JUST A MINUTE! This is Father’s Day, not Mother’s Day. Couldn’t we tweak this just a little? Make it a guy thing? Update it I bit? Like:

…As they went on their way, Jesus entered a village; and a fellow named Marvin had Jesus over for dinner. And he had a brother called Martin, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to Jesus’ every word. Poor Marvin. He was distracted with much business, texting-and-twittering and emailing and hanging on his Bluetooth with call after interrupting business call. Finally he took a break and went to Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my brother’s left me to attend our family business alone? Tell him to get it together and help me. We have orders to fill and there’s trouble down at the shop” But the Lord answered him, “Marvin, Marvin, you’re anxious and troubled about everything; Just one thing is truly essential. And Martin’s chosen it. My Word’s like the main course of the finest meal. And nothing and nobody will ever take that away from Martin.”

Ahh, dear friends, whether we tell this story as Martha bakin’ dinner rolls, or Marvin makin’ marinara while tryin’ to close a business deal, this much is true. Either way, there’s kitchen conversation here that sounds familiar. The oven’s not the only thing that’s hot! We can see it. We can feel it. Jesus can, too. Martha feelin’ put-upon. Marvin the marvelous martyr! What we’ve got here is a case of hard/bad-hearted attitude. Bad attitude: the most frequent source of the family feud! Yep, right in our kitchen there’s annoyance that’s itchin’. You know the feeling. You’ve read and followed the recipe. Women. Men. Youth too. The longer you talk, the farther you walk, the greater the certainty: some one or some thing will agitate! “Here I am out here bustin’ my chops. They’re in there soakin’ in the Lord’s tops! Why me? Can’t she, or he help? Finally, it all boils over. Itchin’ in the kitchen turns to turmoil at the table. And the feast of life is spoiled.

Do you suffer agitation, in you or around you? Is it easy to whip up a bad attitude while whizzin’ around your kitchen (i.e., your busy life)? Well then, let’s cook up a little conversation that can help us with a bad attitude. Even we dads can do these. Three steps.

Step one: Refrigerate! Chill. Cool down. Tarry awhile in your cool place before taking a risk with your best face. Martha and Marvin were neither the first nor the last to seethe in the kitchen, then boil over at the dinner table. Don’t you get the feeling that when tempers cooled, the dear saints said, “If only I could take that back!” Can’t you hear the self-pity, bitterness and anger in, “Lord, don’t you care?” And the bossyness in, “Jesus, make it right!” When we say, or hear these… isn’t there a later moment we just wish they could go away? Well, here’s a great first rule for avoiding regret by controlling your attitude: Refrigerate! Cool down before you speak up! The folk wisdom’s right. “It’s always better to swallow angry words than to eat them later!” Ancient wisdom is still wise. Pluvious, the Greek sage got it right, “I’ve always regretted my tongue, never my silence.” Rome’s Seneca is right on, “The greatest remedy for anger is… delay!” But we are not Romans, or Greeks. We hew to a different Spirit and Text. The Proverbs Jesus knew, we should learn! “He who keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” (21: 23) And again, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” (13:3) And again, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.” (10: 19) Maybe what James wrote he heard right from Jesus. “Where words are many, trouble is much…” (1: 26)  And, “The tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! The tongue is a fire….” (3: 5-6)  Papa, Mama, Junior, Princess… when you can feel the heat a-risin’ in the kitchen of your soul, go to the big box in the corner. Yank the handle. Open the door. Cool off. Cool down. Refrigerate!

Step two. Punctuate! Quit pourin’ in and pourin’ on ingredients or you’re bound to ruin the recipe for good relationships in your life. STOP! PUT A PERIOD AFTER THE LAST WORD IN YOUR COOK BOOK! Many a family like many a feast, many a marriage or friendship has been fouled for lack of just one dot. A final point.

A precious priority! What Jesus says to Martha (and our make-believe Marvin), he says to us. “Dear friend, dear friend, you are anxious and  troubled over too many things!” “You’ve got too much on your plate! Let your main dish be your main dish!” Jesus doesn’t think Martha’s a bad soul. He doesn’t not-love-her. Or us. Christ can embrace us type A or type B folks both. Martha can be practical, Mary sensitive. Marvin can have things to do, Martin, things to think. We can choose the broom or the book, the trip to mall or library. Together for Christ, together with Christ we can fit like hand and glove. But, let us insist on our own way over his way and we become like oil and water, fellowship like flint and stone! God in Christ cares more for the heart than the type of service. ‘The attitude than the altitude of the gifts we bring. ‘The temperature of the soul than the type talent we bring. I’m reminded of the brother who prays to God. “Lord you know that I love you. I give my tithes. I work in my church. I’m an Optimist, a Lion, a Moose and a Gorc coach 3 seasons of the year. But my check book won’t balance and my car won’t start and my brother is way ahead of me. He’s brash; he bowls while I pray. He’s a Christmas/Easter worshipper (but a Bible reader, I admit)… and he could buy/sell me 3X over. I don’t want you to zap him, but why not bless me more!” Heaven opens. A voice speaks. “Because you’re a self-righteous pain in the neck! And I’ve never really been your main thing!” If you want a new ‘tude for a new time, punctuate. Put a period on your ingredients so you can truly taste and see the goodness of the Lord!

Step Three. Graduate! Cooking school is not designed to last forever! The best way outta the kitchen and straight to the table, each other and Jesus is this. Graduate. Let go of your anger.  (When you kneed it like bread, punchin’ and pullin’ to make it bigger and bigger, Jesus says you will be put to the judgment.) Don’t linger in yesterday’s recipes. Try tomorrow’s adventures. Trust God. It’s God who says, “Behold. I make all things…new!” Remember, the main dish makes the best banquet. Jesus is the main dish! The Bread of Life. The New Wine. Why fool with favorite foods that are lesser loaves? Salt your attitude by his Glad-itude!

Martha, Marvin, Mavis or Monty, no matter.

Get right, kitchen to table! Refrigerate. Punctuate. Graduate!

O, to be finally finished with Phineas!

It’s what every kid home with a so-so report card wants to know. And every parent who’s read it. And every worker wantin’ a raise. Or spouse who’s wondering what happened to the partner I picked. It’s what every believer who’s prayed hard and is ill anyway, or lived right and been life-wronged wants to know. How do we deal with disappointment? We need a new ‘tude for a new time. A different beginning, maybe, for a different ending… Finally, faith over Phineas!

Let’s a take a walk. (Dig/dive a little deeper, say/sing our youth.) Here’s Cleopas and that other disciple (We don’t really know who they are. Some say they were an early Christian couple). They’re heading the 7 miles to Emmaus. It might as well have been 70! Heads down, shoulders slumped. Not steppin’ lively but shufflin’ along. It’s Easter evening, only they think it’s just 3 days after the cross. The risen Jesus comes up right beside them. But they can’t see him for who he is, much less right by their side. He asks, “Why so woeful?” “Are you the only one who doesn’t know?” they ask. (Isn’t that like us? Don’t we think our distresses are enough to weigh the whole world down with us?) They tell him the crisis of the cross and end with these telling words, “We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. But it’s been three days! NOW, some of our women… at the tomb …didn’t find his body. So get this!  They came back saying they’d seen a vision of angels, who said he’s alive.” Wanna know the signal of the deepest disappointment. Here it is, “We HAD hoped. I had hoped!” ‘Have you said that? ‘Felt that? Is it where you are right now about something or someone, even Jesus, even God? Well, don’t miss this! When your vision gets clouded, so often, your heart gets hardened! (ML)Yet, the answer to your question(s), the solution to your problem(s), the very Savior of your Soul can be walkin’ right there beside you… and you just can’t see! When disappointment turns our heads, sours our stomachs or seduces us with cynicism, even Redemption Day just looks like a little more than grave robbery. Such are the consequences of disillusion. It’s a story of Biblical proportion, preying on our souls.

What we don’t see is that so often we are participants in our own distress. ‘Architects of our own agonies. Here’s the tell-tale sign. Cleopas and confidant would recognize it. “We WERE hoping!” We substitute our wants, our dreams, our visions of Kingdom-Come for God’s! We get disappointed in the face of our own unmet expectations! “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” Unmet expectations! We wanted a Roman-Wrecker, a tax-reliever, a bail-out-bringer, a sensible-savior, a social-securer. God: wants more. ‘Not to save a nation, but to save humanity. ‘Not to satisfy Cleopas but to save your Uncle Clive, and you and me. Whatever disappointments you bring today, ask yourself this about them. Could I be glad, grateful, relieved, that God does not simply settle to answer puny prayers, timid prayers like mine, sometimes? God wants and does more. ‘Not based on what we want, but what we need! Honestly, how do we respond? What happens when we ask God for more? And God says, “Do with what I gave you?” ‘When we say I want a new situation (home/work), and God says, “Honor the one I offer you?” We’re like the fella who bought a parakeet, took it home, loved its voice, but noted it had only one leg. Back to the store he went to complain. The merchant replied, “You said you wanted a companion who could sing. Now you’re telling me you want one who can dance! Make up your mind.” Get your heart right. Open it. …It had been 28 years since I talked to Linda. But I called her husband Tony Thursday. She answered. We talked. I was just grateful she remembered me. She did more. She reminded me, “Do you recall when we had David? And I told you all I prayed for was a healthy baby. And that day we found out he had Down Syndrome. And you sat at my kitchen table and said he’d bring unexpected joy. ‘Special needs kids bring very special blessings,’ you said. For years I’ve wanted to tell you when I got right, I saw that was right.” (Boy, was I relieved. God kept me from goofing up that day! Yea, God!) Well, dealing with disappointment means letting Jesus deal with our priorities! ‘Letting Jesus expand our expectations, ‘give us a heart for heaven instead of a heavy heart! He does it now, just as he did back then.

Jesus’ cure for disappointment is to tell us the story of God. ‘The plan of salvation! “Was it not necessary the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” he asks. “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted scripture to them in the things concerning himself.” ‘All the way back to Moses! He didn’t just explain Holy Week, any more than he lets us wallow in our own woes! He unfolds the whole drama to show us God is in control. ‘STILL IS! It’s not over ’til God says so. HE STILL HASN’T SAID YET. Your unmet expectations are not that big! AND GOD’S NOT DONE YET! ‘Wanna cure for your distress and disillusion? Do what they did. Listen to Jesus tell you the story of Scripture. Go back to it over and over. Let God’s story, their story, be our story, your story! Be finished with Phineas! ‘Not bitter but better! Not faithless but believing. And your eyes will be opened, too!

LUNCH BUNCH: Join us on the second Sunday of each month in the Fellowship Hall at 12:15 for a pot-luck lunch. Bring a dish to share. Don’t have time to prepare something? Just stop at the supermarket deli on your way! LUNCH BUNCH DATES: July 12, Aug. 9, Sept. 13. Mark your calendar and plan to come. Meet new people, reconnect with old friends, bring others – guests are always welcome!

Come hear about activities being planned for you: day trips, bowling, white water rafting, dinner theater, outdoor concerts, Race for the Cure team (Oct. 18 – can run or walk), and an autumn weekend retreat getaway.

Find us at Grill and Chill Thursday evenings this summer beginning June 18 – we’ll save a seat for you!

Questions/comments:
Peggy Williams – emptywilliams@hotmail.com
Colby Knoll – colbyk2@gmail.com

Thursdays, June 18th – August 19th
WEEKLY Picnic on the Lawn (beginning at 6:30 PM)

Outdoor Worship 7:15 – 7:45 PM.
Indoors for rain or excessive heat (85+).

We’ll provide the grill, you can bring the burgers and ‘dogs. We’ll cook or you can “grill your own.” Please bring a veggie or salad or fruit to share. (Make it easy!) We’ll provide a cool drink. You bring a blanket, or chairs, as you desire. We’ll bring the music, a story for faith and time for words of prayer. WE’LL HAVE A WONDERFULE TIME!!!

But Peter, [Of all people, PETER, mind you] standing with the eleven who’d followed Jesus from the start, lifted up his voice. “Fellow Jews and visitors in town alike, listen carefully. Get this straight. It’s only 9 o’clock in the morning. Even we Galileans can’t get drunk this early! O we know, that’s how little you think of us! Look. This is what the prophet Joel told us was coming. Now, here it is! ‘In the last days, God declares, I will pour out my Spirit on people of every kind, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young see visions, and your old dream dreams. And get this: I will pour out my Spirit on all those who serve me, men and women both; and they shall prophesy…I’ll show wonders in the sky, signs on the earth: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun turned to darkness, the moon into blood, before the Lord’s great day comes. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” …Peter boldly declared, “Fellow Israelites, Listen! Jesus of Nazareth, God himself certified to you with mighty works and wonders in your midst. You know it’s so. This Jesus God had in mind from the start and delivered to you, your lawless men had pinned to the cross. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him.”

When they heard all this, they were cut to the heart. They said to Peter and the apostles, “What shall we do?” And Peter said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins… and you too shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

                                        (Acts 2: 1-21, 37-38, a contemporary rendering)

Many were. Many did! What a story! Theirs! Ours! …Is it yours? Some have said yes today. What do you say? I say, make this your own, and…

You will know no more unbelonging. And you will be

marked as Christ’s own forever!

No day or teaching better reveals it. God Godself is an utterly determined evangelist of the first order. In the name of Jesus, God’s determined to leave nothing and no one out! His hot breath, his vibrant, his flaming… passion for souls, will flash/howl like a whirlwind. And all to be the Divine Gatherer of every one of us! God: the Spirit calling us, as Peter said, to “Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Then, “You too shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Get this. Today’s the day God wants to gather you in! Are you ready? Are you able? Are you willin’? Will you just say YES, I BELONG TO GOD? IN JESUS CHRIST? ‘CAUGHT UP BY THE SPIRIT? ‘GATHERED IN, AND NEVER TO BE COUNTED OUT AGAIN?  I mean, haven’t you had enough of UNbelonging? Right there, on that first Pentecost day, the already-believers were gathered first. And themselves, sorta set ablaze by the fiery, feisty Spirit of God, their tongues untied, their hearts pried open, their imaginations set aflame. And all so they could speak the name of Jesus so mightily …there’d be yet another gathering. This time everyone in town is taken in. They come on the run, literally from all over the known-world. That’s what the Good News says! Now believers can connect with everybody… So there’s no more UNbelonging to Jesus! EVERYbody is invited to him!

Haven’t you had enough of UNbelonging? I mean the messages and messengers of UNbelonging are everywhere for everybody. Take the young we confirm today. Isn’t this what you/they hear? You don’t belong. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not smart enough. ‘Not cool enough. Maybe, you don’t go along with the crowd enough. You’re too flat or too fat. Too tall or too short. Too scheduled or too not “in-the-gang.” ‘Know what Jesus says to all of this? “Come unto me.” “I am yours and you are mine.” “I have called you my friends.” “I’ll send the Spirit for ya’. It’ll pick you up. If you wanna help a little, just lift your feet a little when it comes blowin’ through… and it will blow you away…and leave me always standin’ right there beside YOU!”

Haven’t you had enough of UNbelonging? Its messages and messengers are everywhere for everybody. Take the adults and families we welcome today. Isn’t this what you/they hear? ‘We all hear? You don’t belong. “Not pretty enough. ‘Not smart enough. ‘Not cool enough. ‘Too old, too young, too qualified, too little educated for the position. ‘Too broke for the loan, or too monied. ‘Too sick for the insurance or too well for the treatment… try the generic brand. You don’t go along with the crowd enough to be in the club or get the promotion. You’re not the person I married. Or, you haven’t changed a bit!” Whew. Are you tired of it all yet? Here’s what Jesus says, “Come unto me all you who are weary and weighed down, and I will give you rest.” “I am yours and you are mine.” “YOU are my friends.” “I’ll send the Spirit for ya’. It’ll pick you up. If you wanna help a little, just lift your feet a little when it comes blowin’ through… and it will blow you away…and leave me always standin’ right there beside YOU! Just set down all that stuff and all those folks, and all that doin’ and undoin’ that keeps you apart from me… all that sin-filled stuff…. ‘Cause I just want to lift you up, and be with you and you with me!”

I just keep hearin’ Peter’s words ringin’ in my soul today! “Repent, turn around… and be baptized… or remember your baptism… in the name of Jesus Christ… for the forgiveness of your sins.” Then, “You too shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Not tomorrow, next week, month, year or decade, but today! I just keep seein’ the faces of the young and the old we’ve baptized in this wonder-filled place. I get to hold them in my hands. And I get to look them in the eyes, from sleepy babies to brides-and-grooms-at-their-weddings, to old souls in their maturity. And I get to say, “You are hereby sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever!” He will never let go. (We need only hold fast.)

What a story!  Some of us have come forward for the very first or yet a new time today to say, “This is my story. And I’ve been bathed in it! ‘Blown away and blown home to Christ by the Holy Spirit of God! Wouldn’t it be something if the waters were cast in our direction today [doing so] and you were spirit-touched to

Remember your baptism and be thankful!

No more unbelonging. You are marked as Christ’s own forever!

By the Spirit, gathered. …To gather all the world to Christ.

the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body

                                   and the life everlasting.  Whew!

Do we really? … Especially on a day when we remember that great cloud of witnesses. ‘Those who’ve taught and shown us what it means to follow Jesus.  Oh, what a weekend, what a day, this. Three great themes on one fine day. Ascension Sunday. We recount, recall and rejoice in Jesus’ final charge to us and his return to Heaven-as-home. (Both his and ours!) Memorial Weekend, nationally. Time to re-call and give thanks for those who’ve given so much, given their all for us, in uniform and out. And for United Methodists, Aldersgate Sunday! (How many of you got up today to say, “Whoopie!!! It’s time to remember John Wesley’s heart-strangely-warmed today?”) Oh, and how many of our members, neighbors and friends will settle, just to make this a long weekend? Chores. Sales. Malls. Beach. Ballfields with the kids. Picnics. The signal summer’s here. ‘Nothing wrong with any of these. But even all together, they’re no substitute for the gifts we gain from scripture and creed, remembrance and redemption. Let’s serve up a hearty helping on this holiday weekend!

First, let’s come to table with all the family, gathered by the Spirit. How often and easily we speak of the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the forgiveness of sins. They run together without a story or a meaning for us personally. So let’s go back to the beginning and work forward.

Luke gives us two accounts of the Ascension, Jesus headin’ home (to heaven), Lk. 24, Acts 1. In the Gospel account it’s Easter Evening. What a day it’s been. The women discover the empty tomb; two angels report he’s risen. The disciples respond, “Naa!” But Peter runs to the tomb, looks in, goes home amazed. That afternoon two more disciples goin’ to Emmaus encounter a mystery stranger. He interprets the Scripture for them. Then he breaks bread with them. Their eyes are opened – it’s Jesus! Then poof – he vanishes. That gets us to Easter evening. The two disciples race back to Jerusalem. The 11 + companions are in the dining room! Jesus appears, and scares them half to death. They think he’s a ghost. But he says, “Touch me and see. A ghost hasn’t flesh or bones.” To prove that he’s no poltergeist, he eats some broiled fish off the grill. (Hey it was a holiday weekend, you know. Passover. The Jewish Memorial Day… recalling God saving the nation from Pharaoh’s fate.) Listen to the table talk. Jesus tells them, “Everything written of me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” He opens their minds to the Word, and says it’s come true. The Messiah has suffered and risen! Now, “Repentance and forgiveness of sin are to be proclaimed to all, starting from Jerusalem” And just who’s supposed to do this? Jesus leans across the table. “You are,” he says, probably pointing with his fork. “I’m sending you! Just wait here. The Spirit’ll clothe you with the power.” They leave the table covered with dirty dishes. ‘Hike with him to Bethany. He gives them a blessing … and is carried up into heaven. Easter! Memorial Day! Ascension! All in one. No wonder they return to Jerusalem, worshiping Jesus, praising God continually in the temple. This is not just their story. It’s ours. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I really trust that God breathed on the earth, and walked on it in Jesus. And still does. ‘Still makes himself known, tomb to table, no ghost but a savior for sure. I believe in the holy catholic church, the universal church. It started around the table Easter Evening. It took its first baby steps on Pentecost. It’s been carried by the saints of the ages and the saints that I personally have known personally. Take a minute here. Call out their names. Who’s not here who brought you here? Remember?… Who is here who keeps you here?… Rejoice! Speak up/out! Thanks be to God! The Spirit is still moving! So what was their story/your story/our story? FORGIVENESS. That’s our story.

Now second, let’s tune in, let’s lean in… to the conversation. Never underestimate the significance of what happens when we break bread together. Why, it can be life changing! Even eternity determining! We learn who we are. And whose. And how we’re supposed to be. And how we got this far. And how it is we can get home. ‘All the way home. ‘HEAVEN-home. ‘Following Jesus. If there are uniforms at home, there are stories in your closets. Some should stay there. (’Too painful.) But over the grill, or across the picnic bench or kitchen table, what better weekend to tell our best stories. Especially to the young. Show who we are and they learn who they are. If there are photos at home, take ‘em in hand and to heart this weekend. And re-tell the stories. And if there’s a Bible, and I know there is, thumb to your favorite story, read or tell it to somebody you love in the next 36 hours. (Even if you have to use the phone.) If you have no favorites I give you three. Luke 15 (God’s favorite family photo album.) Luke 24 (Treasured pictures of God’s son.) Romans 8 (Best video of vital faith.)  Don’t hesitate to get your kids and grands to the Sunday School tables. Some of the best table-talk anywhere happens right there. Somehow, some way, every day lean in, lean over and listen. ‘Forgiveness in the air! Favor is on the air. Sacrifice can be breathed in. Who we are, given new life. I remember so vividly this week (5/19+10) grown grandchildren weeping at the bedside of a dying grandparent. Tears rolling, and these words spoken, “I’ll remember the stories. I won’t forget. And I won’t let them pass way.” I’ve seen this many times. It’s the commitment to table-talk, of families and of faith. It’s how we get from the table to the hillside where Jesus’ rising promises our own!

Third, be certain how we clean the table. Let’s not leave anything behind! All picnics end. ‘Evening meals, too. Be certain how you and those you love clear the table. Leave nothing behind. Especially should Jesus point his fork at you and say, “You tell them. I’m sending you!” Leave no gratitude behind. Take up every thanks that Christ died for you and for all, is risen, living and saving you and yours this very day. Thank God for every other good and perfect gift you’ve received, in persons and in things! Don’t snack on false entitlement when you can fill up on real thanks.  Generosity, new life. Wipe up all the generosity you can. Be giving in every way toward those who don’t know the sacred story. And support every one who tells it (word/hand) best you can. Leave no hint behind that speaks new life in Christ. Take them. Tell them, especially at table with the young. Start like this, “I believe…” You’ll be a Holy Spirit witness, a saint of the church universal, century to century, generation to generation; a forgiveness giver; and resurrection-itself in the flesh, God-praising without ceasing!

Jesus… “ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand

of God the Father Almighty, and from that very place

he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” 

There’s news here! ‘Lots to sort out, think, pray about. Comforting words. Troubling words. Why, I remember, for example, wondering about that phrase, the quick and the dead. I didn’t figure that out ’til I got to college. Class didn’t teach me. Dinner did. We used to serve family style, not cafeteria. Come in. Sit down. Waiters serve. Students pass the food. Early on, I made the mistake of sitting politely at table with some of the football squad. By the 3^rd guy helping himself out of 8, I learned there would be 2 kinds of folks at this table, “The quick and the dead!” After that, I always ate at a girl table. No ladies man, I, just a hungry freshman boy who wanted a fair shot at dinner on my plate! OK, I admit it wasn’t much later I learned the quick were just the living and the dead just, well, the dead. But it’s what I learned after those student days I want to share today. About ourselves. Our God. Our Savior.

It turns out this creaky old creed just might give us the crispest confidence. And clearest warning. At the last, we all get our day in court! Talk about your good news/bad news! This is it. I mean, first off, don’t you just wonder? Don’t you wonder if all the stuff-that’s-happened-to-you in your life is ever gonna come ’round right? The unfair get undone, the messed up get fixed up; the awful come out awesome, the wrong get righted and the wicked get wiped up or wiped out?  GOOD NEWS! God in Christ will judge! The universe has a moral dimension, a conduct code, an order that really will bring order at last. Random may rule for today but Righteous will reign forever and ever. Yaaahooo! So where’s the bad news? It’s here. We too will be judged, and by Jesus himself. Our life, our day, our week, our words, our meditations (what we say under our breath). ‘Every borrowed breath of God we’ve ever wasted. What our eyes peeked at/our ears strained to hear. All we thought we got away with. O, our day in court! Mph! Mph! Mph!

Christ shall be the standard, the measure of us all. We embrace that when we sign up and swing in line to follow him. So be thoughtful, should someone ask, “Are you a Christian, a believer, a follower?”  Remember Christ’s encounter with Peter on his way to Jerusalem and the cross? ‘Folks ‘been talkin’. Some say he’s a prophet, others Elijah or John the Baptist back from the dead? “Who do you say I am?” he asks Peter and the rest. Peter answers (for us), “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responds with words for Peter that in a deep sense are meant for us, too. “Blessed are you! Now you got the keys of the kingdom! You can open (or close) any door. No more barriers between heaven and earth. A yes here, a yes there; a no, just the same.” (Message, alt.) How about this?! No guesswork, no lack of power for today or tomorrow. From this little child baptized to the eldest soul on the farthest pew, we can look up at what we’re here to do. JESUS! Jesus! Jesus. He comes to judge the quick (that’s us) and the dead. It’s why he comes. ‘Not just to pass sentence but to make the standards public! And for all our modern, our marvels, our text messages and sci-fi cybermania, a simple carpenter with an insistent ruler and a square plumb line still shows the way!

A teacher of pastoral counseling once put it for me like this. “Do you know the difference between a psychotic and a neurotic? A psychotic exclaims’2 + 2 = 5′ and embraces it. A neurotic confesses, ‘2+2 = 4, but O Lordy how I hate it.’ A believer confesses, ‘I don’t care about 2+2, I just care about 1. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.” Last year’s Confirmation Class just put it like this: I believe… Jesus is God’s son,

our Messiah and King of my life.

Jesus Christ is our Master, Teacher, Shepherd,

Savior, Mentor and Healer. ‘My Counselor and Guide

 in making decisions in my life. So there we go!           

What to tell the kids? This Baptized baby? Maybe better we listen. Perhaps he/they hear better. And will hear this. We’re not in this alone. Christ promises that comin’-to-our-day-in-court, we aren’t and won’t be alone. “God will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, The Spirit of Truth. A Hand to fit your hand, walking here, or to the Last/Light Throne! He will not leave you desolate.”

Scripture and creed alike reveal a remarkable truth. The same One who sits above us, at God’s right hand, also walks beside us, hand in hand! When we believe, this Presence/Counselor/Spirit lives with us, even in us, now and forever. Some golden threads stitch the Bible Word together, end to end. Here’s one. Never alone. I love this. We all need to know and hold tight to this. God’s first assessment of us, “I done good! This Adam/Everyperson is mighty fine.” Literally, God’s 2^nd word on us, “It is not good that [we] should be alone.” How true! We’re like the TV old folks come to visit the kids and grands. (You’ve seen this.) The new parents plop the infant twins in those elderly arms and rush to a cab, going away for the week. Grandpa’s left shuffling after the cab crying, “Don’t leave us with the babies!” These (baptismal) parents know the feeling. We do, too. We cry out to heaven itself. “Don’t leave us with these children, these bills, these aches and ills. Not with these choices, these disappointments. Not with these world and personal dilemmas, these heartaches without ointments. Well… believers believe God doesn’t… leave us. When the Garden, the rainbow, the judges, Moses, David, the prophets and the Law itself aren’t enough, God sends Jesus, endures the cross, shatters the tomb.

‘And gives the Spirit-that-lives-in-us, here to hereafter to correct at last what God saw from the start. ‘Not good we should be alone! So know this when you leave today, whatever you’re leavin’ for. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

And you won’t be on your Day in Court either. Not on God’s Day. Not on Judgment Day. To borrow on John’s word, “I am telling this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He’s already paid the price for our sins, and the whole world’s. So live the Jesus you believe because others will believe the Jesus they see you live. God’s counting on you to make God’s love complete.” And when you have your day in court, God’s court, know that the same Christ who is the standard by which you personally will be judged, will stand with you. ‘Be your advocate. ‘Your lawyer. ‘Your defense! ‘His person for our predicament. His, the last best word for us.

Christ: our standard for today. Our companion always. And our best witness. None better come our day in court. Lord, let it come.

Blessed be the tie that binds!

Now no one ties us quite like mom. My grandma used to say, “Moms tie us to their apron strings when we are little, and to their heart strings as we grow.” Nanny was right. The bond is for life, joy, sorrow, trouble and triumph. It is a ritual and a rhythm… of surprise and expectation. You’ve seen the Mother’s Day ad. Several women receive calls, clearly from their grown kids. In each scene, the mom faints dead-away… it’s been so long! The point: don’t forget. Call mom on her special day. You may have heard of the mom who complained of unwanted weight loss to her grown son. “Are you sick?” he asks. “No,” she says, “I’ve barely eaten in 6 weeks.” “Mom, why?” the fellow asks. Mom answers, “…Because my mother taught me never to talk with my mouth full, so I’ve been waiting for your call.” No one binds us quite like mom. FOREMOST, our literal moms, but hardly less those other moms and “momlets”. Aunts, sisters, daughters, cousins, grands. All feminine Makers of Mercy, Menders of Minds (teachers). Makers of Merry on rainy days, Monitors of Misbehavior. Models of Modesty, Monuments of Miracles (large and small). Molders of Master-Followers (disciples. Yea, SS teachers!) ‘So many, our moms!

Few mother-child ties can teach us like the one between Jesus and his own mom, Mary. The better we understand it the better we can honor it. IN A FLASH, HERE’S THE LESSON. Mother love is love from above! It’s worth repeating. Mother love is love from above! Wanna know where you got your instinctive idea and experience of God? Of good? (That’s just the word God changed from noun to adjective.) Of Jesus (if you were so privileged). Pretty likely, it was mom! (In all her forms and faces, but your mom’s first.) Check it out in the Jesus story and you’ll see how it’s so with Jesus. Who’s the first keeper of Christmas? Mary! “But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She’s in it for the long haul. Even when she knows it’ll hurt. And she knows early on. Baby Jesus presented for blessing. That old saint, Simeon, lets the cat out of the bag, “This child is set for the fall and rising of many, misunderstood and contradicted! (And a sword will thrust through your heart, Mary).” At 12, when Jesus bolts for the Temple, it’s Mary who starts the search for him, and she’s the one he asks, “So where’d you think I’d be? You know I’ve got my Father’s work to do.” Mary nags him late to the wedding, prompts the miracle of water to wine. (She alone knows his time and touch.) When it’s goin’ bad in the work and “people are talking”, Mary corrals the family to go see him and ask, “Are you alright? Don’t you need a break? This could be dangerous!” And it’s she who receives word Jesus has a larger family (you and I are in it). She hears what he’s doing is for them, for us! Mary’s at the cross, weeping, wanting to take the pain for him. And Jesus provides for her. (As we think he had since Joseph died… the custom of the time, the covenant of his loving heart.) She loves him like no other. Beginning, middle, end. Just like a mother. Just like GOD. That’s the point! Sometimes we ourselves see him on the cross in all his human-ness and ask, “How on earth could he do it?” The earthly answer, “His mamma taught him. That’s how. That’s why.” What a lesson for mothers to learn. And all us children to follow. Why, here is the ultimate keeping of the 5th Commandment, “Honor thy father and mother…with your whole heart and your whole life.” Oh, most of us have recited the Apostles’ Creed countless times. And the line, “born of the virgin Mary.” We make it about how Jesus began. OK. But the original intent, in the face of notions Jesus was somehow not a full, real person, and his suffering not real suffering, was this. “Hey, he had a mother! She was real. He was real. They shared what we share. ‘Bonded as we are bound, in the most perfect way. Therefore we can be as they were, do as they did, follow where lead.

The better we understand the better we can follow. Mother love is love from [Where...] above! Oh, follow Jesus. Follow his mom. They both end up on the same cross-strewn hill. (And the same garden gives both victory.) Any mom who’s spent a sleepless night with a sick child knows the feeling: I would trade and take the pain. (Ultimately, this is just God’s gift at the cross.) Let the rest of Jesus’ loved ones run or hide or both. She will be there. Be there. Be there. That is the most love promises. Presence! Full presence! Mary is the example. To be a witness. ‘To say, “Your life matters. And this moment. You are not, it is not for nothing. It’s for us. You and me. And for all of us together who are children of the same God. Our Father, yes. But also, who would love us like a mother hen, with every chick under wing.” (Hmm, didn’t Jesus say that?) And see how Jesus receives this gift. ‘With perfect obedience to the 5th Commandment. God spends the first 4 on our relationship with him. The fifth is the first about our relation to each other. Here’s the word. Honor dad and mom! This is the tie, the test ground of all other bonds. Love’s primary laboratory! God says so on Sinai. Jesus enacts it from the cross. When Jesus saw [really saw] his mother, and John with her, he says to her, “Look, he’s now your son!” ‘And to John, “See; now she’s your mother!” And I love the translation that says, “He took her to his own heart.” ‘Not just his home. To follow Jesus is to will and want and make a caring web. Not just moms for kids, but kids for moms. (And for all.) The lonely lady across from us becomes our mom. The Zim-parents our Jim Gourley’s writing us about become ours to lift when they leave their kids at just 34 (dads) and 37 (moms), on average. The urgency of their life becomes urgent to us. You get the idea.

Jesus/Mary. The better we understand it the better we can pass it on.  Blessed be the tie that binds! Since the 2nd ever generation of Christians we’ve insisted,  “I believe in Jesus Christ, the only son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” This tie is about us. And our moms. And our kids. And us all. So in Jesus’/Mary’s name, the 5th command and our mom’s name, allow me to lift 5 ways to be faithful to them all. First, appreciate “moms” in all their many faces. Treasure every one, your’s first! Second, offer a little praise now and again. Third, honor is due. Praise is fleeting; honor is lifelong. A card’s nice. Flowers: good. Dinner: better. Best: honor mom by becoming what you were born to be, by God’s nature/mom’s nurture. Fourth, remember mom. Stay connected (re-membered). Jesus says, “I’m the vine, you the branches.” He likely learned the image from Mary. She, source of his earthly strength; he, source of light to the root of her soul. As with them, so with us. Blessed the tie that binds! Appreciate widely, praise easily, honor consistently, remember always. “Yea, Mom!” And in Christ, praise God from whom all blessings flow.

May this be your day. ‘Every Sunday your moment.

Four weeks into Easter, celebrating Jesus up from the grave,

it’s like we see this old world new-and-right for the first time.

Ours ears are unstopped. We are balanced at last. ‘Riding the wind.

And all by the hand of the Maker of heaven and earth,

and Jesus Christ his only son our Lord!

This is radical! Real! A revelation! Ours to see & share, do & dare!

What a far cry from the current world view. Not confidence but chaos makes the news. And the news likely helps makes the chaos. (Remember that. It’s a clue…to some Easter work you and I have to do. More about that in a minute.) Every week’s a challenge. But this one more than most. “H1N1 Swine flu! What to do? What to do? Earth’s temperature is rising, the sky is falling; pirates are pirating, unemployment’s appalling. Pakistan’s posturing, North Korea wants to launch; our kids come home homeworked, grandma’s down with the graunch! Je-su-flip my dear partner, call your mom or Aunt Marge, there’s trouble all over and no one’s in charge!” UNLESS… you and I have been blessed with an antidote. A vision vaccine! That’s what a creed is. It’s why they’re important. While the world is atwitter, we can be at peace. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord!” We have a Maker, an Orderer, a Purpose, a Deliverer. Creeds seem pretty creaky nowadays. BORING! But I tell you, they really are a kind of vision vaccine. The most familiar, the Apostles’ Creed, came to us about 150 AD. It was meant to protect believers from the (faith-) falsehoods of the day. It’s been doing so ever since. Back-when, the daily fib was this. The Testaments, old and new present two different Gods! One of wrath, one of love. One for, one against us. Surrender the first, serve the second. The ancients didn’t debate, “Is there a god?” They argued: how many and of what kind or character? Our age asks if there is any god at all. Anyone in charge. Any order in order, plan in play. The news, the world, the culture screams, “No”, especially this week. “In masks we trust.” “In bailouts and bankruptcy we believe.” “Ruin rules.”

We can navigate by a different narrative. Repeated ’til it reigns in our hearts, we can counter and we can trust, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” You and I can remind one another regularly. And the world. That’s our Easter homework! We came from Someone. And somewhere. We matter. We’re SOMEbody! We weren’t an accident, a parental “oops” or a cosmic coincidence. We have a Maker! So too, every thing every where. Occasionally we read John’s words. “IN THE beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” How affirming, comforting, guiding. But not so memorable. So we are taught early and often to repeat, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” When the flu flies, Chrysler crashes, the kid in our school kills his mama and we wonder what’s next and where’s the sense, we can lean on our Maker. Isaiah’s got it! “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. [Do you need some?] And to those of no might he increases their strength. [You're not fadin' are ya?] O, Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young shall fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” 40: 28-31

Because we believe in an Orderer, we can rely on our sense of order in God’s name. We may not understand. We needn’t. All we need is to trust. Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Vast but intimate. Purposeful but perplexing. Last week we noted out there between the stars, a big empty place in the universe. A billion light-years across. Six billion trillion miles. A lot of nothing! No planets, stars, gases or galaxies. Incomprehensible. But we are told, the perfect compliment, the necessary drain among the stars. Surely our sometimes emptiness, in our personal lives, our shared life, is not too big or deep to be put to use by the Maker of it all, even if we cannot  see the how or why. ‘A good thing to know for the soul who can’t see past the kids clutter to a clean house, or an income-cut to a new-opportunity.

“I believe in God: Father, Maker. ‘AND… [at the same time, one and inseparable...] in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord!” When you wonder, “What’s the point?” here it is! HERE IS OUR PURPOSE. To be family to God! A needed brother or sister to Jesus, and a child to God. “Heirs and fellow-heirs with Christ.” That’s what the NT says. I spent an hour this week with a wonderful young fellow who doubts this. “I can’t believe what I can’t see,” he says. I looked at the baby he held in his arms and noted, “And you won’t see [not fully] what you won’t believe.” Opening our hearts, to our children or our chances-with-Heaven opens our eyes. Not the other way around. Christ, walking, crying, teaching, healing, stretching on the cross, shattering the tomb, provides us with a point, a purpose. And… he will see us through. In spite of everything. Above anything. Through all manner of things.  I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s son, our Lord. Every Sunday, every chaotic day, we do well to listen to the words that say, “Rejoice in the Lord always [not occasionally, on good days or holy days, but always]. Again I say, Rejoice. Let everybody know your forbearance. [Don't let anybody miss it. Not even you.] The Lord is at hand. [Not far off, though trouble draw near]! Have no anxiety about any thing, but in every thing [no holdin' out], by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [It's all good. Take it to God!] And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4 New-Eyes-for-an-Old-World. That’s us. Resurrection people. 8th Day-ers. A whole new creation in Christ. That’s what it means to say, “I believe….”  

We know and feel the empty of a cold tomb and a missing savior. It’s when our day begins coming to the garden or the church, this one, ours, looking for Jesus but not finding. It’s a huge cold spot in the soul. Ours. ‘Many a day, even Sunday, beginning long before it starts. EMPTY… when you give your heart to someone who doesn’t accept the gift. ‘Learn a sport, work hard, but still don’t make the team. We pursue a profession, only to find we hate our work. ‘Create something beautiful, and no one’s interested. ‘Try to resist sin and temptation, but give in again and again. We jump to a new job, then lose it in a downsizing. Empty. It’s like putting money into a new home, only to see the equity disappear. We retire from a long career, and wake up with nothing to do. ‘Lose a spouse to cancer, and find our self all alone. Such huge cold spots. ‘Massive voids…and all before breakfast, when momma and the Gospel say… the day finally starts!

My mom and my Lord both invite me… and you… to breakfast.

They show and tell us. This is where fullness begins. So come! O, won’t you come?  The best mom offers: best o’ bacon, priceless pancakes and jam-sweet juice. There is, I do declare, a better invitation. A better menu! Fish and Bread! My mom teaches and our gospel affirms, though our mornings begin empty, lots of them, our day gets started when we hear the Risen Jesus. We may not recognize the voice at first. But it’s Christ who cries out in the morning mist. He speaks to everything empty inside and all around us. “Have you caught anything? Can you see you’re in the shallow waters? Go deeper! Try the right side!  How’s it workin’ for you, back-to-work-like-nothing-really-happened, Sunday two weeks ago?  On your own, are you full or empty?” Cast right. Then come and breakfast we me!” John gets it right away. How about you? Jesus is callin’, every morning breakfast! Will you clamor to him? There’s no better place to start! No place so fills us for the day. Is there a soul, one brave soul here, who might tell us how she or he starts out the day with Jesus? And what difference does it make?…

[T e s t i m o n i e s]

Fullness, no more emptiness, when we accept the breakfast invitation. It all starts here. But there’s more. This breaking of the fast, this feeding on/with Jesus. There is life-change here. Think of it. Pray for it. Hope for it. Can’t you just see Peter sittin’ by the fire? Shucks, can’t you see yourself, or me there? Somewhere between passin’ the perch and butterin’ the bread, Jesus-Risen leans across the flame to say, “Peter, ______, _______, do you love me?” Now Peter knows his performance. The time Jesus has to tell him step aside and step behind… if you can’t go where I go. He denies him three times over. He goes nowhere near the cross in Jesus’ crucifying hour. He leaves the empty tomb, convinced only that Jesus is missing, not that he’s Messiah-raised-from-the-dead. He’s seen him Risen, nail-scarred and lance-wounded, and still says, “I’m goin’ back to work come Monday mornin’ just like always.” That’s Peter’s record. What’s yours? [P A U S E] Whatever it is, get this. Jesus comes to breakfast. In fact he provides and prepares it. And he gives you and me and Peter a “do-over”. A fresh chance to say to him, “Lord, in spite of everything, in spite of myself, you know that I love you!” And Jesus listens. And asks again. And again, as often as we need it. Until we have a chance, like Peter, to correct and cleanse ourselves, to the last denial and the last lost hope. I can tell you, it’s life-changing! Just life-changing. So over breakfast, how about a fresh start? Would you like to be changed?

It all depends on the breakfast company you keep, the Easter menu you’re willing to take in. I read of a woman walking a quiet street. She sees a frail, wizened old man rocking on his porch. She calls to him, “Hello! I can’t help but see how happy you look. Tell me your secret,” she implores, expecting some spiritual life lesson. “I smoke three packs a day,” he replies. “I drink a case a week, eat only fast food, and never, ever exercise.” “Amazing,” she cries. “That makes you happy? Sir, just how old are you?” she asks. He shouts out, “Twenty-six.” By contrast, P. L. Foster puts the Easter change like this. “Paul Rusesabagina, is former manager of Hotel Rwanda. Amidst the Rwanda genocide, at great personal risk, he convinced the Hutu authorities to leave the Tutsi people unharmed who’d taken refuge in the hotel. This made possible safe passages that would otherwise not have happened. Rusesabagina’s often asked how he did it. His faith-filled reply, “Even the hardest heart has a part that is soft. He is one man. We Easter people are many.” After breakfast, can you be counted in that number?

Friends, you just can’t imagine what might happen next, should you get outta whatever boat you find yourself in and come and have breakfast with Jesus. Peter will end up a preacher to 1000s. The Spirit will live in him. The mere cast of his shadow on the sick will heal them. They will lie in wait for him along his way. Prisons will not hold him. Not even a Roman cross all-his-own will defeat him. And like those fish of every known kind in his unbroken net (153), he will open the church to every kind and color of soul and sin, with room for every one that will join him and join Jesus over fish and bread in the morning. Doesn’t that make you wonder what wonders God in Christ may have on the fire for you? I can’t even imagine. ‘You either. But I can tell you this. From the shoreline the Risen Jesus is callin’ you. ‘Out of your boat, away from your emptiness, and right to his side. If only you’ll come to him, it’ll be a new day! And as I said at the start, Momma and your Bible are right. It all starts with breakfast! ‘Breakfast with the Risen Lord!

It’s so easy to be in the wrong place. Even when we’re in the right place.  And that makes Easter hard to receive. Thomas was absent. But so many would-be disciples (among them and us) are in the wrong place, even when the resurrected Jesus is standin’ right in front of us! We moderns are all too hung-up on special effects. We get excited that Jesus enters the Upper Room, “while the doors are still shut.” The New Testament wants us to know. Jesus comes to the right place while his own are still in the wrong place. The disciples were still huddled in fear. Hollywood wants us excited that Jesus can walk though walls or doors like Patrick Swayze in Ghost. Big whoop! Isn’t the big deal walkin’ out of the grave? I mean, if you can roll away that stone, isn’t a little plaster or a wooden latch pretty much child’s play?  Well, there stand the disciples, all but Thomas. Christ’s mere appearance, even back from the dead, doesn’t seem to do it for them. He speaks to them his peace. The same peace he offered them, even before the cross. He shows them his hands and side. Only now their fear lifts, their faith begins to dawn. “Then [finally] the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord,” says John. Fear is the wrong place to receive the Risen Lord. Pre-occupation with self, too. (They were as concerned for their hides, as we are for ours). This is the wrong place. Insistence that we know what’s possible. ‘What God can do and not. This is the wrong place. ‘Lookin’ around tryin’ to decide who’s really in and out of the Lord’s favor (surely Peter must’ve felt the judgment). This is the wrong place. Oh, we’re the same folks who stood up, right in this room last Sunday. We said, “I understand that resurrection literally means to stand up again, to get back on our feet. And we want to stand because of Jesus, by the power of Jesus. We want to stand with Jesus. We want up from the grave and all the stuff that would bury us in this life, just like Jesus. And yet, like those at first, even in the right place, we spent most of this week, one way or another, in the wrong place. Me came first. I got trusted most. They worried, angered, frustrated or defeated me. Jesus surely rolled the stone away for us, ‘may’ve walked through walls. But still, we didn’t live like we were all that sure. So he stands before us, THIS day as THAT. He speaks his peace, shows his hands/feet and says, “It’s me. Really me. And I’m here for you!”

Friend, are you where you’re supposed to be? It’s not Omar who’s askin’. It’s Jesus. The RISEN JESUS. Oh, The Eleven force us to ask, “Am I still so mired in my own pre-occupations and expectations, I can’t see Him risen in my life?” ‘True enough. But Thomas’ story forces us to ask an even more powerful question. “Am I present, fully present among those gathered to wait and pray for the Lord’s return? The key here is fully present! I grant you. Of the nearly thousand souls in our company last week, you are here this week. (Alas, we can’t say that of everyone. But we can say it of you.) So why talk to you about the spiritual danger of being absent from the body, the Church? Because in the end we are more like Thomas than not. He doesn’t quit the movement; leave the church when Jesus dies. He doesn’t miss the body, and the boat, by being out-for-groceries at the Stop-n-Shop on Easter evening. It’s more than that. John paints him in-and-out across the first eight Easter days. So when Christ surprises with the glory of his glory, Thomas may or may not be there to see it. The consequences will range from his own conversion to converting those he’s called to serve.

If you want an Easter Life, not just an Easter Day, be present among Easter People. Early/often/regularly. And not just on Sunday. Christ appears unexpectedly in so many settings. In classrooms. Prayer times. In quiet conversations fixin’ food in the kitchen. With the choir, the youth. So many places. It’s all a part of the ministry of encouragement. We lift each other until the Lord appears. I hesitate to say Thomas was casual in his commitment. He was not. But he appears periodic in the body. That’s the rub. Elsie was 84. Knarled with arthritis. Open the church or kitchen door, she was there. She told me, “When my son Pat nearly died in the hospital, I didn’t expect him, but Jesus came. When my husband did die, I was home alone. But He came anyway, Jesus. When I lost my way, but stopped in here for lunch, I got more than a meal. I got my Lord back. See, He insists on being where folks are looking for Him. If you want the prizes He brings, it’s good to be where He so often surprises.” She understood the hymn that rings, “Sometimes a light surprised the Christian as he sings. It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings.” I remember Chuck. He ran the local movie house. Out late every Saturday, in church early every Sunday. He told me once. “Even lousy movies sometimes turn out well. And there are surprises on every reel if you just watch for them. I oughta know, what with seein’ the same ones over and over. Church is like that. Even the lousy Sundays let Jesus show up. Even the so-so sermon has a lightening bolt in there somewhere. And should it come for me, I don’t want the lightening to go to ground that was really meant for me!” (Chuck died, by the way, in the projection room. I’ve often wondered what was the last surprise he saw on film. But I have long known Christ’s appearance to him in that place was no surprise at all. Chuck had stayed near to the Body of those on the look-out a long time. He knew Him when Jesus said, “Peace be yours.” And He showed him his hands and side.)

Friend, are you where you’re supposed to be? Open to what Christ-Risen reveals. Constantly available. His presence surprises. ‘In the moment and manner he appears… to those who wait. There is one other option. Perhaps you are called to be out ahead and serving him. Likely, this was Thomas’ role. We have people doing that this very day. Preparing the way. An ocean off. In the ER, readying for the next patient in need of Holy Healing, or in some other way. Here’s the thing. The Easter thing. Where will YOU be when He comes?”

O, we’ll need to get our eyes adjusted to the resurrection light. Nothing’s as it used to be. There are letters in the NT, bearing Peter’s name. One English version (The Message) quotes him this way. “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for.” (I, 1:3) This brand-new life runs all the way from here to hereafter. Gee whiz, since Easter last, we’ve been treated to a brand-new life alright. Banks are busted, credit’s crashing, jobs are being junked. Our 401K’s are down to 201K’s and our 2 hot wars overseas can’t hide the drug war on our border. Surely this is not the Jesus-light or the Jesus-life. Jesus-light never suffers from recession. “Look, I’m always with you, even to the end of the ages!” In Jesus-life there is no unemployment. “The harvest is plentiful,” he says. Our retirement is utterly secure and not subject to the whims of Wall Street (or any other). “I go to prepare a place for you. And when I do, I’ll come and take you to myself so that you can be where I am, now and forever.” His peace, it’s promised, “passes all understanding.”  He says to us, “My peace I give to you. ‘Not the fragile, fleeting, flickering peace of this world, but the real thing!”  It’ll never leave you.

This Easter changes everything. It begins with a new form of seeing. It believes first. Then it looks on the evidence and signs, not the other way around. And it lives on, day in, day out/year in, year out… ’til the Kingdom comes… not because we hold on to it (for ourselves), but because once we come and see it, we go and tell all about it! Jesus calls Mary by name. Dead guys never do that. Ghosts either. Rumors never address us personally. Our Easter Jesus does just this, ever since Mary. There are/have been people in this room who can tell you. Names like Mary, Jim, Don, Ellen, Caroline, Lisa; even Ken, Jeff, Jordan and John. Have you heard your name called? If not, talk to someone here who has! But we don’t get to possess Christ. He has no time for that. No, we only get to keep him by sharing him. Go and tell he says to Mary. And now, TODAY, to us. I tell you a secret I supremely hope you will share. Resurrection is not limited to Easter. ‘Doesn’t wait for it. ‘Or linger, only ’til the Easter-midnight hour. I like what Jonathan Kozol suggests. We are surrounded, by the power and in the name of Jesus, with Ordinary Resurrections. New life from broken hopes, dented dreams and death defeated. I get this call. “Rev., the doctor called. He says there’s nothing he can do. I ended up comforting him. ‘It’s OK,’ I said. ‘I got another doctor, too. Jesus. And there’s nothing he can’t do! And he tells me I’m gonna be alright. Forever. So I’m more excited about livin’ with him than dyin’ with my disease.” I see this story. “Ken, I lost my wife because I cheated, my job because I lied and my kids because I lashed out. I lost me because I lost my worth. But two weeks ago at a stop light, I looked over at that big stone church. The one with the concrete Jesus hanging on that concrete cross. And it was like I heard him say my name. And then, ‘I’m up here for you. You. You.

It was weird. But wonderful. I got it. I gotta chance, because of him. If he can get down off that cross and forgive me, and get outta the grave and talk to me, I can get outta this ditch. And talk to the ones I love. And ask them to forgive, too. I can be… NEW.” O my, SONstruck on Easter morn!

The power of this day does not lie in some fine theological argument. Nor in any carefully crafted doctrine or creed. It lies in a living experience. Particular, personal, persistent.

I can tell you, when he forgives, this Jesus,

you are truly, finally, forever at peace in your soul.

Confess. Embrace him. Let him turn your life around. I did.

Live like you never did before;

 love like you never could before.

Be saved as you never were before.

On that cross: He bleeds; I weep.

He thirsts. My soul is parched.

But come Sunday, there comes a SONstruck light!

RESURRECTION!

The Bible word for resurrection is anastasis. Literally: standing up again. Maybe the only thing more breath-taking than the Easter light is this. They saw him, we see him… on his feet again! Despite the dense disciples, the draining miracles, the terrible trial, the tortuous treatment and the crushing cross, Jesus is back on his feet, come Easter morning! With us, for us, Christ is standing up again…. And he is saying, “Come and stand with me.” SO THIS MORNING,

if you want to lay down some sadness, stand up.

If you’ve got an ailment, a dis-ease or a “condition”

and you want to get back on your feet, stand up.

If you’ve got something or someone sorta standin’ on your neck

and you wanna get ‘em off and get on your feet again, stand up.

This is Jesus’ resurrection day! Yours too.

If sin, your sin, sin of any kind, has knocked you off your feet,

Or death, or dying, or forgetting too much

or remembering too much has you flat on your back,

today’s your resurrection day… stand up… again!

If you’re not glued to your chair or your pew,

and you believe in your heart resurrection’s for you… STAND UP!

Everybody… UP… SONstruck on Easter Morn.

All Hail the power of Jesus’ name!

Jim Roser

Shelter Director

Our event here at the church benefits this great cause. It’s April 4th 2009 at 5pm. Come to the show to be entertained, buy good food (such as Papa John’s pizza, and Chipotle burritos) and bid on silent auction items like Great Harvest Bread Company, Cakes Plus, Carrabbas, Personal Training sessions, and massage.

$10 for tickets kids 5 and under free…kids 6-12 $5

The show is kid friendly and Strudel the clown will be making balloon animals and performing pocket magic for the kids. The evening will conclude with the Cabaret performance.

If you would like to volunteer for the event that would be awesome! I will need help with tickets, the silent auction, and refreshment sales. And, if you or anyone you know would like to donate refreshments, or an item for the silent auction, please contact me. Thank You!!

Erin 443-790-3631 or erincassell79@gmail.com

Open to ages 2-12.  We will play games, color eggs, have a snack and of course the big hunt.

Jesus enters Jerusalem; Sharing of the Palm - ”Some Go Ahead, Some Behind”

• 8 & 11 am – Traditional Worship Service
• 9:30 am – Contemporary Worship Service
• 11 am – Traditional Worship Service

Children’s Choir & Holy Communion

April 9, 2009 – HOLY THURSDAY

• 11:30 am-12:30 pm – Meditative Communion
• 6:30 pm – Congregational Dinner, Fellowship Hall (Lite Fare: Soup, Bread, Stew, Kid Stuff, Fruit, Cakes… - We’ll provide, you enjoy.)

Stations for reflection, time to get ready. And then…

• 7:30 pm – Candlelight Communion

“Only a Little Longer” - Sanctuary Prayer Vigil begins following worship, continues through 7:30 pm Friday.
Something New: Prayers at the Cross…
Youth Fellowship …In the style of the Friday Worship of the Taize Communaute Gathered around the candlelit cross, a powerful personal experience of prayer, repentance and devotion.
Scripture, silence, song, light and shadow lead us closer to Christ and to each other.

April 10, 2009 – GOOD FRIDAY

Sanctuary Prayer Vigil continues…

• 7:30 pm – Good Friday Tenebrae: “What Did He Say?”

Redeeming love in sign and story at the foot of the cross.

April 12, 2009 – EASTER SUNDAY

• 6:15 am – Sunrise Service, gathering on East Lawn

Moving from the form of the ancient Easter Vigil, to the glorious prayers and Sunrise Songs the rising Christ.
Declaring Easter Is HERE!

• 7:00 am – A Hot Breakfast, Fellowship Hall
• 7:30 am – Resurrection Sounds, music at the Lord’s rising.
• 8:00 am – Traditional Resurrection Services
• 9:30 am – Contemporary Service
• 9:30 am –  Sunday School in the Easter Faith
• 10:30 am – Resurrection Sounds, music at the Lord’s rising.
• 11:00 am – Traditional Resurrection Services
• 11:00 am – Sunday School in the Easter Faith

“SONstruck on Easter Morn!”
He is risen as he said! Alleluia!