Fourth Sunday of Easter

04/25/2010 ~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 9:36-43 (Used 36-42); Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17 (Used 9-12); John 10:22-30.

In Whom Do We Believe?

“This became known throughout Joppa and, because of it, many came to believe that Jesus is the Christ.” — Acts 9:42

In 2007, the late Episcopal Bishop Jim Kelsey commented on change and its impact on congregations with these words (quote): “When we, any of us, focus on things in our lives that are passing away, we get scared, we get anxious, we get depressed. We lose hope.”

“When we focus on things that are being born, coming newly into creation, we get excited, we get imaginative, we get optimistic. We feel closer to one another, feel we have meaning and purpose in this life and have joy.”

“We have been given change as an ingredient in life. We can be frightened and anxious and resistant to it or we can embrace it as a tool to transform us” (unquote).

Many churches are faced with difficult realities— declining membership, financial concerns. Indeed, to paraphrase what has often been dubbed the eleventh commandment of the church— doing things the way we have always done it before never was and is not a realistic course, especially for communities and for churches located in places challenged by geography, challenged by poverty, challenged by a small population base.

Even for more prosperous and populous regions, doing things the way they have always been done is becoming increasingly unrealistic. Kelsey believed the task at hand is (quote): “a matter of letting go of the familiar and being opened to the new life, the new surprise, the new birth God has in store for us.” (Slight pause.)

So, how is the newness of change incorporated into church life? Are there clear steps to follow? (Slight pause.)

A recent Alban Institute article says many congregations embrace change and experience transformation through what the article calls “Baptismal ministry.” Now, this Baptismal ministry and the change which might happen because of its empowerment does not necessarily eradicate each and every challenge. [1]

But it is also true individuals and communities of faith who engage in Baptismal ministry can be transformed by the journey, transformed through the clarity of purpose the journey brings and transformed by the mutual responsibility found in the journey among the members of the community. The practice of Baptismal ministry encourages Congregations to look beyond mere survival, to embrace the future with a sense of hope and an understanding of the real abundance which is present but is too often ignored.

So, what is this Baptismal ministry? (Slight pause.) Baptismal ministry is made real when a congregation works to develop both a sense of discipleship and discipline— discipleship and discipline— through the identity and the mission of Christ. Baptismal ministry insists we are members of the priesthood of all believers. Baptismal ministry insists that through Baptism each person receives gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit— gifts to be embraced and lived out in the church and then taken out into the world.

Baptismal ministry maintains the calling of each person is of equal worth and is essential. Baptismal ministry maintains the local community is the primary context for formation, the primary context for mission, the primary context for ministry. (Slight pause.)

The Ministry of the Baptized is based in Scripture. It was the practice of the early church. And, although the New Testament contains accounts of instantaneous conversions and miraculous events, most early Christians, like most of us now, were not exceptional figures and did not experience these.

So, what was the prevalent model for church growth in New Testament times? In the first few hundred years after Jesus, Christian communities developed a pattern of discipleship. That pattern is still alive and thrives today in many places.

That pattern for discipleship follows this sequence: behaving, belonging, then believing. In the early church, rather than starting with an assumption of belief, formation of early Christians centered on an experience— the experience of Baptism.

Faith was and still is basic. But Baptism was understood to be a building block, an instrument of change by which God acted and God acted first. The profession and action of the individual came second. Hence, the key player and the way in which one actually became a Christian was through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Still, the presence of the Spirit was not thought to be made manifest by some miraculous intervention. Therefore, the individual was not, themselves, exempt from taking action and not, themselves, exempt from being active. The work of the Spirit was meant to be encountered by the individual— present with us and then encountered by each individual.

And it is important to realize an encounter with the Spirit was not something to be entered into without a great deal of preparation on the part of that individual. The early church understood, you see, that Baptism both led to a radical departure from societal norms and Baptism led down the path to... discipleship. (Pause.)

And these words are from Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “This became known throughout Joppa and, because of it, many came to believe that Jesus is the Christ.” (Pause.)

If anything is absolutely clear in Scripture it is this. When there is a story of a miracle, the miracles are never the subject, never the main point of the stories in which they appear. God is the always subject. The message being conveyed is this: God can be experienced. Further, as people experience God they discover faith, love, hope and trust are all intertwined. (Slight pause.)

Now, as to the reading we heard from Acts today, there is a lot of action going on. But it can really be boiled down to some basic points. Peter acts as a channel of God not as an initiator of miracles. So the message is: God can be experienced. Further, as people experience God they discover faith, love, hope and trust are all intertwined and they make this discovery, primarily, by being disciples. (Slight pause.)

I said earlier that the pattern for discipleship follows a sequence: behaving, belonging and then believing. Peter has studied with the Rabbi, Jesus, who is the Christ. Peter became a disciple.

The behavior of Peter was molded by experience. Next, Peter understands belonging to community. At this time, the community is small and is called “The Way.”

So, in this story Peter, brings his study and Peter brings experience to bear. What happens? Peter prays. Why? Peter has been molded by study, by experience, by community. And Peter believes.

The discipleship of Peter is, then, fully realized— not complete, but fully realized. And Peter is not special. The story of Dorcas, her giving ways, makes it clear she, too, is a disciple— the word is even used to describe her— disciple— a fully realized disciple— not complete but realized. (Slight pause.)

There are some who think one of the main things a church should be doing, the purpose of a church if you will, is filling the pews, bringing people in. That is simply not true.

There are several ways to say what the institution known as the church is about, what its purpose is, what it should be doing. Here are a few, and to be clear: each of these descriptions says exactly the same thing. They simply use different words.

The purpose of a church is the transformation of individuals and of the community. The purpose of a church is to help the community and the individual deepen a relationship with God. The purpose of a church is the spiritual formation of the individual and of the community.

The purpose of a church is making disciples. The purpose of the church is to help the individual become a disciple. The purpose of the church is to create a community of disciples.

In short, the purpose of a church is not to bring people in. The purpose of the church is to send people out. The purpose of the church is to send people out into the world to be disciples. (Slight pause.)

And, you see, once the path toward discipleship is entered, there is only one result. Relationship with God happens. (Slight pause.)

I want to come back to what Bishop Kelsey said (quote): “When we, any of us, focus on things in our lives that are passing away, we get scared, we get anxious, we get depressed. We lose hope.”

“When we focus on things that are being born, coming newly into creation, we get excited, we get imaginative, we get optimistic. We feel closer to one another, feel we have meaning and purpose in this life and have joy.”

(But this is the key): “We have been given change as an ingredient in life. We can be frightened and anxious and resistant to it or we can embrace it as a tool to transform us.”

Why does Peter pray? He has come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. Peter is a disciple just like we can be disciples. Why did Dorcas give away the clothes she made? She believes that Jesus is the Christ. Dorcas is a disciple just like we can be disciples.

Discipleship— it does not mean bringing people in. It does mean sending people out— because Jesus is the Christ. Amen.

04/25/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “There is a term commonly used in churches these days: ‘Worship Team.’ The term often refers to the choir, the liturgists, the pastor, the musicians. Applied in that way, when it is applied to say: choir, the liturgists, the pastor, the musicians, the term is totally inaccurate— totally inaccurate. The choir, the liturgists, the pastor, the musicians are worship facilitators. The congregation is the worship team. The congregation is the priesthood of all believers. The congregation— you— are disciples— each one of you and all of you.”

[1] Much of what comes before and after this is adapted from that article, The Ministry of the Baptized, by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, Fredrica Harris Thompsett. The article, itself, is adapted from Born of Water, Born of Spirit: Supporting the Ministry of the Baptized in Small Congregations by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook and Fredrica Harris Thompsett.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

04/18/2010 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 9:1-6, (7-20); Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19.

Visions and Work

“As Saul was traveling along and approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.” — Acts 9:3

As most, if not all of you know, I had a career before I became a pastor. I wrote for the stage, professional theater. And, if there was anything I specialized in, it was writing musicals.

Now, one show I wrote, one not produced but one which did get some readings and run throughs, was a musical version of Much Ado About Nothing, the play by William Shakespeare. With what we thought of as great good humor, the composer, David Schaefer, and I stole our title from another work by the Bard. We called our musical All’s Well that Ends Well.

Indeed, those titles are interchangeable and I think the lyric to closing song of our show proves it. (Quote): “In the end love / reigned victorious / and remained / forever glorious / while providing / us a story with song and dance. / It’s been a pleasure / performing for you. / all’s well that ends well / So here ends Much Ado!

Knowledge of Shakespeare’s works can be an acquired taste. I, myself, was not particularly familiar with them until I started doing research for that show.

When I was writing the show a friend said to me: “re-writing Shakespeare— it must be every writer’s dream and goal.” I don’t know if re-writing Shakespeare was my goal as a writer but since that time, I have read a lot about the much beloved Bard.

So, I bought a recent book by the popular writer Bill Bryson about this resident of Stratford-upon-Avon, and it proved a good refresher course in things Shakespearean. And, needless to say, one of the basic things we know about Shakespeare is we don’t really know a lot about him.

Today, the Bard might be described as lower middle class. Typical of someone in that era— he lived from 1564 to 1616— and in that segment of society, there are very few real records of his existence, other than those great plays and poems.

That Shakespeare wrote great plays and poems was not a majority opinion when he lived nor for quite some time after. To be clear: in his time he was successful.

But in that era, plays were owned by the theater companies for whom they were written, not the playwright. The slim records available do show Shakespeare was probably the prime writer for the Chamberlain’s Men and also a part owner of that group. But he owned no more than an eighth of a share of the company.

These players were among the favored groups to perform at court during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and then an overwhelming favorite of King James, of Bible fame. So, were we to make a comparison to today’s world, Shakespeare might be considered a good writer and producer of a popular television series but not at all an author of weight or authority.

Now, only about 230 plays survive from the time of Elizabeth and James. 15% are Shakespeare’s. It was happenstance so many were preserved.

The First Folio, a collection of Shakespeare’s plays, was published seven years after his death by friends, probably out of some sense of personal devotion to him. Over half, 18, had not been printed before, including Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew , and it’s likely these all would have been lost had the Folio not been produced.

While it is an overstatement to say the works Shakespeare ever totally disappeared, he was dead over one hundred years, into the seventeen hundreds, before these writings really start to be recognized as worthy of note. And only then does someone even attempt to write anything which resembled a biography.

Some plays did not receive performance again for nearly three hundred years. Troilus and Cressida had to wait until 1898 to be restaged. But, no matter what people thought in Shakespeare’s times, today there seems to be no question that, as Bach’s works moved Western Music toward codification, so too William Shakespeare did much the same for both the English language and for the world of theater.

All of which is to say, the recognition of what Shakespeare did and the coming to an understanding of these works as significant, was a process. It took the work and the devotion of a few over the course of years followed the passage of time to get to where we are today (at least in relation to Shakespeare). And, who knows, perhaps in another four hundred years, Shakespeare will not be held in the same esteem. (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work know as Luke / Acts in the section commonly referred to as Acts: “As Saul was traveling along and approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.” (Slight pause.)

Here is an interesting question: did the writers of the New Testament know they were writing Scripture? The answer is, of course, ‘no,’ they did not. For the writers of the Gospels, for Paul and for the other writers, their prime goal was to live faithful lives. The talented among them also wrote in hope of faithfully making a record of the journey.

One of the things we, who live in the Twenty-first Century, seem to fail to grasp is the effort and the time it took for the spread of Christianity to happen. Perhaps that is because the New Testament is too familiar to us. Perhaps it is because we are so surrounded by Christian tradition mixed with myth, we don’t pay much attention to what the writings really say.

Here’s an example of tradition and myth. My bet is most of us have heard it said Paul got knocked off his horse. I said it, myself, in Bible Study Wednesday night. But nowhere in Acts or in Paul’s writing is the word horse even used. Paul (quote): “fell to the ground” after a light (quote): “flashed around him.” There is no horse.

So, where does that idea come from? Perhaps from late medieval and Renaissance paintings of Paul on the road to Damascus, but not from Scripture.

We make other mistakes. It seems to me we read the New Testament narratives as if they happened over the course of only several months. Most scholars agree, Jesus is raised from death in the year 30 of the Common Era.

Most scholars agree, Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians is the earliest work in the New Testament, written about the year 54. Most Scholars agree, the works which make it into the canon are completed as late as 100 or 110, seventy or eighty years after the resurrection.

Most scholars agree, the number of Christians in the entire Mediterranean Basin in the year 100, is less than 10,000. Which is to say the growth of the Way is slow. (Slight pause.)

Still, this is clear: Paul has not just a vision of Jesus, but a vision of who Jesus is, a vision of how Jesus fits into the Jewish concept of One God. And yet, it takes years for that vision to be fully developed to the point where he writes about it and years beyond the work of his lifetime for the vision to really spread. After all, it is the year 325 of the Common Era before the church fully delineates the Trinity with the proclamation Nicene Creed. (Slight pause.)

We, in our culture, tend not just to want answers and results right now. We also seem to have trouble with the perspective of history and the time the work of the Dominion really takes, the time necessary for deep understanding. As the poet Maya Angelou has said, she is always surprised when someone claims to be a Christian since she is under the impression that becoming a Christian takes a lifetime to accomplish. (Slight pause.)

Yes, perhaps we all want visions. But to have vision— that’s to have vision, not visions, not apparitions— to have the vision necessary to see things through, to see what needs to happen, is more rare and more important than to simply having visions. And Paul unquestionably seems willing to do the work of the Dominion— to have vision— even when there appears to be little progress. (Slight pause.)

Perhaps a key question for us is this: are we willing to do the work of the dominion, even if sometimes we get little in terms of result? (Slight pause.) All Shakespeare really did was to live in his time and in his day, doing the daily work, the necessary work. It was years before his writing was recognized as great. And he was not there when greatness was finally recognized.

All Paul did was to live in his time and in his day, doing the daily work of the Dominion, the necessary work. And he was not there when the message spread far and wide.

I want to suggest a Christian calling is to do the work of the Dominion, even when that work is not recognized by those around us, even when it feels like the results are meager. And what is the work of the Dominion?

It is the work of justice, peace, freedom and love. It is the work of caring for others.

It is the work of sharing the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah— the Second Person of the Trinity and that God is the One Triune God. The Christian calling is doing the work of the Dominion in our time, in our era and not worrying about the results.

That may be a tall order in the modern world— not worrying about results. But it is our calling. Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
04/18/2010

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “The baseball player Cal Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played, 2,632. He played for only one team, the Baltimore Orioles, and while he was with them they won only One World series and that happened early in his career, I think the third year. For most of that career, they were a losing team. They were a terrible team for most of his career. Still, he was out there day after day after day after day, just doing the job, just working in the vineyard. I think, more so than the excitement of flashes of light, we Christians are called on to work in the vineyard. We are, hence, more called on to have vision than to have visions. Or as we in the United Church of Christ like to say it ‘God is still speaking.’ And it is through us.”

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

04/11/2010 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Used Revelation 1:1-8 and the John.

Doubting

“...the other disciples kept telling Thomas, ‘We have seen Jesus.’ But Thomas answered them, ‘I will never believe it without putting my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand into the wound of the spear.’” — John 20:25.

I am quite sure most of you know our Music Associate, our Composer in Residence, Tom Rasely— he’s right back there as I speak. [1] Don’t worry, Tom, I won’t say anything bad about you. On the other hand, I may do my best to embarrass you.

Now, anyone can do this but Tom does this maybe once a month. He comes breezing into the office and, if I am available, we sit, say for about ten, perhaps fifteen minutes and just shoot the breeze— no agenda— maybe a little catch up chat about our families, maybe just a little of discussion about baseball.

I relax; he relaxes. Then we both get back to work. Well, last week, Tom came breezing in, I was in the office and available and our discussion turned to the topic of music— probably no surprise there, either. But specifically, the topic was music literacy and, by extension, literacy in general.

Tom, as you may know, teaches guitar— gives lessons on how to play guitar. But, needless to say, it’s hard to offer lessons on how to play guitar without also offering some overall advice and information about music— in short literacy.

As Tom put it, ‘I can teach someone to play something on the guitar. That does not mean they will know anything other than how to do that one thing. They will not be able to go beyond it, to integrate it with anything else unless there is an eagerness to see the big picture.’ And Tom and I were and are both on the same page about the overriding necessity for the individual not just to have basic information which extends beyond the narrow. We need to go beyond that.

And, indeed, when it comes to music or when it comes to the field in which I used to work, theater, there is an obvious question to be asked: do you, as an individual, know something about the field, know something about the literature? As a playwright, if I did not know something about the works of William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, George Bernard Shaw, Neil Simon and Samuel Beckett, to name a few— I would not know enough about the art of theater and the history of theater to make play writing my own.

Similarly, if an individual does not know who Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and who the duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney are and what they did, the place that individual starts in terms of knowing something about the field, is behind the proverbial eight ball. In short, if an individual wants to learn to play the guitar and nothing else but playing the guitar, that individual also needs to know enough to about the art of music and the history of music to be able to make playing the guitar their own.

This may sound like a paradox, but once an individual begins to know enough about a field so that they can begin to know what they don’t know, that individual can start to really become grounded. This is true of music. This is true of theater. This is true of medicine, This is true of banking. This is true of any field. You need to get to the point where you know what you don’t know.

Further, even so called experts can’t know everything. We are all striving to learn and to grow. (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work commonly referred to as the Gospel of John: “...the other disciples kept telling Thomas, ‘We have seen Jesus.’ But Thomas answered them, ‘I will never believe it without putting my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand into the wound of the spear.’”

Question: is doubt a necessary part of faith? Is doubt a necessary part of faith? (Slight pause.) What follows are a series of quotes from several writers and theologians on the topic. I shall name the author of the quote after I’ve given the quote.

“A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.” — Jose Bergamin. “Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt they are right.” — Laurens van der Post.

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” — René Descartes. “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.” — Andre Gide.

“Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” — Miguel de Unamuno. “There are two ways to slide easily through life: namely, to believe everything, or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.” — Alfred Korzybski

“Faith requires something more than comfortable self knowledge. It requires difficult, uncomfortable things— doubt, repentance, observance— these are perplexing in our world of going with the flow and doing your own thing, a world of comfortable, personal space.” — Winifred Gallagher. “Doubt is as crucial to faith as darkness is to light... faith is, by definition, uncertainty.” — Carter Heywood. (Slight pause.)

Once an individual becomes familiar with the Bible, a realization dawns that there are a number of passages in which faithful people express doubt. For instance, in a story told by Matthew, Jesus appears to a crowd of disciples after the resurrection. Even so, with the resurrected Christ in their midst, the Gospel says this about those present: “When the disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”

What I want to suggest is that, if you do not know the literature, you cannot realize how central doubt is to faith. Indeed, the passage read today says these signs (quote): “...have been recorded so that you may come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Only Begotten,...”

But the most important idea in this phrase is that you may come— come to believe. Coming to believe, arriving at the point of belief, if it can even be described as a point, is a process. Further, belief does not happen without doubt acting both as a part of that process and as a continuing factor. As is clearly outlined in the passage, belief does not come without some fear— why did they lock the doors? Fear. But it was fear of the unknown. They doubted.

It seems to me only God can be sure of anything and if we claim that we are sure, we are claiming an ability which belongs only to God. The philosopher Bertrand Russell puts that premise this way: “...I think it very unlikely God would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt the existence of God.” (Slight pause.)

Well, I have just insisted doubt is and needs to be a part of faith. But where does that place me or you or any of us on a faith journey? (Slight pause.) I would suggest once doubt is realized one begins to understand there are things we don’t know. You get to the point where you know you don’t know everything.

And, indeed faith is defined not by what we know. Unquestionably, a definition of faith, perhaps the central one, is what we believe but cannot be fully known. We can have faith only in that which we can neither fully see nor fully understand. Faith, in short, is not about what we see or understand. So, what is it? Could it be that faith has something to do with what we feel? With how we feel?

And what is it that cannot be seen but felt? Well, let’s start with this list: love, trust, hope, joy. These can be experienced. These can be felt. Here’s another way to put it: love, trust, hope, joy can be thought of as solid in the sense of: foundational. But, paradoxically, love, trust, hope, joy are not [the pastor] knocks on the pulpit with a fist] concrete. (Slight pause.)

Well, having said that, how does one get on a faith journey, the journey toward faith? I would suggest we need to start to learn the literature. We need to, thereby, start to know what we do not know. So finally, let us remember this: faith is clearly not a destination. Faith is a journey. Are we willing to be on that journey? Amen.

04/11/2010

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I suppose the real issue in literacy, especially literacy when it come to faith, is making it one’s own. Personally, if my car breaks, I go to a mechanic. I take my taxes to an accountant. I don’t care, particularly, if I am illiterate about fixing cars or doing taxes. But faith deals with my immortal soul. I don’t think I want to trust that to someone else. So, I need to be as literate as possible.”

[1] Mr. Rasely was standing in the back of the nave at this point.

EASTER SUNDAY

04/04/2010 ~ Resurrection of the Lord ~ Easter Day ~ Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8 ~ Used Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-7; John 20:1-18 ~ Used: Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-7; John 20:1-18.

Dreams or Reality?

“The angels asked, ‘Why are you weeping?’” — John 20:13a

It was one of those dreams where she knew it was a dream but she could not wake up. And, if she knew anything, she knew she was dreaming.

In the dream, she was running. And she ran and she ran and she ran. And even though she was running without stopping, she never seemed to be out of breath.

There were other strange things happening too. In this dream she started to run after she found her way to the tomb in the dim shadows of the early morning. In this dream, the stone no long longer covered the opening.

In this dream she was frightened, as she realized the body was not, could not be there any longer. In this dream she ran to find Simon Peter and the other disciple. And she ran... and she ran... and she ran. (Pause.)

It was the eve of the Sabbath when she saw her friend die. She followed the procession to the tomb where the body had been placed. So she knew the tomb she kept seeing in the dream, was the very same tomb. There was no doubt about it.

Indeed, she had watched as the men— the friends, the disciples— gently, lovingly, placed the body inside the rough hewn walls of the newly carved burial place. It was not a dream. It was all... too real. (Slight pause.)

The reality of these several days was overwhelming, a nightmare, not a dream. In the hours before the burial she watched as the Rabbi, the Teacher, died the death of a criminal. She watched as the Roman soldiers executed her friend. She watched while others had fled. She watched... and was with him till the end. (Pause.)

Her name was Mary. But many people called her Mags. That was because she was from the town of Magdala. [1]

The name of the one she watched being executed was Yeshuah, Jesus in the Greek. The name means ‘God saves.’ And that’s what she thought every time she saw him–– ‘God saves.’ That is what she thought she saw in him–– ‘God saves.’

Because of Jesus, she had confidence— hope— that the dominion of God could be and was present, real— that the peace, justice, freedom and equity of God might have a place in society, that these are real. (Pause.) And then she watched... as Jesus died. (Slight pause.)

The reality of the death, the murder, the execution of Jesus by the invaders, by the occupying army from the Empire known as Rome, in this small province known as Judea, a death brought to reality by the orders of Pilate, the Procurator, the Governor, was still real, fresh, in her mind, not simply a distant memory. And it felt... devastating. It made her feel that dreams, especially dreams of hope, were not worth dreaming.

Indeed, all these events of the last several days were freshly seared in her memory as she dreamed this seemingly endless dream. (Slight pause.) And in that dream she ran and she ran and she ran. (Pause.)

Suddenly, Mags was awake. Quickly, she sat upright. (Slight pause.) It was still dark. She could hear the soft, gentle cooing noise of a dove.

Unsure of what propelled her, she got up, quickly threw on clothes and bolted out the door. Somehow, if Mary knew anything, she knew she had to get to the tomb. (Slight pause.)

Can dreams, even shattered dreams... somehow turn into reality? (Pause.) When she arrived at the tomb, the sky still had an eerie shade of murkiness to it, not quite yet the day; not quite still the night. But there was enough light to see.

The stone was a good ways off from the opening of the tomb. Was this reality? Was this a dream? Had she not already seen this, experienced this?

Mags never hesitated. Knowing it was real, not a dream, she sprinted back toward the house. And she ran and she ran and she ran. And even though she ran without stopping, she never seemed to be out of breath.

She found Simon Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved standing together in the square outside the house and told them to get to the tomb. The younger of the two set off as fast as she had seen anyone run. Simon Peter moved at a brisk pace too, not quite as fast. Mags followed. (Slight pause.)

She got back to the tomb as the two stood by the entrance staring at one another, shaking their heads in sadness. Then, they simply left. Alone, she stood there. And she wept. She closed her eyes and she cried and she cried and she cried. (Slight pause.) She had a sense someone was standing nearby. Mary did not open her eyes.

A voice asked, “Why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?”

“They have taken away my Rabbi and I do not know where they have put the body” she said, still weeping. “Please, if you are the one who carried Jesus away, tell me where you have laid the body and I will take it away.” (Slight pause.)

Then she heard her name. “Mary.” Was it the tone of voice? Was it the inflection with which it was said? In the midst of tears, all she could say was, “Rabbouni!”

Was this a dream? Was this real? In an instant, her mind tried to sort through all that had happened these last several days, all that had happened this last hour.

Mags knew this was real. Mags knew this was not a dream. She reached out to touch the Rabbi who said, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to Abba, God. Rather, go to the sisters and brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to Abba, to my God and your God.’” (Slight pause.)

She did not know why this was the right thing to do, but she knew it was. She looked up at the face of Jesus. Loving eyes gazed back at her. They were warm, tender, passionate. Jesus nodded. Mags nodded.

She wiped her tears on a sleeve, turned and walked toward the town. She did not run. There was no need to run. She did not weep. There was no need to weep. She did not quite know why, but she was filled with joy. She did not quite know why, but she knew hope could be real. And Mags knew what she needed to do. Mags knew what she had to do.

This was not a dream. This was reality. This was God at work in their midst. This was the fulfillment of the covenant.

This meant the peace, the joy, the hope, the freedom and the love God promised in the covenant, was and is alive and present and real. And this word, this story, this covenant was not meant just for her.

This word, this story, this covenant was meant not just for the disciples. This word, this story, this covenant was meant for the whole world.

So Magdala went to the disciples and said, “I have seen the Teacher!” The very words filled her with joy and with hope. (Slight pause.) Amen.

04/04/2010

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Anyone who was out on the courthouse steps this morning at the Ministirum Sunrise Service, and there are a couple of double dippers here (I know who you are) heard Tom Olson, the President of our Ministirum, say over and over again and urge the people to say ‘Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed!’ This is not a secret: Happy Easter is not what Christian say. That’s very secular. Christians say: ‘Christ is risen!’ So, when someone walks up to you today and says: ‘Happy Easter’ [at this point the pastor has walked up to May Mayo, the Director of Music Ministries at the Church who responds]: ‘Christ is risen!’ See, that’s the way it works!

[1] The Inclusive Language Version of the Gospel by Priests for Equality was used in the service. That translation says “Mary of Magdala” which is more accurate than the traditional Mary Magdalene.