Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Day, Year C 2010

01 Easter C 10

April 4, 2010

Combined Service at 10:00 a.m.

A lesson from the Early Church:         Acts 10:34-43

   34 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

A Song from Ancient Israel:        Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say,
     "His steadfast love endures forever."

14 The LORD is my strength and my might;
     he has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the LORD is exalted;
     the right hand of the LORD does valiantly."
17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
     and recount the deeds of the LORD.
18 The LORD has punished me severely,
     but he did not give me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
     that I may enter through them
     and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD;
     the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
     and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
     has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD's doing;
     it is marvelous in our eyes.

To Us Who Were Chosen

One of the most amazing and unusual things about our Christian religion is that we believe that everything that is and everything that ever came into being, particularly every thing that is living, came though God saying something.

We're noticing, many of us, that our grass is taking seed and growing tall and green in our yards. We're noticing our perennials popping up again, and those bulbs we planted talking root and sprouting from the ground. And there are those in some of our families that have enjoyed the miracle of becoming pregnant, of feeling that new life growing within, and some we know have even given birth in the past year. And we who are Christian, we who believe, we who, as Peter puts it, were chosen, believe that all these things, these flowers and bunnies and birds and babies all of them begin with a word, with God saying "let this happen, let this thing be real."

I don't know exactly whether people in the church really appreciate this idea, but in most other religions, the role of words is hardly important, much less central. But words are terribly important to us Christians and with Jews as well. Everything that is, everything that really has any meaning to us at all, came through God's word.

Stories are made of words, and the Christian faith, in fact, every Christian person and every Christian community, is founded entirely on a story, a series of words, words in a certain arrangement, a certain order, a certain set of sentences. Nothing but some words.

And the words are basically these:

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power... he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what religion you grew up in. If you hear these words and believe them, in almost any kind of way, to even the least degree, a power begins to work in your and through you, a power that changes not only you, if you let it, but the world around you, if you let it.

Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit. He used the power of this Spirit to go about doing God and liberating people from the power of the devil. A number of special people were chosen to follow him around as witnesses. Then, "they," meaning the religious and political leaders of that time, arrested him and executed him by crucifixion, the punishment of choice for those found guilty of insurrection. But three days later, God raised this Jesus from the dead and allowed him to appear to certain people who had been chosen to be witnesses of the resurrection, chosen to eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded those witnesses, that is, we who were chosen, to testify that Jesus is ordained as God's judge.

Now the funny thing about this story is that when certain people hear it, it starts weird things to happening. It draws people in. It gets them thinking. Pretty soon, it gets them feeling things. Next thing you know, they get to seeing things, things like the risen Jesus eating and drinking with the people of God, the people who have been chosen. They begin to hear the Lord Jesus giving them commands, pronouncing his judgment.

Yes, all of this comes out of this story, and all the many stories that have been collected about this story. It comes also out of other stories, stories of things that happened as a result of telling these stories, things like this Roman Centurion giving up a pretty highly paid job killing people for the emperor of Rome in order to give his life to the peace-loving, non-violent king of the Jews and savior of the world. It's really a remarkable thing. You tell this story---Jesus filled with the Spirit, Jesus healing, teaching and exorcizing, Jesus crucified, Jesus risen from the dead, Jesus leading his church---and it causes things to happen.

God says, "let this grass grow," "let this egg hatch," "let this child be conceived," and these things come to pass. And we say, "Christ is risen," and it is as if God said, "Let this new life begin," "let this person be reborn," "let this church come into the world and turn it upside down."

If we believe this story in some kind of way, and I think most of us can at best only believe it in some kind of way far less than perfection, if we believe this story some kind of way, then it ipens this rather amazing door for us. It is, as Jesus tells us, a rather narrow door, a rather tiny little gate, one perhaps that we will only barely squeeze through, but the gate and the door and the way is nevertheless open.

The way is open to the kingdom of God, a kingdom in which the one who made the living universe is in charge, a kingdom in which all those things we formerly thought might be impossible become possible. Forgiveness. Transformation. Healing. Freedom.

You know all those things people say will never change? You know those things that people say are just outside our control? You know all those things that are unacceptable that people tell us we just have to accept? Of course, they are right. We can't change certain things. Many things are far outside our control. Many unacceptable things must simply be accepted. In fact, these are important spiritual realizations that some really can't manage, but need to.

But once we accept the unacceptable, once we let go of things we can't control, once we give up trying to change things we can't change, we who believe, we who for some strange reason have been chosen to be witnesses to the resurrection, have this gate, this door, this way open to us, into this kingdom where there is one who can change anything, who can control anything, who does not have to accept the unacceptable. If this first man, the first one who was chosen, if this first one, the one who was crucified, if this first one rose from the dead, then it may be that the thing that never will change, will change, the thing we can't control will be controlled, the thing we can't accept may not have to be accepted, because when the power of God enters the picture, everything, friends, everything is possible.

Even peace. Even justice.

Just a story. We just tell the story, and these things happen.

Do we believe it?

Amen.

No comments: