Easter 7 Sermon Year B - Testimony

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, Psalm 1, 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19, Leonard Cohen

Testimony, testify… When I hear these words I think of courtrooms where lawyers try to convince a jury of guilt or innocence. Before someone testifies, they swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Then they are cross examined to make sure that their story stays the same… to make sure they are telling the truth as a witness.

Testimony, testify… When I hear these words I think of personal stories of faith being shared. A friend sharing about how they have experienced God in their lives. Or the knock at your door, when you answer you are greeted by someone wearing a name tag asking if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

At the heart of testimony is truth; truth that is questioned, truth that is convincing, and truth that is personal. This is what our reading from the First Letter of John is all about; the truth that God gives us is eternal life through his Son. This is the truth that we celebrate every week when we meet in this place and share a meal at this table.  Each of us has taken a different road to arrive at this truth; a different pathway that led us here today.  For me it began with questioning the truth that was instilled in me since birth.

Easter 5 Sermon Year B - Singing the Blues for Easter

Psalm 22:24-30, 1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8, Blues Music

There is a temptation to think that if you have Jesus then you don’t need the blues.  Indeed, there is a certain guilty conscience that can develop among Christians, especially around Easter, that says, theologically, don’t worry, be happy.  Jesus died and rose again.  No more death, no more pain. 

But I think if you were painting the resurrection, you would paint it in hues of blue, rather than pink.  The Eucharist we celebrate, the happy meal of the church, is one that is predicated on aching sadness and suffering, born of oppression, betrayal and even police brutality.  Police brutality that got its orders from religious as much as civic leaders.

Tonight we have the blues coming to us when a world is steeped in wounds of earthquakes and riots; unimaginable suffering in Nepal and for me as a white woman, the hard to grasp fear, rage and powerlessness in Baltimore.  The blues, with its articulation of loss and despair, is definitely the right genre to sing here tonight.  It feels like it is being called from our lips with every bit of news we hear.

But does it really fit the scriptures?  Does blues really fit our Easter season?  Or are we just to think our happy thoughts about Christ risen from the grave and deny the world around us? 

Good Friday Seven Last Words Sermon - "I am thirsty."

Downtown Ministrium Seven Last Words of Christ

5^th Reflection – I am thirsty

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”– John 19:28

I preach on one of the shortest sayings of Jesus on the cross. It is the simplest and most needy thing he says. It forms the basis of the mockery that passers by saw him as, while he was dying. When we visit the dying, they are almost always thirsty.

It is very tempting for us to shy away from the difficulty of today. We are tempted to gloss over the suffering of Jesus, the absence of most of the disciples, and his death. We are tempted to ignore these facts and jump to the amazingness of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter. We are tempted, but we cannot give into that temptation. This is something that I struggle with every year because I don't like to think of the pain he endured, so I am saying this as much to myself as I am to all of you... today we must sit in this space which is visually bare and scripturally painful before we can enjoy the great days that are to come.

 

At the time John’s gospel was written, Christianity had become a distinct group within the multi-religious context of the Roman Empire.  Though not legally recognized, Christianity was quickly growing in numbers. In the Hellenistic world in which Christianity was born, some believed that Jesus had not really come in flesh and blood, much less died a gruesome physical death on the cross.  At that time it was believed that flesh was of the evil realm, and could never be holy, which is why philosophers of that time sought to transcend the earthly body and reach towards the lofty aspirations of the spirit and knowledge.  Only the spirit was capable of the divine.  In other words, they believed that Jesus did not really die he only appeared to.  

But that was not true. Jesus did die on the cross and the theology of the Gospel of John seeks to defend this even at the very beginning of the gospel in the scandal we call Christmas when John tells us that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Poem for Easter Sunday

Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain, 
wheat that in dark earth many days had lain;
love lives again like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

In the grave they laid him, Love whom hate had slain,,
thinking that never he would wake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. 

Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
he that for three days in the grave had lain,
quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. 

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
thy touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. 


– John Macleod Campbell Crum
(The 1982 Hymnal, Episcopal)

Notes from Easter Sermon

John 20:1-18

Come and See

· It is a simple invitation, but it means so much more

· In this invitation is an expectation of sharing something special, something amazing

· Many of us here today have come because someone said to us come and see

· Recurring theme in the Gospels, especially in John’s gospel

· This is at the heart of our gospel story today, Mary asks Peter and the disciple that Jesus loves to come and see what has happened

We need to come and see because our expectations and ideas are being challenged.

Expectations

· Mary is shocked that when she arrives at the tomb, things are not as she expected

· Jesus constantly defies expectation

o Says things that are unexpected - love your enemies and pray for them, turn the other cheek...

o Does things that are unexpected - opens the eyes of the blind, have friends who are sinners, he followed God’s will to his own death, even when he could of turned away

· The way to learn about Jesus is to come and see

Followers

· Can we, as followers of Jesus, be different from what the world expects of us? We are different, we are changed by the resurrection of Jesus.

o The world tells us that we need to have the most stuff, step on others to get ahead, exercise our power and authority at the expense of others, me...me...me...

o Jesus tells us that we need to love others as he loved us, serve others as he served us, for if we do these from a place of genuine love then we are reflecting the love that God has for us

So as we go out into the world today, may we invite others to come and see that Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Easter Vigil - St. John Chrysostom's Easter Sermon

St. John Chrysostom's Easter Sermon

Christ is Risen!
If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival. If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord. If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.
If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; for he shall suffer no loss. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation. If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one he gives, and to the other he is gracious. He both honors the work and praises the intention.
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward. O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy! O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day! You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today! The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you! The calf is fatted; let no one go forth hungry!
Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness. Let no one lament his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free.
He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into hades and took hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted his flesh! And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, "Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions." It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!
It took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen!
"O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?"
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!
For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.
To him be glory and might unto ages of ages. Amen.

Poem for Holy Saturday

Letting Go of What Cannot be Held Back

Let go of the dead now.
The rope in the water,
the cleat on the cliff,
do them no good anymore.
Let them fall, sink, go away,
become invisible as they tried
so hard to do in their own dying.
We needed to bother them
with what we called help.
We were the needy ones.
The dying do their own work with
tidiness, just the right speed,
sometimes even a little
satisfaction. So quiet down.
Let them go. Practice
your own song. Now.

—Bill Holm