Easter Sunday Sermon

I little late with this.

Blessed Easter!

+INI+

Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

This morning we proclaim the end of one story and the beginning of another. Christ is risen, come back to us – but that is the end of one story and the beginning of another.

Think of Mary Magdalene, there in the garden. Think of her progress through the three stages of Resurrection.

First – she is blinded by grief

Three days ago her beloved friend and teacher was torn from her life by mob violence and corrupt authority. She stood on Calvary and watched him die a hideous and shameful death. She had loved him in great measure because of the way he’d loved her.

And that morning – as she walked through the awakening city. Everything seemed as if nothing had happened. Why did the world insist on going around? The finality of the thud of the rock rolling in place to close the tomb was still echoing in her mind as she came to the garden that morning.

Because if there is anything you can count on is that the dead stay dead.

Mary is blinded by her grief

·      Even after she finds the tomb empty and even as she confesses her confusion to the angels, her grief blinds her.

·      Even as Jesus appears, her grief blinds her, and she can’t recognize him.

·      It is only when Jesus calls her by name that she understands that he’s done what he promised.

Stage 2: Hope fanned to flame.

We are told that Jesus had driven 7 demons from Mary. That is a lot of demons! This is a woman with a story!

But in Jesus she had found hope. Hope that her life could be different, hope that in this community of Jesus’ Followers she was not an outcast.

When she came to the garden that morning that fiery hope was a small dying ember, but at the sound of her name, what had been smoldering burst back into flame.

What joy in that moment! Life seemed to have suddenly returned to normal in that moment.

But it had not; for the next thing Jesus says to her tells her that something new was happen.

“Do not hold on to me,” he says. “I cannot stay here with you, but I will still be with you.”

There is a new future in store! And Mary is the start of it.

Mary’s risen lord says to her, “Go and tell the others.”

And this is the 3^rd Stage of Resurrection – “Go and tell others.”

Mary is the first apostle, the apostles to the Apostles – the first in a long line of relay runners with the news that death itself has died.

She takes the news back to the Jesus’s followers, blinded by grief, hiding in fear

She tells them the News – the Good News! And lives began to change.

This is the Third Stage of resurrection – to go out and tell all around us of life that not even death can defeat us.

Paul says something along these lines:

“So since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”

What Paul is saying is this. Resurrection – Jesus, yours and mine  – is not something that happened once years ago as a one-off exception. And it is not something that will happen only on some future day.

No –resurrection life is ours - today.

It is revealed in this – we trust the promise that our ultimate destiny is eternal life in Christ.

In faith our sinful nature is replaced with Jesus’ nature as the beloved Son of God.

Here is what this means.

These “stages” are not a straight path. We go ‘round and ‘round touching these bases.

Because there is plenty of death in the world, plenty that grieves us and would break our hearts and destroy our hope.

And yet...

If you can’t see the power of the resurrection alive in the world today, don’t believe it! And if you look with the eyes of faith you will see it.

·      The husband who comes to himself and returns home to the wife he has wronged – and is forgiven.

·      The addict to drug or drink or violence who – with the help of many friends – takes the first step away from death, who turns around to life. 

·      The person who decides to forgive some wrong, instead of clinging to their right of retribution.

·      The community grief stricken in the aftermath of violence that commits to making a better future for its children.

·      And much more.

  Easter is the day to wake up from grief and loss.

            Wake up to God’s future!

Today is the day to be defined by our future, not by our past, but by God’s preferred and promised future.

That is the reality of our post Easter “Already and not yet” world. Resurrection goes on all around us. Can we be free from our grief to see it?

Like Mary we sent out to tell the world that death does not get the last word over us.

For new life abound! And Jesus has the future under control.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Good Friday Sermon

More or less as preached at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Albany, MN

+INI+

I can remember a time when everything stopped on Good Friday. Some of you may remember it that way, too.

Maybe it was really wasn’t quite so much this way as we remember it. Maybe not EVERYONE was in church from noon to 3. But it seems that way. That is how I remember it.

Shops were closed. Dad had the day off.  Three hours of thinking about death and Jesus. It made in impression on a child.

It is not that way now, and I am not sure how I feel about it. For one thing I wonder how many people were in church more out of social conformity than deep devotion. But – really – I think it gave us a false impression about the nature of Good Friday – the nature of the Cross-and about the nature of the God who died on that cross.

You see, somehow we imagine that – 2,000 years ago – the whole great city of Jerusalem fell silent. But surely that was not the case. Crucifixions were common. They were a key act of state terror by which the Romans reminded their subjects that the Peace of Roman would be enforced with ruthless efficiency. People avoid the site of executions if they could.

Of course, there are reports of earthquakes on that day, of strange darkness. But there was nothing to drew a connection between these signs and one more dead Jew on a cross.

Jesus wasn’t the first victim of state terror. And he wouldn’t be the last.

+++

The simple fact is that nobody much noticed what was happening on that Friday.

This tells us about the God who died on that Cross.

It gives us a clue – if we have eyes to see it! – about where we will meet God.

I have no doubt that God is sometimes found in moments of the great glory. I have met God in such moments.

But – if you want to find the God who died for you on the Cross – don’t look big. Look small. Look where no one would think to look.

In the Cross we see that God will always be found in the dark places, on the moments of emptiness, when no one else much notices.

Most of all we find him where none of us would like to look. In the silence of nothingness; in the grave. Our grave.

When teaching out the Creed in Confirmation class We got to the phrase about how Jesus “descended to the place of the Dead.” What could THAT mean?

We looked at 1 Peter 3, about how Jesus “proclaimed the Gospel to the spirits in place of the dead.”

Then – slowly – little lights went on in our darkness. We are all going to be in the grave –sooner or later.

Then it hit 'em – In the grave, when we have nothing left – THAT is where we meet God! That is where we will hear Jesus – the God who hung from the cross.

“Come on!” we will hear him say. “Follow me! I know the way out.”

Rob Bell Easter Video

If you have never seen one of Rob Bells Nooma Videos before- hang on to your hats!

Rob Bell Nooma - Easter

Christ is risen, Alleluia

Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Video Pick of the Week Easter Greetings from ELCA Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

Easter Message from ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.

Maundy Thursday Sermon

Preached at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Albany MN.

Have a blessed Easter!

+I+N+I+

Have you watched Downtown Abby? It is this British soap opera set in early 20th Century England. It centers on the Earl of Grantham and his family – the Crawly family - and the servants who make their life possible. It is a HUGE hit for PBS.

If you watch the show you will have noticed how careful distinction exist between who serves whom. And it is not just “upstairs.” For instance, different ranks of servants are addressed in different ways. Senior staff by their last name – Carson, the butler or Bates, His Lordships valet. The Cook is Mrs. Patmore (although she has never married all cooks and housekeepers are addressed as “Mrs.) but the Assistant Cook is Daisy.

One of the supporting characters is Joseph Molesley. He was valet to Matthew Crawly, the heir who died tragically. He had a hard time getting established with an equivalent position and comes back = this time as a footman, several steps down the ladder. But what should he be called? As a footman he would be addressed as Joseph, but the “family upstairs” address him as they did when he as Valet, as Molesley. Carson, the butler, is not amused.

So imagine what a shock it would be for Lord Grantham to come downstairs and wash the feet of all the servants, and invite them to dinner? The servants would be confused and uncomfortable. It would be a huge disruption to the settled order of things.

So I have sympathy for Peter in this moment. His moving target of a response tells of us of his confusion. Where to put the emphasis?

YOU shall not wash my feet.
You shall not WASH my feet.
You shall not wash MY feet
 You shall not wash my FEET
 

+++

“You are to love each other as I have loved you.”

This may be the hardest thing Jesus ever told us to do!

It is not hard to THINK about. It is hard to DO!

To love each other as Jesus loves us is to ignore the barriers that exist between us. It takes us out of our comfort zone. It requires us to back our words of love with loving actions.

And I don’t think it is really any easier to accept that kind of love. I think that is the other source of Peter’s reluctance.

To be served in such an intimate way requires some distance. That is why, for instance, doctors don’t want to take care of their own loved ones. It changes the relationship.

I don’t know what was in Peter’s heart – but I know what is in my heart and the heart of those around me. We believe – really believe it as a matter of identity – that we need to be self-sufficient, self-secure & self-made.

But what if someone comes to us and says –

Can I help you? You need help!Can I serve you? You need to be served!Can I heal you, comfort you, forgive you…?

We might be uncomfortable, confused, put off, even angry.

This is why Jesus asked us not to THINK about loving each other but to engage in the physical action of doing it. Love is a behavior. Like any behavior it takes practice.

+++

Tonight we are going to have the opportunity to take Jesus at his word and see what happens.We had thought about having basins of water all over the place and invite everyone to come and wash feet. But that might have taken a while and been a bit messy. It would have been a big step.

So, we are going to try something smaller. Member how I explained to the children that, in addition to washing you feet the slave would have massaged healing ointment into your feet.

So, today we are all going to give each other hand massages. You’ll find non-scented hand lotion here and there in the pews. We’ll need to work together so that no one gets left out…

Don’t be scared. It will be fine…

+++

Following this, the closing…

Jesus called that a “New Commandment.” But the Commandment to Love God and Love Neighbor is not a new command – Jesus was just quoting the scriptures.

That makes this commandment NEW is who it is who gives it, and where we are all at when we hear it, and what is going to happen now.

Jesus will go and show us just what REAL love is; what it looks like; how far it will go.

He will get up and go to the cross, freely offering himself that the World might live.   

+AMEN+

Sermon for Passion Sunday

Sermon for Palm sunday at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Albany MN

Texts:
Matthew 21:1-11
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 27:11-54

+INI+

Jerusalem is not a big place, even today. In Jesus’ time it was about 1/3 mile square surrounded by walls. (City of Albany = 2.25 sq miles!) And it was PACKED with people, there for the Passover Feast.

And in the center of it all was the Great Temple. The Temple was where God had promised to dwell, a place where all people of all nations could find goodness and mercy, hope and life.

So, the city was filled with excitement and tension. The religious authorities were keeping an eye on the crowd. The Romans were watching, too.

Into this scene comes this – Parade? Demonstration? Bit of street theater? We need to read this right.

To proclaim someone as “the Son of David who comes in the name of the Lord!” means the Messiah has come. Jesus is proclaimed as the One who has shown up in the Capital City to establish the Kingdom of God’s Servant David once again, once and for all!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!” is a call of salvation – save us from our enemies!

Cutting down palm branches was done when an insurgency under Judas Maccabaeus had driven off the last pagan occupation army 170 years before.

Centuries before they had laid coats before victorious King Josiah.

Even the donkey – far from being the sign of humility we might see – was a sign of kingly office. David had ridden to his coronation on a donkey.

+++

“So, who is this,” a bystander asks? “Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth.”

“A prophet, yes, but more then a prophet.” Not just any prophet!

Wandering, wonder-working, messiahs were a dime a dozen!

But the Messiah had a job to do – throw off the oppression of Rome and reestablish the Kingdom of David.

Roman took exception. If David’s kingdom was coming back that means the Roman kingdom was leaving and that was not going to happen.

So all these messiah candidates died and their followers went home. The powers that control this world as it is saw to that.

Yet we, 2000 years later, are going to spend this week in church reading ourselves back into the scene – standing on the street corner, as it were, as the bystander who asks, “Who is this?”

We will be in the Upper Room to see Jesus wash the feet of reluctant, enthusiastic, brave, fearful Peter.

We will see him take the ancient ritual of Seder – the Passover Meal – and open it up as meal for the world.

We will see the crowd that this day shouted, “Hosanna! Save us!” now shout, “Give us Barabbas!”

We will see Pilate loss control of the situation and cave in to public pressure.

We will see Jesus crucified as a danger to the established order of Church and State – “One man dying to save the Nation” as Caiaphas and the Council had planned.

We will see him mocked and humiliated. We will hear him cry out in the voice of great psalm of Lament – “My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

And we will hear the officer in charge of the execution detail give his judgment – this was righteous man. Just one more innocent victim of power.

+++

“Who is this?” Well, that is the question, isn’t it? And it is a question that no one can answer for another.

Mathew, Mark, Luke and John wrote their Gospels to share with us the answer they had come to. I can share the answer I have come to. But my answer can never be your answer.

This is what I believe – what I am persuaded of.

Jesus is the hope of the world – the one who has brought peace between God and creation, opening up the possibility of peace among all people of the world.

I believe, with Paul, that the name of Jesus has the power to gather all nations and tribes to him.

If you were to ask me “Who is this?” that is what I would answer.

So, I ask again – Who is this, to you? Who is this Prophet from Nazareth called Jesus?

I’d love to hear your answers. They will be different as you grow through life. That answer that made sense to me as a 8^th Grade confirmation student we not adequate as a new father in my 20’s, and those answers are not adequate now.

And it is a more urgent question then it might seem. Here is why…

When Jesus dies, Mathew tells us, the curtain in the Great Temple was turn apart from top to bottom.

This huge woven fabric was decorated with the stars of the night sky.

Only the High Priest went beyond it, once a year, into the presence of God, with the blood of the sacrifice for the people’s sins on his hands, to plead for forgiveness.

They would tie a rope round his ankle so that, if he should be struck dead by the Presence, they could safely drag his body out.

And now that temple curtain was torn apart. What do you think that means?

That we can now get to God? Well yes. But it that is all there is to it God is still safely hidden away.

Let me suggest a more wonderful and frightening possibility.

Now God’s Presence is loss in the world. The God of Goodness and Mercy chasing us down!

I invite you, this week, especially, to make yourself an easy target.

Video Pick of the Week

Enjoy...

A 4-year old tells the story of Palm Sunday