"Again & Again: We Turn from Palms to Passion" a sermon on Mark 11:1-11

Mark 11:1-11
“Again & Again: We Turn from Palms to Passion”
Preached Sunday, March 24, 2024

Hosanna! They shouted. Now, Hosanna can have multiple meanings. We are used to Hosanna meaning a praise for God. Hosanna as in “praise the Lord” or Hosanna as in “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” And it does mean that --- And, in a more Biblical and literal sense, it also means “Save us.”

Save us! Save us! Save us! The crowds chanted as Jesus rose into the city.

Save us!

Save us from what?

Two marches, two parades, were happening that day in Jerusalem. Every year Pontius Pilate was sent to Jerusalem during Passover to remind the Judeans that while they may have some leeway to celebrate their festivals and to worship their God, they were still under the rule of the Roman Empire. Pilate rides into Jerusalem for Passover to squelch any uprisings that the festivities may bring. He comes with military fanfare. He comes riding on a war horse, decked out in the symbols of the Empire. He comes with power and prestige and foreboding to remind the Judeans that Caesar is King and they are under his rule - so don’t go getting any ideas.

Well, on the other side of town, Jesus and a whole lot of people were getting other ideas. Whereas Pilate entered at the main gate, Jesus came to the city through a back entrance. Whereas Pilate entered on a war horse, Jesus entered on a donkey. Whereas Pilate came to remind them that Caesar was King - Jesus rode in to shouts of, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!" That is - Save us, the King of Israel!

Their shouts meant that to them, Jesus was King - and Caesar was not. Save us! Save us from the injustice and oppression of the Roman Empire! They wanted to interrupt the status quo which was the oppression of the Roman Empire. They came and they shouted and laid cloaks down in the road and waved palms for the same reason because they wanted so badly for things to change.

…Now, today is a weird Sunday. Because we’re really observing two things today. Palm Sunday - the day the crowds shouted Hosanna, shouted save us, and Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. And also Passion Sunday - looking ahead to the events of Thursday and Friday, Jesus’s betrayal, arrest, and death. Again and again, we turn from palms to passion. And the turn, from “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him!” reminds us that some of the same voices that shouted “Save us!” also shouted for Jesus’s death.

Hosanna! Save us! Save us!

Save us from what?

Save us from our own ideas of what Jesus is - many in the crowds that day expected Jesus to fit their ideas of who he was and what he came to do - a powerful figure who came to conquer and overthrow - to start a political revolution. When Jesus didn’t do this in the way they expected him to - their “save us” turned to “condemn him.”

Hosanna! Save us! Save us!

Save us from our own self-serving ideas of who Jesus is and what we expect him to do for us. Save us from images of God that are made in our own images. Save us from oppression and save us from the ways we oppress. Save us from our own tendencies to lash out in anger. Save us from our tendencies toward retribution and violence. Save us from our inclination to gloss over the events between today and Easter, Save us from the desire to point the finger at anyone but ourselves. Save us, Save us, Save us!

Hosanna!

As we once again turn from Palms to Passion, I invite you to immerse yourself in the story of this week. Both this morning as the choir brings it to us in voice and music and this week at our 6:30PM Thursday and Friday services.

We know that God does save us. God saves us from our bondage to sin and death. God saves us from our fear of the Grave. God saves us - from ourselves. God saves us for Life and Love. So let us walk this journey together - hearing our own voices shouting “Hosanna,” hearing our own voices shouting “Crucify him,” and hearing our own voices finally shouting “Alleluia.”

Amen.

"Again & Again: We Are Reformed" a sermon on John 12:20-33

John 12:20-33
“Again & Again: We are Reformed”
Preached Sunday, March 17, 2024

I am an amateur vegetable gardener who treats it as kind of a side hobby among my busy life as a pastor and a mom. So that usually means, come fall…I kind of let it go. I do one last harvest and then I don’t think about it again until it’s spring and I need to go pull up last year’s dead plants and weeds that have sprouted up and prep the beds for a new planting. But every year…as I’m cleaning out the beds, I am also surprised to find - and I shouldn’t be surprised cause I find it almost every year - and what I find are little shoots of tomato and peppers plants coming up - growing from the seeds of the plants that had fallen and died last year. We call these “volunteer” plants - because they weren’t planted on purpose but they volunteered to grow.

Volunteer plants, new sprouts growing from last year’s fallen seeds, reminds me of Jesus’s words in our Gospel reading today: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…” Jesus is hinting at his upcoming death and resurrection. The text even says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth” aka - the grave - “will draw all people to myself. He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.”

And yet, for us Christians to look at this solely in the context of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we miss some of the challenge his words have for us. For the cycle of death and then new life is not just one God does, but it is one that we are called to embrace as Christians.

Part of this is about actual death - death is a reality for all of us and I don’t want to dismiss that. This season started with the reminder that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. Jesus actually died on the cross. And an actual death awaits us all. Let us keep physical death in our minds as we share in this sermon - and, today we will talk primarily about metaphysical death as it comes to us all.

What then does that mean when Jesus says that some things MUST die for there to be new and abundant life?

We can think as well about what in our own lives will change and will die: in our habits, our relationships, our communities. Sometimes we want so badly for things to stay just as they are, we hold on tight, and hope our lives never change. But that’s not the way life works. In order for life to move on, in order for life to continue, some things fall away, to make way for something new. I remember in the months leading up to the birth of my daughter, I had this strong sense that the life I had built, the life I loved and didn’t want to change… it was going to drastically change, it was going to die. I was going to die to the self that I was, so that a new self, a mother, could be born. Wherever there is uncertainty, fear, or unknowing in your life - look beyond it. What new life will come forth after the change?

Some things have to give, to be let go, to die - for new things to be born.

This is the imagery we use in baptism. That in baptism we die to our old selves, to our sin, and are born anew. For traditions that practice full immersion, the going under the water represents death, represents going into the grave, under the water, under the ground. And then coming back out of the water, represents rising from the grave, new life, and resurrection. This metaphor is present in all baptisms though, even today as we baptized a young child - it can be disconcerting to think of this image of death and life when we baptize one so young. It is often why I prefer to focus on the image of being adopted into God’s family - which is also a major aspect of what baptism is - baptism is many things at once. And, as we baptized this child today, we know that parents and loved ones and even this congregation who just made promises to this child, we want to shelter him. To protect him. From the fragility, change, impermanence of this world…and yet we know that in his life, he will experience all of it. And, today, in his baptism - we are claiming for him a life of, well, life. A life of abundant life. A life of new life - of resurrection. Of new beginnings. We are claiming for him, that we will raise him and love him in such a way, that no matter what happens in his life - that he knows that God will always be with him. That he knows that God will always be there, ushering him out of the things that bring death and into the things that bring life.

And the fact of life is - sometimes things WITHIN us have to die for new life to come. And the cycle of death and new life, this means change - and change is HARD. And the new life at the other end is worth it.

And we have a term for that: sanctification. A lot of Christian traditions stop at justification. You accept Jesus into your life and you’re all set. We believe, however, that when Jesus comes into your life: that’s when the real work begins, the work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying you. That is the Spirit working within us to lead us to better love of God and better love of neighbor as self. The work of making us more holy, more like Jesus.

And in order for God to work on me, change is necessary. If someone doesn’t want to change - then Jesus is not their guy. Jesus says “whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” And he says this as he is talking about the wheat falling to the ground, about death, and then - about resurrection. Jesus is saying - you must die with me so that you can have new life with me.

As Christians, we are called to reform ourselves, die and resurrect, again and again, letting ourselves be clay in the potter’s hand, an image from Scripture, where God is working us, reshaping us, reforming us, making us into who God calls us to be. Another image from Scripture is the refiner’s fire.

I realize I am preaching in the rust belt so let me talk about steel.

In the finishing process in the steel mill, there is the Hot Dip Galvanizing line where there is a giant pot of molten zinc kept at 850 degrees Fahrenheit, the size of a swimming pool, and sharp sheets of metal continually slice through it at speeds that could cut a person in half. And as steel enters the pot of molten zinc, the impurities, the dross, are refined away. One of the jobs of steel workers is, every thirty minutes or so, to clear the pot of the floating dross, of the impurities, to keep them from going back on the steel and ruining it.

Molten zinc. 850 degrees. Razor sharp steel. This is a terrifying work environment and imagery - but sometimes the changes in our lives, the changes that would reform us, that would refine us, that would put our dross, our impurities to death...it can be just as daunting at the Hot Galvanizing Dip in the Steel Mill.

God does want to burn off our dross, to reshape us, to put to death that within us which is not life-giving: our sins, our pride, our hate, our judgment, our prejudices - there are things within us, that need to be removed, that need to die - so that, newer, fuller life can be resurrected. There are things within us that need to die so that love of God and love of neighbor, that which makes us more holy, more like Christ, can take their place, take root and grow in our lives.

This isn’t easy. And it isn’t all at once. This is our whole life’s journey. And it’s a hard one. Change is hard and change is painful - even when it’s for the good. But God loves us and gives us sanctifying grace, so that we can be reformed throughout our lives, to be more like Christ.

It can sound all good. It can sound simple. It can sound like “Well, of course I’d be on board with that!” But the lived reality of it is harder. Being changed, being shaped by God - embracing change, embracing the cycle of death and resurrection within us...it’s hard.

But hear the Good News:

There is one thing that will never ever ever change.

And that is the covenant of God to God’s people, of which we are adopted through Christ in to, and we heard today from Jeremiah:

“I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

In a world of impermanence, in a world of change, in our lives that God calls us to sanctification, to ongoing change, to becoming more like Christ - this is our solid foundation, this is our core identity, that no matter what gives way in our lives and in our world, that no matter what storms may come, that no matter what it feels like to go through being clay in the potter’s hand or in the refiner’s fire - it is written in our hearts: God is our God. We are God’s people. We are God’s children. We are loved by the God who is love, who will never let us go, and will always offer us grace, grace to grow, grace to change, grace to love, grace to die and be born again, changed and more like Christ.

.Being centered as God’s people, we don’t need to fear being clay in the potter’s hands or steel in the refiner’s fire or wheat that falls to the ground...for God is our God and we are God’s.

Being centered firmly in that knowledge, you can ask yourself: What do I need to let go of, to let die, to change, so that God can make room for new life within me?

May it be so.
Amen.

"Again & Again: God Loves First" a sermon on John 3:14-21 & Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21
Ephesians 2:1-10
“Again & Again: God Loves First”
Preached Sunday, March 7, 2024

Do you clean your house before people come over?

Admittedly, as a child and as a teenager - I hated participating in the pre-guest clean-up. Especially on Christmas Day. We’d wake up, open presents…and then be given a chore list! Guests would be over in just a few short hours! Get to it!

Every year, I’d say at least once - why do we have to clean!? They know what we’re like! They’re family - don’t they love us anyway? Surely their houses are actually a mess too! My pleas and reasonings to get out of cleaning went ignored by my parents and I had to clean anyway.

Confession: I have never been the cleanest person. As a teenager, my room was truly atrocious - I was a good kid other than my utter messes. I have gotten better as I’ve aged…or so I like to think. But the arrival of my daughter in my life, and all the STUFF and messes that accompany kids - well, it’s set me back a little bit. Perhaps there are some people in this world who always keep their house meticulously clean. I have friends who have a set cleaning schedule where the floors get scrubbed every Friday. That just isn’t me.

And so, now anytime before a guest comes over my house, I have to ask myself: How much do I need to clean?

I don’t worry too much about what my house looks like before my family comes over. My parents have seen my absolute worst messes from my teenage years - way worse than anything going on in my house now. I know my sister-in-law does actually judge me for my messes, but in the way that sisters do with no malice, I can laugh it off, and she may even end up doing some of my dishes for me.

But if a stranger was coming into my house? If I was hosting a party? Or - worst of all - if Trustees were coming over for a parsonage inspection? You bet I am cleaning. And not just surface level cleaning. I’m talking getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing the floor boards cleaning. My house has never been cleaner than the day, in my last appointment, that the minister who was following me was coming to check out the parsonage. I spent two whole days prepping the house for that one.

So what’s the difference between my parents stopping by my messy house? Or having a group of Trustees walking through taking notes? (Sorry trustees, I really do love and appreciate all of you!) Or even having someone you don’t know come to your house?

For me - it’s this question: Will I be judged? Will this person’s opinion or me be changed or lowered because of the state of my home? How safe am I to be my messy self with them? To show them what it’s really like to work full time with a toddler and have toys on the floor and dishes in the sink?

For my family? I know their love for me is unconditional. Their opinion of me won’t be changed by the last time I’ve vacuumed or dusted. I feel safe around them. But that’s not the cause with everyone - and so, much to my childhood self’s chagrin, I generally clean before guest comes over.

This week’s Gospel Lesson got me thinking about who we show our true selves too. Who do we let see our kitchen messes? Who do we let see the kitchen messes of our souls? I’m not talking about dirty dishes anymore - I’m talking about our doubts, our fears, our faults, our hopes, our excitement, our love. Who do feel free to just “be” around?

For me it is those who love me, who I know love me, and who I love in return. My husband. My family. My best friends. We don’t condemn one another. We don’t shame one another. We open ourselves up to each other, we share the innermost parts of ourselves, and we find love and acceptance. To have relationships like this is truly a blessing.

I think that’s part of what Nicodemus was looking for when he came to Jesus in the middle of the night. That’s the context for our Gospel reading today. Nicodemus was a Pharisee looking for answers. He wanted to know who Jesus was. He wanted to know more about what he taught. He wanted to know what it means to be born from above. He wanted to understand Jesus better.

But Nicodemus didn’t come to Jesus in the day, he didn’t come when the sun was shining, he came under cover of night.. There has been much speculation on why. Could it be that Nicodemus feared the judgment of others, of his peers? Could it be that he felt shame in not knowing the answers himself? Could it be that he didn’t know yet if he could fully trust Jesus with his whole self?

I know that sometimes, when I’m afraid to share something, when I don’t know how someone will respond, I find that nighttime helps coax the vulnerability out of me. Pillow talk, late night chats, call it what you will - but this is how my best and truest relationships have been formed. Best friends talking late into the night, sharing our hopes and dreams and fears with one another. Losing track of how late it was getting because we felt safe and secure with one another. Perhaps these intimate moments often take place at night because there is less to distract us. There isn’t the busy buzz of the day. There is just us. And a deeper awareness of who we are and our desire to share it with others. The darkness can hide our true selves, the deepest parts of ourselves. But it can also make us brave - brave enough to share. Brave enough to ask. To form deeper bonds. To approach God, open, with all that we have - asking questions - like Nicodemus approaching Jesus.

And so in the darkness, Nicodemus gets brave. And he approaches Jesus. And he gets a word on love, on condemnation, on darkness and light.

Jesus says that God loved the world so deeply, that God’s Son, Jesus, who was in fact God’s self who took on flesh, was given as a gift of love to the world.
A gift of Love. A gift of God’s self, love incarnate.
God was given as a gift of love, not to condemn the world, not to bring shame to people, not to judge - but so that they might know love. And that they might know what it feels like to be fully known and to know love.

Jesus says - “The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

When we think of the darkness as Jesus references it here - think of it as the things you hide. Things you’re afraid to admit. The things you’re ashamed of. And Jesus uses the word evil - so yes, even that. Even our sins, those times and ways we’ve messed up, haven’t gotten it right, hurt ourselves or others. And, sometimes, if we’re being honest: we like the cover of darkness. Because it brings safety. It can be vulnerable to bring our stuff, our deepest parts of ourselves to the light. What if we open up, what if we share and instead of being met with love and acceptance - we are judged, shamed, and rejected? It’s scary. It can be easier to stay in the darkness. We can try and keep our truest and deepest selves hidden away...but in God, the God who is Love, the God who is Light, the God who came not to condemn but saves - in that God, all is seen. All will be revealed. Light shines into our darkness.

And if we allow it to, if we open up even the most hidden, tucked away parts of ourselves - if we know that God wants to open ourselves up to be fully seen by God, to shine light into all our darkness, we can experience the amazing and overwhelming love that comes from being fully seen and loved any way. Because that’s the love that Jesus has for us.

In our reading from Ephesians today, the letter writer says “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Love, like grace, is a gift, freely given. A gift that we can do nothing to earn or deserve. A gift that we’re given even when - and especially when - we open our full and true selves up to God.

My favorite theological concept is prevenient grace - the grace that goes before. The grace that is there before we even know that there is grace to be had. Love and grace can be used interchangeably here - for Grace is any way God acts in this world and God always acts with Love.

There is love to be had, love for the deepest, most hidden parts of us. Love for the good. Love for the bad. Love that loves no matter what. Nothing we can do to earn it. Nothing we can do to have it taken away - The God who is Love is always, constantly, continuingly, offering unconditional love and inviting us to partake, to be fully known, and fully loved by God. We have nothing to hide in the light and love of God.

If we can experience the wonderful joy of being known and loved by those in our life - spouses, family, best friends - how much more wonderful and deep is the joy of being fully known and loved by God - the God who knows us intimately. The God who knows every part of us. The God who knit us in our mothers wombs, sees us in daylight and in the dark of night, and will welcome us into our eternal homes.

And so my prayer, my blessing, for you is - May you be known. May you allow yourself to be seen, fully and truly, by the God who is Love. Open yourself up, bring all you are, good, bad, everything in between, bring it before God, and may you experience not shame, not judgment, not fear - but grace and love, gifts freely given.

Amen.

Easter Themed Call to Worship

Call to Worship

Leader: We are an Easter people.
People: We shout Alleluia!
L: We are an Easter people.
P: We hold fast to the Resurrection.
L: We are an Easter people.
P: We are forces of Love and Life in our world.
L: We are an Easter people.
P: So we will sing God’s praises!
All: Alleluia! Amen!

Resurrection/Easter Themed Hymn Sing

Resurrection Hymn Sing Script

Introduction: We Are An Easter People

Jesus said…“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” - John 11:25-26a

Siblings in Christ, we find ourselves in the season of Easter - the 50 days celebrating the resurrection of Christ - celebrating his defeat of the grave, his victory over death, his triumphant act of salvation.

To us, Easter is more than a day. And Resurrection is more than a one-time event. Because we are an Easter people, we see Resurrection all around us. Because we are an Easter people, we know that Resurrection is a theme throughout our Scriptures. Because God weaves the ultimate Good News through the story of our faith and the story of our lives - that Love is Stronger than Death. That Christ is the Resurrection and the life and everyone who believes in him, even though they die, will live.

Let us proclaim this Good News this morning. May we sing alleluia, may we boast over the grave, may we be Resurrection people.

Let us sing, “Easter People, Raise Your Voices” - UMH 304

A Grain of Wheat

“Jesus said: ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.’” - John 12:24-26

The Good News of the Resurrection is woven throughout our created world - especially in the springtime. We see it as bulbs, long buried under the ground, bursting forth as tulips and daffodils. We see it as the decay of compost, dead leaves, table scraps, and even the flesh of animals, becomes soil for new buds and shoots to come forth. We see it as butterflies emerge from cocoons, remade and beautiful. The cycle of death and life in nature, the turning of the seasons, the fresh air of Spring - they all serve as reminders from our Creator that we are part of a bigger story - a story of life and of Resurrection.

Let us sing, “Hymn of Promise” - UMH 707

A Ruler’s Daughter, A Widow’s Son, and a Good Friend

There are three times in our Gospel narratives where we see Jesus command life for the dead - resurrecting others.

In Matthew 9 we see Jesus resurrect a leader’s daughter: “While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples…When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread through all of that district.”

In Luke 7, Jesus resurrects a widow’s son: “As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

And, more well-known, in John 12, Jesus resurrects his friend, Lazarus: “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’”

Each of these stories has mourners - loved ones, friends, families, mothers, whole communities weeping at loss. Jesus himself wept at the death of Lazarus.
In each of these stories, Jesus is directly and intimately involved - he takes the girl by her hand, he comforts the mother, he says to the young man “rise” and to Lazarus “come out!”
Jesus speaks and at the sound of his voice and his will, death recedes.
And in each story, the crowd is amazed - who is this who has power over life and death?

In our world, we are surrounded by grief and mourning. We are in death - it is all around us and a part of our lives. Even though we are in death - may we hear and feel Jesus intimately reaching out to us - reminding us that we are never alone in our grief, he has compassion for us, and it is he who holds the keys to life and death. Therefore, even when we are in death, we are in the midst of Life.

Let us sing “Thine Be The Glory” - UMH 308

Easter Morning

As we come to the story of Jesus’s resurrection, Easter Morning, this morning, we will let the Scriptures speak for themselves - please stand in body or spirit as we receive the Good News of Christ’s Resurrection, brought to us in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, verses 1-12:

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘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 the hands of 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. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 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.”

Let us remain standing in body or spirit as we sing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” - UMH 302, vs. 1, 2, 5

Peter Resurrects Tabitha

You may be seated.

The Book of Acts is the story of how the Church became the Church and the disciples continued the work of Jesus - including the work of Resurrection. Acts Chapter 9 brings us the story of Peter resurrecting Tabitha: “Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive.”

Peter, through the power of Christ, resurrects a woman from the dead. Peter - “get thee behind me, Satan” - sinking in the water - denying Christ three times - yes, THAT Peter, now has the faith of one who can resurrect a woman from the dead.

What changed Peter? He has experienced Resurrection first hand. He has seen the Risen Christ. Faith has become sight and Peter is forever changed in the light of the Resurrection.

Which makes me ask - how has the Good News of the Resurrection changed us? Has it changed us? How are we, empowered by Christ, praying and working to bring more life into our world every day? I am not saying we should start praying for miracles at death beds…But I am saying, we, as Easter People, as people of the Resurrection, have the ability to bring so much Love and Life into this world as long as we stay in the Light of the Resurrection, as long as we stay centered in our Risen Christ.

Let us sing “Go Forth For God” - UMH 670, vs. 1 & 4

Baptized into His Death & Resurrection

A Reading from Romans 6:3-11: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Part of the powerful symbol of baptism, especially in full-immersion, although this metaphor is present in all methods, is that when the baptized is submerged under the water, they are in the tomb with Christ. They have died with Christ. Died to their sin, died to the earthly ways of this world, died to a life ruled by death. And when they emerge from the water, they are resurrected again into a new life - born of Water and the Spirit - sharing in Christ’s resurrection with him.

Siblings in Christ, each of you here who has been baptized, each of you here who claims the name of Christ, you share in Christ’s resurrection. In Corinthians and other places in Scripture, we call Christ the first fruit of the Resurrection - the first fruit, knowing that one day, there will be more fruit - we will bear fruit. One day we will all share in the Resurrection. That while our world is still ruled by Death - we are not of this world. We do not need to fear Death - clinging instead to the power and hope of the Resurrection - that one day we will all be Resurrected with Christ, all of creation will be restored, and death will be no more. This is the power and joy of the Resurrection - that we are Easter people.

Let us conclude our Resurrection Hymn Sing by singing one more hymn - Because He Lives, UMH 364.

Call to Worship based on John 20:19-31

Leader: When we are afraid,
People: May we hear God saying, “Peace be with you.”
L: When we are filled with doubt:
P: May God come to us.
L: When we don’t know which way is which:
P: May we be given the chance to exclaim, “My Lord and my God!"
L: But even if we don’t have peace yet, even if we are still knee-deep in doubt, even when we can’t find our way -
P: May we still be in community.
L: May we still be held by one another.
P: May we know we are not alone.
L: And may we be the voices of God that say to one another:
All: Peace be with you.

"Again & Again: We Are Shown the Way" a sermon on John 2:13-22 & 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
“Again & Again: We Are Shown the Way”
Preached Sunday, March 3, 2024

When I was teaching confirmation at another church a handful of years back - today’s Gospel lesson about Jesus flipping tables was brought into question. And this text is a complex one for people of all ages because there are layers and layers and layers to what is happening in it and then there are the layers and layers and layers of how it has been interpreted historically. And so, it was a big test for me, as a pastor, the first time I had to try and explain to teenage boys why Jesus could flip over tables and chase people with a whip...but he was still sinless and no, they, the youth in my confirmation class, could not do the same. It was definitely a hard one to answer. I’ll consider it a success because the teenagers did not revolt and start overthrowing tables.

Now, the reason behind Jesus’s anger and actions here is important. In our text this morning Jesus yells out, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” The same story in the book of Matthew calls the temple “a den of thieves” instead of a marketplace. “House of robbers” has also been used.

Now, historically, this has been interpreted to say that those who were selling the animal sacrifices were ripping off the poor - people needed to buy these animals for religious purposes and were being overcharged but they had to buy them...so Jesus flipped the tables and ran people out.

Price gouging could have been happening - but we don’t have historical evidence one way or another. If it was happening, it would certainly be something that Jesus could be angry about. Something we would and should be angry about. As modern readers though we need to look at what was happening in the past and not apply it to modern day Jewish people who too often have related anti-Semitic claims hurled at them.

Jewish New Testament scholar, AJ Levine, gives helpful insight into what “den of thieves” implies. A den of thieves is not the place where the thieves commit acts of robbery, it is the place they retreat to to sort through their plunder. It is a place where they feel safe, where they are not afraid of being found out.

Now, we are taking some liberty here in combining the Gospel tellings of this event - and each Gospel writer had a different aim - and John even puts it in a completely different chronological spot in Jesus’s ministry compared to the other Gospels, at the beginning, not the end: But we’d want to ask, why would people who do unjust things - whether those deeds are done inside the temple or outside the temple - why would they feel safe and secure within its walls when their religion and their God explicitly condemns taking advantage of the poor and commands them to care for the least of these?

But this den of thieves or marketplace can be read or interpreted that power and money and religion and Empire had gotten so tied up with each other that they could not be distinguished from the temple. And thus, their religion could become a mask of respectability to cover corruption of power. Jesus would rightfully be FURIOUS over this. And so should we.

But the point of this sermon is not to focus on the acts of those of a different religion over 2,000 years ago. The point of this sermon today is to look at what Jesus was angry about and ask - would Jesus be angry at us, the Church, for the same reason?

When I am talking about the “Church” here it’s with a Capital C - meaning the Church universal, the Church at large, not just our congregation. With that being said: Has the Church become a den of thieves - a place where those who commit unjust acts feel safe because of the collusion of religion and empire for power?

With a heavy heart, as someone who deeply loves the Church and committed her life’s work to it, yes. In America, especially, being a Christian comes with privilege - because Christianity is the majority religion of the land, Christians are looked upon to be less suspect. Christians have easier times running for political office, buying homes, adopting children. Just being a Christian, especially a WASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, opens doors that are closed to those not in this category. Now, being a Christian does NOT automatically make you powerful but if you claim the title of Christian, it makes power more accessible. That’s an important distinction because there are many Christians who eschew the power and privileges associated with being Christian - choosing instead a life marked by humility, service, and generosity. And yet - many Christians and Churches, especially those who seek power, chose instead the path of Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism is a heresy that has swept through our churches in America. It is a belief set that proclaims that those in power are in power because they and their power are sanctioned by God. It thus creates a correlation that those in power in a human made government and the acts of God, are one and the same. It also upholds that a particular country or nation is specially blessed by God over others.

Christianity was formed as a minority sect in a minority religion and culture. It was a religion for the last and the least. The downtrodden and forgotten. It was a religion that, inherently, flipped the tables on power, on the narrative of what power is, who wields it, and what it is to be used for. The danger of the collusion of religion and earthly power - in the case of Christian nationalism, of the Church and government, is that, as in a den of thieves, those who commit unjust acts, those who power has corrupted, those who abused power, they feel safe under the sanctimonious title of Christian. For if they claim that mantle and what they do, whether it be right or wrong, if they say it is done in the name of Jesus - well, it is either overlooked, excused, or even justified.

And I know I am referencing high echelons of power - politicians and government. But the wedding of power and the Church can and does happen at every level. We have all, myself included, either sat at or wanted seats at tables that Jesus would have flipped because those tables did not consider those who Jesus commanded us to love - our neighbors, especially the poor, the orphan, the widow, the prisoner.

Okay - deep breaths. This is the season of Lent. The season of Lent is a season for hard truths. It’s a season of calling out injustice. It’s a season of confession and repentance. And it is a season of focusing on the cross.

So to help us make sense of this and get our hearts aligned, let us look at the cross.

The cross and the church are inseparable symbols. And as the church has risen in power and prominence since the time of Jesus, so has the cross. The first Christians did not use the cross in the way we did - they used the symbol of a fish to denote their belonging to The Way, the sect that followed Jesus.

The cross grew in prominence in the year 312 when Constantine had a dream where he said that if they put the cross on their shields, they would win their battle in the Crusades. They did just that. They won the battle. And as Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire, wedding Christianity to Empire and power, something that we still struggle to disentangle to this day, the cross became a symbol of power - tied to violence.

We saw a similar misuse of the cross - on the side of committing violence - when in 1915, D.W. Griffith wanted a symbol of power to accompany the glorified history of the Klu Klux Klan in his movie, The Birth of a Nation. Of course, he thought the cross wasn’t powerful enough - so he set it on fire. The KKK adopted this practice after the movie. They say they are burning crosses in celebration...but in celebration of what? In the terror and intimidation of others, especially our Black and Jewish siblings.

In these ways, the Cross has been used as a symbol of violence - and that’s what the cross originally was too. In our day and age we have ornate, beautiful crosses - and as Protestants we don’t generally have crucifixes - that’s crosses with the crucified body of Jesus on them - so we can forgot that the cross was a symbol of power, violence, and torture used by the Roman Empire. The cross was reserved for those who threatened the empire, political insurrectionists, usurpers of the power of the Roman Empire. Jesus, and others alongside him, and others throughout the Roman Empire, were crucified on a hill, just by the entrance to town, so many would see the gruesome fate of those who, well, tried to flip the tables on the powers that be. The cross was a tool of intimidation - don’t act up. Keep your head down. Speak out or act out and this could happen to you, too.

Now, I am NOT saying that Christians need to ditch the cross - hear me on that one. The cross is a beloved symbol to many. It gives us strength and endurance. It brings us comfort. It reminds us of Jesus’s love. Many of us wear crosses as daily jewelry, have them in our houses or places of work, and keep them close to us as a reminder of our faith and the love of God for us. The cross is a symbol of the church - it is a symbol of Christ - it is a powerful symbol - and its origin was as a symbol of intimidation, death, violence.

But Christ, Jesus, when he died on a cross and rose again three days later, he flipped the table on that narrative. He took a symbol of death and made it a symbol of life. He took a symbol of violence and made it a symbol of love. He took a symbol of power and made it a symbol of humility.

When we look to the cross we should see a powerful symbol - a symbol that perverts the narratives of power, a symbol that reminds us that our God is a God who always sides with the powerless over the powered, the humble over the proud, those who love over those who hate. The cross is a symbol that no power is stronger than God - no empire. No nation. No army. No Hate group. Nothing. Not even death.

In other words, the cross is a POWERFUL symbol. But it is not a symbol of power.

Paul in Corinthians calls the message of the cross foolishness. Another translation says moronic. And the cross is foolish. To a world that values power. To a world that wants to use the cross as a symbol of dominance and violence and hate...they don’t get that the power of the cross is in its meekness. In its weakness. In Christ’s death - although no grave could hold him.

Before the cross those who are unjust, those who need to repent, robbers and thieves of all kinds - they should not feel it is a symbol they can hide behind. The cross is a symbol to which we are laid bare before it. Before the cross, Christ knows every part of us. And in the Cross, Christ calling us to repent of violence, power, and hatred - and seek life, humility, and love.

John puts the story of Jesus flipping the tables early in the Gospel...and I think it’s because John is laying the foundation for who Jesus is: Jesus subverts the power structure at every turn. Jesus subverts the violence of the cross - and gives it to us, flipped over, a symbol of life and love. To the rest of the world? This may seem foolish. But Jesus and the cross show us the way, again and again and again - the way of Jesus is a way of peace. It is a way of love. And it is the way of the cross. When we look at the cross - may it lead us to Jesus, again and again and again, pulling us back from tables that Jesus would flip, and into God’s arms.

Amen.