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?