Cross – Blessings on the Journey

Abundant Life, Cross, Easter, God's love, Good News, Grace, Hope, Mary Magdalene

Easter Sunday

Posted on April 17, 2022 by narciejeter

These plants have been with me for years. This bamboo was given to two of my students Tyler and Austin when they did an internship at Georgia Tech Wesley. Steve Fazenbaker, the campus minister there, gave it to them as a welcome gift as they had started attending that summer and he gave one to them for me. It was the summer of my second brain surgery and it’s a great reminder for me of how good our Savior is. The other plant, I got at the Walmart in Mt. Pleasant. I used to say it had a face on it – see! It has the plastic rock that says, “Hope.” I’ve always loved the South Carolina motto – Dum Spiro Spero – While I breathe, I hope and it was that hope that we carried with us as we moved back to South Carolina. They’re both still alive – against all odds – my brown thumb, the tightness of the original containers, everything. What does Jeff Goldblum say in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.” Well life certainly found a way on Easter morning.

I watched Rogue One on Good Friday morning. I believe it’s one of the best, or the best Star Wars movie. It’s a precursor to A New Hope and in it three different characters, “Rebellions are built on hope.” Oh, Jesus, sparked the greatest rebellion the world had ever seen and they crucified him for it. He took a ragtag group of tax collectors, fisherman, prostitutes, misfits and prodigals and armed them not with weapons, but with the word of truth, that they even they were children of the most high God. That they, even they, were loved by their Beloved God. Their Yahweh. That they, even they, were worthy and enough.

He had told them several, several times that this would happen like this – betrayed, beaten, crucified, buried, then resurrected. But when the Romans pair up with the Religious Elites, all bets are off in their human understanding. Some of them were denying, some were hiding, and some witnessed the crucifixion. Hoping beyond hope that this was all a bad dream. They were all grieving. As Bob Goff so adequately put it, “Darkness fell. His friends scattered. All hope seemed lost. But heaven just started counting to three.”

John 20:1-18 NRSV

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

For Mary, Easter morning begins not with Easter eggs and “He is Risen!”, but with exhaustion, weariness and grief. And yet, she went for help, she heard his voice, and she was the first to bear witness to the Gospel – “I have seen the Lord” and spread it.

First, she went for help. The text doesn’t record her thoughts and questions that I’m sure are rolling around her head. Were they grave robbers? How many people did it take to move that heavy stone? Are the Chief Priests involved? Did the Romans desecrate the tomb? It all comes out a jumbled rush, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Simon Peter and the other disciple took off running!

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of the street and worked their way to the other end. At the last house a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter. Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the street back to the truck, to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized that the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she answered, “When I see two gas men running full speed away from my house, I figure I had better run, too.”

Mary was not huffing and puffing behind them. I imagine they all were running fast. They saw for themselves, one of them believed, but they didn’t understand the scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead. They saw, confirmed what Mary had seen and alerted them to, and returned to their homes. Leaving Mary in her grief. The text says, “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.” Grief is most commonly defined as “deep sorrow.” Grief takes your breath away. More than that you don’t know if you’ll ever breathe again and you’re not sure you want to. It’s like there’s hole of air passing through you and you won’t ever be whole again.

Looking into the tomb, she sees two angels in white and tells them she is weeping because someone has taken away her Lord. A moment later, she turns, sees a man that she assumes is the gardener, and says to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” She’s doing what she must, on autopilot. On autopilot you make the next decision and the next.

Secondly, Jesus called her name. His voice broke into her thoughts. I’ve never noticed the explanation mark included with her name, “Mary!” It’s like he’s breaking through the fog of her grief. Mary! Have you ever had your kids or spouse ignore you calling out their names? And you get louder and angrier at each shout? And I don’t think the tone was like stopping a kid from touching a hot stove or demanding that he get out of the road when a car is coming? I imagine it being firm but gentle, unwavering yet tender.

She turns and says, “Rabbouni!” which means “teacher.” His voice pierced through the layers of her grief. She had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. The hours of excruciating pain that she was helpless in the face of. His voice pierced through her guilt and pain and numbness.

We’ve been studying the book of John in the SALT Sunday School class and last week was this text and the last couple of texts of John. As we talked about the video and the video questions, Maggie shared an insight into the text. She was at her great aunt’s funeral, and she heard her grandfather’s voice right behind her. She never thought she would hear it again because he had passed away years before. Of course Mary Magdalene never, ever thought she would hear Jesus’ voice again. When Maggie turned around it was not her grandfather that she saw, it was her grandfather’s brother that she saw. Ironically she went to his funeral yesterday. When I texted her if I could share her story, she said about his death, “It’s a blessing and a burden to be the last so I know they are all back together now!” He didn’t just die for each of our sins. Jesus promised in John 11, “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.” He defeated sin and death, so if we believe in him, we have a new and abundant life here on earth and we can enjoy eternal life with Jesus. “They’re all back together now!” Indeed, they are, Maggie. They answered the Voice that called them home. And we can too. Jesus sees you as Jesus sees me. He celebrates what he sees because God made us and loves us, no matter what, we’re enough. We don’t have to keep all God’s love to ourselves like it’s a limited supply. God doesn’t play favorites – we are each a favorite child of God. We have to share God’s love with the world because we may be the Gospel – the Good News of God’s grace and love – the absolute hope of the world, we can share. Jesus’ resurrection hope keeps bubbling up – under the surface in our pain and grief and unspeakable joy when we realize that evil nor death has the last word.

Finally, Jesus sends Mary as he sends us. “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” He is saying to her: Run, Mary, run, take my message and run! She goes and announces to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she tells them what Jesus has said to her.

Mary crosses the finish line as the very first apostle, a word which literally means “one who is sent off.” Women are the last people standing at the foot of the cross and God chooses a woman as the first witness to the resurrection. God chooses Mary Magdalene to preach the very first Easter sermon. I think God in God’s way was redeeming Eve. Women have always been blamed for Adam’s fall because Eve tempted him, even though he too, ate the fruit. God grants us each unique gifts and graces, but loves each equally. God has no favorites. Romans says we have all fallen short of the glory of God and we are all equally lovable in God’s eyes through Jesus the Christ. Galatians 3:26-29 says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” Herbert McCabe, writing in God Still Matters, says: “We do not gather at Easter to celebrate a doctrine, the doctrine of the resurrection. We come here to rejoice in the presence of one we love; in Jesus who was lost to us and has been found.” And to whom we were lost and have been found.

Oh, Mary Magdalene had quite a shock that Easter morning! She went for help, heard a Voice that she thought she would never again, and she was the first to bear witness to the Gospel and spread it. Jesus is calling us to spread his message of his resurrection hope to the world. He wants us to tune into His Voice so he can show us the little things that he puts in our paths to give us encouragement we need at the time and the people he places in our path, he wants us to share his Gospel message of love and hope to! Just like these plants, they’ve survived moves and my brown thumb – in his resurrection power Jesus doesn’t want us to merely survive, but he wants us to thrive and bask in his love and grace for even sinners like us, to grow where he plants us. And to that we say, “Alleluia! He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!

Cross, Jesus, paul, restart, Sermon

Time to Restart

Posted on October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 by narciejeter

I started with word games, 4 different ones, so when one showed the commercial in the free version, I could go to the next one. Evy got me into picture finds and I’ve become obsessed with them. Every time the clock winds down, it turns red and flashing at the 30 second mark, and I have 3 or more left, I get frantic trying to find the silly little pictures. It’s amazing how frustrated I get. I don’t want to restart. They give me that option every time or I could get 45 seconds, if I pay for it, and I don’t want to pay. I inevitably have to restart. I don’t want to. But I have to. I know the game gets easier, if I restart, because I’ve done it before, but something in me – does not want to. Or how many of you have mashed the power button on a computer or copier when nothing else works?

Sometimes we HAVE to do a hard restart. We don’t want to, we sure don’t want to, but sometimes we have to. Sometimes our lives need a reset because we’ve worn a path pacing back and forth trying to decide whether to make a change or not. We sometimes don’t want to move on. We sometimes want to cling to the past like old comfy pajamas. You know those that have small holes in them and you can’t bear to throw them out. We dread the changes that we would have to make in our lives, all the work it’s gonna be to let go of the past. We’re afraid to face the new realities, the new normal. Paul knew that without God in the mix, we could never make real change on our own. Paul knew this secret and he’s trying to teach us as well.

Philippians 3:13-14

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

For us to follow Paul’s example, we have to make peace with those around us, with ourselves, and with God.

Paul had a lot of stuff in his past. Remember who he was. Before he became Paul. He was Saul. Saul persecuted early Christians. He tortured and stoned them. He was on the way to do more destruction of followers of the Way, until he has an encounter with Jesus and is blinded for three days. He is saved by Ananias; he is transformed into Paul boldly preaching about Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah and Son of God. Jew and Gentile alike were puzzled and perplexed by this. On one hand you had Saul that ultimate enemy and bad guy and then you have Paul – the greatest apostle ever….

When he says, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” He means it.

Paul definitely has baggage. Most of us don’t have the label of murderer. Do you think the new Christians were scared of Saul, I mean Paul. I would not blame some of them for being apprehensive, giving him the side eye, or being wary. Paul had to have known it. Had to have known how people would see him. Annanias is hesitant as he says, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” The Jews had commissioned Paul to be the angel of death, but the Lord was teaching Paul about mercy and grace. The Lord talked to Ananias and Ananias went to heal Paul. Afterwards, the scripture says Paul hung out with the disciples for a few days in Damascus. Hung out? Hung out? He was sent there to kill them! God makes a way for us to have peace with others. God makes a way for us to have lives so transformed that it is obvious for all to see. It must be God. God was with Paul. God was with Ananias. God was with the disciples. The Holy Spirit was working all around them in that situation and throughout Paul’s life. God doesn’t leave us as God finds us.

God worked through Paul and God can work through you and me.

We have to believe we are worthy of leaving the past behind. We have to throw out those comfy, holey pajamas. We have to stop looking at our lives through the rearview mirror and look at the big, wide open windshield in front of us. If we constantly are looking back then we can’t move forward. Paul, I’m sure had some guilt, but he knew what he had to do. Keep focused on the present goal. “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Do you hear that? It’s a call of God in Christ Jesus. God still calls us even with the baggage, even with our pasts, even through our tears and shame. We make peace with ourselves by acknowledging our past. We make peace with ourselves when we say it out loud. We make peace with ourselves by letting Jesus into our hearts and letting him heal us.

One of the most powerful and visual images that I have participated in was a time at Camp Pee Dee. There was a canoe lake and a fishing lake at Camp Pee Dee and we walked this big, giant, life-size cross to the fishing lake. It took a lot of us kids to carry the huge thing to the lake. As we took turns, I don’t remember if they told us to be somber or solemn or we were being rowdy camp kids, but I remember thinking about carrying this alone and no wonder Jesus fell a few times. When we got to the lake, again I don’t remember what was said or who the minister for the week was, but they had little pieces of paper and nails and we were to nail our sins to the cross. Just that image brings up so many emotions, we were all crying in the pool house after using a hammer to nail our sins into the cross. That image has stuck with me. The Triune God knows all about us, knit us together in our mothers wombs, knows when we sit and we rise, knows every thought in our heads and every action that we’ve done – and loves us anyway. Pursues us anyway. Died for our sins.

MercyMe’s “Flawless” comes in to play here:

No matter the bruises

No matter the scars

Still the truth is

The cross has made

The cross has made you flawless

No matter the hurt

Or how deep the wound is

No matter the pain

Still the truth is

The cross has made

The cross has made you flawless

When we make our peace with God, God is able to use us. What Jesus says to Ananius to get him to go to Paul in Acts 9:15-16,“But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” We may not have the proclamation power of Paul and we certainly don’t want to suffer like Paul, but Jesus uses us as his instruments, to be his show and tell in the world.

There’s a hymn written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette called “Christ You Offer Us Your Welcome.”

You have given us a mission — to invite our neighbors in —

and your call to love and listen is a place we can begin.

We need more than open houses; we need, first, to give our hearts.

By your Spirit, make us servants; that’s the way your welcome starts.

May we set a welcome table, may we find a common ground

where no one will feel they’re labeled, where acceptance can be found.

We don’t need to entertain there, or to do things that impress —

just to hear folks’ joy and pain there, and to love so all are blest.

In much the same way, Rachel Held Evans writes, “I had questions about science and faith, biblical interpretation and theology. I felt lonely in my doubts. And, contrary to popular belief, the fog machines and light shows at those slick evangelical conferences didn’t make things better for me. They made the whole endeavor feel shallow, forced and fake.

“What finally brought me back, after years of running away, wasn’t lattes or pastors wearing skinny jeans; it was the sacraments. Baptism, confession, communion, preaching the Word, anointing the sick — you know, those strange rituals and traditions Christians have been practicing for the past 2,000 years. The sacraments are what make the church relevant, no matter the culture or era. They don’t need to be repackaged or rebranded; they just need to be practiced, offered and explained in the context of a loving, authentic and inclusive community.”

When we take this meal, we’re following Paul’s example, making peace with those around us, ourselves and God. But we’re also following Paul’s example because when we take this meal, it’s like a restart. Forgetting our sins that lie behind us and pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. In this meal, we take part in this holy mystery that should forever change us if we let it. And that’s what Jesus wants – that’s what Paul did; he was forever changed from Saul into Paul. He proclaimed the Word made flesh and dwelt among us! He had proclaimed hate and was a destroyer AND then HE was the biggest big mouth and planted churches and wrote several parts of the Bible. If Jesus can transform him, what are we waiting for?

Jesus came and saved a wretch like me and he wants us to use our gifts, talents, imperfections and peculiarities to find the lost, the lonely, the desperate, the seemingly bad guys and show them the WAY – to show them Jesus – so that he can transform their lives just like he continues to transform ours. Jesus wants us to be the Church joined together in this common meal, in this Holy Communion, throughout all the world, all sinners, saved by grace, all broken people, put back together again, whole. It’s time to restart and get out of our own way. It’s time to restart and let God use us. It’s time to restart and go ye and tell the world about Jesus!

Amazing Grace, Body of Christ, Communion, Community, Cross, Grace, Holy Week, Jesus, Palm Sunday, Resurrection, Sermon, Uncategorized

Palm Sunday – The One

Posted on April 10, 2017 by narciejeter

Matthew 21:1-11 (NRSV)

21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd^[^b^] spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

My mom gives Enoch and Evy all kinds of Christian books. They have many “my first Bibles,” pre-school Bibles, and “big kids” Bibles. We actually have two copies of My Very First Easter Story.

Oh, though it’s only 2 pages, Enoch and Evy filled in the details. Evy said it was all about friendship. Enoch said that it was a horse (some versions say this). Evy said they had laid the palm branches and cloaks down because they didn’t want Jesus to walk in the mud.

You see, all of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have this story. They included different details but the same overarching story.

I have chosen to stick with the Palm Sunday text. You see the lectionary texts for today give us the options of choosing the Palm text and the Passion text. I normally do some mixture of the two, however, I wanted to be intentional about sticking to the text and journeying through this week with Jesus.

The hesitancy of pastors is that if people only attend on Sundays, you get the celebration of Palm Sunday back to back with the Alleluias of Easter. High point. Even higher point.

You miss why in just 5 days the same people that shouted “Hosanna” and waved palm branches, shouted “Crucify him! Crucify him!” You miss Jesus ticking off the Pharisees in the temple when he turned over the tables and called them a brood of vipers. You miss them plotting to kill him. You miss Jesus’ teaching the disciples you have to be last to be first as they witnessed him washing their and their friends’ feet. Their Rabbi that they had followed for three years, getting all of his radical dust on them, as he continually flipped the script. Doing what is always least expected. Who else would have people waving palm branches praising him and wanting to kill him less than a week later?

He was the One they had waited for. He was the One whom the prophets foretold. He is the One Herod was so afraid of that he slaughtered all of those innocent children. He was the One who preached in his hometown and they said, “Who is this kid? Is he Joseph’s boy?” He was the One who called Peter, James and John just a bunch of fishermen and said they were the best of the best of the best as he asked them to be his disciples. He was the One who cast out demons, healed the paralytic and the hemorrhaging woman, called Lazarus forth FROM THE GRAVE. He was the One even the wind and the waves obeyed. He was the One. Not just Neo from the Matrix or Frodo from the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but THE ONE. And the people were PUMPED until … they realized he wasn’t a political or military conqueror. He was not going to ride in on a float and wave and provide good sound bites. He was not going to incite a revolt among people groups. He was not going to be boxed in to a certain tradition. He was not going to maintain the status quo or social norms. He came to flip the script. He came to set ALL people free. He came to set us free from BOTH sin and death. He came to set us free from all of the burdens and shackles of this world.

I spent the week talking to Donal Hook about salvation. He was recounting what Harry said two weeks ago about Jesus wiping the slate clean and I said that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love and we’re all worthy, enough, and chosen. He said he was like the man saying, “Help my unbelief!” I appreciated his honesty as I relate to the man and the words as well! Remember the story. It’s immediately after the transfiguration and the disciples are in a tizzy. In Mark 9:19-24 he says to the disciples, “¹⁹ “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” ²³Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” I believe; help my unbelief. We had many discussions over the past week and a half. Most of the time it boiled down to me saying, that’s what’s so amazing about grace! We have faith that God’s grace is real and ever abundant to cover anything we throw at God. I brought up singing “Amazing Grace” on Sunday night when I visited him, but I was too embarrassed to sing in front of his family, some of whom I had just met, with my off-key voice, but I ended up singing it on Tuesday with his son Michael and Michael’s wife Marlene and that became our theme song over the last couple of days. That and Psalm 23. I frequently have Psalm 23 rolling around in my head as I pray. It epitomizes to me the fullness of life. God making us lie down in green pastures, anointing our heads with oil, and as I said to Donal and praying with he and his family, Jesus is the One who walks with us even through the darkest valley of the shadow of death. Don joined the great cloud of witnesses yesterday and he is at peace and at rest.

You skip right over that lonesome and dark valley when you go from the triumphant entry of Palm Sunday to the glory of Easter and Resurrection. You don’t get the dark days in between of doubt, fear, frustration, anger. You don’t get the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus asking God to take this cup from him. You don’t see, hear, or feel his pain as he’s betrayed, denied, beaten, stripped, crucified. You don’t get the agony and anguish or the simple humanity of it all, the muck and mire. He was the Human One. Not a super hero that could leap over buildings. He took on the form of a baby, both fully divine and fully human. He felt everything we feel and even when he was on that cross he was thinking of us as he says, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they’re doing.

If you don’t journey towards the cross, you miss out on the struggle and the deep pain of what it means to have an Emmanuel – God with us – even on the darkest night of our souls. To have a savior who suffers right along with us. Who knows the full extent of our pain and then some…

I encourage you to read the stories this week and meditate on them. I encourage you to walk this journey towards the cross. On Thursday we’ll gather here with Isle of Palms UMC for a joint Maundy Thursday service where we’ll celebrate Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. On Friday we’ll have our Good Friday Tenebrae service. If you’ve never been to a Tenebrae service, I encourage you to do so. The word “tenebrae” comes from the Latin meaning “darkness.” The Tenebrae is an ancient Christian Good Friday service that makes use of gradually diminishing light through the extinguishing of candles as scriptures are read of that encompass the entire fullness of Holy Week. This increasing darkness symbolizes the approaching darkness of Jesus’ death and of the hopelessness in the world without God. The service concludes in darkness and worshipers then leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ’s death and await the coming Resurrection. As Bob Goff, author of Love Does says, “Darkness fell. His friends scattered. All hope seemed lost. But heaven just started counting to three.”

I invite us to count to three together as a faith community as One body. We rejoice with one another. We weep with one another. We share in the mountaintops and the darkest of the darkest valleys and that is why it’s so special to have shared in this Holy meal together these past Sundays of Lent. We have gathered bread, sustenance, strength to face together whatever life throws at us. When we feel like giving up, when we need a helping hand or an encouraging word, we are there for one another with Jesus ever in our midst. We live, move and breathe in Christ, our Rabbi, our One with us. The One who calls each of us worthy, enough, beloved by God. The One we celebrate when we celebrate this Holy Sacrament of Communion….

Campus Ministry, Cross, Easter, Grace, Hope, Jesus, Movies, pride, Sermons, Suffering

Easter?

Posted on April 25, 2011April 25, 2011 by narciejeter

We say that as Christians we’re an Easter people, a Resurrection people. I believe that and have given an enthusiastic “He is risen. He is risen indeed!” I don’t know if it was because Easter was so late in the season this year but I started off pretty well at the beginning of Lent in trying to be intentional about this journey to the cross, but as the semester began to draw to a close and the to do list piled up, our car was totaled and we were depending on just one car, three of us had strep throat, and we moved everything out of my grandparent’s house, Easter somehow got lost in the shuffle and all the upheaval of life.

A clergy friend of mine posted the other day that Lent and Holy Week are her favorite time of the year. I love spring and the flowers and the sun out more (even though we haven’t seen that as much yet). I love the smell and feel in the air as people begin to come outside and play volleyball in the sand at Winthrop Lake, go on walks in the evening, and enjoy time on your front or back porch. The transition from winter to spring is an amazing one and I know that very easily makes a symbolic leap to death and the resurrection. So don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year, but I can’t say that I enjoy Good Friday. It’s like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List where it’s not something that you watch every day to lift your spirits, but it’s something you know you need to watch at least once to recognize the sacrifice and the weight of what was cost.

I hate to pick favorite anything’s but Advent and Christmas are probably hands down my favorite time of year. It’s such a powerful witness to me that the great God of the universe decided to come as a baby and dwell among us. Emmanuel, fully human and fully divine, is such a super big deal. You can’t have Easter without that in-breaking of the kingdom where God became a vulnerable baby right here in all of our human frailty and all the kaleidoscope of human experience. In some ways it’s the same reasons that I love watching The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston the night before Easter every year. There’s something about when Moses says,” I want to know God,” as he longs to go on the mountain, and something sacred and special about this God who speaks and delivers the people. There’s something about Ramses in the movie when challenged to cry out to his gods for help saying about Moses’ God, “His God, is God.” A God that could have anything or do anything God wants, that chooses to be in relationship with God’s people, that chooses to bring deliverance and justice, and that chooses to be present in the midst of suffering – that is something more powerful than any adjective could describe.

In thinking about Easter, I think a lot of my unease is around Good Friday. It’s easy for us to lift up the tiny baby Jesus a la Ricky Bobby or in pictures and greeting cards, but you don’t see people sending out greeting cards or putting giant pictures of Jesus still hanging on the cross, crucified with the nails and the blood and the crown of thorns. It’s easy to believe in this present and loving God that chooses to be with us, it’s a little harder to take the responsibility that all the suffering he did on the cross was for us. That’s a little more weighty and pricks our pride a bit for those that think works or merit or self-seeking is what makes things happen, which is why I think we often rush straight from Palm Sunday right on to Easter and the resurrection. We know it ends well and it’s all good and grace for us, but it’s hard to hear the words from Gethsemane, “Father, take this cup from me.” It’s hard to read about the suffering much less watch anything like the Passion where we get an up-close and personal look. If we really believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. If we believe that this innocent man was martyred for us, how does that change how we live our lives? Does it? Sometimes Easter makes the sacrifice look easy and the grace that’s thrown out in bushel-full’s seem simple. But then I think about Peter and the other disciple running as fast as they can to the tomb and Mary weeping there. This was real and personal and not something just long ago, but something that affects each of us as Jesus calls our name.

How would you describe Easter? How would you describe what Jesus did? Using real life language, what would you say? In thinking about how to describe the Easter story to Enoch and Evy in ways that they understand, do I just pop in a Veggie Tales video on Easter or read them a children’s book or hope they pick up something at church? How do we explain to the world what Easter means, not just the cute little baby Jesus, but the full scope of the story?

There’s a line to a song that I heard the other day that says “there’s no hope without suffering.” There’s no hope without suffering. I don’t know if that’s wholly true all the time, but I do believe that the hope born from suffering is a real and sustaining hope indeed. What kind of resurrection hope are we offering our world? This isn’t a hope that tells you that everything in life is going to be easy or rainbows and butterflies. It’s much like our South Carolina motto, “While I breathe, I hope.” This is a hope that says that no matter what, even on the darkest of days, that God is with you. Sin and death have been conquered and new life, eternal life, abundant life, is offered in Christ. No more do we have to make the same mistakes over and over, but through the power and grace of God and the Spirit that intercedes for us, we have the promise of something more in this life and a story unfolding far more magnificent, magical, and miraculous than any royal wedding, any Lifetime or Hallmark movie, or anything we may try to do on our own. Beyond any “greatest story ever told” this God of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and everything in between – this God is seeking us and calling us to live this resurrection life out loud in the world by loving God, loving our neighbor, and loving ourselves to know that we don’t have to do it all, but we just have to depend on the One who did it for us.

Still love this song for Easter…