The Second Sunday of Easter ---- 24 April 2019

John 20:19-31

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

[Because of an unfortunate post-Easter illness, I had just about lost my voice, but that wasn't the only reason for a 'dialog' -type sermon.]

"Peace be with you."

·       I really only have two points to touch on this morning, then I might just open things up for anyone else to say something.

·       With these words, Jesus greeted his friends in the room where they had all but barricaded themselves on the evening of that first Easter.

·       With these words, Jesus again greeted them all on the next Sunday and this time, Thomas was included. We all know the story. In truth, it’s our story as well.

·       Thomas shows us that the earliest church struggled with the Resurrection, what it was, and what it means. Thomas wants proof and says he won’t believe Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side… Well, I’d like to have that sort of proof as well!

·       I won’t get it unless something REALLY special happens. That’s okay. I have this story, which is my story and your story.

·       We hear this story every year because it is meant for us. None of us have put our fingers in the nail marks or our hand into the spear wound. Neither did John’s readers. His was the last Gospel written and it was done possibly 100 years after the Resurrection.

·       John wanted to let his readers know that they are not second class Christians for not having seen. They were permitted to believe without seeing and without the verbal testimony of eye-witnesses. Those people would have a blessing of their own. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

·       And so it is with us. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

·       As my second point, we can look at what Jesus says when he enters the locked and barricaded room. Jesus says “Peace be with you.” It isn’t a wish or a polite greeting, but a blessing. Important things in the Gospels are always revealed after the peace is conferred. The Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – say “Don’t be afraid!” Look at the greetings of the angel to Mary or to the shepherds in the story of the Nativity. Here John says “Peace be with you.” Something special is about to be revealed. In this case, the Spirit is breathed on the disciples and they are commissioned to declare the forgiveness of sins.

·       Now how about you?

Easter Sunday ----- 21 April 2019

Luke 24:1-12

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember…”

·       I had a conversation a short time ago with an especially thoughtful Christian and we agreed that preaching at this season of the Church year is not easy because “everything’s been said.” That is true; whatever I might say about Christ’s Resurrection and the festival of Easter has been said and probably been said by others far better than I could say it. So why do I go on with this exercise in futility?

·       The reason is simple: I forget what Easter means to me. I dare say that all of us might forget as well. We all need to remember.

·       In the busy lives we all lead, we forget. We forget what we were created for. We forget what God wants for all of us. We even forget what we received in Jesus. Faced with the real issues of the world, like the bombings in Sri Lanka and the fire at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, we forget or we can forget the meaning of Easter.

·       Faced with tragedy, loss, fear, uncertainty, sickness, and death, we forget what we’re about. We search for meaning, direction, and even salvation in our own efforts, in our own ideas, and in so many things that will eventually fail us.

·       Simply put, we search for life in death. We look for the living among the dead. This celebration reminds us and tells us again and again that the tomb is empty, that hope beyond hope is fulfilled, that what appeared impossible is already done.

·       Have we faced loss – of loved ones, of beloved places, of dreams and hopes that will never be fulfilled? Then we can remember that the loss attached to the cross of Christ is held close to the heart of our God. The empty tomb tells us that such losses are given life in Christ.

·       Have we faced our own brokenness and sinfulness and felt the shame of that realization? Then we can remember that grace and forgiveness releases us from our sins, whether we feel it or not. None of these things are beyond the healing touch of God and the embrace of God’s love. Resurrection is new life.

·       Have we felt or been told that we are not enough, that we’ll never be enough, that we are “unclean” or less than somebody else or some other group. Then we can remember that Jesus endured the cross for us, each of us, as poor as we might be, and rose that we might be free.

·       Have we faced who we really are and recoiled from the person in the mirror? Than we can remember that Jesus reached out to lepers and comforted grieving women as he walked the Way of Sorrow to Golgotha. In the Resurrection, he always begins by saying “Don’t be afraid!”

·       This is why we hear this story every year, because we all forget. Bills and pains and so much of what we call reality turns us in ourselves, curling us up in a ball. The story of Jesus’ passion and resurrection – the reality beyond our daily concerns – opens us up and reminds us of what our God wishes for us. Many of us know the cross and the way of the cross quite well. We know there is no escaping the cross in our lives. And in hearing the whole story, we can remember where the way beyond the cross leads us.

·       The story leads us to the empty tomb, to the confusion of the women and the skepticism of the disciples. It leads us to Peter dashing head-long to see for himself and to his amazement at what he finds there.

·       Don’t be afraid! Over the next few weeks, we’ll hear more of the story and I, for one, want to listen! We hear this story time and again for one simple reason: we forget. I’ll be happy to hear it again, because I’ll forget and I’ll want to be reminded… reminded again and again until my life takes on the shape of this story, until this story shapes my memory and my actions, until my entire life resounds with one cry –

Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!)

Good Friday ------ 19 April 2019

·       We’ve heard this story of the Passion of Jesus Christ so many times, we could probably recite it from memory. I think it is worth hearing on a Good Friday, not just because it’s “tradition”, but because the story is so vital, so important, so very frightening and yet grace-filled, that it NEEDS to be heard. Any number of people fine a solace in the story of a God who suffers with them.

·       Another related idea came to my attention in my preparations for the services of Holy Week. Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, the “Skull” or “the Place of the Skull.” It’s also called Calvary, which comes from the Latin word for skull. So the hill may have been skull-shaped. Or maybe there were the skulls of those executed still there. We cannot be sure.

·       There is still another interpretation. The tradition of the time held a different idea and many teachers in the early church held to this tradition. They said that Jesus was crucified at the site of Adam’s grave, where Adam’s remains were buried. The icons of the Eastern Churches show the cross of Jesus standing over a skull and bones.

·       “So what?” we might say. Yet the symbolism is great. Jesus, the obedient second Adam, is executed over the grave of the first Adam, who brought death into the world by his disobedience. Out of death comes life, and we receive more in Jesus than was lost in Adam.

·       The blood of Christ, spilled on the cross, enlivens us all for we are all dead and buried in Adam. Now however we are dead and buried with Christ in our baptism… and we all know what comes after Jesus’ death and burial.

·       Jesus Christ is the first of a new creation, which like the seeds at this time of year, comes forth from the shadows and grows without our help and often without our knowledge.

·       To see the cross then, reminds us that the circle has been made complete; God’s desire for creation is again in place, for the father of all the living – and all of us, the living – has been redeemed by the Life of the World. As Paul wrote:

for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday ---- 14 April 2019

{Because of the length of the Passion reading and the particular rites for Palm Sunday, the sermon is shorter. Very few complain about a shorter sermon... providing it makes sense. Actually shorter, more concise sermons are harder to develop.}

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

o   Every time I read this passage, I’m amazed and ‘convicted.’ The second term means I am made to face my own failure and sinfulness. I must face the fact that I am not who I should be and I have not done what the Lord has asked of me. Such is the power of Jesus’ example.

o   The humility of Jesus is truly beyond us. We cannot be so humble since we do not start so high. Yet his humility is our exultation… and our example. The Passion narratives in the four Gospels tell the story, and Paul’s words capture the meaning of that event for Jesus. Humility and obedience is the meaning for Jesus. Grace, salvation, and the endless love of God is the meaning for us.

o   One of the major words here is “emptying.” It is a theological term of tremendous significance but it means what it says. Jesus came among us not as the embodiment of the Divine; He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Likeness, no matter what we might think, means far more than the simple appearance, but also the fullness of the experience. That little word carries a lot of weight.

o   Jesus utterly abandons the form and experience of God, the “likeness” of God. This is something which Jesus does for himself. No one chooses it for him; No one forces it on him or requires it of him. He chooses to do it and he chooses to submit to the humiliation of the crucifixion as the Gospels describe. Although we don’t hear it today, we know Jesus did this in the face of his own desire to “… remove this cup from me; Still he goes on: yet, not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

o   Paul tells the Philippian Christians to do this, not for any reason than to be obedient to God and to be like Jesus. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… Just what this means will depend on each individual. In the face of the example of Jesus’ “emptying” and under the grace of God, each of us will have to consider just what we need to be emptied of to be faithful to God and to our Saviour Jesus Christ who always show us the way.

The Fifth Sunday in Lent ---- 7 April 2019

Isaiah 43:16-21

16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Philippians 3:4b-14

4 If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 12:1-8

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

·       There is something in all of us that fears the new and desires the familiar. Some even prefer a familiar and known but unhealthy situation rather than take a chance at something that could well be new and better. I suppose that it’s the strangeness of human nature.

·       Our memories contain things both old and new, but not as we know “old” and “new” to be. Still what are the “old things” we might remember and consider?

·       Hatred

·       terror

·       war

·       sin

·       suffering

·       slavery

·       robbery

·       These are all thing that destroy life, whether quickly or slowly. These are the things that our stories and our movies use as a setting for some heroic tale of overcoming the odds or escaping the situation. Death and the weariness of life are always old. Repeated history is always old.

·       What then might be new?

·       Birth

·       Life

·       Love

·       Rescue

·       Survival

·       Escape

·       These are life-giving things. Anything that gives life can be counted on as “new.” The birth of a child is always ‘new’ and it is usually celebrated.

·       In Christian terms, Resurrection is always “new” and whatever Jesus does leads to newness and to new life. That is his mission and the mission he gave to his church. It is see in our baptism where each of us has risen to new life and the newly baptized are still reborn in Christ Jesus.

·       We may wonder what God might be doing that might be new. I think that it really comes down to Resurrection and new life, given to each of us in the free gift of grace, so that the world might be made new in and through each of us.

·       So when we gather as we gather today, God is doing something new.

·       When we commit ourselves to the poor of the world as Jesus reminded his disciples in our Gospel reading, God is doing something new.

·       When we come to the realization of the value of the salvation, as Paul did in counting all as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… God is doing something new.

·       Maybe God “means the world” to us and maybe each one of us “means the world” to God. This may be why Mary, Lazarus’ sister, anointed Jesus for the day of my burial. And this may be why Jesus permitted her to anoint him.

·       We will always be surprised by what God is doing. It might not be what we expect and it might not even be exactly what we want. But it will be new. That “newness” is something to be remembered on the day of Resurrection, this Easter, every Easter, and on the day of our own Resurrection.

·       Remember what God has done in Christ Jesus, and know that it remains new.

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?