world around.
If we take cookies into the jail they suddenly get
transformed into an overflowing of God’s love…even in that house that holds so
much hatred and pain.
Those earliest followers of Jesus did not bow to Caesar and
that caused trouble.
They
included rich and poor, Jew and Greek, women and men.
And women
were in leadership just as much as men.
To each the experience of Jesus coming back was very
different….Mary Magdalene was the first…and then to many. One thing I know is that when Jesus came to
the disciples, they became stronger, kinder, wiser, more daring, more generous,
more like Jesus. And people I know end
up that way to. I pray that I end up
that way. And add to that I never know
when and where Jesus will turn up next.
Christianity is not as much about what you think or feel
about Jesus; it is what Jesus does to you.
It not a technique for how to you use him; but it is how he uses us.
In the Last Supper and in the resurrection appearances Jesus
was preparing them and us for the future.
What does the future hold for us?
Where are we headed, in this life and beyond?
One of the desires God has put in us is of a room large
enough to hold all of us at tables. We
cannot now do that. Why is important to
be together…because God is preparing us from that great table in eternity. I want to practice being at table with all of
you so that we discover together how much God loves each and everyone. His love for us is eternal.
In the end we will feast on high. At that table we will no longer be separated
or divided. We will not be lonely. We will no longer fear a cold, dark, universe
where nothing matters. We were made by
God for “together.” The purpose of all
creation is communion and covenant and vows and reunions.
You don’t believe it?
Come to the table! God will call your name!
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