"Full to the Brim: An Expansive Life" an Easter sermon on Luke 24:1-12 & 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Luke 24:1-12
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
“Full to the Brim: An Expansive Life”

Preached Sunday, April 17, 2022

Part of the work I do on a weekly basis is to make the powerpoint slides for worship. I normally save this work for the evening, after my daughter goes to bed, because it’s the kind of work that doesn’t take too much mental acuity and I can put some mindless TV on in the background while I do it. Normally I go for reruns of my favorite shows but this week I had 3 worship slides to make - Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter - so I decided to binge the peak of mindless television: a reality tv dating show. And by the end of the week I had already reached the reunion episode. You know, where all the contestants from the show get together to watch clips, dish out gossip, and reminisce.

And as I sat down to write my sermon, the reunion episode fresh in my head, I was thinking of that act of collective reminiscing. There were memories that took people back to some of their worst moments, things they said that they weren’t proud of, recollections that took them to some of the darkest moments of their lives, not good places. And of course, there were happy sharings as well. How they grew from what they experienced. How their lives were changed. How they built friendships and love.

But we’re not here today to talk about television and reunions shows - we’re here to talk about the Resurrection and the power of remembering - not remembering for nostalgia’s sake, or for entertainment - as is the case with reunion shows - but remembering because the act of remembering is not just about the memories of the past - but about shaping our future.

This morning’s Gospel lesson illustrates the power of recollectance. Every Gospel has a slightly different recollection of the events surrounding that first Easter morning - of the resurrection of Jesus. One thing that strikes me from Luke’s telling is that no one present at the tomb that morning sees the resurrected Jesus. They will later - but not at the tomb that morning.

The women came to the tomb, their hands full of oils and spices to anoint the body and the tomb…was empty! And they were perplexed. Confused. Scratching their heads - maybe borderline distraught. And then, that’s when two men in dazzling clothes stood before them and said:

“‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.”

They said to them “Remember!” “Then they remembered his words…” and they believed in the resurrection. Without ever seeing Jesus - they remembered. They remembered all that Jesus had said to them, all that he had told them, all that he had promised - and that’s all it took. It took remembering and then they returned, sharing the first news of the Resurrection with the rest of Jesus’s disciples.

And at this news, Peter is overcome. He has to see it for himself - which is kind of ironic because the women didn’t actually see Jesus - just an empty tomb and some dazzling men telling them to remember. The text says: “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.” He too, must have remembered - seeing the linen cloths by themselves, seeing the empty tomb, the women’s words ringing in his ears - and probably not just the women’s words but Jesus’s words too. All he had said. All those things that Peter had not understood at the time - all those times he tried to ignore or misinterpret what Jesus was saying - but in that moment, Peter remembered and it all clicked into place.

This act of remembrance changed the whole course of their lives - the women who were the first proclaimers of the resurrection. Peter who would become a fearless preacher of the Resurrection, building God’s church, faithful to Jesus to the point of martyrdom. Remembering and believing in Jesus’s words - that first Easter - changed the whole course of their lives and the whole course of human history.

Remembering changes everything for us too. We weren’t there that first Easter. We have never seen the physically resurrected Jesus. And yet, we can remember the resurrection. Recall Jesus’s words. Remember that he conquered the grave. That he rose again on the 3rd day. That he broke the chains of death.

We are called to remember both Jesus’s death and resurrection.

As I said before, not all memories are good. And for those who have experienced trauma and have PTSD - remembering can be actively harmful. And I do not want to dismiss that today. And I can’t speak to trauma specifically but I am going to say - it’s not good if we forget the hard or bad memories too. The dark nights of the soul, the struggles we’ve been through, our mistakes. Those experiences have shaped us. They made us who we are. We have grown and learned from them. They’ve also taught us lessons so that we can do better in the future - to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is in our own personal lives and relationships and at a larger scale. There seems to be a movement in our world to sugarcoat the past - skip over or re-write unpleasant parts. In our country that would be things like legalized slavery, genocide of indigenous peoples, internment of Japanese-Americans, Jim Crow - and so on and so forth. But if we don’t remember - and remember correctly - we will never learn and the future will not be brighter.

If we truly remember how dark the dark days were - then, hopefully, we can also remember the light that comes after. The steady march of justice throughout history. And the suns that rose on our own darkest nights.

When we remember the dark nights and the sunrises that come after - when we remember both, what we are really doing is saying “Darkness does not win. Evil does not win. Justice and oppression and our mistakes and failures and sins do not win. Death does not win.

That is why we do not remember Christ’s resurrection outside of his crucifixion, either. It’s why many of us sat in this sanctuary on Friday, a bare altar, black curtains covering the windows, no flowers in sight. We sat here and we proclaimed the passion story and we extinguished candles, plunging the sanctuary into darkness.

Because our lives have dark moments, trying times, things that we’d rather forget.

But by remembering them AND remembering what comes after, we can proclaim that all the forces of darkness and death - they do not have power over us, they do not have the final say.

From our reading from 1 Corinthians today:

“Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Death does not have the final say because Christ is ALIVE.

We have to remember it all - even the things we don’t want to remember.
Because in remembering, we shape our future.

In remembering, we can choose life.
In remembering, we can choose the better way.
In remembering, we can choose to not live in the past .
In remembering Christ’s death and resurrection we can put our faith and our trust into a future filled to the brim with life, and hope and joy and love.
In remembering Christ’s death and resurrection, we can claim the power of the resurrection for ourselves! That we are not bound by the evil in this world, we are not bound by the chains of death. Their power has been broken.
In remembering Christ’s death and resurrection we can proclaim that life is truly filled with just that - life, abundant, expansive life - because Jesus was raised from the dead. Death was defeated.
We remember it all - and it changes who we are.
We remember the sunrises and the Resurrection.
We remember that we serve a God who is Love and Life.

This morning do you hear the words said to those women at the tomb, those words now said to you: "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember…”

Today we remember. And we proclaim:

Christ is Risen
He is Risen, Indeed!
Amen.

"Full to the Brim: Even the Stones Cry Out" a sermon on Luke 19:28-40

Luke 19:28-40
“Full to the Brim: Even the Stones Cry Out”
Preached Sunday, April 10, 2022

“Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap.” - St. Hildegard of Bingen, who lived 1098 - 1179

I have this quote from Hildegard, my favorite saint, hanging on my office wall. It inspires me to say the things that need to be said. I actually feel like that’s a pretty apt job description for a pastor: to say things that need to be said.


To speak life in the midst of death
To speak love in a world of hate
To speak peace in times of war
To speak truth to power
To speak justice in a world of oppression
To speak God’s glory in a secular world

Of course this isn’t just the job of a pastor. It is a call of all Christians - to use our voices for God’s glory and God’s Kingdom. This is what Hildegard did. At the time of her life she was one of the only if not *the* only woman given permission by the Pope to speak in front of mixed gender audiences. As a woman, even as an abbess, she would have only been permitted to speak to other women. But she could speak in front of men and women. She was granted permission to speak and teach in front of men as she said she was not speaking as a woman but speaking as a “mouthpiece of God.”

We are all called to be mouthpieces of God - after all, it’s either us or the stones. Because some things NEED to be said - and if we don’t say them - God will still find a way to get it out. Now, that’s not to pass the buck or excuse those times we fail to speak up. Instead, I pray it may bolster you, give you courage to speak the words that God calls you to - speak or even shout them out!

From our Gospel lesson this morning:

“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’
He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”

The Greek word here for “shout out” is krazo which is an onomatopoeia for a crow. Our best translation today would be caw-caw. “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would caw out.” Krazo means to cry out with a loud and urgent scream or even a shriek. It’s “inarticulate shouts that express deep emotion.”

At what point in your life have you had to caw out like a crow? Something that needed to come out of you, expressing deep emotion?

Perhaps it was the first time you told someone you loved them. That’s something you never forget, the way the words feel in your mouth, how right it feels.
Or perhaps a celebratory shriek when you see a friend you haven’t seen in a long time, a cheer of celebration at a milestone.
And those times perhaps when you’ve lost a loved one, the guttural cries or wails that escape you, that you don’t know where that sound came from.
Or when you finally ask for help.
Finally confess.
Finally stand up for yourself…or finally stand up for someone who needs stood up for.
When you use your voice to advocate for others.

There are times when these words or sounds may just tumble out of your mouth - one minute they’re in your head or your heart and the next you’ve made that leap from silence to the boundaries of speech and you didn’t even think about it. Instantaneous.

Or there are other times when you spend time rehearsing the words. Going over them again and again. Saying them in the mirror. Piecing them together in your head.

Perhaps times like testifying in court. My friends shared he went over and over what he was going to say in court for the adoption of his daughter. Words that needed to be said, that came from a deep place of emotion, but words he needed to get just right and be said in the right time and place.

Perhaps you go over and over the words in your head when you’re about to do some conflict management, your heart pounding - you don’t WANT to do it but you know you need to. And you know the wrong word could be a minefield.

Any time you’re nervous, you want to get it right, you know you NEED to say them - the words just take longer to get out.

And still too there are those times you are walking into a situation and you have no clue what to say or what you’re going to say. Perhaps someone has a krazo moment to you. Where they confess something to you, ask you for help, or call you to stand up to injustice - and you’re at a loss for words but then the Holy Spirit gives you the words to say. I often feel this when I pray, when I hold the hand of someone grieving, when I am by a deathbed…all my words fail. But the Spirit has the words to give me. Or perhaps, the Spirit leads me to say nothing, just holding a hand - that too is a version of saying what needs to be said. Sometimes nothing needs to be said.

Our Christian siblings, the Quakers have much to teach us about saying only what needs to be said - and nothing more. In lieu of sermons and hymns, many Quakers have an unprogrammed meeting. They gather together, often in a circle, and wait expectantly for God’s voice. When and if someone has been given something to say by God, a mouthpiece for God, like Hildegard - they speak. Speaking not to fill the silence or to say it cause they like the sound of their own voice or to say it cause they’re convicted of how right they are - but to say it because they believe it is something that God has given them to say, that needs to be said, that would be for the benefit of all at the meeting - they break the silence, and they speak. They call this vocal ministry. Some meetings may be filled with the voice of God, coming out of the mouths of those gathered. Some may be all silence. It all depends on the need to - caw caw - at the direction of the Holy Spirit.

The crowds in our Gospel lesson this morning had something that they needed to say, needed to shout out.

“As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,
saying, "’Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!’”

This is something they needed to say - words that needed to be shouted out.

So today I ask - what words need to be said? What words is God calling you to say?

To speak life in the midst of death
To speak love in a world of hate
To speak peace in times of war
To speak truth to power
To speak justice in a world of oppression
To speak God’s glory in a secular world

Are you using your voice for joyful praise, to testify to all that God has and will do? Like those who lined the streets on that day with palm branches - do you feel compelled to shout out how great our God is?

Speak out! Dare to declare. Make the jump from the shores of silence to the boundary of speech - it’s either us acting as mouthpieces of God or the rocks will cry out. Let it be us.

Amen.

“Full to the Brim: Brazen Acts of Beauty” a sermon on John 12:1-8

John 12:1-8
“Full to the Brim: Brazen Acts of Beauty”
Preached Sunday, April 4, 2022

We’re going to jump right into it this morning with my opening sermon question. Thank you for always being vulnerable and open to where the Spirit takes us. This isn’t a question to answer out loud during this time, but one to turn over and think about:

If you knew that the last time you saw a loved one alive - if you knew that was going to be the last time, what would you do? What would you say? Especially if it was a time where you were both healthy and well.

While we were expecting her death when my Grandma was in hospice, my mother and I took our United Methodist hymnals and went to sing hymns at her bedside. My grandpa joined in. My grandmother shared she appreciated the concert. I still hold this memory very close to my heart and I can no longer sing “Are Ye Able” without thinking of her and this time I so appreciated to say goodbye to her.

This is what Mary is doing in this morning’s Gospel reading.

Our reading from John takes place after Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and his subsequent retreat to the town of Ephraim to lay low after the commotion around, and even expected backlash, to his miracle and it takes place before he goes to Jersuealem to celebrate the Passover - and, his coming betrayal, arrest, and death.

And in between these things, he comes to the house of Lazarus and Mary, Martha and Lazarus throw a dinner for him - when your close friend who just raised you from the dead comes to your home - you throw a party! I imagine that there was great joy as they were together - Lazarus was ALIVE, the tears that Jesus wept at his grave were now turned to laughter around the table together.

And, at the same time, I wonder if something hung in the air, at least for Jesus and those who perceived it. They were on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus had spoken many times about what would happen to him there. He had spoken of his suffering and death - but it’s talk that most of the disciples seemed to ignore or grossly misunderstood. But not Mary.

Our reading from Isaiah this morning says, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

God was about to do a new thing through Jesus but at this point, among his followers, it seems like Mary was the only one or one of the only ones who perceived it. She knew that this might be the last time she was with him before he died.

So she goes and breaks open, pours out a jar of expensive perfume over Jesus’s feet, and she wipes them with her hair. A jar worth 300 denarii, roughly equivalent to one year’s wage for a day laborer. This perfume may have originally been had for Lazarus’s burial - but, due to the miracle of Jesus, left unused. So instead of using it on her dead brother, now alive. She anoints Jesus, still alive, not yet dead, for burial.

Sanctified Art commentators call Mary's act here “a brazen act of beauty.” They say, “Beauty is resistance to death; beauty is an act of love…a public act of worship.”

Brazen - because they are unapologetic in what they are. A Sanctified Art continues saying, “Mary’s actions could have been defined as wasteful, sexual, shameful, or inappropriate, but Jesus affirms and praises what she does because it is an act of love. In fact, he will soon mirror Mary’s actions on the night before his arrest when he washes his disciples’ feet.”

Mary is not worried about what it will look like. She is unafraid in creating this moment of beauty, this moment of intimacy with her Lord, this moment of worship. And yet, people were watching - and they didn’t like what they saw. Judas does call her out saying how wasteful she is - how she could be doing better. But Jesus deemed had her back and told him to leave her alone. What she did is necessary and good - it was beautiful, and she anointed Jesus for burial.

Our reading from Isaiah today says: For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”

“The people whom I formed for myself SO THAT they might declare my praise.”

We were created in order to declare God’s praise. One of our purposes in this world, what gives our life meaning - is to praise God. We can do this in many ways. We do this through finding, prioritizing, choosing, and sharing beauty in this world.

What does this concretely mean? What does it look like?

Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about finding joy and laughter even among death.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about being authentically and openly who God created you to be.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world might look like Mary’s actions, giving lavishly, maybe even wastefully, for the mission, for the glory of God, the good in front of you - instead of nickel and dining or saving for a rainy day.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world mean looking for, pointing others to, and even creating moments that glorify God - without reserve, without holding back.

Now, brazen acts of beauty in this world come with great risk. If they didn’t come with risk then it wouldn’t be the kind of beautiful acts that declare God’s praise - it would be living a life of privilege.

The kind of brazen acts of beauty we are talking about come with risk, they come with vulnerability, like a jar of perfume, poured out, broken open.

Artist and minister Lisle Gwynn Garrity tried to capture that in this piece of artwork* depicting Mary’s brazen act of beauty. She writes this in her artist’s description of the piece:

“This image began as a painting on raw canvas. With fluid strokes of paint, I allowed the colors to run and bleed into each other. As I drew Mary kneeling, I omitted the other details in the scene, removing Jesus’ feet, the other guests, the table full of food. I wanted to focus on Mary’s brazen act of pouring out the expensive perfume, a commodity valued at a year’s worth of wages. The luxurious liquid is expansive, flowing out toward us as the viewer. It bleeds into the red, foreshadowing the blood Jesus will soon shed. The vessel she holds is lined with gold, a reference to the ancient Japanese practice of Kintsugi, of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. The art of Kintsugi embellishes the cracks and transforms a shattered vessel into a new object of beauty. In this embodied act of worship, Mary is practicing Kintsugi—boldly celebrating the beauty of life even as death approaches.”

Kintsugi highlights the beauty in vulnerability - it highlights that there can be beauty even in the midst of brokenness, laughter in times of tears, joy in times of sorrow, life in the face of death. It encaptures what we are talking about today as vulnerable brazen acts of beauty.

I think of those and their stories - which are not mine to tell today, not individual’s name and details that is - but, still, painting with broad strokes if you will: I think of those who have overcome addictions and share their story of their sobriety and recovery with others - maybe even sponsoring others toward recovery. Sharing their own story so that others could also find the beauty of recovery.

I think of those who was open and unapologetically living out who God created them to be - especially our LGBTQ siblings - those who are open about their journey, even the pain and struggles along with the joy - who are pouring themselves out to help create a world where future generations of LGBTQ kids won’t have to go through the same pain and hardships.

I think of those who have shared openly about infertility, grief, divorce, chronic illness, whatever it is - about those who have shared their stories, opening themselves up, being vulnerable - in order to show others the gold that is filling in the cracks - the beauty that comes from healing, from seeking and living out that abundant life that God wants for us - and inviting others into that life, to share the beauty with them.

Let’s take a moment here and remind ourselves that one of our four named values at Grace is Beauty through Wonder. I often think of this as our most esoteric value. We define this value as “We worship and praise Christ in God’s earthly creation.” And what that’s getting at is how central Worship by the Water is to our identity as a congregation. And how the act of worship and the natural world creates wonder for us - wonder at God’s almighty hand. And while the natural world is an obvious place to find beauty - beauty can also be found all around us - all it takes is for our minds to wonder - to wonder - where is the beauty here? In this situation? In this person? In my life? And when we find it, lift it up to God in praise - to hand it over to God. For when we find beauty in this world - whether that be in creation, in another person, or in a brazen act of beauty - for when we find beauty in this world and we see it for what it is and we see who is behind it - God - God finds it beautiful too.

Let me say that again: God finds it beautiful.

We serve a God who is enamored with beauty. If it were not so, would there be so much beauty in the world our God created? Would we have such a capacity to create beauty? Not talking about looks or even art - but the beauty of love, of joy, of kindness, of worship. Beauty.

Beauty is not just for us to enjoy, but for God too. When we create beauty in this world, when we see it and thank God for it, when we share beauty with others - it’s an act of worship or praise. What we were created to do.

Given this, our challenge for us this week is for each of us to consider the following questions:

How am I being called to live out brazen acts of beauty? How am I being called to be vulnerable, broken open, poured out - in a way that glorifies God? In a way that shows the gold in the cracks?

Also - How are you finding beauty in this world? How is your life beautiful to God? How are you sharing that beauty with others?

How are you using the beauty of this world and your life to point others to God?

Let us look to Mary and her brazen act of beauty and be inspired to share beauty with the world, to praise God, to fill in all the cracks with gold.

Amen.