EASTER 3 - B

Earth Day – You Have Been Witnesses

Introduction

I guess it is fair to say I am a bit of a science fiction fan. I have read most of the classics, and definitely seen most of the movies. What I really like about science fiction is that because most of it happens “in the future” they can write about whatever they want… what I mean by that is that sci fi writers can tell the truth more than people who write about what is happening right here and right now.

George Orwell and HG Wells before him wrote stories of what life would be like in a hundred years. They predicted a lot of things, like submarines, and rocket ships, and the internet…

The scarier science fiction is the stuff that is written about the environment, or about disease, or about hunger… and predicts that we are going to destroy our planet. Even something as simple as the Hunger Games, which is amazingly popular right now, simply predicts a time when food becomes scarce… and wonders what would happen.

Well – wondering about what is next is a part of our religious task, and something that the disciples knew a lot about…

Story Time – The World as an Apple

1. Think of the earth as an apple./ Slice an apple into quarters and set aside three of the quarters. These three pieces represent the oceans of the world. The fourth quarter roughly represents the globe's total land area.

2. Slice this "land" in half. Set aside one of the pieces. The portion set aside represents the land area that is inhospitable to people (e.g., the polar areas, deserts, wetlands, very high or rocky mountains). The piece that is left is land where people live, but do not necessarily grow the foods needed for life.

3. Slice the 1/8 piece into four sections and set aside three of these. The 3/32 fraction set aside represent those areas too rocky, wet, cold, steep, infertile to actually produce food. They also contain the cities, suburban sprawl, highways, shopping centers, schools, parks, factories, parking lots, and other places where people live, but don't grow food.

4. Carefully peel the 1/32 slice of the apple. This tiny bit of peeling represents our arable land, the land upon which we depend for our food. Estimates suggest that we loose 25 billion tons of precious topsoil each year from erosion, yet we must feed an additional 71 million people each year on this diminishing resource.

Bringing the Dead to Life

During worship last week, the gospel reading brought us to the moment where Jesus appeared before his disciples… Those first moments after the resurrection when no one quite knew what was going on… so there were times of shock, and disbelief, and wonder…

Today, we fast forward a little bit and see how those disciples respond as they try to understand how the one they saw dead is now alive. Not only that, but this Jesus guy, who they knew was crucified and buried, is now sitting and eating fish with them.

It is not only a dramatic turnaround; it changes everything… so here are the disciples asking themselves, “How can that be? What does this mean?”…

I don’t think it is too much of a stretch for me to say that the “now what” question is always with us. I also do not think it is too much of a stretch to say that it always has to do with the world around us.

The Genesis story talks about God giving Adam and Eve a garden and then asking, “Now what?” The story of Moses and the Promised Land, same thing, “you got us out of Egypt, now what? You got us to the Holy Land, now what…”

In each case the response is, ‘What are you going to do with what has been given you…’

Jesus has come back; life is stronger than death, now what?

Simply answering that question required a massive shift in the way the disciples thought. First off, their leader was dead and the movement was over, right? Then, they were followers not leaders, right? Well, no, and they had to get their heads around the miracle that things change overnight.

Biologist Elizabet Sahtouris uses the familiar image of a butterfly as a sign of hope for our age.

She says that within each chrysalis a miracle occurs. Tiny cells that biologists actually call “imaginal cells” begin to appear. They are completely different from caterpillar cells. At first, the caterpillar's immune system perceives these new cells as enemies and attacks them.

This is not unlike the way that new ideas in science, medicine, politics, and religion are first perceived. But the new cells are not deterred.

They continue to appear in even greater numbers, recognizing one another and bonding together to form clumps. With enough clumps, the caterpillar's immune system is overwhelmed.

The caterpillar body then becomes the perfect environment for the growth of the butterfly. And we all know what happens when a butterfly emerges from a cocoon. It flies off to embrace its new world.

See, resurrection, Easter, Spring, new Life… it is all the same theme. We just have to learn to see it as part of the way we live life… we are called upon to recognize the new things happening in our midst, and to embrace them, and allow them to change us.

If that sounds a little new age hippy like, let me put it into old fashioned religious language: We can be raised up with Christ, and filled with that same creative spirit of God that was in Jesus.

Conclusion

The disciples succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

I like to think it is because they became so passionate about the idea of new life that it became contagious.

Too often all we hear about is the bad stuff, oil spills and global warming, floods and death and destruction… Maybe what this world needs is a little more carrot and a lot less stick.

Everything is possible, we have all we need right here, God has given us every good gift and If you look around, you will discover that new life is all around you. Embrace the possibility. Amen.

Easter 2 (B)

I Want You to Get Excited About Your Life

Introduction

The worst day of my year has to be Boxing Day. How about you, what do you think the worst day is? I think Boxing Day because you put so much effort into Christmas, it means so much, and then, like all of a sudden, there is nothing. The stores have moved on to Valentine’s and people are putting away the lights.

Sigh. So what about Easter, that was so last week, right?

There is a line in the opening of Doctor Phil, now I am not saying I watch Doctor Phil, but you know, on occasion in a doctor’s office or something… and he says, “I want you to get excited about your life!”

I happen to think that is something Jesus might have said on the day after Easter to his disciples.

Story Time – Holy Humour Sunday

I've got the joy down in my heart.

“Bright Sunday” - Sunday after Easter – day of joy and laughter

parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead

Laughter Sunday or Holy Humour Sunday

Jokes

Q. What did the baby corn say to the mama corn?
A. “Where’s pop corn?”…

Q. What did the pony say when it had a sore throat?

A. I apologize, I am a little horse!…

Q. Why did the clown go to the doctor.

A. He was feeling a little funny.…

Q:  Where do snowmen go to dance?

A:  A snowball!

Q:  What kind of lions do you find in the park?

A:  Dandelions

It's important to be joyful all the time, isn't it? It's important to laugh and be happy and silly and play games. Did you know that in Old English the word “silly” has the same root as the word “holy”? So we are being holy and doing what God wants us to when we're filled with joy. 

1John from the Message

 1-2From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, and verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

 3-4We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

Walk in the Light
5This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him.
 6-7If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.

Getting Excited

I am sure if I was around to see my friend come back from the dead I would get pretty excited…

At least, I think I would, don’t you? Of course, when bad things happen, our mood plummets. Perhaps the disciples were a bit depressed after this whole Easter Weekend gone wrong thing. Perhaps they were feeling gloomy and Eeyore-ish and nothing would have cheered them up.

So when one of the disciples comes and says, rather excitedly, I have seen Jesus, he is back from the dead…. The response was probably pretty lack lustre. “Sure, good one, life is terrible, this is terrible, stop trying to make jokes.”

I bet a few of us have been in the same place, had something bad happen and then be sure it is just going to get worse…

It is hard, isn’t it, to pull yourself out of that feeling.

Well, this is where we get back to Dr Phil, as he would say, “how is that working out for ya?”

And then he would tell us, “I want you to get excited about your life…”

Jesus, in our passage from Mark, rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief.  Now, we don’t exactly know what the words Jesus used were…. But I am sure it was something like, “What are you doing?” “Why are you all locked up in this room? Do you think my death was supposed to end everything, was this all I taught you….”

No… that is not what he intended. And not what happens. There is something there that changes their minds, something that lifts their spirits and makes their hearts so full to overflowing that when he says a little while later – “go out there and spread the good news!” they do…

So… what would it take to get us that excited about Easter? About God? About Church?

You see, Easter is just the beginning, now, what will give us enough joy to become who we were meant to be…

And it can’t be half hearted.

There is this story Bruce Larson tells of attending a conference at a Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians, they weren't used to saying things like "Hallelujah,” or “Praise the Lord." And maybe this would give them a way to express their feelings. All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over 1/3 of the balloons were unreleased.

I am new here…. Maybe you are different than me, but I suspect lots of us would not let go of the balloon…

So why not? Well, how about fear of what people would think. What if we were too excited, too emotional? Would people look at us funny?

I think there is the other side too, there are times when we are trying so hard to do the right thing that we suck all the fun out of it. We want to let the balloon go, we just don’t know if this is a good enough time, or if this is when the people meant, or whatever… and we are overthinking it.

“I come,” said Jesus once, “that you might have abundant life!”

Easter happened, so that we would know joy.

Want to hear the three funniest jokes of all time:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: "Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see." Watson replied: "I see millions and millions of stars." Holmes said: "And what do you deduce from that?" Watson replied: "Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there. And if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life." And Holmes said: "Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"

A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: "That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!" The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: "The driver just insulted me!" The man says: "You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you."

… so is it good enough to sit around and tell jokes? Well… yes… studies have shown that mind over matter is a real thing. It seems that our attitude changes everything; and so, far more important than having someone say “Easter Happened” is the question, “How does it make you feel?”

And I want us to look at it in its most basic form – that Jesus came, and died, and lived on in those who come after simply to show us that life is meant to be lived no matter what happens. That love and joy and hope are more important than all the Good Fridays and crucifixions we might face.

Conclusion

Paul ends the 8^th Chapter of his Letter to the church in Rome with these words:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God”

This, in the end, is the message of Easter, it is the “Good News” it is the joy that keeps us for another year.

Amen.

Palm Sunday

Easter – The First Day

Introduction

Palm Sunday is more than a parade, it is a turning point.

To understand what is happening you have to know what comes before, and what happens after. And the first thing you have to do is set yourself in the scene. This is occupied Palestine… this is the world where everyone works for Caesar… this is a world where the worship of Rome is overtaking belief in God’s goodness…

Jesus is a rebel, he is a prophet, he is the voice of the common, disaffected, faithful Jew – hoping God will turn the tables…

Turning the Tables

 What is the most important thing that Jesus taught us?

I suppose it depends on who you are talking to or what you are doing – I mean, there is the whole Good Samaritan story and how we are supposed to care for each other… there was the whole Lord’s Prayer and how we were supposed to relate to God… There was all that healing and how we are supposed to relate to the sick and lonely….

The more I think about it, the more I think what we are talking about is “be”

Jesus came and taught us to “be” … and we spend a lot of time talking about how we are supposed to act; which sort of misses the point.

“Who is this Jesus?” the crowds asked… and although the answers could very well reflect the actions, he is the guy who cured Barrabas, he is that guy who preached the sermon by the seashore, he is the teacher from Galilee….

The real answer was that Jesus simply was…  the love of God…. Incarnate…

And that, like it or not, is dangerous.

Jesus used to say it more like, “What is the Kingdom of God” but we use different words and think in different ways… for us the question is what separates the faithful from the secular, and what is it that God would have us be in the world.

This is the question of Palm Sunday… ok, people are paying attention, it is a High Holy Holiday of the church… what are we going to do to really make the point…. And when we do it… when we enter dramatically, when we cast out the moneychangers, when we upset the status quo and point out the problems… what will happen to us.

It All Goes Wrong

I had a friend on Facebook recently post a question. To boil it down to its simplest form, they wondered why life always has joy and sorrow. In their case their boyfriend was leaving for work but their parents were coming to visit. Simple situation, simple question, difficult answer.

Why does life not work out the way we hope, the way we expect, the way people like Jesus suggested it might?

Well, I think the truth is we have always been fooling ourselves, life is constantly pleasure and pan, good times and bad, love and loss…. The real question is how we handle it.

A day has passed for Jesus and the disciples. It started in the dark, looking for a Donkey,wove its way through a triumphal entry, a parade fit for a king, a final moment of recognition from the crowds…. Then there was that embarrassing bit in the afternoon where Jesus seemed to lose his mind, where he threw over the tables of the money lenders, where he cursed a fig tree, where he was…. Angry…. And, well, not like himself….

Imagine the ups and downs of a day like this? Imagine how you would feel if all your hopes seemed to be coming true, and then your friend seems to throw it all away?

So you have gathered on the outskirts of the city, night has fallen, the fire is crackling, maybe you are having a cup of coffee and trying to make sense of the day in your head.

Enter Jesus once more:

“Have faith in God, believe so deeply that there would be no doubt in your mind that if you said, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ to a mountain, it would move…. Pray, believe you have already received God’s blessing… forgive everyone… have faith…”

You see, it is not about what happened today, or what will happen tomorrow, that does not prove God’s love, or the goodness of the universe, the question is what do you have inside of you… how strongly do you believe?  Are you willing to confront the powers of injustice, to ride the waves of the crowds popularity, to risk the difficult path in order to help bring about the Kingdom…. Have faith… in yourselves.

Conclusion

I have never been happy making Easter, or Christmas, or Sunday something outside of the normal world. For me the point is, how is this supposed to play out in our day to day living. What does Palm Sunday point to in our world.

I guess for me it is about seeing in Jesus a moment when he was brave enough to stand up, a model of how I am meant to walk out of here and into my world.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of the end. Which is to say it is the first step Jesus takes when he decides, ok, enough is enough… so I watch the news, I see the world, I know… enough is enough… I guess I spend this week thinking about what next…

Hopefully you do to.

Let us pray:

Loving and gracious God, creative power that courses through our veins, spirit of courage and first steps. May we who have confronted the life of Jesus in this service now be empowered to confront the places in our own lives where we need to change, to overturn that which keeps us trapped on the wrong path, to open our heart to the journey through Jerusalem that in the end will allow us to not only see Easter more clearly, but understand God’s will more fully. Amen.