Christmas is easy.
Away in the Manger.
Silent Night. Holy night.
Holy Week is hard.
My head understands the events of that take place.
Triumphant entry.
Confrontation in the Temple.
Crowds gathered to hear Jesus speak.
Celebrating the Passover.
God-awful crucifixion.
But while my head understands, my heart rebels.
I tiptoe towards the edge of the story, but then turn away.
I dare not get too close to the anguish and the betrayal and absolute brutality.
And, that only gets me to Friday.
Who really understands resurrection?
(Even though they have made a TV show about it.)
How do you put words around mystery?
Or, words around an experience which takes your breath away?
For Ben Perry (and for me and maybe for you as well)
This afternoon a young man whom I have known for most of his life took the next “official” step in the process of becoming a minister in and for the Presbyterian Church (USA). I was ask to say something to him as a part of that process.
This is what I wrote (and said).
It was written with Ben in my heart and mind.
But, maybe meant for you and for me, as well.
Ben, let me begin with this:
There is no way. You make it by walking.
So, as you continue your journey…
Know your history.
Honor tradition.
But always lean in the direction of tomorrow;
For that which we know and name as God is more than history and larger than tradition;
And always just beyond what we can name or know.
And, resist platitudes;
And easy answers to challenging questions.
Trust in God who is always understood better as a verb than as a noun.
And, follow Jesus as he plunges into the crowd hungry for bread and for so much more.
Pray deeply.
Dream boldly.
Hold fast to hope.
Do what you can to bend the long arc of history in the direction of God’s Kingdom come.
And, each day…
Be incarnation and practice resurrection.
Wild Whispers of Faith
After at least a week of extensive and exhaustive research, I have come to what might be, for some, a troubling conclusion. Despite what appears to be a trend to the contrary, and an enormous amount of money invested to influence public opinion, Easter is not primarily about…
Easter bunnies.
Or Easter eggs.
Or Easter baskets.
Or candy.
It is also not about Easter bonnets.
Or butterflies.
Or spring.
Or flowers.
It is not even about the Easter parade.
But, truth be told…
All that is easy and easy to understand and easy to explain and, therefore, easy to celebrate.
On the other hand, resurrection is hard.
Hard to understand.
Hard to explain.
Even harder to live.
Yet, here you are in a church, on this Easter Sunday morning,
Going against the grain of public opinion and that which is easy;
Doing your best to remember and to celebrate and to claim the promise of Christ alive.
I am glad we can be here together this morning.
After Easter, a couple years ago, I received an email from a Jewish friend and colleague who recounted for me a conversation he had with a member of his congregation. He had been asked, whether seriously or tongue in cheek I don’t know, “How can Christians seriously believe that Jesus came back from the dead and went walking around?’ My friend ended his email by asking me, “What should I say?” In a few sentences, I tried my best to do what I am not sure I have been able to adequately do in 30+ years of Easter sermons and that is completely explain what I think resurrection is and means. After all, how can anyone fully explain something that is, at least in part, mystery and promise. But, in a few sentences I did my best and then clicked “Send.” Not too long afterwards I received his reply. And, while I forget the exact words he used and his email was long ago lost in some digital black hole, what I do remember is the touch of sarcasm wrapped around his response.
How can Christians believe that Jesus came back from the dead and walked around? Being again, now, just like he was before?
Here’s the thing, I don’t think he did.
I don’t think that is what resurrection means.
I don’t think that is what Easter is about.
And, I am pretty sure that is not what the Gospels describe when the use the imagery of earthquake and angels and stones rolled back.
The Bible doesn’t talk about some type of resuscitation.
Some heaven sent form of mouth to mouth or CPR.
What the Bible talks about is resurrection.
Not as he was before he was killed, but Christ alive in some new way.
Presence. Yes. Real. Yes.
But alive now to and in the lives of those who came next.
Those who dared to believe what he said was true.
Those who dared to live as they had seen him live.
Those who dared to touch and to heal and to teach and to share and to care just as Jesus had.
Christ alive…
In them and through them.
Now, what about you?
And, maybe that is what Easter is all about.
Some wild whisper of faith that reminds us that what we celebrate today is not past tense, but present. Not only about Jesus or even primarily about Jesus, but mostly about you and me when we do our best to take what he taught and take what he did and embody it again in our own lives. To have Christ be alive again, in some small way, in who we are and through who we are and in what we do. And when we find the courage to live that way, Christ is present again and God’s Kingdom comes close.
So, maybe today…
In the world in which we live…
With the headlines in the news just what they are Christ alive looks something like this:
When the hungry are fed, Christ is alive.
When the broken are healed, Christ is alive.
Can you say it with me…if not out loud, at least to yourself?
When crosses no longer crucify, Christ is alive.
When the stones of addiction or arrogance or abuse no longer entomb, Christ is alive.
When you welcome the stranger, Christ is alive.
When you care for another, Christ is alive.
When you embrace the overlooked or forgotten, Christ is alive.
When enemies are recognized as neighbors, Christ is alive.
When hope overcomes despair, Christ is alive.
When the poor are not pushed aside, but invited to join you at the table, Christ is alive.
When you practice compassion, Christ is alive.
When you pray deeply on behalf of another, Christ is alive.
When we help God’s Kingdom come close, Christ is alive.
When you come back from the dead, Christ is alive.
And so it is Easter.
Thank God it is Easter.
As we do our best to practice resurrection.
And add our whisper to those other wild whispers of faith that Christ, indeed, is alive.
May it be so, O God.
May it be so.
Practicing Resurrection
From the Bible:
In the world out there, the candy has been eaten and the baskets put away, but here it is still Easter.
At least for one more week.
And before we turn away or move on to what comes next, one more time we stand face to face with the promise of resurrection and are left to discern what it means for our lives and for these days in which we live. So, this morning, these verses from John’s Gospel as he seeks to convey his understanding of the meaning of resurrection.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Simon said to him, “Yes Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon replied, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Tend my sheep.” Jesus said to him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to Jesus, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
– John 21: 15-17
The Sermon:
Many of us grew up reading or, at least, knowing about Newsweek or Time magazine. Both magazines represented respected journalism that was relied on to bring expanded information about the headlines in the news. In 2011, Newsweek had a weekly circulation of roughly 1.5 million. That means last week, at least, 1.5 million people saw this cover and read this headline:
“Forget the Church. Follow Jesus.”
Maybe you saw it or heard about it, as well.
And, if that was not challenging enough the title of the lead article to which the headline referred was this:
The Forgotten Jesus: Christianity Has Been Destroyed by Politics, Priests and Get-Rich Evangelists. Ignore Them and Embrace Jesus.
Enough to give one pause, don’t you think?
At least for those of us who carve out precious time on a Sunday morning to be in a place like this.
And who are involved in the church…
And who take our place in the tradition of Jesus.
Newsweek!
1.5 million people seeing the headline and reading the article.
But, it gets worse.
That respected weekly magazine, which so many relied on for so long, is three months late and 19 million people short.
What do I mean?
You may remember, in early January Jeff Bethke release a video on You Tube entitled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” When I checked on Thursday, Mr. Bethke’s video had been viewed 21.5 million times. Leaving Newsweek in the dust.
For those of us on the inside our initial reaction to both the Newsweek article and to the video is a stammered “But…” followed by all the reasons we think all of those out there are mistaken or wrong or don’t understand.
“What is going on in the world out there?” We ask.
“Why do they hate us so much?”
So, here is the tension.
On one side is forget the church.
On the other side is the witness of the Bible.
Yes, misused and abused by some.
But also preserved and protected and passed on by that church we are told to forget. Verses, stories, reminders, admonitions which you and I turn to for inspiration, and as a reminder of who we are called to be and what we are called to do. How do we begin to bridge that divide between where so many of them are and what we know and treasure and value about the church as we experience it?
Maybe here…
Through recapturing the message of verses like the ones we heard this morning from John’s gospel.
There we might begin to find some common ground.
Or, at least a signpost that might point the way.
For, it seems that what continues to touch people out there…
Those who want to forget the church…
Is when we…
When the church…
When those of us who find meaning and hope in a place like this…
When what we do matches what we say.
When Christians practice what we preach without necessarily “preaching” at others.
When, in the words of John’s gospel, we feed and tend and take care of and protect.
When we practice resurrection.
Here is something I wrote on my blog this past week that seemed to strike a responsive chord both among those who know me and regularly read what I write, but also among some whom I have never met and have no idea who they are.
I wrote:
Here is what I think…
I care more about what you do and how you act, than about what you tell me you believe.
I care more about the language you use when you talk about and to other people, than whether you went to a church or a synagogue or a mosque last week.
I care more about whether you treat others the way you would like to be treated and whether you are grateful and generous, than whether your belief in God or Allah matches my belief in God.
I think how you behave is more important than what you believe.
Maybe that is why I find more common ground with those whose faith tradition is different than mine, and even with those who ask thoughtful and thought-provoking and challenging questions about my faith, but who I see, day-in and day-out, treating others with respect, spending their money thoughtfully, and doing their part to make the communities in which we live better, than those who demand some form of “correct belief” and are dismissive of me and others when we disagree with them.
Is that something of what is needed?
Of who we are called to be in the world?
In an article I read recently it said that research shows that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a craft. At four hours a day, seven days a week that translates into nearly seven years.
If it takes that long…
And we are to practice what we preach…
If we are to practice resurrection…
Maybe we better get started.
