Unfinished Business
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For March 31, 2024:
Unfinished Business
by Mary Austin
Mark 16:1-8
If we’re looking for an Easter with trumpets, kids in cute outfits, and a triumphant — yet short — Easter sermon, the end of Mark’s gospel is deeply disappointing. Where’s the good news? Mark’s original ending stops with silence about the resurrection. “Afraid” is the last word in our English translation. What a disappointment.
This ending to the gospel feels incomplete, and yet stopping there is a fitting match for our mood this Easter. We, too, are in the middle of the story. Like the disciples, we are afraid, in a way that can’t be quelled by Peeps, Easter brunch, and new outfits. We’re anxious about the coming election, the state of the courts, the dysfunction of Congress, and the uncertainty about the economy. Abroad, wars in Gaza and Ukraine visit us daily with fresh horrors we can’t intervene to change. Author Adam Grant says we’re living in a state of “empathic distress,” unable to look away and yet powerless to help.
On this Easter, people who call ourselves followers of Jesus are bitterly divided about reproductive rights, the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, the place of critical race theory in America, immigration, and home schooling. The world feels unsettled, and we can see how unfinished God’s work is.
Is the Easter good news going to be enough this year?
In the News
The ongoing bombardment of Gaza has damaged or destroyed at least 35% of the buildings and killed an estimated 36,000 people — a toll that may grow because some people are lost under the rubble. Israel continues to attack hospitals, pinning down medical teams and patients. Residents are desperate for food aid, and “UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the backlog of aid destined for Gaza as a moral outrage during a visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.”
Russia is striking at power plants in Ukraine and blaming Ukraine for a terrorist attack at a concert venue, while Kyiv denies any responsibility for the attack. The US has named a branch of ISIS as the perpetrators of the attack, and some say Russia was distracted by the war and not paying attention to other threats. The violence in Haiti also continues to grow, fueling a food shortage and a crisis in education. Families are disrupted, and children are on the edge of malnutrition.
Meanwhile, Congress is divided on aid to Ukraine, among many other things. The Senate passed an aid bill in February and the House has stalled it. Congress is funding the government in such small bits that bills once called omnibus bills are now called “the minibus.” Over and over, we come to the brink of a shutdown, with full funding looming as unfinished business.
The US faces threats from within as Christian nationalism has a moment in the sun. Author Bradley Onishi, himself a former Christian nationalist, defines it as “the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way — economically, socially, politically — and that influence and that privilege is a result of the country being founded by and for Christians. Christian nationalism is not the idea that others can’t be here…However, for most Christian nationalists, there is a core belief that the story of the United States is one where it has been elected by God to play an exceptional role in human history, and as being chosen by God, it’s the duty of Christian people to carry out his will on Earth.” Onishi says that the recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court saying embryos are people “is an example of Christian nationalism par excellence. The concurring opinion by Justice Tom Parker uses as its evidence to arrive at his legal opinion — it uses the Bible. It uses Christian manifestos. It uses work by the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, by the reformer John Calvin… The very idea that we would have a Supreme Court of any state in this country who would deliver an opinion based on the Bible, is the most clear example of Christian nationalism that I can think of.”
The world is a scary place, and we, too, are overwhelmed by fear. We don’t know what to say about the sorrow and distress around us. The disciples are a mirror for our own worries and our own silence.
In the Scriptures
This shorter ending of Mark’s gospel is even odder in the original Greek than in our English translation. In Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Lamar Williamson writes “The first eight verses of Mark 16 report the resurrection of Jesus, and verse 8 ends in Greek with the word “for” (gar), a particle which normally comes second in a clause of several or many words. No words follow gar, and no appearances of Jesus follow the report of his resurrection in the most reliable manuscripts of Mark.” It’s as if the story ends in mid-sentence.
Apparently, early readers of the gospel found this unsatisfying. So, they added another ending where Jesus comes back to make his resurrection clear, appearing to the people closest to him, and then to others. He shows up as many times as necessary to get the message going.
Earlier in the gospel, Jesus points his friends toward Galilee. As Lamar Williamson says in the Interpretation commentary, the messenger in the tomb is reminding the disciples of something they already know. “I’ll meet you in Galilee,” Jesus told them. There must be a flare of recognition when they hear it again.
The final ending of Mark says, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.” In the end, the disciples couldn’t keep quiet, and we can’t either.
In the Sermon
When later storytellers added more to the ending, they didn’t clean it up. They left the abrupt ending and added more, reflecting the way God’s good news always comes tangled up with fear. In the endings added later, Jesus keeps showing up, to wider and wider circles of people. The resurrected Jesus won’t stay silent, even if his followers are hushed by fear. The sermon might focus on how the good news won’t stay silent. It always bursts out, through us or in spite of us.
Jesus also has more confidence in his friends than they have in themselves. The sermon might explore where God is inviting us to share the good news, and how we get in our own way with worries about how it will go, whether we can do it, and if the time is right.
In the printed version of Mark’s gospel, we can see the endings labeled: “The Shorter Ending” and “the Longer Ending.” The two endings compete for our attention. The sermon might explore what to do when we have two possible endings. How do we choose the one where God is, and where we are most true to ourselves. How does the resurrected Jesus shape our choices?
Adam Grant notes that we are all numb these days, and perhaps Jesus’ friends were numb, too. After grueling travel, constant danger, and the pain of his death, perhaps their silence was like ours — born out of pain, powerlessness, and grief. “Empathic distress explains why many people have checked out in the wake of these tragedies. The small gestures they could make seem like an exercise in futility. Giving to charity feels like a drop in the ocean. Posting on social media is poking a hornet’s nest. Having concluded that nothing they do will make a difference, they start to become indifferent.” Grant goes on to suggest that simple kindness, given and received, makes a difference to both sides. The sermon could talk about the ways we hold onto Easter’s good news, even in small ways.
The resurrection calls us out of indifference, out of silence, out of fear, out of the past, and into the future where Jesus is always meeting us. He is always inviting us back to where the work is. The resurrection lights up our numbness with the unstoppable presence of God and points us to a future we can never nail down, and where God is always present, giving life and hope. Rowan Williams (Tokens of Trust) says that “The resurrection is in part about the sheer toughness and persistence of God’s love.” Even with the unfinished business in this ending to Mark’s gospel, that persistent love shines through.
There is always enough good news. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Next Day
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 10:37-38
So, Jesus arose from the dead. So what? Lazarus did that. So did the son of the Zarephath widow (1 Kings 17:17-22) and the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:32-35). And there was the guy who touched Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21) and the son of the widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-17) and Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:21-43).
So, what makes the resurrection of Jesus so special? What does that resurrection mean for us? How does it change our calling as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ? What affect does that one event have on how we live our lives?
When the chocolate bunnies have all been eaten, when the jelly beans have been swept up off the floor and gathered from behind the couch cushion, when the Easter lilies have been relegated to the window sill, when the baskets and plastic grass have been bagged and put in the attic until next year, when the Easter eggs have been transformed into deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches, then what?
After we have received that special anointing of the Holy Spirit that is the special gift of Easter Sunday, what do we do on Monday, the next day? And the days after that?
In the Scriptures
The lectionary passage from Acts that is designated for this day is taken from Peter’s speech to the household of Cornelius who is widely recognized as the first gentile convert to “The Way,” which would become Christianity. Peter has been invited to come and give his testimony (vv. 34-43), which he does in this speech. The selection for today comes from the middle of the speech wherein he shares the heart of the gospel message.
He sums up the ministry of Jesus in verse 38, where he describes Jesus as going “about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil.” Jesus was able to do these things, says Peter, because “God was with him.”
With this speech, Peter starts the ball rolling that will eventually mark the Christian community as truly inclusive, welcoming not just Jews “from all lands,” but Samaritans, and gentiles as well.
Peter concludes his testimony by recalling the story of Good Friday through Easter Sunday and how it has been given to Jesus’ disciples to testify about him and how “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
His disciples, then, are called to do as he did by doing good and healing all who are oppressed, and testifying to the power of God’s grace and forgiveness as it comes to us in Jesus Christ.
In the World
The willingness to sacrifice the lives of innocent human beings — children, elders, and other noncombatants — in order to achieve one’s objectives has become commonplace in the modern world.
In eastern Europe, Vladamir Putin is launching deadly drones and rockets against civilian populations killing nearly 20,000 people — 1,300 of them children — and destroying the entire country of Ukraine in order to conquer it and make it his own.
In Israel/Gaza, in his effort to hunt down and destroy Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu, in retaliation for the murders of 1,300 Israelis on October 7, has unleashed a military offensive on Gaza that has killed more than 30,000 people, most of them civilians. He shows no inclination to slow down until, in his words, “Hamas is destroyed.”
In Russia, a group of ISIS gunmen entered a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire killing more than 100 innocent people for no reason, except to show that they can.
Thousands of people from Latin America are amassed at the US border, trying to escape gang warfare and some of the most severe oppression in the western hemisphere, at the hands of drug cartels and corrupt governments. In the United States, we live beneath a Statue of Liberty that tells other nations to give us “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” But our response to those thousands of desperate refugees is to build a wall to more effectively turn them away and keep them out.
In Haiti, thousands of American citizens, many of whom were there to help in the poorest country in this hemisphere, are fleeing by any means possible as violent criminal gangs have now taken over the country.
In the United States of America, the citizens arm themselves sufficiently to kill each other a dozen times over with more guns than there are people. The congress is divided in a constant and unreconcilable state of anger, resentment, and disunity and the citizens see each other not as good people who happen to disagree, but as the enemy.
How, we might legitimately ask, are we to be like Jesus, going about doing good and healing those who are oppressed by evil in a world such as this? Where do we even begin?
In the Sermon
We begin with Easter.
Having been anointed by God’s Holy Spirit on the day of his resurrection we, the disciples of Jesus Christ are called to imitate him first in doing good.
Oh, is that all? Okay, what does that look like, exactly, especially on the next day, the day after Easter?
One need to look no further than the gospel accounts. “What shall we do?” the crowd asks. John the Baptizer answers: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:10 ff.)
Be kind and generous, merciful, and forgiving. Do not be judgmental. Be obedient to God, love your neighbor, and even your enemy. Help the poor, heal the sick, obey the golden rule. Remember the words of the prophet: Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
In short, we are called to be a kind, generous, gentle, unassuming people.
AND –
We are called to heal those who are sick, oppressed, and abused. We are called to mend wounds in whatever form they present themselves — physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual.
We are called to minister to those who are sick whether the sickness be physical, mental, or emotional, etc.
AND –
We are called to witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit that empowers us in these tasks and comes to us in and through Jesus Christ.
Resurrection is the indicative and charity is the imperative. On the day after Easter, that is what compels us into a world that is desperately in need of the hope-filled word of the gospel.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Mark 16:1-8
The Young Man
It’s easy to overlook the young man who speaks to the women in the empty tomb. He’s wearing white, which harkens back to the Transfiguration as recorded in Mark 9. His wearing white may also reference Daniel 11:35, “Some of the wise shall fall, so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed, until the time of the end, for there is still an interval until the time appointed.” “Cleansed” in that verse is literally, “be made white.”
The announcement of the resurrection is understated, still, it is enough to cause the women to be “seized” by “terror and amazement.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
While Mark does not include a birth narrative, the scene at the empty tomb certainly echoes the message from the angel, and heavenly host in Luke 2. The shepherds were “terrified” in verse 9, and the angel reassured them.
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
The short ending
The abrupt ending of Mark’s gospel recalls for me two quotes from rock ‘n’ roll:
“Some rides don’t have much of a finish, that’s the ride I took.” From “29,” written by Jesses Valenzuela. The song appears on the band’s first major label release, New Miserable Experience, 1992.
“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night.” Those were the last words John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, spoke at The Sex Pistols’ final concert at Winterland Theatre in San Francisco on January 14, 1978.
* * *
Mark 16:1-8, John 20:1-18
Comparing the resurrection accounts
There are not many details that are shared between today’s gospel lessons.
Both take place early on Sunday morning.
Mary Magdalene appears in both.
Both take place at a tomb from which the stone has been removed.
The endings to the same story are vastly different.
It’s similar to the different endings to the stage and film versions of The Music Man. The story is built around a huckster named Harold Hill, who convinces a small town that the answer to the community’s “trouble” was forming a band that he would create. Hill’s original plan is to get parents to pay him for instruments and uniforms and then skip town with their money without delivering on any of his promises.
In the stage version, the band he forms is pathetic and embarrassing, but the parents of the band members are delighted to hear their children’s weak musical efforts. The denouement — and Hill’s salvation — is the love of the parents.
The film version ends with a glorious, colorful scene of a marching band performing flawlessly, thus saving Harold Hill. In the film, Hill gets off the hook because he is not seen as a fraud and huckster.
Same story — profoundly different conclusions.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
…he appeared to more than 500…
This is the only place in scripture where this number is mentioned. What’s Paul’s source? He wasn’t among the 500, having not been found by the risen Christ until much later. Is it “fake news?” Generally, Paul’s accounts of events are more believable to me than those recounted in Acts. Paul was writing much closer in time to the events than Luke, the author of Acts, was but still this figure is suspect.
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:
Mark 16:1-8
Fear is the mind killer
No matter how well you prepare yourself for a paradigm shift when confronted with the unbelievable, the only reasonable recourse is to react with fear and unbelief. Visualize the horror in Mary Magdalene’s eyes when she approached the tomb only to see that the stone had been rolled away. Picture Mary, the mother of James, who stood by her side as she watched her only son die. She is laden with herbs and spices to anoint the body of the Lord. I imagine her hands shook but did not falter. Maybe they gave each other a bombastic side eye when they entered the tomb and saw a young man that was not Jesus’ corpse. It is not hard to believe the devastation felt by these women. Was the empty tomb the final blow to shatter their already broken hearts. How do you recover from heartache such as this?
Until this point the Marys were working under the presupposition that Jesus’ body would be there and when his body was not there, their world shifted but they didn’t know it was for the better. The Marys knew in theory that Jesus could bring the dead back to life — they had seen Lazarus live again — but the living Lord was the catalyst. Their paradigm could not allow for miracles from beyond, though she truly believed.
To quote Frank Hurburt’s Dune: “Fear is the little-death…I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me... when fear has gone there will be nothing.” Fear, unbelief, trepidation, and blind hope are the elements that frame our Easter story. The resurrection is a wild and uncontrollable thing and it fills us with terror. Terror is a powerful emotion yet the Marys did not let the emotions control them. They felt their emotions. They let the terror wash over them and ran to share the news.
* * *
John 20:1-18
To win a foot race
What message can we take from the gospel of John’s story of the resurrection? That John can beat all the other apostles in a foot race. John’s prize was to be the first to see nothing. There was nothing in the tomb worth seeing, thus John went through all of that effort for nothing. He ran from his friends for the honor of nothing. Let it be known that we are all in a foot race where the finish line is a grave. Yes, we believe in the resurrection of the body and a life everlasting, but that is no reason to rush to be the first to fill the empty tomb. Resurrection takes time, we should not rush toward it.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Psalm 118
Trans Day of Visibility
Easter is Trans Day of Visibility. Is there a more fitting day to think about the stone that the rejected becoming the chief cornerstone? I admit to being tired of hearing what the Western, white European church has to say about Jesus, God, and Christianity. I can say that theology by heart. The theology that feeds me these days comes from the corners — the edges — those who are thirsty for God and not in power. More and more I hear my LGBTQIA siblings and Black, Native American, Pakistani, Korean, Mexican, and African siblings opening my eyes to how God has touched them. It chips away at those things that have become atrophied, unhelpful, and have created new cornerstones of faith. To me, Easter and Resurrection seem inherently tied to Trans Day of Visibility. When we say their names out loud and affirm the chosen names of those whose gender is right and we believe with all our hearts that they, too, were fiercely and wonderfully made, and that they are as intrinsic to the Kingdom as everyone else, I know we will say “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
Nothing, Nothing
If you look at the Greek of who the women talked to — it is essentially the same word in two forms. Oude and heis oudeís ("not one, none") categorically excludes, declaring as a fact that no valid example exists. Essentially, they said nothing and more nothing.
Colloquially nothing to no one is correct, but I love the idea of a whole lot of nothing. There was nothing to say here. They came up with nothing. The implication that the news got out anyway is, of course, the point. But I love the idea that no one knew how to convey the ideas, that the holiness blotted out the good news is extraordinary. When I toured Israel, I saw the apparent tomb of Jesus and the guide said that the reason they knew it was the tomb was because one of the emperors finally put up a sign saying something like: This is not the tomb of Jesus, stop visiting it, there’s no body here. Don’t you love the irony of that?
Nobody…and nobody. Mary, Mary, and Salome told nobody, and there was no body in the tomb. Somehow, no news became the Good News. The miracle of the story is we do not know. We do not know how the good news got out. We do not know how God speaks to our hearts sometimes. We do not know how God works when our buildings are empty, or when it seems like no one is there to listen … and yet … God can work with no one and nothing.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 25:6-9
A feast for all peoples
Isaiah offers a visually rich companion for conversations about Easter’s resurrection grace. It demonstrates the Hebrew Bible’s vision for God’s expansive grace, which Christians believe achieves its pinnacle moment in Jesus’ resurrection. The mountain inculcates a vision of rich abundance, provision, and diversity — it is a succulent brunch where all are invited to feast.
But that message of inclusivity remains under a cloud of suspicion among many today. In Florida, for example, the state’s Board of Education voted to prohibit funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at 28 state colleges in January. One commissioner called the action a statement that ensures “we will not spend taxpayer’s money supporting DEI and radical indoctrination that promotes divisions in our society.”
Such sentiments seem to run against the inclusive vision of Isaiah.
Some commentators note that many anti-DEI movements are fueled more by political rhetoric than by fact. As one commentator observed, “Today’s students will become adults. If they’re denied opportunities now to learn about racism and other dimensions of DEI, they’ll enter professions in which they make discriminatory decisions and consequential missteps, unintentionally offend and exclude people, reproduce and exacerbate inequities, and erode the global competitiveness of America’s businesses and military (research makes irrefutably clear that diverse and inclusive organizations are higher performing).”
* * *
Acts 10:34-43
Raised to new understandings
Peter’s voice breaks with emotion as he realizes the boundary-breaking power of Jesus’ resurrection. His rooftop hunger dream helps him understand how the risen Lord is breaking apart human boundaries. It’s clear to him that God shows no partiality.
That message runs counter to the feelings of most American Christians. While Acts 10:34-43 is more than a message of immigration, it is a message of God’s love reaching across boundaries and borders. Jesus’ resurrection changes everything.
Large percentages of white Christians believe that the situation at the United States’ southern border is at a crisis point, including 70% of evangelicals, 64% of white Catholics, and 57% of white non-evangelical Christians, according to data released by the Pew Research Center in March. Fewer than one in five in each of these groups believes that the problem is only a “minor problem” or “not a problem.”
Peter’s realization also touches on the great borders that separate us today — political, social, racial, economic, and so on. As the editors of Political Theology Network observed a few years back, “Many churches still are estranged from people that they consider ‘unclean.’ While much is made of multiculturalism and racial diversity, the problem of classism within churches — the discrimination against the lower class at the expense of the upper and middle class — continues to plague American congregations of all cultures.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
Saying nothing to nobody
Mark’s enigmatic Easter morning may seem difficult to preach. After all, it includes neither heralding trumpets nor choirs singing “Hallelujah!” Rather, it ends with the women fleeing the tomb. Seized by fear, Mark tells us that they didn’t say a word about what they had encountered. Literally, they told nothing to nobody.
Some of those who gather with us on Easter might resonate with those experiences, particularly those who have endured great trauma. One example of this would be many veterans whose experiences of war were so traumatic that their memories were often an untreated victim of war. Like many whose fathers and grandfathers served in World War II, for example, I have inherited boxes of my father’s wartime memorabilia but not the stories associated with the items he saved. Dave Philips, writing in the New York Times, wrote that so many American men wanted to leave their experiences of war behind them that “those lauded as the Greatest Generation might just as easily be called the Quietest.”
Benjamin Sledge, who served in Afghanistan after 9/11, says that the trauma of war kept him from being able to access many of his memories. “When I try to recall some of the two years I spent in combat,” Sledge writes, “there’s almost a void or haze over the memories.” Upon returning home, he remembers friends telling him, “You never said anything. Never talked about it or what it was like. The war was just a hiccup. As soon as you got back, you were partying like nothing happened.”
Sledge said he had a reason why he said nothing to nobody. “I was convinced my memories were far too unbelievable to have actually happened.”
For those, perhaps like the early readers of Mark’s gospel, who yearn for the details their veteran parent may have omitted, there are some places to look. Researchers and activists at the National Archives and Records Administration have created teams dedicated to helping piece together profiles of World War II veterans. But even those records can be elusive since as many as 80% of records of World War II US Army personnel were destroyed in a fire during the 1970s. Many people contact the museum or private researchers in an attempt to discover even small details. It’s a way, researchers say, of having “conversations that were too painful to have when their fathers were still alive.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship (First two lines may be repeated at the end.)
One: Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
One: O give thanks to God who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
One: God is our strength and our might
All: God has become our salvation.
One: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
All: “The right hand of God does valiantly.”
OR
One: Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
One: Open to us the gates of righteousness
All: We enter through them and give thanks to God.
One: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
All: This is God’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
One: This is the day that God has acted;
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Hymns and Songs
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
UMH: 302
H82: 188/189
PH: 113
GTG: 245
AAHH: 282
NNBH: 121
NCH: 233
LBW: 130
ELW: 369/373
W&P: 288
AMEC: 156
STLT: 268
The Day of Resurrection
UMH: 303
H82: 210
PH: 118
GTG: 233
NNBH: 124
NCH: 245
CH: 228
LBW: 141
ELW: 361
W&P: 298
AMEC: 159/160
Thine Be the Glory
UMH: 308
PH: 122
GTG: 238
NCH: 253
CH: 218
LBW: 145
ELW: 376
W&P: 310
AMEC: 157
Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
UMH: 315
H82: 199/200
PH: 114/115
NCH: 230
CH: 215
LBW: 132
ELW: 363
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
GTG: 450
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
O Zion, Haste
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
CH: 482
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
I Come with Joy (Holy Communion)
UMH: 617
H82: 304
PH: 507
NCH: 349
CH: 420
ELW: 482
W&P: 706
Renew: 195
Sing unto the Lord a New Song
CCB: 16
Renew: 99
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
CCB: 36
Renew: 4
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is life abundant and eternal:
Grant us the grace to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
by allowing the Christ to live within us each day
and we do good works and proclaim your love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and adore you, O God of life. Your life is abundant and eternal and given to all. Help us as we celebrate the resurrection to allow the Christ to live in and through us each day as we do good works and share your love. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to follow the Risen Christ into mission.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We celebrate the Resurrection but then we go on with our self-centered lives. We forget that he called us to meet him in Galilee where his mission was. We forget that he called us to continue his good works and to proclaim your love for all your children as he did. Forgive our shortsightedness and help us to meet the Christ and make him known to others as we continue his mission in the world. Amen.
One: Christ is risen and waits to be made known to us and through us. Receive the Spirit of the Risen One and share his risen presence with all.
Prayers of the People
Glory and praise to you, O God of Resurrection. Your life is life eternal which can never be defeated by death. Your life gives life to all of your glorious creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We celebrate the Resurrection but then we go on with our self-centered lives. We forget that he called us to meet him in Galilee where his mission was. We forget that he called us to continue his good works and to proclaim your love for all your children as he did. Forgive our shortsightedness and help us to meet the Christ and make him known to others as we continue his mission in the world.
We give you thanks for the wonderful Christ’s resurrection which not only brings him victory over death but brings life to all your creation. We give you thanks for all the signs we see of new life around us. We thank you for the beauty of your ever renewing creation which reflects your presence among us. We thank you for those who witness to the new life they have found in you. We thank you for the Sabbath rest that renews us for another week of serving you as we serve others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who struggle to find life that has meaning. We pray for those who feel the oppression of death and feel they are facing a dead end in their existence. We pray for your Church that we may be true signs of your eternal life graciously given to all.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
God Is Always With Us
by Elena Delhagen
Mark 16:1-8
What you’ll need:
Basket
Piece of fabric or felt as an underlay (optional)
Picture of Jesus
Paper heart or picture of a heart
A cross (small enough to fit in the basket)
Rock big enough to cover most of the picture of Jesus
Picture of the women going to the tomb
Good morning, friends! Since we’re here today celebrating Easter, I’m going to tell you the story of Easter. At the end, you can help me put the things back in this basket. Unfold the fabric underlay, if you’re using it.
There was once a man who had enough goodness, peace, justice, joy, and love to change the world. Do you know who it was? That’s right! It was Jesus! Take out the picture of Jesus and lay it in front of you.
Now, everyone knew that Jesus was with God. They could tell he was very special. Everywhere he went, Jesus taught people about the best way to live. And do you know what his lesson was? Take out the picture of the heart and lay it next to Jesus.
His lesson was love. “Love God,” Jesus told people. “And love others just like you love yourself.” But there was a problem. There were some people who did not like what Jesus was teaching. They did not want to be told to love God, love themselves, and love everyone else (touch heart) because it’s a very hard thing to do. So instead of learning this hard thing, they decided they wanted to get back at Jesus. They wanted him to be punished. They started trying to have Jesus killed.
Now, this is the hard part of the story. It’s sad to think about Jesus dying, isn’t it? But when we tell this part of the story, we always say, “This is not the end of the story.” God’s story always has a good ending. The hard part of the story is that Jesus’ enemies did a bad thing and they had him killed on a cross. The cross can remind us of a very sad thing. Take out the cross and set it next to the heart.
Jesus’ friends were so sad when this happened. Their hearts were broken. Tear the picture of the heart in half. Set the two pieces down with some space in between them.
They put Jesus in a tomb, which was like a cave, and they used a big stone for a door. Roll the stone in front of the picture of Jesus. Tuck the picture of Jesus behind you or turn it over so the blank side is showing.
After Jesus died, three of his friends — people who loved him and missed him — went to the tomb where he was buried. The Bible tells us the name of these friends. They were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. Take out the picture of the women. Set it next to the stone.
The tomb was kind of like a cave, but with a huge rock to close it shut. And when those three women got to the cave, guess what they saw? That big, enormous, huge rock that had been blocking the door was moved. Move the rock a little bit. When they went inside, they saw a man all in white who said to them — “Do not be afraid! You’re looking for Jesus, but I have some really, really, REALLY Good News — he is alive again!”
This is a mysterious story, isn’t it? It’s a story that takes the cross, which can remind us of something sad that happened to Jesus and change it into a good thing. And that helps us to remember that no matter what happens, no matter how hard things get sometimes, God is always with us. This makes us brave enough to love God and love ourselves and love each other. Put the heart pieces completely back together.
And that, my friends, is the happy, good news of Easter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 31, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Unfinished Business by Mary Austin based on Mark 16:1-8.
- Second Thoughts: The Next Day by Dean Feldmeyer. What do you do on the day after Easter?
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Chris Keating, Katy Stenta, Quantisha Mason-Doll.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: God Is Always With Us by Elena Delhagen based on Mark 16:1-8.
Unfinished Businessby Mary Austin
Mark 16:1-8
If we’re looking for an Easter with trumpets, kids in cute outfits, and a triumphant — yet short — Easter sermon, the end of Mark’s gospel is deeply disappointing. Where’s the good news? Mark’s original ending stops with silence about the resurrection. “Afraid” is the last word in our English translation. What a disappointment.
This ending to the gospel feels incomplete, and yet stopping there is a fitting match for our mood this Easter. We, too, are in the middle of the story. Like the disciples, we are afraid, in a way that can’t be quelled by Peeps, Easter brunch, and new outfits. We’re anxious about the coming election, the state of the courts, the dysfunction of Congress, and the uncertainty about the economy. Abroad, wars in Gaza and Ukraine visit us daily with fresh horrors we can’t intervene to change. Author Adam Grant says we’re living in a state of “empathic distress,” unable to look away and yet powerless to help.
On this Easter, people who call ourselves followers of Jesus are bitterly divided about reproductive rights, the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, the place of critical race theory in America, immigration, and home schooling. The world feels unsettled, and we can see how unfinished God’s work is.
Is the Easter good news going to be enough this year?
In the News
The ongoing bombardment of Gaza has damaged or destroyed at least 35% of the buildings and killed an estimated 36,000 people — a toll that may grow because some people are lost under the rubble. Israel continues to attack hospitals, pinning down medical teams and patients. Residents are desperate for food aid, and “UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the backlog of aid destined for Gaza as a moral outrage during a visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.”
Russia is striking at power plants in Ukraine and blaming Ukraine for a terrorist attack at a concert venue, while Kyiv denies any responsibility for the attack. The US has named a branch of ISIS as the perpetrators of the attack, and some say Russia was distracted by the war and not paying attention to other threats. The violence in Haiti also continues to grow, fueling a food shortage and a crisis in education. Families are disrupted, and children are on the edge of malnutrition.
Meanwhile, Congress is divided on aid to Ukraine, among many other things. The Senate passed an aid bill in February and the House has stalled it. Congress is funding the government in such small bits that bills once called omnibus bills are now called “the minibus.” Over and over, we come to the brink of a shutdown, with full funding looming as unfinished business.
The US faces threats from within as Christian nationalism has a moment in the sun. Author Bradley Onishi, himself a former Christian nationalist, defines it as “the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way — economically, socially, politically — and that influence and that privilege is a result of the country being founded by and for Christians. Christian nationalism is not the idea that others can’t be here…However, for most Christian nationalists, there is a core belief that the story of the United States is one where it has been elected by God to play an exceptional role in human history, and as being chosen by God, it’s the duty of Christian people to carry out his will on Earth.” Onishi says that the recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court saying embryos are people “is an example of Christian nationalism par excellence. The concurring opinion by Justice Tom Parker uses as its evidence to arrive at his legal opinion — it uses the Bible. It uses Christian manifestos. It uses work by the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, by the reformer John Calvin… The very idea that we would have a Supreme Court of any state in this country who would deliver an opinion based on the Bible, is the most clear example of Christian nationalism that I can think of.”
The world is a scary place, and we, too, are overwhelmed by fear. We don’t know what to say about the sorrow and distress around us. The disciples are a mirror for our own worries and our own silence.
In the Scriptures
This shorter ending of Mark’s gospel is even odder in the original Greek than in our English translation. In Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Lamar Williamson writes “The first eight verses of Mark 16 report the resurrection of Jesus, and verse 8 ends in Greek with the word “for” (gar), a particle which normally comes second in a clause of several or many words. No words follow gar, and no appearances of Jesus follow the report of his resurrection in the most reliable manuscripts of Mark.” It’s as if the story ends in mid-sentence.
Apparently, early readers of the gospel found this unsatisfying. So, they added another ending where Jesus comes back to make his resurrection clear, appearing to the people closest to him, and then to others. He shows up as many times as necessary to get the message going.
Earlier in the gospel, Jesus points his friends toward Galilee. As Lamar Williamson says in the Interpretation commentary, the messenger in the tomb is reminding the disciples of something they already know. “I’ll meet you in Galilee,” Jesus told them. There must be a flare of recognition when they hear it again.
The final ending of Mark says, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.” In the end, the disciples couldn’t keep quiet, and we can’t either.
In the Sermon
When later storytellers added more to the ending, they didn’t clean it up. They left the abrupt ending and added more, reflecting the way God’s good news always comes tangled up with fear. In the endings added later, Jesus keeps showing up, to wider and wider circles of people. The resurrected Jesus won’t stay silent, even if his followers are hushed by fear. The sermon might focus on how the good news won’t stay silent. It always bursts out, through us or in spite of us.
Jesus also has more confidence in his friends than they have in themselves. The sermon might explore where God is inviting us to share the good news, and how we get in our own way with worries about how it will go, whether we can do it, and if the time is right.
In the printed version of Mark’s gospel, we can see the endings labeled: “The Shorter Ending” and “the Longer Ending.” The two endings compete for our attention. The sermon might explore what to do when we have two possible endings. How do we choose the one where God is, and where we are most true to ourselves. How does the resurrected Jesus shape our choices?
Adam Grant notes that we are all numb these days, and perhaps Jesus’ friends were numb, too. After grueling travel, constant danger, and the pain of his death, perhaps their silence was like ours — born out of pain, powerlessness, and grief. “Empathic distress explains why many people have checked out in the wake of these tragedies. The small gestures they could make seem like an exercise in futility. Giving to charity feels like a drop in the ocean. Posting on social media is poking a hornet’s nest. Having concluded that nothing they do will make a difference, they start to become indifferent.” Grant goes on to suggest that simple kindness, given and received, makes a difference to both sides. The sermon could talk about the ways we hold onto Easter’s good news, even in small ways.
The resurrection calls us out of indifference, out of silence, out of fear, out of the past, and into the future where Jesus is always meeting us. He is always inviting us back to where the work is. The resurrection lights up our numbness with the unstoppable presence of God and points us to a future we can never nail down, and where God is always present, giving life and hope. Rowan Williams (Tokens of Trust) says that “The resurrection is in part about the sheer toughness and persistence of God’s love.” Even with the unfinished business in this ending to Mark’s gospel, that persistent love shines through.
There is always enough good news. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Next Day
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 10:37-38
So, Jesus arose from the dead. So what? Lazarus did that. So did the son of the Zarephath widow (1 Kings 17:17-22) and the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:32-35). And there was the guy who touched Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21) and the son of the widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-17) and Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:21-43).
So, what makes the resurrection of Jesus so special? What does that resurrection mean for us? How does it change our calling as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ? What affect does that one event have on how we live our lives?
When the chocolate bunnies have all been eaten, when the jelly beans have been swept up off the floor and gathered from behind the couch cushion, when the Easter lilies have been relegated to the window sill, when the baskets and plastic grass have been bagged and put in the attic until next year, when the Easter eggs have been transformed into deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches, then what?
After we have received that special anointing of the Holy Spirit that is the special gift of Easter Sunday, what do we do on Monday, the next day? And the days after that?
In the Scriptures
The lectionary passage from Acts that is designated for this day is taken from Peter’s speech to the household of Cornelius who is widely recognized as the first gentile convert to “The Way,” which would become Christianity. Peter has been invited to come and give his testimony (vv. 34-43), which he does in this speech. The selection for today comes from the middle of the speech wherein he shares the heart of the gospel message.
He sums up the ministry of Jesus in verse 38, where he describes Jesus as going “about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil.” Jesus was able to do these things, says Peter, because “God was with him.”
With this speech, Peter starts the ball rolling that will eventually mark the Christian community as truly inclusive, welcoming not just Jews “from all lands,” but Samaritans, and gentiles as well.
Peter concludes his testimony by recalling the story of Good Friday through Easter Sunday and how it has been given to Jesus’ disciples to testify about him and how “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
His disciples, then, are called to do as he did by doing good and healing all who are oppressed, and testifying to the power of God’s grace and forgiveness as it comes to us in Jesus Christ.
In the World
The willingness to sacrifice the lives of innocent human beings — children, elders, and other noncombatants — in order to achieve one’s objectives has become commonplace in the modern world.
In eastern Europe, Vladamir Putin is launching deadly drones and rockets against civilian populations killing nearly 20,000 people — 1,300 of them children — and destroying the entire country of Ukraine in order to conquer it and make it his own.
In Israel/Gaza, in his effort to hunt down and destroy Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu, in retaliation for the murders of 1,300 Israelis on October 7, has unleashed a military offensive on Gaza that has killed more than 30,000 people, most of them civilians. He shows no inclination to slow down until, in his words, “Hamas is destroyed.”
In Russia, a group of ISIS gunmen entered a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire killing more than 100 innocent people for no reason, except to show that they can.
Thousands of people from Latin America are amassed at the US border, trying to escape gang warfare and some of the most severe oppression in the western hemisphere, at the hands of drug cartels and corrupt governments. In the United States, we live beneath a Statue of Liberty that tells other nations to give us “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” But our response to those thousands of desperate refugees is to build a wall to more effectively turn them away and keep them out.
In Haiti, thousands of American citizens, many of whom were there to help in the poorest country in this hemisphere, are fleeing by any means possible as violent criminal gangs have now taken over the country.
In the United States of America, the citizens arm themselves sufficiently to kill each other a dozen times over with more guns than there are people. The congress is divided in a constant and unreconcilable state of anger, resentment, and disunity and the citizens see each other not as good people who happen to disagree, but as the enemy.
How, we might legitimately ask, are we to be like Jesus, going about doing good and healing those who are oppressed by evil in a world such as this? Where do we even begin?
In the Sermon
We begin with Easter.
Having been anointed by God’s Holy Spirit on the day of his resurrection we, the disciples of Jesus Christ are called to imitate him first in doing good.
Oh, is that all? Okay, what does that look like, exactly, especially on the next day, the day after Easter?
One need to look no further than the gospel accounts. “What shall we do?” the crowd asks. John the Baptizer answers: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:10 ff.)
Be kind and generous, merciful, and forgiving. Do not be judgmental. Be obedient to God, love your neighbor, and even your enemy. Help the poor, heal the sick, obey the golden rule. Remember the words of the prophet: Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
In short, we are called to be a kind, generous, gentle, unassuming people.
AND –
We are called to heal those who are sick, oppressed, and abused. We are called to mend wounds in whatever form they present themselves — physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual.
We are called to minister to those who are sick whether the sickness be physical, mental, or emotional, etc.
AND –
We are called to witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit that empowers us in these tasks and comes to us in and through Jesus Christ.
Resurrection is the indicative and charity is the imperative. On the day after Easter, that is what compels us into a world that is desperately in need of the hope-filled word of the gospel.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Mark 16:1-8
The Young Man
It’s easy to overlook the young man who speaks to the women in the empty tomb. He’s wearing white, which harkens back to the Transfiguration as recorded in Mark 9. His wearing white may also reference Daniel 11:35, “Some of the wise shall fall, so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed, until the time of the end, for there is still an interval until the time appointed.” “Cleansed” in that verse is literally, “be made white.”
The announcement of the resurrection is understated, still, it is enough to cause the women to be “seized” by “terror and amazement.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
While Mark does not include a birth narrative, the scene at the empty tomb certainly echoes the message from the angel, and heavenly host in Luke 2. The shepherds were “terrified” in verse 9, and the angel reassured them.
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
The short ending
The abrupt ending of Mark’s gospel recalls for me two quotes from rock ‘n’ roll:
“Some rides don’t have much of a finish, that’s the ride I took.” From “29,” written by Jesses Valenzuela. The song appears on the band’s first major label release, New Miserable Experience, 1992.
“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night.” Those were the last words John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, spoke at The Sex Pistols’ final concert at Winterland Theatre in San Francisco on January 14, 1978.
* * *
Mark 16:1-8, John 20:1-18
Comparing the resurrection accounts
There are not many details that are shared between today’s gospel lessons.
Both take place early on Sunday morning.
Mary Magdalene appears in both.
Both take place at a tomb from which the stone has been removed.
The endings to the same story are vastly different.
It’s similar to the different endings to the stage and film versions of The Music Man. The story is built around a huckster named Harold Hill, who convinces a small town that the answer to the community’s “trouble” was forming a band that he would create. Hill’s original plan is to get parents to pay him for instruments and uniforms and then skip town with their money without delivering on any of his promises.
In the stage version, the band he forms is pathetic and embarrassing, but the parents of the band members are delighted to hear their children’s weak musical efforts. The denouement — and Hill’s salvation — is the love of the parents.
The film version ends with a glorious, colorful scene of a marching band performing flawlessly, thus saving Harold Hill. In the film, Hill gets off the hook because he is not seen as a fraud and huckster.
Same story — profoundly different conclusions.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
…he appeared to more than 500…
This is the only place in scripture where this number is mentioned. What’s Paul’s source? He wasn’t among the 500, having not been found by the risen Christ until much later. Is it “fake news?” Generally, Paul’s accounts of events are more believable to me than those recounted in Acts. Paul was writing much closer in time to the events than Luke, the author of Acts, was but still this figure is suspect.
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:Mark 16:1-8
Fear is the mind killer
No matter how well you prepare yourself for a paradigm shift when confronted with the unbelievable, the only reasonable recourse is to react with fear and unbelief. Visualize the horror in Mary Magdalene’s eyes when she approached the tomb only to see that the stone had been rolled away. Picture Mary, the mother of James, who stood by her side as she watched her only son die. She is laden with herbs and spices to anoint the body of the Lord. I imagine her hands shook but did not falter. Maybe they gave each other a bombastic side eye when they entered the tomb and saw a young man that was not Jesus’ corpse. It is not hard to believe the devastation felt by these women. Was the empty tomb the final blow to shatter their already broken hearts. How do you recover from heartache such as this?
Until this point the Marys were working under the presupposition that Jesus’ body would be there and when his body was not there, their world shifted but they didn’t know it was for the better. The Marys knew in theory that Jesus could bring the dead back to life — they had seen Lazarus live again — but the living Lord was the catalyst. Their paradigm could not allow for miracles from beyond, though she truly believed.
To quote Frank Hurburt’s Dune: “Fear is the little-death…I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me... when fear has gone there will be nothing.” Fear, unbelief, trepidation, and blind hope are the elements that frame our Easter story. The resurrection is a wild and uncontrollable thing and it fills us with terror. Terror is a powerful emotion yet the Marys did not let the emotions control them. They felt their emotions. They let the terror wash over them and ran to share the news.
* * *
John 20:1-18
To win a foot race
What message can we take from the gospel of John’s story of the resurrection? That John can beat all the other apostles in a foot race. John’s prize was to be the first to see nothing. There was nothing in the tomb worth seeing, thus John went through all of that effort for nothing. He ran from his friends for the honor of nothing. Let it be known that we are all in a foot race where the finish line is a grave. Yes, we believe in the resurrection of the body and a life everlasting, but that is no reason to rush to be the first to fill the empty tomb. Resurrection takes time, we should not rush toward it.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Psalm 118
Trans Day of Visibility
Easter is Trans Day of Visibility. Is there a more fitting day to think about the stone that the rejected becoming the chief cornerstone? I admit to being tired of hearing what the Western, white European church has to say about Jesus, God, and Christianity. I can say that theology by heart. The theology that feeds me these days comes from the corners — the edges — those who are thirsty for God and not in power. More and more I hear my LGBTQIA siblings and Black, Native American, Pakistani, Korean, Mexican, and African siblings opening my eyes to how God has touched them. It chips away at those things that have become atrophied, unhelpful, and have created new cornerstones of faith. To me, Easter and Resurrection seem inherently tied to Trans Day of Visibility. When we say their names out loud and affirm the chosen names of those whose gender is right and we believe with all our hearts that they, too, were fiercely and wonderfully made, and that they are as intrinsic to the Kingdom as everyone else, I know we will say “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
Nothing, Nothing
If you look at the Greek of who the women talked to — it is essentially the same word in two forms. Oude and heis oudeís ("not one, none") categorically excludes, declaring as a fact that no valid example exists. Essentially, they said nothing and more nothing.
Colloquially nothing to no one is correct, but I love the idea of a whole lot of nothing. There was nothing to say here. They came up with nothing. The implication that the news got out anyway is, of course, the point. But I love the idea that no one knew how to convey the ideas, that the holiness blotted out the good news is extraordinary. When I toured Israel, I saw the apparent tomb of Jesus and the guide said that the reason they knew it was the tomb was because one of the emperors finally put up a sign saying something like: This is not the tomb of Jesus, stop visiting it, there’s no body here. Don’t you love the irony of that?
Nobody…and nobody. Mary, Mary, and Salome told nobody, and there was no body in the tomb. Somehow, no news became the Good News. The miracle of the story is we do not know. We do not know how the good news got out. We do not know how God speaks to our hearts sometimes. We do not know how God works when our buildings are empty, or when it seems like no one is there to listen … and yet … God can work with no one and nothing.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Isaiah 25:6-9
A feast for all peoples
Isaiah offers a visually rich companion for conversations about Easter’s resurrection grace. It demonstrates the Hebrew Bible’s vision for God’s expansive grace, which Christians believe achieves its pinnacle moment in Jesus’ resurrection. The mountain inculcates a vision of rich abundance, provision, and diversity — it is a succulent brunch where all are invited to feast.
But that message of inclusivity remains under a cloud of suspicion among many today. In Florida, for example, the state’s Board of Education voted to prohibit funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at 28 state colleges in January. One commissioner called the action a statement that ensures “we will not spend taxpayer’s money supporting DEI and radical indoctrination that promotes divisions in our society.”
Such sentiments seem to run against the inclusive vision of Isaiah.
Some commentators note that many anti-DEI movements are fueled more by political rhetoric than by fact. As one commentator observed, “Today’s students will become adults. If they’re denied opportunities now to learn about racism and other dimensions of DEI, they’ll enter professions in which they make discriminatory decisions and consequential missteps, unintentionally offend and exclude people, reproduce and exacerbate inequities, and erode the global competitiveness of America’s businesses and military (research makes irrefutably clear that diverse and inclusive organizations are higher performing).”
* * *
Acts 10:34-43
Raised to new understandings
Peter’s voice breaks with emotion as he realizes the boundary-breaking power of Jesus’ resurrection. His rooftop hunger dream helps him understand how the risen Lord is breaking apart human boundaries. It’s clear to him that God shows no partiality.
That message runs counter to the feelings of most American Christians. While Acts 10:34-43 is more than a message of immigration, it is a message of God’s love reaching across boundaries and borders. Jesus’ resurrection changes everything.
Large percentages of white Christians believe that the situation at the United States’ southern border is at a crisis point, including 70% of evangelicals, 64% of white Catholics, and 57% of white non-evangelical Christians, according to data released by the Pew Research Center in March. Fewer than one in five in each of these groups believes that the problem is only a “minor problem” or “not a problem.”
Peter’s realization also touches on the great borders that separate us today — political, social, racial, economic, and so on. As the editors of Political Theology Network observed a few years back, “Many churches still are estranged from people that they consider ‘unclean.’ While much is made of multiculturalism and racial diversity, the problem of classism within churches — the discrimination against the lower class at the expense of the upper and middle class — continues to plague American congregations of all cultures.”
* * *
Mark 16:1-8
Saying nothing to nobody
Mark’s enigmatic Easter morning may seem difficult to preach. After all, it includes neither heralding trumpets nor choirs singing “Hallelujah!” Rather, it ends with the women fleeing the tomb. Seized by fear, Mark tells us that they didn’t say a word about what they had encountered. Literally, they told nothing to nobody.
Some of those who gather with us on Easter might resonate with those experiences, particularly those who have endured great trauma. One example of this would be many veterans whose experiences of war were so traumatic that their memories were often an untreated victim of war. Like many whose fathers and grandfathers served in World War II, for example, I have inherited boxes of my father’s wartime memorabilia but not the stories associated with the items he saved. Dave Philips, writing in the New York Times, wrote that so many American men wanted to leave their experiences of war behind them that “those lauded as the Greatest Generation might just as easily be called the Quietest.”
Benjamin Sledge, who served in Afghanistan after 9/11, says that the trauma of war kept him from being able to access many of his memories. “When I try to recall some of the two years I spent in combat,” Sledge writes, “there’s almost a void or haze over the memories.” Upon returning home, he remembers friends telling him, “You never said anything. Never talked about it or what it was like. The war was just a hiccup. As soon as you got back, you were partying like nothing happened.”
Sledge said he had a reason why he said nothing to nobody. “I was convinced my memories were far too unbelievable to have actually happened.”
For those, perhaps like the early readers of Mark’s gospel, who yearn for the details their veteran parent may have omitted, there are some places to look. Researchers and activists at the National Archives and Records Administration have created teams dedicated to helping piece together profiles of World War II veterans. But even those records can be elusive since as many as 80% of records of World War II US Army personnel were destroyed in a fire during the 1970s. Many people contact the museum or private researchers in an attempt to discover even small details. It’s a way, researchers say, of having “conversations that were too painful to have when their fathers were still alive.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship (First two lines may be repeated at the end.)
One: Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
One: O give thanks to God who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
One: God is our strength and our might
All: God has become our salvation.
One: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
All: “The right hand of God does valiantly.”
OR
One: Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
One: Open to us the gates of righteousness
All: We enter through them and give thanks to God.
One: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
All: This is God’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
One: This is the day that God has acted;
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Hymns and Songs
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
UMH: 302
H82: 188/189
PH: 113
GTG: 245
AAHH: 282
NNBH: 121
NCH: 233
LBW: 130
ELW: 369/373
W&P: 288
AMEC: 156
STLT: 268
The Day of Resurrection
UMH: 303
H82: 210
PH: 118
GTG: 233
NNBH: 124
NCH: 245
CH: 228
LBW: 141
ELW: 361
W&P: 298
AMEC: 159/160
Thine Be the Glory
UMH: 308
PH: 122
GTG: 238
NCH: 253
CH: 218
LBW: 145
ELW: 376
W&P: 310
AMEC: 157
Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
UMH: 315
H82: 199/200
PH: 114/115
NCH: 230
CH: 215
LBW: 132
ELW: 363
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
GTG: 450
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
O Zion, Haste
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
CH: 482
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
I Come with Joy (Holy Communion)
UMH: 617
H82: 304
PH: 507
NCH: 349
CH: 420
ELW: 482
W&P: 706
Renew: 195
Sing unto the Lord a New Song
CCB: 16
Renew: 99
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
CCB: 36
Renew: 4
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is life abundant and eternal:
Grant us the grace to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
by allowing the Christ to live within us each day
and we do good works and proclaim your love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and adore you, O God of life. Your life is abundant and eternal and given to all. Help us as we celebrate the resurrection to allow the Christ to live in and through us each day as we do good works and share your love. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to follow the Risen Christ into mission.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We celebrate the Resurrection but then we go on with our self-centered lives. We forget that he called us to meet him in Galilee where his mission was. We forget that he called us to continue his good works and to proclaim your love for all your children as he did. Forgive our shortsightedness and help us to meet the Christ and make him known to others as we continue his mission in the world. Amen.
One: Christ is risen and waits to be made known to us and through us. Receive the Spirit of the Risen One and share his risen presence with all.
Prayers of the People
Glory and praise to you, O God of Resurrection. Your life is life eternal which can never be defeated by death. Your life gives life to all of your glorious creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We celebrate the Resurrection but then we go on with our self-centered lives. We forget that he called us to meet him in Galilee where his mission was. We forget that he called us to continue his good works and to proclaim your love for all your children as he did. Forgive our shortsightedness and help us to meet the Christ and make him known to others as we continue his mission in the world.
We give you thanks for the wonderful Christ’s resurrection which not only brings him victory over death but brings life to all your creation. We give you thanks for all the signs we see of new life around us. We thank you for the beauty of your ever renewing creation which reflects your presence among us. We thank you for those who witness to the new life they have found in you. We thank you for the Sabbath rest that renews us for another week of serving you as we serve others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who struggle to find life that has meaning. We pray for those who feel the oppression of death and feel they are facing a dead end in their existence. We pray for your Church that we may be true signs of your eternal life graciously given to all.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMONGod Is Always With Us
by Elena Delhagen
Mark 16:1-8
What you’ll need:
Basket
Piece of fabric or felt as an underlay (optional)
Picture of Jesus
Paper heart or picture of a heart
A cross (small enough to fit in the basket)
Rock big enough to cover most of the picture of Jesus
Picture of the women going to the tomb
Good morning, friends! Since we’re here today celebrating Easter, I’m going to tell you the story of Easter. At the end, you can help me put the things back in this basket. Unfold the fabric underlay, if you’re using it.
There was once a man who had enough goodness, peace, justice, joy, and love to change the world. Do you know who it was? That’s right! It was Jesus! Take out the picture of Jesus and lay it in front of you.
Now, everyone knew that Jesus was with God. They could tell he was very special. Everywhere he went, Jesus taught people about the best way to live. And do you know what his lesson was? Take out the picture of the heart and lay it next to Jesus.
His lesson was love. “Love God,” Jesus told people. “And love others just like you love yourself.” But there was a problem. There were some people who did not like what Jesus was teaching. They did not want to be told to love God, love themselves, and love everyone else (touch heart) because it’s a very hard thing to do. So instead of learning this hard thing, they decided they wanted to get back at Jesus. They wanted him to be punished. They started trying to have Jesus killed.
Now, this is the hard part of the story. It’s sad to think about Jesus dying, isn’t it? But when we tell this part of the story, we always say, “This is not the end of the story.” God’s story always has a good ending. The hard part of the story is that Jesus’ enemies did a bad thing and they had him killed on a cross. The cross can remind us of a very sad thing. Take out the cross and set it next to the heart.
Jesus’ friends were so sad when this happened. Their hearts were broken. Tear the picture of the heart in half. Set the two pieces down with some space in between them.
They put Jesus in a tomb, which was like a cave, and they used a big stone for a door. Roll the stone in front of the picture of Jesus. Tuck the picture of Jesus behind you or turn it over so the blank side is showing.
After Jesus died, three of his friends — people who loved him and missed him — went to the tomb where he was buried. The Bible tells us the name of these friends. They were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. Take out the picture of the women. Set it next to the stone.
The tomb was kind of like a cave, but with a huge rock to close it shut. And when those three women got to the cave, guess what they saw? That big, enormous, huge rock that had been blocking the door was moved. Move the rock a little bit. When they went inside, they saw a man all in white who said to them — “Do not be afraid! You’re looking for Jesus, but I have some really, really, REALLY Good News — he is alive again!”
This is a mysterious story, isn’t it? It’s a story that takes the cross, which can remind us of something sad that happened to Jesus and change it into a good thing. And that helps us to remember that no matter what happens, no matter how hard things get sometimes, God is always with us. This makes us brave enough to love God and love ourselves and love each other. Put the heart pieces completely back together.
And that, my friends, is the happy, good news of Easter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 31, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
