We are witnesses . . .

      Sometimes, I have these wonderfully confirming moments of where I am called to preach.  This weekend happened to be one.  I was rather uninspired about preaching on Doubting Thomas again.  In years past, I have reminded you that the name is unfair to Thomas, who was willing to go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus and, as we know better than many at Advent, who answered James’ and God’s call to travel from Jerusalem to India to plant churches there.  Talk about a long walk and risky sailing requiring faith!  I landed in Acts and then NT Wright had a nice proposal yesterday that made me think I was not crazy about where I should be preaching.  So, turn in your Orders to Acts, if you want to follow along.

     The passage is a part of the pericope of Peter’s speech at Pentecost, so we are peeking ahead about five weeks.  The Apostles and disciples have stayed in Jerusalem, per Jesus’ instructions, to await the gift of the Holy Spirit.  That has happened.  Everyone hears the Apostles in their own language, and many have suggested the Apostles were drunk.  I cannot speak for everyone, but I know when I get drunk I speak in slurred English.  The idea of mastering a previously unknown foreign language while drinking would seem very unlikely to me, which is not to say a nice wine or beer might temper the frustrations that come with learning new languages.  Y’all are laughing, so I am guessing you share similar experiences or understandings.

     Peter begins his speech by reminding those present that it is only 9am on the morning of Pentecost, far too early for the Apostles to be drunk.  I can only assume, given Peter’s conviction, that they had never before heard of a Breakfast of Champions in that day.  Those of us who had secret societies or fraternities or sororities in our backgrounds might disagree with Peter’s assumption, but that is a sermon for another day.

     Peter ties their experience to the prophet Joel, who wrote that God would one Day pour out His Spirit upon His people.  Young and old, male and female, Joel’s people would begin to prophesy.  This is that day is the essential beginning of Peter’s sermon to the crowd in Jerusalem.

     Peter goes on to declare that Jesus of Nazareth is responsible for the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, but he reminds them of their role in it and God’s sovereignty.  Jesus was attested to them by God with deeds of power and wonders and signs.  Those in Jerusalem knew many of those signs.  Some had seen the signs themselves.  As the hive mind of the crowd would begin to consider this, they would begin to rattle off in their own minds or in conversations with those around them that Jesus of Nazareth did those signs that would mark the Messiah.

     But Peter is not finished.  Peter reminds them that those in the crowd handed Jesus over to those outside the law, you and I would call them Romans, to be killed.  Peter tells them that this was all done according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, but they had a role in it.  Curiously, if they consider the prophets seriously, they will see more of the prophets’ foretelling in their own actions, their own betrayal.

     Then Peter gets to the really important part: God raised Jesus up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.  Though it will be three centuries before the Church officially recognizes the sinless nature of Christ, Peter already understands, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not subject to the power of sin and death!

     Peter then cites David and the Psalms as proof of Jesus’ uniqueness in God’s plan of salvation history.  The use of David would cover another thread of Messianic expectation.  Some thought Elijah might return to rule for God; others envisioned a heroic king or warrior figure like David, breaking Rome’s hold over Judea.  Of course, everyone present would recognize that David was a king and heroic figure and heir to the covenant made by God that his descendant would sit on his throne for ever.

     That last part is even more important as Peter reminds them that David was not the Messiah.  David died.  David’s tomb was still with them.  From Peter’s, and our, perspective David had to be speaking about the Messiah when he prophesied that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

     This Jesus God raised up, and all those in the crowd, as well as all of us who read this passage in Nashville, Tennessee nearly 2000 years later are witnesses.

     But there seems to be a big problem.  None of us were present to those events described by the Gospel writers.  We did not get to see the fear, confusion, struggling, and joy of the Apostles and Disciples play out as they wrestled with the news that Jesus was no longer among the dead but alive.  We did not get to see the Apostles burn with fire as Jesus opened their minds to the Scriptures.  We did not get to hide with them in the locked upper room or the closed upper room and see Jesus enter, hear Jesus’ words of comfort, and prepare ourselves for the Pentecost moment we touched on this morning in Acts.  Few of us even have the advantage of being untimely born like Paul, and still have encountered the Resurrected Jesus.  How can we witness to these things as well as those who came before and saw or heard these things?

     It is a fair question.  Christians have wrestled with it for centuries.  Liturgical Christians, though, have the answer baked into the way they worship.  We know, because those witnesses taught us, that Jesus instructed them that it would be to their advantage for Him to leave so that He could send the Holy Spirit.  That advantage, of course, is that Jesus would no longer be the locus of God’s power on earth.  All those in whom the Holy Spirit abides would be able to accomplish God’s will in the world around them.  When you and I experience those Holy Spirit moments, we know the truth of God’s power and will every bit as well as those about whom we read in the Scriptures.  Had Jesus not ascended to be with the Father and to send us the Spirit, we would not have those experiences.  Because we do, we know He did.

     Notice that our experiences do not prevent us or our ancestors from falling under our sin time and again.  Peter is the spokesman for the Church in Acts.  We know that Peter became the rock upon whom Christ founded His Church.  But Peter makes mistakes.  Peter misunderstands.  Peter walks on water with Jesus until he remembers what he is doing.  Then he sinks.  Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah, but, as we reminded ourselves a couple times last week, Peter denies our Lord three times before the cock crowed.  Peter does not stay at the Cross as His and our Lord dies.  Peter does not know what to make of the women’s testimony and instruction, nor does he understand what he sees when he reaches the Empty Tomb.  Heck, Jesus has to continue to teach Peter for Peter’s whole life.  Peter has to learn about the dietary instructions and about circumcision just to name a couple.  And these are not shared to pick on Peter.  These are shared in Scripture by God to remind you and to remind me that, through Him, we can accomplish amazing things, glorious things, miraculous things.  They are shared to remind us all that through obedience and repentance God will be glorified in our lives and that we will share in that glory!

     How have you glorified God in your life?  What moments has the Holy Spirit reminded you of as I spoke this morning?  What empowered or enlightened moments have left you without a doubt that God is with you?  I suspect we have as many answers as we have people here today.  There are a million things you could be doing on this, Low Sunday as we like to call it.  You could be watching the Masters.  You could be sleeping in.  You could be doomscrolling or reading the Tennessean, depending upon your age.  But you are here, giving thanks to God for what He did in Jesus Christ our Lord!  I suspect everyone has at least one great story of God’s Spirit acting in their lives.  Some of us have far more!

     But even if the best reason you have to be here today giving thanks to God is more corporate in nature than individual, you still chose to be here!  You chose to give thanks to God in ways that Jesus reminds Thomas and all of us that you are truly blessed.  Even though you have not seen or experienced, you still believe.

     But maybe you have seen more than you realize.  Perhaps you have served the homeless among us through Room in the Inn.  Maybe you have heard the thanks of those whom we fed and kept warm in obedience to Jesus.  Maybe you have heard their squeals of delight at a particular meal or dessert or our efforts to put important sporting events up for their enjoyment.  You have treated them as one created in the image of God, and they have expressed their surprise and gratefulness for your effort.

     Perhaps you have met some of those whom we serve through Insight.  Our country has a horrible fight about medical care.  We have some many healthcare professionals among us that we all know the negative impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on those around us and those in far more rural communities of Tennessee and the nation.  Mental health care folks can only hope to get to the poor level of physical health care in our country.  And, yet, we make it possible for those suffering from mental health concerns to get affordable care.  And we hear the thanks from time to time.  People will remark how easy it is for others to understand heart attacks and cancer, but how they were able to get help for anxiety, for trauma, for who knows what thanks to our commitment.  We are heralds of healing in their midst, whether you recognize it or not, whether you hear it or not.

     And the low hanging fruit, sometimes literally, is Body & Soul.  By far and away those volunteers hear and see the fruit of their work frequently.  They hear the sob stories when people confess they never thought things could get this bad, that they would fail their families in this way.  They hear the excitement when they have comfort food for those whom they serve, and, at some point, begin to realize that all kinds of food serve as comfort food in God’s created order.  We may even find someone this weekend who finds comfort in cooked cabbage!

     But we all know Hilary & Nancy & me and all the volunteers.  We all know that we are not smart enough to divide our money up to get those various food items.  Heck, we do not have enough funds to cover the cost of feeding 6100 individuals each month last year, let alone the increase this year.  And yet, day after day, week after week, month after month, we feed people in Christ’s Name, reminding them that He loves them that much and hates their food insecurity.  We remind them that He calls them to the Feast where they will buy the choicest foods and drinks without money for ever.  And we recognize that only God can explain some of our insights as we answer the questions of those whom we serve, that only God can cause someone to share those stories of failure and thanksgiving with us, that only God can cause us to figure out how we might serve a beloved daughter or son a bit better, how we might alleviate their hurt or distance with a book or item of clothing or whatever.  My list could go on, much like John’s Gospel reminds us today.

     But these I remind us because we are witnesses to these things.  We know the Resurrection of our Lord is true because we have experienced the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  And so, nourished by His Body and Blood, we are sent back out there, out into the wildernesses of our lives, to proclaim in our lives and to profess with our lips those things He has done, that all might be drawn into His saving embrace!

In His Peace and Power,

Brian+

On the Perspective, Power, and Comfort of Christ's Resurrection . . .

      I have to confess, I worried way more about the Children’s homily than I did about this one.  If you are visiting and wondering about the laughs and whispers, some are probably making a joke about the fact that I have seven kids.  I know, what priest with seven kids struggles to connect with youth?  I usually connect well with kids one on one or in small groups, but sermons geared toward the youth are a different animal.  The other issue at play, though, is the desire we clergy have to make the sermon on this day memorable.  It is no secret that lots of folk show up to church on Christmas and Easter who barely grace the doors of church any other time of year.  Pastors hope that we can connect with them and inspire them to seek God more.  If we say the one right phrase or have the most engaging sermon, maybe they will return?  Fortunately for all of us gathered here this morning, this my 22 Easter sermon.  I know I am not charismatic and I know, absent God doing something amazing, some of you will already be tuned out.  But maybe, just maybe, if I can have a youth remember chocolate carrots from the Gardener, I might say something today that reminds us adults of God’s love and desires for us.

     Why are we all here this morning?  Some might rather be lounging in bed doom scrolling.  Others might wish they were on a golf course or puttering around the house.  As I suggested to the youth, some of us are probably here because someone made us.  Maybe a mom or a grandmom or someone else literally forced some of us to attend church this day.  We like the family meal that is planned, or maybe we like some of the distant family members that will be present and the shenanigans that they bring.  Maybe we just like the ritual.  Perhaps we like the petit fours or the mimosas that these crazy Adventers enjoy when they celebrate Easter.  There are probably many different reasons that we come.  Hopefully, maybe in a deep place we are not yet aware, maybe we think we need the comfort of a the story, just as the youth expressed they enjoyed from Good Night Moon or Dr. Seuss or Narnia or whatever favorite book memory they named or of which you thought when you were answering that question for yourself.

     We live in a world that seems crazy.  The rules which we were taught do not seem really to apply.  Adulting, as my older kids like to say, is hard.  We Americans like to think we are the good guys in the world.  We defend the democracies and condemn the despots.  But those of us who have watched the wars in Ukraine and in Iran are realizing that does not really describe us.  Heck, we are supposed to think of war as a last resort; many of us, however, have become accepting to what we thought were unimaginable events or atrocities.  When is the last time we even thought of what it must be like to have drones and missiles falling around us, opening up craters around us only a little smaller than the potholes that form in Middle Tennessee over the winter?

     I know one of the matriarchs of the Armenians that will meet here in a couple hours has become so used to the war in Ukraine that she does not fear for her extended families’ survival like she does for her sister in Iran.  That is emphatically NOT a criticism of her worries.  It is an acknowledgement, though, that we sometimes allow the world to change our perspective, how we see things.  Her extended families in both Russia and Ukraine have survived more than three years of that battle.  They have expressed to her their patterns of response.  Plus, she can communicate with them nearly all the time via internet or phone.  The confrontation in Iran, though, is new, just a few weeks old.  And she is unable to check in with her sister, even though she can see the house on some of the major news networks’ reporting.

     We understand that de-sensitization on some level, though.  We have all been through a pandemic.  We understand the fear, the isolation, the economic issues, and the attack on sanity that human beings experience is such crises, even if we do appreciate the fact that some of our friends or coworkers are not as quick to expose us to the newest virus like they were six years ago.  To be fair to the family members, most of them expose us before they recognize they have been exposed, right?  But for a while, we thought of all that accompanying the pandemic as “the new normal.”

     Speaking of economic issues, at least we do not have to worry about those.  It’s not like we are paying $4 at the pump here in Nashville for gasoline or higher prices for our necessities of life which, as it turns out, depend on trucks and airplanes to make it to our houses and apartments.  But at least we live in a city where the cost of housing is reasonable, and the next generation can easily afford to move out of our homes into their own because of the availability of high paying jobs, right?  Given the chuckles and elbows, maybe some of you because you enjoy sarcasm.

     Then there are the personal things that are crazy, in addition to the big picture things.  Some of us are dealing with job difficulties.  Some of us are dealing with health issues and perhaps even scares.  Some of us are probably dealing issues of frayed or broken relationships.  Maybe some of us are dreading today because those issues will rear their heads once again?

     All of us are dealing with death.  Well, maybe I should say we are all dealing with the consequences of death to be more accurate.  We have all buried loved ones.  Some of us have buried classmates and coworkers.  Some of us have had our own dance with death as we struggled with cancer or heart attacks or whatever serious illness.  There are people, people important to us, whom we see no longer, to use the language of the BCP.  Some of them were those people in our lives who helped make us feel secure, loved, or comforted when we were younger and not expected to be the ones providing that to the generations after us yet.

     None of this, absolutely none of this was likely on our radar as we read those books with loving parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles in our lives in our youth.  And to be absolutely clear, we need to remember that not everyone had that loving support upon which our youth today and many of us were reflecting as we considered our favorite bedtime rituals.

     All of that makes today’s Gospel lesson that much more important.  Matthew’s account is simple.  Matthew begins his narrative with the fact that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were going to the tomb of Jesus as dawn approached on the day after the sabbath, on what we call Sunday.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake and the stone was rolled back.  This is not the first seismos of Matthew’s Gospel.  At the death of Jesus, the same happened, and the bodies of saints came out of their tombs and appeared to people all over Jerusalem.  The angel descends and rolls back the stone covering Jesus’ tomb and sits on the stone.  We know these details well.  Some of us know them well enough to know the differences between Luke’s version and Mark’s version and John’s version.  Scoffers claim those differences mean the experience was a fabrication rather than a story based on peoples’ recollections and perspectives.

     The first important detail to notice is the angel.  When did an angel first appear in Matthew’s Gospel?  The announcement to Mary.  Way back, nine months or so before the birth of Jesus, Mary is asked by the angel if she will consent to bear the Son of God, the Messiah.  Mary understands biology well enough to understand that she cannot bear a son because she has not yet had sex with Joseph or any other man, and she challenges the angel.  The angel reminds her that all things are possible with God, and she consents.  Matthew’s story, in other words, is framed or bookended by the angels’ appearances.  One announces the birth, the other announces the Resurrection.  Everything in between is focused on the life and person and teaching of Jesus, the Son of God, His Beloved.  

     Want to know what God expects in a situation?  Read between the angels, read about Jesus.  Need to be reminded that God understands your hurt, your fears, your sufferings, your privation, or you?  Read about Jesus.  It is really that easy.  We call Jesus the Living Word because He lived the torah on our behalf.  We were able to see how God was calling us to live in the life of Jesus.  No longer did we have to read those instructions or commandments in the torah to understand the life to which God was calling each and every human being.  We were reminded by Jesus Himself that our call, those of us who claim Him as Lord and hope to one glorious day share in the experience described by Matthew this morning, is to love the Lord our God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  It sounds simple, but it is incredibly hard, as we each find out as we grow up.  All of that instruction is contained between the angels’ announcements to the Marys.  And we are called to read, learn, and inwardly digest that, if we are going to call ourselves His disciples.

     Notice a lesson some of us skip.  Who receives this message from the angel?  That’s right, the ladies.  The ladies are shown the empty tomb and told to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is raised from the dead and will meet them in Galilee.  That’s right.  The supernatural event is for the benefit of the women.  It makes sense, right?  They were present when Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ Body in the tomb and when Nicodemus wrapped the Body in strips of cloth and about 100 pounds of spices.  And they were there when the stone was rolled in front of the tomb.

     The stone is not rolled away so that Jesus can be resurrected!  That has already happened!  Nothing could interfere with God’s power, not the stone nor the guards.  The stone is rolled away so that the Marys can see the tomb is empty and begin to understand what has happened.  Notice, as they leave to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is raised, per the instruction of the angel, they have fear and great joy.  They do not yet fully comprehend what has happened, but then who could?  This is a new experience for all of them.

     Speaking of the guards, notice the humor of the author here.  If you do not know the story well, the guards are there on the orders of the chief priests.  Once Jesus was buried on Good Friday, the chief priests and others approached Pilate and asked him to place a guard around the Tomb of Jesus to prevent His disciples from stealing His Body and pretending that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Good, I see nods.

     Have you ever noticed the ironic twist in that part of the story?  Living tough guy guards are sent to guard the Body of a dead Rabbi and blasphemer.  At the appearance of the angel, though, the formerly dead Rabbi is no longer in the tomb they are guarding, and they are frozen, like the dead, in fear!  I sometimes think Matthew was having a bit of fun with this scene.  As a former tax collector, he likely had guards to enforce his collections.  He knew what they were like, how they behaved, and how they talked.  Now, in the face of the activity of God they act like dead men!

     Finally, the angel reminds us that Jesus has been raised.  In English, we would say this is a passive verb.  Someone else has raised Jesus.  Clearly, given the context, it is God.  God has raised Jesus from the dead as a final vindication that Jesus was and is who He claimed to be, that all of His teaching and examples were truly of God!

     My job as a preacher and teacher of God’s holy mysteries is to remind you that these stories which took place almost 2000 years ago and 6500 miles away, have significance to our lives today, in this place.  This may be the easiest day for that task.  You are here.  You want to know or to believe.  All of us want it to be true.  Why?

     The first consequence of this comforting story is that our perspective is changed.  Up until this point in the story, some can dismiss Jesus of Nazareth.  Some wanted to limit His role to that of a poor, unheralded Rabbi.  Some viewed Him as an unsanctioned prophet.  More perceived Him as a blasphemer, because He dared to name Himself the Son of Man and the Son of God.  Aside from a few insiders, both men and women, no one thought Him the heroic Messiah for whom they were looking to fulfill God’s promises to the patriarchs and matriarchs.  And it took a lot of reflection even for those insiders to understand that the oppressor from which they were being freed was not Roman, but that of sin and death!

     But in this event, this act of raising Jesus from the dead, the perspective of all the people of God was changed!  Sin and death, both of which had oppressed human beings since the days of the Garden of Eden were conquered.  Jesus, God’s Resurrected Son, made it possible for human beings to be restored to that intimate relationship with the Creator and Maker of all things!

     For you and me it is a reminder that war is not what God intended, privation is not what God intended, illness was not what God intended, estrangement was not what God intended, and death was not what God intended.  In the work and person of Jesus of Nazareth, you and I are reminded of the love for which God has for each one of us.  It is one thing to remind ourselves that He stamps His image in each one of us as we are created, but it is glorious to realize that, no matter the mess we have made of ourselves and others, He loved us so much that He condescended to become one of us, that He was willing to suffer the torture and humiliation of what we call Holy Week, that He was willing to be betrayed by friends, and that He was willing to die for us, that we might be able to become, to be re-created to use the fancy theological words, the children He intended us to be when He breathed our soul into each one of us!  Now we know, if God is calling us to anything, we can accomplish it.  We may lack any number of skills or strength or who knows what, but because He is the One sending us, our effort will not be in vain.  And even if our effort seems to be futile and lead to our deaths, He has the power and desire to redeem us.  

     Perspective, of course, is not the only change we notice because of this Easter event.  Power is the other.  That one unconquerable foe, death, is overcome by God!  Human beings waste fortunes putting it off or trying to dodge it.  I don’t doubt today that some are trying to figure out how to plant human brains in robots or androids.  We go to great efforts to avoid it because death seems the end of us.  But this day reminds us that God conquers even death.  Better still, He promises each one of us who believes in His Son that He will raise us from our own death, that Jesus is just the first fruits of that re-creation that is to come.  One glorious Day, we, too, will experience that power at work in us.

     But the Gospel News is always better and more, much like that scene in Narnia’s Last Battle!  For now, because of Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, we have access to that power to glorify God in our lives.  We can feed the hungry, we can clothe the poor, we can shelter the homeless, we can heal the sick, we can testify to others, even the powerful–we can do all those things to which He calls His people to do.  That the hearts of so many can be turned to such tasks is miracle enough, but He still does more.  Volunteers at Body & Soul can attest to His miraculous provision in that work, now going on almost eight years.  Some of us have seen or even experienced healing that our doctors cannot explain.  And many active Adventers can now express in their own words how they have been glorified in Christ by their thank offering and obedience to God’s call on their lives.

     The reason we gather here today, I am certain, is at least in part for comfort.  Each one of us attending here today wants that time of innocent comfort we had were we fortunate to read stories with our loved ones in our youth.  A few want that comfort that we were able to share with our children or grandchildren when the roles for us switched.  We know the world in which we live is hard.  Things are not the way we thought they would be in our youth.  Work hard, do the right thing, and things will work out is not how this world works.  Thankfully, this is not our world!  Our citizenship lies elsewhere.

     Hopefully, as I have been preaching and teaching today you are reminded of the comfort and joy this story gave you when you first heard it.  The call of God should be the ultimate call of comfort.  The Resurrection teaches us that God has power to redeem all things, even death.  More importantly, the Resurrection reminds us that God wants to redeem all things in our lives.  By virtue of our Baptism into His family, by virtue of us declaring that we want to serve and honor Him in our lives, you and I are promised the most amazing comfort imaginable.  In fact, it is unimaginable because we cannot truly grasp the offer.

     God has chosen to use us, ordinary people like you and me, to share His story with the people around us.  We get to invite people into comfort that none of us can truly describe.  Our Father in heaven, the One who created each one of us, who stamped each one of us with those characteristics of Him that we were called to demonstrate to the world, wants nothing more than for all of humanity to want to sit at His bosom and share the amazing stories of what He did in our lives, smiling knowingly at each one of us, like we smile at our children’s or grandchildren’s wonder at Peter Rabbit or Goodnight Moon or whatever stories they loved to read with us.  We will again get to experience that comfort we had when we share that time with our loved ones, even those taken from us untimely early, who also claimed Him as Lord.  And unfathomable as it sounds in these fleshy ears, we will share in that comfort with Him and one another, not for a few years, but for eternity.  We will get to share those stories with our loved ones and listen to their stories, and all that in the presence of our loving Father in heaven smiling as we soak it all in.  This story reminds us of His promise and power to make that happen, no matter what is happening in the world around us or even to us!  And so we give thanks for His promises and His reassurance.  Best of all, nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood, we head back out into that world to share His story of salvation!

In His promise,

Brian+