EASTER SUNDAY "Our Amazing Day”

Readings:Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, Jeremiah 31:1-6, Colossians 3:1-4, Matthew 28:1-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 20, 2014

A printable PDF file can be found here

Easter is the Christian churches amazing day. There is nothing normal about the Easter story. At the center is the astounding claim that Jesus, whom the disciples had witnessed dead and buried, had been raised from death. Risen, not like a zombie to haunt them, nor simply come alive to their imaginations, but had been clothed with a resurrected body that pulsated with eternal life.

Over a period of days that follow they experience His presence in numerous ways. He eats with them. He teaches them. They see on His body the marks of His suffering. He comes and goes as He pleases, and locked doors prove no impediment. He is witnessed to not only by those closest to Him, but also by whole groups of followers.

Because of His living presence with them the disciples are changed. They are bowled over by hope. Nothing in their world is ever the same again. After His ascension they are granted power from on high, the very presence of the resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit within them and around them. Eventually they are prepared to live and die for the truth they have perceived, that Christ is Risen.

Easter is our amazing day. In Matthew's account this amazing day begins with Mary Magdalene and another Mary going to visit the tomb of Jesus. They come not knowing what they are to do, yet they are drawn to the tomb out of their love and respect for the Jesus they had adored. They wish to honor Him, even though they know He is dead. They discover that His tomb is sealed and a guard has been set upon it.

It is the first day of the week. It was the first day of the rest of their lives. It was a new day. It was an amazing day. For their world is about to be shaken. Matthew describes it as an angel coming down from heaven, as an earthquake that rolls away the stone, as something that renders those in place to guard the tomb helpless and unable to keep it sealed.

It matters not that the other gospels describe things differently. These were events that were too earth shattering to put into words. Like witnesses to an explosion, all they can do is comment on the fragments that remained. Who was there, what was said, how it all happened sequentially are but small things compared to what had happened. They show a startling disinterest in the details, because the amazing revelation they witness to seems to make them not so important. What is that amazing revelation? It is found in the words proclaimed to the two Mary's.  Verse 6."He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said"

Let us explore this verse.
 

He is not here

I have heard people say that they would believe in God, but are frustrated by His absence. They prayed and nothing happened. They can't believe that a loving God would allow such terrible things to take place in the world. They don't know how to find Him.

The two Mary's who went to the tomb must have felt the same way. Why hadn't God protected the One they thought could save them? When He was so obviously innocent, how could God allow Jesus to be betrayed, tortured and crucified like a common criminal? Where were You God, when we needed you?

The first part of the angels answer is startling. 'He's not here'. Where is God? 'He's not here!' God was  not in the tomb. God was not dead. God was not able to be contained or confined to any place,  to any kind of understanding. God was not stuck in the past. God was not contained by the  tragedy.God was not in the earthquake. God was not in the darkness. 'He's not here' declares the  angel.

This is how our minds work. We want God to give us a reply. To say 'Here I am'. We want a God who stays still, who has a physical address and a geographical location. We want a God who is at our beck and call, who does what we ask. We want a 'Twitter' God, a God with a Facebook page and an email address.

We want a God who prevents bad things happening, not One who allows His beloved Son to be crucified and then claims that it was due to our sins that He suffered. We don't want a God who holds us responsible for anything. That kind of God, the God we make in our image and according to our needs and desires... 'He's not here'. The next part of the verse tells us why He's not here. 

He has Risen

God is where the light is. God is where the life is. God is a happening. God is where the action is In the Psalm set for today, Psalm 118 we read, “The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has  become my salvation. I will not die, but live!” In the Old Testament lesson for today Jeremiah is a  cheerleader telling the people; 'There will be a day when watchmen cry out : Come let us go up to  Zion, to the Lord our God”.

In our reading from Matthew the two Mary's are told; “Go on. Get out of here! He is not in this place. He has gone ahead of you!” As they leave that place, they are amazed! They don't know whether to laugh or cry. Verse 8, “Afraid yet filled with joy, they ran to tell the disciples” . And whilst they are  running from that place “Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They cameto Him, Clasped  His feet and worshiped Him.”

How can we encounter the Risen presence of Jesus Christ? I believe it takes place as we go about doing the things He asks us to do and living the way He wants us to live. When we set our hearts to the task of being Kingdom people, the King has a habit of showing up.

We may not always recognize Him. He may come asking for help in the guise of a needy person. He may come to us as an encouraging smile from a total stranger. We may hear His voice in the midst of a TV program or through a random comment in an email.

We may hear Him in a sunrise or see Him in a random act of kindness. We may sense Him whispering in our conscience or nudging us to respond to a situation we are encountering. We may find that where others are starting to worry we are sensing His peace. We may find that when others are in despair we can't help but hope.

And hopefully at such moments we will open up in worship and with deep thankfulness. “Suddenly  Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They came to Him, Clasped His feet and worshiped Him.” But  we are not quite finished with the angels words. “He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said”. The final part...

Just as He said
 

Jesus, on numerous occasions, instructed the disciples that He would be raised from death on the third day. They listened. They heard. But they had to experience Him before they believed Him. That's how it is with the Word of God. We listen to it. We may read it. Yet it is only as we experience it that we truly believe it.
 

It is only as we seek to allow the Holy Spirit to make the stories of scripture our story that we break through to fresh revelation of what God can do in and through our lives. It is only as we believe on the promises that God reveals God's love through the promises.

God promises to be there for us when all others fail. God promises to provide what we need to be Kingdom people. God promises that in life and death nothing can separate us from the love of Christ if we but trust Him to lead us and guide us.
 

But we have to act on God's word. We have to trust in God's word. It can't be just words, we need to respond by being prepared to do what God asks us to do, go where God asks us to go, be the people God wants us to be. We have to lay aside our personal agenda and ask God to rewrite the story of our lives. We have to stop singing 'I did it my way' and start trying to do it God's way, every day, in whatever way God desires.
 

Then we will know God's promises are true. Then we will know His Risen presence. Then we will move beyond a life that is endlessly striving to find acceptance, to one where we know we are accepted children of the most High God.
 

Then we are free to be who God wants us to be instead of having to living up to other peoples expectations of us. Then we will be able to discern where to invest our time, talents and treasures. Then we won't be afraid to invest the best of the rest of our lives in our relationships and families and our communities... things that at the end of all days are revealed to have been the things that really mattered.
 

Easter Sunday. Our amazing day! The day we proclaim to the world... “It ain't over till it's over”. The day we are invited to wonder at an empty tomb and to invite the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus to invade our lives and fill our hearts with the possibilities opened to us through God's Kingdom, the Kingdom of hope that even death can not destroy.
 

I pray that the amazing good news of resurrection may capture all of our lives... that this will be an amazing day for us all. Amen.
 

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

From the Palms to the Cross

Readings: Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, Exodus 17:1-7, John 4:5-26
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 13th 2014

A printable PDF file can be found here

FROM THE PALMS TO THE GARDEN

We began our service by celebrating the the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.  The sad thing is that it didn't take long for those shouts of welcome to change into shouts of accusation. The first thing that Jesus did when he got into town was go to the temple. He was horrified by what he saw there.

There were money-changers and tax collectors cheating the people.  The whole thing seemed to have been corrupted by those who used religion for their own ends.  Jesus got mad.  This wasn't how it was meant to be.  The temple was supposed to be a light for all nations, a place where all the world could discover the awesome love of God, a place of prayer. "You have turned it into a den of thieves". He storms in and turns over the tables and lets loose the sacrificial animals - and those in charge know that He is right and no-one lifts a finger to stop Him.

Now He really has peoples attention. Over the next days through parables and confrontations with the religious leaders He teaches of the danger of false religion, and of how the leaders of the day had got it terribly wrong. He prophesied how a time was coming when He would be shown for who He really was and they would be left looking foolish.

He accuses them of hypocrisy, a Greek word that comes from the world of the theatre and described the way actors would wear masks as they played their parts - pretending to be something that they were not.

Matthew 23:1-10
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them."And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger."But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments."And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues,and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi."But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers."And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

Jesus makes it ever clearer to the disciples that He is the Christ, He is the One God had sent to be the Savior.  He teaches them about how in serving others they would be doing His will, how at the end of time God would judge the peoples, how many would not want to listen, but still they must work for the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, serious trouble was brewing.

Matthew 26:1-5
And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples,  "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion."Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas;and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth, and kill Him.  But they were saying, "Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people."

At the home of Simon a woman comes and anoints Jesus with oil. Jesus describes her act as preparing his body for burial.  He shares a passover meal with his disciples and tells them that the bread that was broken represented His body which would be broken and that the wine was his blood which was to be poured out for the forgiveness of sins, a sign of the new covenant.

For one of the disciples, this is to much.  Maybe he was scared of Jesus getting hurt and wanted to stop Him.  Maybe Jesus wasn't turning out to be the sort of Messiah he had hoped for.  We don't know what it was that motivated Judas, but we know what happened.

Matthew 26:14-16
Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.

After the Passover meal, during which Jesus predicts that all of his disciples would fall away, (even those who thought they would never do such a thing), Jesus heads for the Garden of Gethsemane.

In this garden comes the turning point.  We celebrate at Easter time the victory of Christ. But where was that victory won?  I believe it was in the Garden.  Had Jesus not at that critical moment said, "Not my will, but thine be done", there would have been no cross and no Easter Resurrection, no forgiveness for us, nor new life in the Spirit.

Where will we find the victory over the things that trouble us and drag us down?  Where will we find the strength to go on when we feel all is dark?  I suggest it is in our prayers, in our turning our will over to God's will. 

Matthew 26:36-45
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."And He came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?"Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done."And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

William Bradbury's hymn  takes us to the Garden with Jesus. (Can be sung to the tune of the Doxology)

"Tis Midnight and on Olives Brow, The star is dimmed that lately shone,
Tis midnight in the garden now, The suffering Savior prays  alone.

Tis midnight and from all removed, The Savior wrestles lone with fears,
E'en that disciple whom he loved, heeds not His masters grief and tears.

Tis midnight and for others guilt, The man of sorrows weeps in blood,
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt, Is not forsaken by His God.

Tis midnight and from heavenly planes, is borne the song that angels know,
Unheard by mortals are the strains, that sweetly soothe the Saviors voice."

"FROM THE GARDEN TO THE CROSS"

In the garden Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and He is led away to be tried.  For what crimes?  Love. Speaking out against what was wrong. Setting free the oppressed. Giving dignity to those others had no time for. Daring to be who He was. Healing. Caring. Of course they are not the accusations. Blasphemy.  Lies are uttered. False testimony created by false witnesses. Before Caiaphas and before Pilate the lies continue.  Jesus confounds them with His silence, the only words He speaks cut his accusers even deeper as they reveal their hateful hearts.

Peter in fear betrays Jesus by denying that he had ever known him.  Judas tries vainly to turn back what he has done. The courts turn Jesus over to the soldiers. The law enforcement officers  beat him and spit on him and mock him. They press a crown of thorns into his head, for the rumor is going around that he claims to be King of the Jews.

In an attempt to wash his hands of the whole thing and prevent a riot Pilate suggests a prisoner should be freed, as was customary at Feast time.  "Who do you want, Jesus the Christ or Barabbas?"  The crowds shout for Barabbas. "And what of Jesus?". Now hear the voices that shouted hosanna change their tune. "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him".

Battered, bruised, beaten Jesus is forced to drag his Cross through the jeering crowds. The Carpenter who had made things of beauty  now facing being nailed to this ugly construction of clumsily thrown together beams. He stumbles, his strength gone and a man called Simon is pressed into carrying the cross.

Matthew 27: 33-37
And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull,  they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and after tasting  it, He was unwilling to drink.  And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots; and sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there.  And they put up above His head the charge against Him which read, " THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. "

Two thieves are also being crucified.  One mocks Him. The other finds life in the midst of death.  Some respectable folk hurl insults. Others, women who had stayed with him, have no words, only tears.

Matthew 27: 45-54.
 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.   But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

A centurion comes to a statement of faith.  Yet the story was far from over. Others like you and I would believe.  Not simply because of the cross but because of what came after. On Easter Sunday we will not mourn, we will celebrate! On Easter Sunday we will declare that where we have left off today, is not the end, but only the beginning.

Through the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, from the palms to the Garden, from the Garden to the Cross, from the Cross to the Resurrection, God was working in an unprecedented way to bring salvation to the world.  A later disciple, Paul, speaks of the incomparable Jesus Christ in this way;

Colossians 1:19-22
 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him,and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach!

Praise be to God! Amen!
                                                                     
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Life Stinks

Readings: Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, Ezekiel 37:1-10, John 11:1-45
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 6th 2014

A printable PDF can be found here

Sometimes life stinks. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try it just doesn’t work out. It’s not fair. It’s not right.  And if life stinks then death stinks even more.  Your born, you get by, then you die. For some that’s about it.  That is their creed.  That is what they base their days upon. 

As we go through life we become disenchanted, disentangled, displaced. Things come along that we hadn’t anticipated, hadn’t thought would happen to us. They leave us hurt and confused.

Maybe you are familiar with the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’. My favorite line comes just after the scarecrow is attacked by the evil flying monkeys. The brainless scarecrow is ripped to shreds and bits of him scattered around a clearing in the forest. “Well” he says, “That’s me all over”.  We can feel like that. Things come along that knock the stuffing out of us and we are at the mercy of others to try and help us get it all back together again.

We had two bible stories this morning about displacement and scattering.  Ezekial compares the Israelite people in exile as being a valley full of scattered lifeless bones.  Mary and Martha try and deal with the death of Lazarus and are confused as to why Jesus wasn’t there when they really needed him.. “He could have done something; where was He when we needed Him?”

In both stories something amazing happens.  It happens in response to one thing. The Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is spoken and everything changes.  Where there once was hopelessness and despair there comes joy and vision. To where there was scattering and displacement there comes focus and energy.

It’s a story as old as Creation. Recall the very first words of Genesis. There is chaos. Then the Word of the Lord. Creation starts to happen.  Darkness is turned to light.  Nothingness is turned into life.  And God looks and God says it is good.

Follow the story of the Israelite nation throughout the Old Testament.  Called into being by the Word of the Lord.  New Creation, but then losing their way, no longing hearing, recognizing or acting upon the Word of the Lord. Only when they have ears to hear and eyes to see do they become once more a pilgrim people of hope.

Into this crazy scattered world comes Jesus Christ.  Born into the midst of all it’s confusion.  He is the New Word that God speaks.  The New Covenant, the New Testament Word. Those who hear recognize His authority.  Those who are touched and healed and delivered by His life know their life will never be the same again. 

Then there is that dark moment when people such as you and I crucify the Lord of love. We twist His words, turn to the darkness instead of the light.  We don’t hear the word of the Lord.  We shout it down.  We like the sound of our own voice better than His.

Fools. God has the last Word. The word of Resurrection.  The word that calls death a loser. The word that reverses evil’s power.  The Word that makes a laughing stock of those who think they are powerful or important over and above others.  The Word that changes barren places into flower gardens of hope and deserts into rich gardens. The Word that changes the Cross from an emblem of shame to a symbol of victory.

God calls us as individuals to be remade by His love.  We all have problems. We all have gifts.  We are all alike sinners. We are all alike made in God’s image and capable of great things. We need to hear the word of the Lord that tells us to personally get our act together with God, to know ourselves His people, saved by Grace through faith, aware of who we are and whose we are. It’s the first great commandment,  that you and I , for ourselves, love the Lord our God heart-fully, mindfully and soulfully.

The second great commandment is that we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.  It’s not just about us finding ourselves and being spiritually fulfilled, it’s about being built into a community that looks beyond the four walls of it’s own church to the people outside, about being built, by the power of God’s Spirit, into an army of ordinary people for the cause of Jesus Christ, fighting not with weapons of material warfare, but empowered through prayer and spiritual gifting and knowledge of God’s will and God’s Word.

We are put together as individuals and brought together as a people of God.  We are not called to be a pile of old stinking bones,  but a fresh and living witness to the love and grace of God in our midst.  Hear the promise of God to those who hear this word. “I will put my Spirit within you, and you will come to life... you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken”.

When we hear the word of the Lord life no longer stinks.  Life takes on a different fragrance.  Paul, in Ephesians tells us, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Staying on an aromatic theme, consider these words from our second reading, at the raising of Lazarus. We heard how Jesus arrived some time after Lazarus had died and how Mary and Martha weren’t exactly sympathetic to the fact that He hadn’t been there when Lazarus was dieing, because now it was to late.

When Jesus asks to unseal the tomb, is Martha expecting a miracle? Is she thinking, “O.K. Jesus is here now, things are going to be fine.”? No way. (Verse 39). “Jesus said, “Remove the stone”. Martha said, “Lord by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days”

They were about to witness a miracle.  Don’t ask me to explain miracles. They are so out of the ordinary they defy our understanding. They are not meant to be commonplace easily understood events.  Sometimes they are just one of a kind.

The Word of the Lord is spoken.  Jesus offers a prayer of thanks then shouts into the tomb, “Lazarus’ Come out”. And out he comes. “Get him out of those grave clothes” suggests Jesus, “He’s still got some living to do”.

I wish every time we had a bereavement I could walk along and tell the deceased to wake up and get on with living this life.  But that’s not the way things are. The resurrection of Lazarus was a special event that took place prefiguring Christ’s own death and resurrection.  Eventually Lazarus had to go back to tomb - just wasn’t his time right then, God had a higher purpose in mind.

Whilst there are a whole lot of layers of meaning to this passage, for me today this passage is reminding me that every day we get to wake up in the morning is a gift from God.  There’s an Andrea Crouch gospel song (I think it’s called “This is another Day”) that has a line it in it where he says, “He didn’t have to wake me up this morning,  but the Lord so did”.

Every day that we are given we have a choice as to what we are going to make of that day.  We can get up and say “Life Stinks”. We can walk around, as it were in our grave clothes, feeling that there is really no point and no reason and why bother. Or we can “Hear the Word of the Lord”. We can thank God that there is still life in our bones, whether they be older bones or newer bones.  We can walk with Christ. We can welcome His word on the different situations we encounter during the day.

We can see our lives in the larger picture. Not the picture that is framed by being born, getting by and living only to die, but the framework that Jesus gives us of life lived from before the womb to beyond the tomb.  We can hold before us that Jesus tells us that our lives matter to God, that they have meaning and purpose and are not just an aimless mistake, that there is a God who wants to love us and loves to be loved by us.

We can hold before us the resurrection picture, that we are not living to die, but we are living to live! That whenever this life is no more, that is not God’s final word about who we are and why we are here and what our destiny may be.

We don’t have to be displaced people in exile from God’s love. Jesus has made the way for us to know God’s love in an intimate and personal way.  We don’t have to walk around with the shadow of death stalking us like some grim Reaper. Jesus died that we may have life, abundant life, resurrection life. He says to us, as He said to Lazarus, “Come out of that tomb”.

Hear the Word of the Lord. Come out of the tombs of hopelessness, the tombs of pointlessness, the tombs of anxiety and worry, the tombs of addictions and life crushing habits. Get out of there. It stinks. Walk free and forgiven, offering your lives as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God.

Whilst Lent is meant to be a time for reflection, the Sundays in Lent are set aside for proclaiming Resurrection.  Passages like we have heard today, dry bones coming to life, Lazarus coming out of the tomb, lead us towards Easter when we celebrate that Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed!

First comes Palm Sunday. And then the events of Holy Week, the crucifixion and the cross. For sure death casts it shadow heavily upon this season. There are moments of deep darkness.  But at the end of the Easter road is a brilliant resurrection light whose brightness transforms everything that lies before it and that comes after it. 

Ezekials vision of dry bones and Lazarus’s tomb were just the appetizer.  The main course lay just ahead. And to God's name be all glory. Amen!
                                                                     
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.