An Anti-Easter World
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
When Mary Magdalene and the other women discovered the empty tomb, it completely changed everything they knew -- the world was forever after completely different for them. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin points out that as we celebrate Christ's resurrection, we too must confront a reality that turns everything in our world on its head. There are numerous stories in the headlines currently that demonstrate the wholesale shifting of tectonic plates underneath our perceptions of reality -- and our inability or unwillingness to see what has happened. (For example, note how China's leaders are struggling to keep control of the free flow of information unleashed by the internet, and how their intransigence has led Google to withdraw from the giant Chinese market.) Mary asks us: Are we willing to confront the real significance of the resurrection for our lives -- or are we content to merely celebrate a spring holiday? Are we comfortable living in an anti-Easter world, or will we make Christ's resurrection the centerpiece of our existence? Easter offers us eternal hope in the midst of a sea of bad news -- so are we willing to proclaim that Good News of hope to the world? Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on how Easter shows us the way to reconciliation -- bridging the divisions that separate us from one another. After all, if Christ can reach out to us from across the ultimate divide between life and death, how can we fail to bridge the gaps in our world?
An Anti-Easter World
by Mary Austin
Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18
We live in an anti-Easter world.
Easter's astounding good news falls into a cacophony of bad tidings, and the bad news seems more powerful than any message of hope. The headlines scream of pain and disaster, and the stories of our families and friends reveal foreclosures, job losses, health worries, and more. Our one day of Easter seems like small consolation in a world gripped by disaster and distress.
Can Easter be just our private celebration as Christians, a day off from bad news before we go back to the real world? Is the resurrection as unrelated to reality as marshmallow bunnies, or as flimsy as decorated eggs? Is it all just a pleasant fantasy we hold as people of faith -- a day off from reality? Nice music at church, a lovely dinner with friends and family, in some traditions a new hat -- and then back to reality on Monday?
THE WORLD
The New York Times reports that the number of people sleeping on the streets of New York is up by over 305 this year, and the number of people living in homeless shelters is at an all-time high. Almost 38,000 people live in the city's shelters, the size of many small towns. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/nyregion/22homeless.html)
The debates in Congress over health care reform reveal not just partisan divides (nothing new in Washington), but also a deep lack of respect as members of Congress shout things like "baby killer" and "liar." On the way to the final vote, members of Congress reported citizens spitting on them and shouting racial and homophobic slurs.
In the wake of January's earthquake in Haiti, an estimated one third of the population remains homeless. Women and children face a dramatically increased threat of rape in the refugee camps, according to Human Rights Watch, reported by CBS News and other news outlets. Camp medical personnel treating children report a two-year-old with gonorrhea after a rape, and women and children who have lost fathers, husbands, brothers, and other protectors are at risk in the camps with flimsy shelters, communal toilets, and dim lighting. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/17/world/main6306562.shtml)
A new massacre in the Congo has claimed more lives, and Israel and Palestine continue to be at odds about new housing for settlers and the role of Jerusalem in both nations' lives. Suicide bombers have come to the Russian subway, and no place seems entirely safe.
The worse the world is, the more removed Easter seems from reality. The anti-Easter news seems stronger and more real than an empty tomb many centuries removed.
THE WORD
John's gospel gives us the familiar and powerful story of Mary Magdalene, and the drama of the resurrection unfolding for her, and then for the other followers of Jesus. Luke has the women arriving at the tomb, preparing for a burial and finding cause for celebration.
The same happens for us on Easter. We can be preparing for the worst, believing the worst, accepting the worst about our own world, and Easter summons us to find cause for celebration. Easter is alive in our world, not so much in spite of the disconnection between God and humanity, but because of it. Because God understands pain and fear, loss and anguish, this is the world where Jesus lived and died and rose again, holding up another reality next to the one that seems so powerful. We live with twin truths -- the world holds sorrow and pain, evil and violence, and yet this is also the world in which God is alive.
Both Luke's and John's versions of the Easter story remind us again that Easter is not our private holiday, but demands to be shared. Both include a strong call to share the story. This good news is not meant to be hoarded as a private treasure, but to be shared. It's not meant to belong to a fortunate few -- those who see are impelled to pass the good news along.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The sermon might begin with the acknowledgment that the world looks bleak to our eyes, and that it doesn't seem like Easter has much to say to the reality of foreclosures and financial stress, to the actuality of political unrest abroad and mistrust at home. With the struggles in people's lives, we face a danger of disconnecting Easter from their lives if we don't recognize all of the anti-Easter forces at work for all of us.
Yet the first Easter also came into a world of brutality and suffering, and every Easter since has done the same. The horror of the cross is not separate from Easter, but an integral part of it. Easter is the most powerful statement we know that God has not given up on the world, but chooses to be alive here in power and presence among us. Easter is the healing of the divide between us and God, the answer to all that is anti-anything. Easter is the good news that cannot be contained. When we live it and share it, the risen Christ is alive in us and in our world.
Easter is more than a private, happy day for Christians, a celebration for those in the know, and a respite from the reality around us. Easter is God's reality, alive in our midst and demanding to be shared.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Dean Feldmeyer
More Americans own and carry concealed guns than ever before in the history of our country, including the time of the western frontier. Our society is divided between the armed and the unarmed. And those who wish to expand this "right" to carry guns of any kind wherever they wish tend to base their argument on the claim that our society is already divided between law-abiders and law-breakers. Law-abiders, they say, had better arm themselves against the law-breakers.
In the Holy Land the divisions have in recent weeks become more clearly drawn as Israel announced plans to allow more homes to be built in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians had hoped to make their capital city when they are finally allowed to have a homeland of their own. A wall -- an actual, physical structure -- continues to be built, dividing Israelis from Palestinians and Arabs.
The Pope is finding himself to be the leader of a church that is, every day, more divided. Revelations of the sexual abuse of deaf children in Milwaukee and abuses at virtually all levels of the church in Ireland and Germany are threatening his legacy. Allegations that he knew about them when he was a cardinal and did not act, and pro forma apologies are daily riving the Roman Catholic church.
Screaming, name-calling, swearing, and attempts at intimidation have become commonplace on the floors of both houses of Congress. Radio and cable television programs feed the anger and hysteria that leads to vandalism and threats of violence. All of this is because we disagree about how to address the rising costs of health care. Pundits point out that attempts to find bipartisanship have failed. As a nation, we are as divided as we have ever been -- perhaps more so.
But what can you do? Division and estrangement are part of the human condition, right? We might as well get used to it. Give in to the separation. Accept the disconnect; embrace the divide. It is, we are told, as inevitable as, well, death -- that great and final act of separation that eventually takes us all.
It would be easy to just cave in and accept that estrangement has won the day.
Except for that pesky Easter thing.
For Christians, Easter repudiates the inevitability and finality of estrangement. If death, that great dark separator of humans from life and each other can be overcome, than so can every other form of division and separation.
Easter's greatest message is one of hope not just for the dead and the dying, but for the living as well.
That which was dead -- dead hope, dead dreams, dead relationships -- can live again. Separation can be bridged. People really can join hands across their differences and work and live together. Reunion, reunification, reconciliation really are possible.
Praise the Lord! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
ILLUSTRATIONS
In his recent Entertainment Weekly review of the movie Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20348226,00.html), Owen Gleiberman outlined the progression of films derived from Lewis Carroll's book published in 1865. The book functions on multiple levels, with adults seeing the characters as representative of society's aristocracy while children just enjoy a fantasy story. Sadly, the movies over the years have missed the nuance of Carroll's message, focusing instead on the entertainment value of his story.
According to Gleiberman, the current movie is the most misplaced of all the previous films. The most noticeable difference is in Alice, who is no longer a "spunky girl" but now a 19-year-old artless young woman. Gleiberman says that "wherever Alice goes, she never displays the slightest hint of curiosity." With this being the seeming norm for all the characters, Gleiberman concludes his review of the movie with this question: "By the end you're asking, 'Where's the wonder?' "
We must ask ourselves which Easter story are we going to tell this day. Will our story emphasize the theatrics of the day, full of emotion and pathos as we reflect on the dramatic actions of the central characters involved; or will the awesome message of the resurrection and salvation take center stage for us? Will we leave our congregations spellbound by the thunderous message of the resurrection, or will we have them depart the sanctuary asking of the Easter story, "Where's the wonder?"
* * *
Who of us would not like to live in heaven? Right here... right now... on earth. Well, it is possible if you have the money of Tom Hanks, John Reilly, Jonah Hill, and others of the Hollywood elite who can afford the services of Jane Hallworth. A recent Los Angeles Times Magazine piece titled "Heaven on Wheels" (http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/02/heaven-on-wheels.html) details how Hallworth provides "luxury trailers" on movie sets for the sophisticated tastes of those who have stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It began a decade ago when Drew Barrymore asked for an upscale mobile dwelling. Hallworth, an interior designer, accepted the opportunity and the challenge. She purchased on eBay a 1955 Spartan Aircraft Imperial Mansion All-Aluminum Trailercoach. What it lacked in size, she made up for in amenities. The caravan sports trailer was transformed into a place of elegance with rosewood walls, sleek modern hardware, a deep soaking bathtub fashioned from a 1940s stainless-steel commercial sink, and a full Miele kitchen. Hallworth said about remodeling the trailer: "My point of reference was Aristotle Onassis' yacht, the Christina O. I wanted this trailer to be completely shipshape -- a real jewel box. She's not the biggest one out there, just the most refined."
Hallworth named the trailer Bobby Dazzler, in honor of her father Robert. The name also reflected an expression used in northern England for a jaunty, fancifully dressed person. But the article's writer calls it "Heaven on Wheels" for those on location who choose to repose in it.
Seek heaven, but be cautious where you look. Heaven is not to be found in a jewel box of a camper, as exquisite as that may be; for heaven is a spiritual state that will only be found when we dwell in the House of the Lord.
* * *
Supersize Jesus. Why not? Everything else is being supersized these days -- at least that's the conclusion of Brian Wansink, a food behavioral scientist at Cornell University. The only food that the Bible speaks of as being at the Last Supper is bread and wine. But in paintings through the years, Wansink discovered, other foods such as fish, eel, lamb, and pork have been added to the table. But what is most interesting according to Wansink is how the portions have grown. Using a computer to analyze 52 paintings, Wansink reported that between the years 1000 and 2000 the size of the main dish grew 69%, the size of the plate increased by 66%, and the bread increased in size by 23%. Wansink concluded that supersizing may be considered a modern phenomenon, but from the paintings of the Last Supper "what we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_last_supper_obesity)
It must be asked if the supersized Jesus has been made to fit our culture, rather than us confining ourselves to his original image. Do we paint Jesus as we would like him to be seen, rather than how he should be seen? Have we taken the liberty to make Jesus conform to our oversized lifestyle, instead of accepting the discipline required to emulate his lifestyle? It must be asked this Easter which Jesus are we going to follow. Are we going to follow the Jesus of our own making, or the Jesus proclaimed by those who gathered in the sparseness of the Upper Room?
* * *
The 94-year-old brand of Keds has begun a new advertising campaign promoting the slogan, "the original sneaker." The word "sneaker" comes from the fact that the soft-sole shoe allows you to sneak up on family and friends. The president of Keds, Kristin Kohler Burrows, said the focus of the campaign is this: "Our target consumers in attitude and personality are 24-year-old millennials who are attracted to creativity, a belief that they can make a difference in the world, openness, and multiculturalism. We have deep roots and history, and the challenge is to make that relevant to consumers today rather than just be a retro brand." Thus the proclamation by Keds that it is "the original sneaker," dating back to 1916. This would be good, if it were only true -- which it is not.
Grant Barrett, a lexicographer who has a syndicated radio show "A Way With Words," discovered that Keds is not the original sneaker. One proof is an 1887 article in the New York Times that reported, "It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes -- sneakers." Confronted by this information, Keds went to the company archives and found their earliest reference to the use of the word sneaker was in 1922. Unwilling to change the thrust of the campaign, Keds.com now reads: "In 1916 we started a footwear revolution when we created the first sneaker."
Analyst Marshal Cohen, who follows advertising trends, made the following observation on the Keds campaign: "There is a significant segment of the population today that will go out and challenge any statement. With the reach of social media, the minute an ad campaign is challenged or can't be substantiated, social media is going to spread that wildfire. Before you make a statement, you have to be sure you can justify it and live up to it." (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/media/22adco.html)
As Christians we have a statement to make on Easter day. It is the message that the tomb is empty, and our slogan is "He Is Risen." The social media may want to challenge us, but unlike Keds, our facts are not confused and our message is true. We do not have to adapt or fabricate or skew our message to attract the millennials or any other social group. We do have the original message, and it dates back 2,000 years. Now that is an ad campaign!
* * *
In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl recalls that it was not the strongest or even the best fed in the concentration camps who were most likely to survive. Rather, it was those that found meaning in their existence even in the worst of circumstances. In other words, they had hope. They might not survive the camp -- but they had hope that they could make meaning of their day, that day in that place.
* * *
During the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile we saw the strength of hope. In the midst of overwhelming devastation where it would appear that no one could have survived, loved ones came in hope to search for their loved ones. And, miracle of miracles, they would sometimes find one still alive who was also hoping for the miracle of being found.
* * *
How many times has the mother of someone who has been convicted of the most heinous of crimes been heard to say, "But he's a good boy"? For mothers there seems to be no end to the hope they have for their offspring, regardless of the facts.
* * *
With 20 centuries of historical hindsight, we have grown comfortable with the idea of Jesus' resurrection -- but as Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, reminds us in his 2004 Easter sermon (http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/000556.html), it would have seemed a strange idea indeed to first-century ears:
A good few years ago, I heard a distinguished American scholar of ancient history commenting on the proclamation of the resurrection as it would have been heard in the classical world. "If an educated Greek or Roman had been told that someone had been raised from the dead," he said, "his first question would have been, 'How do you get him back into his grave again?' " The point was that most of those who first heard the Easter gospel would have found it grotesque or even frightening.
Resurrection was not a joyful sign of hope but an alarming oddity, something potentially very dangerous. The dead, if they survived at all, lived in their own world -- a shadowy place, where they were condemned to a sort of half-life of yearning and sadness. So Virgil at least represents it in his great epic, unforgettably portraying the dead as "stretching out their hands in longing for the other side of the river."
But for them to return would have been terrifying and unnatural; the boundaries between worlds had to be preserved and protected.
Even the ancient Hebrews, who first made resurrection a positive idea, thought of the condition of the dead in just such a way: and resurrection was something that would happen at the end of time, when the good would be raised to receive their reward and the wicked their punishment, as in the prophecy of Daniel. But the news that someone had been raised from the tomb now would have been as disturbing for the Jew as for the Greek, if not perhaps quite so straightforwardly frightening.
* * *
Back in the seventeenth century, the English Protestant divine Richard Baxter wrote a hymn expressing his heartfelt desire to rely on the risen Christ, and him alone, for salvation. The melody of his hymn is all but lost to the church's memory, but his words live on:
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God's Kingdom comes
Must enter by that door.
My knowledge of that life is small.
The eye of faith is dim.
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all
And I shall be with him.
* * *
William Sloane Coffin, former minister of New York City's Riverside Church, told of an Easter sunrise service held annually on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Although environmental concerns have led to the end of this practice, it used to be that as the gospel account of the angel rolling away the stone was read someone pushed a massive boulder over the canyon's edge. The congregation watched -- and heard -- it crash mightily into the depths.
"Too dramatic?" asked Coffin. "No," he replied, "the gospel message itself demands such drama."
* * *
Our true life is not this external, material life that passes before our eyes here on earth, but the inner life of our spirit, for which the visible life serves only as a scaffolding -- a necessary aid to our spiritual growth.
Seeing before us an enormously high and elaborately constructed scaffolding, while the building itself only just shows above its foundations, we are apt to make the mistake of attaching more importance to the scaffolding than to the building for whose sake the former has been temporarily put up.
We must remind ourselves and one another that the scaffolding has no meaning and importance except to render possible the erection of the building itself.
-- Leo Tolstoy
* * *
One can view a bridge in a number of ways. An engineer would study its physical properties: how it is put together, what materials it's constructed from, and the stresses it must bear on a daily basis. A historian would be interested to know who built it and how it has been updated and maintained. An artist would examine it from the standpoint how best to paint or photograph it. A traveler would consider it geographically -- whether it leads to a place worth visiting.
Similarly, the resurrection accounts of the New Testament can be viewed many ways. Yet only one aspect is of any real importance to us personally -- whether it will bear our weight when we walk over it. The only way to determine this is to try it. The truth of Jesus' resurrection has borne the weight of many a believer in generations past. This bridge is strong enough to carry us too.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give thanks to God, for God is good.
People: God's steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: God is our strength and our might.
People: God has become our salvation!
Leader: This day God has acted.
People: Let us rejoice in God's good work!
OR
Leader: Come and hear the good news!
People: What news is good today?
Leader: God has raised Jesus to new life.
People: That certainly is good news for Jesus.
Leader: It is good news for us. Hope has been raised anew.
People: We could us some good news and some hope.
Leader: Nothing is going to defeat the love and purpose of God.
People: Thanks be to God! Jesus and hope are alive forever!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"Hymn of Promise"
found in:
UMH: 707
NCH: 433
CH: 638
"My Hope Is Built"
found in:
UMH: 368
PH: 379
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293, 294
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
found in:
UMH: 368
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
"O Day of Peace that Dimly Shines"
found in:
UMH: 729
H82: 597
PH: 450
CH: 711
"Sing Unto the Lord a New Song"
found in:
CCB: 16
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life"
CCB: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: 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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who raised Jesus from death and gave the disciples hope once again: Grant that we may find in his resurrection our hope for eternal life now and forever; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to rejoice and to praise you, O God, for the wonder of the resurrection. We praise your Name as you bring Jesus and all your people to new life and new hope. So fill us with the joy of your Spirit that we may spread the good news throughout the land. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of faith which leads us to a life without hope.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to look to you for hope. We have been overwhelmed by the negative all around us. Without the hope that is grounded in you we have had nothing to share with the world. Forgive us, and renew us in the good news of Easter, that we may find our hope renewed so we may share it with all the world. Amen.
Leader: God comes to bring life, joy, and hope to all creation. God comes to claim us and renew us, that we may be signs of hope for others. Rejoice in God's love and grace for you and for all creation.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for the wonder of your power. You created all that is, and when we rejected your life within us, you came to renew and restore us.
(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 have failed to look to you for hope. We have been overwhelmed by the negative all around us. Without the hope that is grounded in you we have had nothing to share with the world. Forgive us, and renew us in the good news of Easter, that we may find our hope renewed so we may share it with all the world.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you express your love for us. We thank you for the beauty of the world and the joy of sharing love with one another. We thank you for hope and lives that have found new joy and fulfillment in your grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need, and for all people anywhere who have lost hope. As you move among your children bringing new life, grant that we may be your joyful people sharing the good news of hope that is grounded in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
all of the traditional Easter symbols of new life and hope: cocoons and butterflies; eggs and chicks; the empty tomb
Children's Sermon Starter
The caterpillar going into a cocoon and then emerging as a butterfly is not only a good visual for Easter in general, but a good way to talk about hope. Hope exists even when it doesn't look like there is any reason to hope, because God's love is everlasting. Remind the children that the caterpillar doesn't actually die, it just looks like it -- while Jesus really did die. We don't understand how the change takes place to make a caterpillar, and we don't know how God raised Jesus, but for those of us outside the cocoon and outside the tomb, we know that what looks like no hope can be hope in God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Spread the News!
John 20:1-18
Objects: a newspaper and a Bible
Good morning, boys and girls! Today's Bible reading is taken from the gospel of John. The word "gospel" means "good news." Let's see if we can find out why the story of Jesus is called good news. See this newspaper? This is how a lot of people hear important news these days. We also get our news from television, the computer, the radio, and magazines, but one of the quickest ways to find out something is to have someone tell you face-to-face.
On Easter morning, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She wanted to see where they had put his body. When she got there she found out that he was gone. At first she thought that someone had stolen his body, but then she found out what had really happened. Jesus had risen from the dead! Mary was so excited that she ran off to tell the disciples as fast as she could. She couldn't keep it to herself; she had to tell everyone the good news.
The good news that Mary told is still good news for us today. (hold up the Bible) The Bible is one of the ways that this good news has spread to people all over the world. People have also used music, art, dance, and words to share the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Why is this story good news? It's because Jesus' love for us is stronger than death. Even death couldn't stop Jesus -- his love is more powerful than anything in the world. The story of Jesus is the greatest news the world has ever heard.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus. Thank you for giving us a love that is stronger than anything else in the whole world. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 4, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 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.
An Anti-Easter World
by Mary Austin
Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18
We live in an anti-Easter world.
Easter's astounding good news falls into a cacophony of bad tidings, and the bad news seems more powerful than any message of hope. The headlines scream of pain and disaster, and the stories of our families and friends reveal foreclosures, job losses, health worries, and more. Our one day of Easter seems like small consolation in a world gripped by disaster and distress.
Can Easter be just our private celebration as Christians, a day off from bad news before we go back to the real world? Is the resurrection as unrelated to reality as marshmallow bunnies, or as flimsy as decorated eggs? Is it all just a pleasant fantasy we hold as people of faith -- a day off from reality? Nice music at church, a lovely dinner with friends and family, in some traditions a new hat -- and then back to reality on Monday?
THE WORLD
The New York Times reports that the number of people sleeping on the streets of New York is up by over 305 this year, and the number of people living in homeless shelters is at an all-time high. Almost 38,000 people live in the city's shelters, the size of many small towns. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/nyregion/22homeless.html)
The debates in Congress over health care reform reveal not just partisan divides (nothing new in Washington), but also a deep lack of respect as members of Congress shout things like "baby killer" and "liar." On the way to the final vote, members of Congress reported citizens spitting on them and shouting racial and homophobic slurs.
In the wake of January's earthquake in Haiti, an estimated one third of the population remains homeless. Women and children face a dramatically increased threat of rape in the refugee camps, according to Human Rights Watch, reported by CBS News and other news outlets. Camp medical personnel treating children report a two-year-old with gonorrhea after a rape, and women and children who have lost fathers, husbands, brothers, and other protectors are at risk in the camps with flimsy shelters, communal toilets, and dim lighting. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/17/world/main6306562.shtml)
A new massacre in the Congo has claimed more lives, and Israel and Palestine continue to be at odds about new housing for settlers and the role of Jerusalem in both nations' lives. Suicide bombers have come to the Russian subway, and no place seems entirely safe.
The worse the world is, the more removed Easter seems from reality. The anti-Easter news seems stronger and more real than an empty tomb many centuries removed.
THE WORD
John's gospel gives us the familiar and powerful story of Mary Magdalene, and the drama of the resurrection unfolding for her, and then for the other followers of Jesus. Luke has the women arriving at the tomb, preparing for a burial and finding cause for celebration.
The same happens for us on Easter. We can be preparing for the worst, believing the worst, accepting the worst about our own world, and Easter summons us to find cause for celebration. Easter is alive in our world, not so much in spite of the disconnection between God and humanity, but because of it. Because God understands pain and fear, loss and anguish, this is the world where Jesus lived and died and rose again, holding up another reality next to the one that seems so powerful. We live with twin truths -- the world holds sorrow and pain, evil and violence, and yet this is also the world in which God is alive.
Both Luke's and John's versions of the Easter story remind us again that Easter is not our private holiday, but demands to be shared. Both include a strong call to share the story. This good news is not meant to be hoarded as a private treasure, but to be shared. It's not meant to belong to a fortunate few -- those who see are impelled to pass the good news along.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The sermon might begin with the acknowledgment that the world looks bleak to our eyes, and that it doesn't seem like Easter has much to say to the reality of foreclosures and financial stress, to the actuality of political unrest abroad and mistrust at home. With the struggles in people's lives, we face a danger of disconnecting Easter from their lives if we don't recognize all of the anti-Easter forces at work for all of us.
Yet the first Easter also came into a world of brutality and suffering, and every Easter since has done the same. The horror of the cross is not separate from Easter, but an integral part of it. Easter is the most powerful statement we know that God has not given up on the world, but chooses to be alive here in power and presence among us. Easter is the healing of the divide between us and God, the answer to all that is anti-anything. Easter is the good news that cannot be contained. When we live it and share it, the risen Christ is alive in us and in our world.
Easter is more than a private, happy day for Christians, a celebration for those in the know, and a respite from the reality around us. Easter is God's reality, alive in our midst and demanding to be shared.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Dean Feldmeyer
More Americans own and carry concealed guns than ever before in the history of our country, including the time of the western frontier. Our society is divided between the armed and the unarmed. And those who wish to expand this "right" to carry guns of any kind wherever they wish tend to base their argument on the claim that our society is already divided between law-abiders and law-breakers. Law-abiders, they say, had better arm themselves against the law-breakers.
In the Holy Land the divisions have in recent weeks become more clearly drawn as Israel announced plans to allow more homes to be built in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians had hoped to make their capital city when they are finally allowed to have a homeland of their own. A wall -- an actual, physical structure -- continues to be built, dividing Israelis from Palestinians and Arabs.
The Pope is finding himself to be the leader of a church that is, every day, more divided. Revelations of the sexual abuse of deaf children in Milwaukee and abuses at virtually all levels of the church in Ireland and Germany are threatening his legacy. Allegations that he knew about them when he was a cardinal and did not act, and pro forma apologies are daily riving the Roman Catholic church.
Screaming, name-calling, swearing, and attempts at intimidation have become commonplace on the floors of both houses of Congress. Radio and cable television programs feed the anger and hysteria that leads to vandalism and threats of violence. All of this is because we disagree about how to address the rising costs of health care. Pundits point out that attempts to find bipartisanship have failed. As a nation, we are as divided as we have ever been -- perhaps more so.
But what can you do? Division and estrangement are part of the human condition, right? We might as well get used to it. Give in to the separation. Accept the disconnect; embrace the divide. It is, we are told, as inevitable as, well, death -- that great and final act of separation that eventually takes us all.
It would be easy to just cave in and accept that estrangement has won the day.
Except for that pesky Easter thing.
For Christians, Easter repudiates the inevitability and finality of estrangement. If death, that great dark separator of humans from life and each other can be overcome, than so can every other form of division and separation.
Easter's greatest message is one of hope not just for the dead and the dying, but for the living as well.
That which was dead -- dead hope, dead dreams, dead relationships -- can live again. Separation can be bridged. People really can join hands across their differences and work and live together. Reunion, reunification, reconciliation really are possible.
Praise the Lord! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
ILLUSTRATIONS
In his recent Entertainment Weekly review of the movie Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20348226,00.html), Owen Gleiberman outlined the progression of films derived from Lewis Carroll's book published in 1865. The book functions on multiple levels, with adults seeing the characters as representative of society's aristocracy while children just enjoy a fantasy story. Sadly, the movies over the years have missed the nuance of Carroll's message, focusing instead on the entertainment value of his story.
According to Gleiberman, the current movie is the most misplaced of all the previous films. The most noticeable difference is in Alice, who is no longer a "spunky girl" but now a 19-year-old artless young woman. Gleiberman says that "wherever Alice goes, she never displays the slightest hint of curiosity." With this being the seeming norm for all the characters, Gleiberman concludes his review of the movie with this question: "By the end you're asking, 'Where's the wonder?' "
We must ask ourselves which Easter story are we going to tell this day. Will our story emphasize the theatrics of the day, full of emotion and pathos as we reflect on the dramatic actions of the central characters involved; or will the awesome message of the resurrection and salvation take center stage for us? Will we leave our congregations spellbound by the thunderous message of the resurrection, or will we have them depart the sanctuary asking of the Easter story, "Where's the wonder?"
* * *
Who of us would not like to live in heaven? Right here... right now... on earth. Well, it is possible if you have the money of Tom Hanks, John Reilly, Jonah Hill, and others of the Hollywood elite who can afford the services of Jane Hallworth. A recent Los Angeles Times Magazine piece titled "Heaven on Wheels" (http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/02/heaven-on-wheels.html) details how Hallworth provides "luxury trailers" on movie sets for the sophisticated tastes of those who have stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It began a decade ago when Drew Barrymore asked for an upscale mobile dwelling. Hallworth, an interior designer, accepted the opportunity and the challenge. She purchased on eBay a 1955 Spartan Aircraft Imperial Mansion All-Aluminum Trailercoach. What it lacked in size, she made up for in amenities. The caravan sports trailer was transformed into a place of elegance with rosewood walls, sleek modern hardware, a deep soaking bathtub fashioned from a 1940s stainless-steel commercial sink, and a full Miele kitchen. Hallworth said about remodeling the trailer: "My point of reference was Aristotle Onassis' yacht, the Christina O. I wanted this trailer to be completely shipshape -- a real jewel box. She's not the biggest one out there, just the most refined."
Hallworth named the trailer Bobby Dazzler, in honor of her father Robert. The name also reflected an expression used in northern England for a jaunty, fancifully dressed person. But the article's writer calls it "Heaven on Wheels" for those on location who choose to repose in it.
Seek heaven, but be cautious where you look. Heaven is not to be found in a jewel box of a camper, as exquisite as that may be; for heaven is a spiritual state that will only be found when we dwell in the House of the Lord.
* * *
Supersize Jesus. Why not? Everything else is being supersized these days -- at least that's the conclusion of Brian Wansink, a food behavioral scientist at Cornell University. The only food that the Bible speaks of as being at the Last Supper is bread and wine. But in paintings through the years, Wansink discovered, other foods such as fish, eel, lamb, and pork have been added to the table. But what is most interesting according to Wansink is how the portions have grown. Using a computer to analyze 52 paintings, Wansink reported that between the years 1000 and 2000 the size of the main dish grew 69%, the size of the plate increased by 66%, and the bread increased in size by 23%. Wansink concluded that supersizing may be considered a modern phenomenon, but from the paintings of the Last Supper "what we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_last_supper_obesity)
It must be asked if the supersized Jesus has been made to fit our culture, rather than us confining ourselves to his original image. Do we paint Jesus as we would like him to be seen, rather than how he should be seen? Have we taken the liberty to make Jesus conform to our oversized lifestyle, instead of accepting the discipline required to emulate his lifestyle? It must be asked this Easter which Jesus are we going to follow. Are we going to follow the Jesus of our own making, or the Jesus proclaimed by those who gathered in the sparseness of the Upper Room?
* * *
The 94-year-old brand of Keds has begun a new advertising campaign promoting the slogan, "the original sneaker." The word "sneaker" comes from the fact that the soft-sole shoe allows you to sneak up on family and friends. The president of Keds, Kristin Kohler Burrows, said the focus of the campaign is this: "Our target consumers in attitude and personality are 24-year-old millennials who are attracted to creativity, a belief that they can make a difference in the world, openness, and multiculturalism. We have deep roots and history, and the challenge is to make that relevant to consumers today rather than just be a retro brand." Thus the proclamation by Keds that it is "the original sneaker," dating back to 1916. This would be good, if it were only true -- which it is not.
Grant Barrett, a lexicographer who has a syndicated radio show "A Way With Words," discovered that Keds is not the original sneaker. One proof is an 1887 article in the New York Times that reported, "It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes -- sneakers." Confronted by this information, Keds went to the company archives and found their earliest reference to the use of the word sneaker was in 1922. Unwilling to change the thrust of the campaign, Keds.com now reads: "In 1916 we started a footwear revolution when we created the first sneaker."
Analyst Marshal Cohen, who follows advertising trends, made the following observation on the Keds campaign: "There is a significant segment of the population today that will go out and challenge any statement. With the reach of social media, the minute an ad campaign is challenged or can't be substantiated, social media is going to spread that wildfire. Before you make a statement, you have to be sure you can justify it and live up to it." (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/media/22adco.html)
As Christians we have a statement to make on Easter day. It is the message that the tomb is empty, and our slogan is "He Is Risen." The social media may want to challenge us, but unlike Keds, our facts are not confused and our message is true. We do not have to adapt or fabricate or skew our message to attract the millennials or any other social group. We do have the original message, and it dates back 2,000 years. Now that is an ad campaign!
* * *
In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl recalls that it was not the strongest or even the best fed in the concentration camps who were most likely to survive. Rather, it was those that found meaning in their existence even in the worst of circumstances. In other words, they had hope. They might not survive the camp -- but they had hope that they could make meaning of their day, that day in that place.
* * *
During the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile we saw the strength of hope. In the midst of overwhelming devastation where it would appear that no one could have survived, loved ones came in hope to search for their loved ones. And, miracle of miracles, they would sometimes find one still alive who was also hoping for the miracle of being found.
* * *
How many times has the mother of someone who has been convicted of the most heinous of crimes been heard to say, "But he's a good boy"? For mothers there seems to be no end to the hope they have for their offspring, regardless of the facts.
* * *
With 20 centuries of historical hindsight, we have grown comfortable with the idea of Jesus' resurrection -- but as Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, reminds us in his 2004 Easter sermon (http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/000556.html), it would have seemed a strange idea indeed to first-century ears:
A good few years ago, I heard a distinguished American scholar of ancient history commenting on the proclamation of the resurrection as it would have been heard in the classical world. "If an educated Greek or Roman had been told that someone had been raised from the dead," he said, "his first question would have been, 'How do you get him back into his grave again?' " The point was that most of those who first heard the Easter gospel would have found it grotesque or even frightening.
Resurrection was not a joyful sign of hope but an alarming oddity, something potentially very dangerous. The dead, if they survived at all, lived in their own world -- a shadowy place, where they were condemned to a sort of half-life of yearning and sadness. So Virgil at least represents it in his great epic, unforgettably portraying the dead as "stretching out their hands in longing for the other side of the river."
But for them to return would have been terrifying and unnatural; the boundaries between worlds had to be preserved and protected.
Even the ancient Hebrews, who first made resurrection a positive idea, thought of the condition of the dead in just such a way: and resurrection was something that would happen at the end of time, when the good would be raised to receive their reward and the wicked their punishment, as in the prophecy of Daniel. But the news that someone had been raised from the tomb now would have been as disturbing for the Jew as for the Greek, if not perhaps quite so straightforwardly frightening.
* * *
Back in the seventeenth century, the English Protestant divine Richard Baxter wrote a hymn expressing his heartfelt desire to rely on the risen Christ, and him alone, for salvation. The melody of his hymn is all but lost to the church's memory, but his words live on:
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God's Kingdom comes
Must enter by that door.
My knowledge of that life is small.
The eye of faith is dim.
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all
And I shall be with him.
* * *
William Sloane Coffin, former minister of New York City's Riverside Church, told of an Easter sunrise service held annually on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Although environmental concerns have led to the end of this practice, it used to be that as the gospel account of the angel rolling away the stone was read someone pushed a massive boulder over the canyon's edge. The congregation watched -- and heard -- it crash mightily into the depths.
"Too dramatic?" asked Coffin. "No," he replied, "the gospel message itself demands such drama."
* * *
Our true life is not this external, material life that passes before our eyes here on earth, but the inner life of our spirit, for which the visible life serves only as a scaffolding -- a necessary aid to our spiritual growth.
Seeing before us an enormously high and elaborately constructed scaffolding, while the building itself only just shows above its foundations, we are apt to make the mistake of attaching more importance to the scaffolding than to the building for whose sake the former has been temporarily put up.
We must remind ourselves and one another that the scaffolding has no meaning and importance except to render possible the erection of the building itself.
-- Leo Tolstoy
* * *
One can view a bridge in a number of ways. An engineer would study its physical properties: how it is put together, what materials it's constructed from, and the stresses it must bear on a daily basis. A historian would be interested to know who built it and how it has been updated and maintained. An artist would examine it from the standpoint how best to paint or photograph it. A traveler would consider it geographically -- whether it leads to a place worth visiting.
Similarly, the resurrection accounts of the New Testament can be viewed many ways. Yet only one aspect is of any real importance to us personally -- whether it will bear our weight when we walk over it. The only way to determine this is to try it. The truth of Jesus' resurrection has borne the weight of many a believer in generations past. This bridge is strong enough to carry us too.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give thanks to God, for God is good.
People: God's steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: God is our strength and our might.
People: God has become our salvation!
Leader: This day God has acted.
People: Let us rejoice in God's good work!
OR
Leader: Come and hear the good news!
People: What news is good today?
Leader: God has raised Jesus to new life.
People: That certainly is good news for Jesus.
Leader: It is good news for us. Hope has been raised anew.
People: We could us some good news and some hope.
Leader: Nothing is going to defeat the love and purpose of God.
People: Thanks be to God! Jesus and hope are alive forever!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"Hymn of Promise"
found in:
UMH: 707
NCH: 433
CH: 638
"My Hope Is Built"
found in:
UMH: 368
PH: 379
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293, 294
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
found in:
UMH: 368
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
"O Day of Peace that Dimly Shines"
found in:
UMH: 729
H82: 597
PH: 450
CH: 711
"Sing Unto the Lord a New Song"
found in:
CCB: 16
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life"
CCB: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: 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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who raised Jesus from death and gave the disciples hope once again: Grant that we may find in his resurrection our hope for eternal life now and forever; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to rejoice and to praise you, O God, for the wonder of the resurrection. We praise your Name as you bring Jesus and all your people to new life and new hope. So fill us with the joy of your Spirit that we may spread the good news throughout the land. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of faith which leads us to a life without hope.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to look to you for hope. We have been overwhelmed by the negative all around us. Without the hope that is grounded in you we have had nothing to share with the world. Forgive us, and renew us in the good news of Easter, that we may find our hope renewed so we may share it with all the world. Amen.
Leader: God comes to bring life, joy, and hope to all creation. God comes to claim us and renew us, that we may be signs of hope for others. Rejoice in God's love and grace for you and for all creation.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for the wonder of your power. You created all that is, and when we rejected your life within us, you came to renew and restore us.
(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 have failed to look to you for hope. We have been overwhelmed by the negative all around us. Without the hope that is grounded in you we have had nothing to share with the world. Forgive us, and renew us in the good news of Easter, that we may find our hope renewed so we may share it with all the world.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you express your love for us. We thank you for the beauty of the world and the joy of sharing love with one another. We thank you for hope and lives that have found new joy and fulfillment in your grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need, and for all people anywhere who have lost hope. As you move among your children bringing new life, grant that we may be your joyful people sharing the good news of hope that is grounded in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
all of the traditional Easter symbols of new life and hope: cocoons and butterflies; eggs and chicks; the empty tomb
Children's Sermon Starter
The caterpillar going into a cocoon and then emerging as a butterfly is not only a good visual for Easter in general, but a good way to talk about hope. Hope exists even when it doesn't look like there is any reason to hope, because God's love is everlasting. Remind the children that the caterpillar doesn't actually die, it just looks like it -- while Jesus really did die. We don't understand how the change takes place to make a caterpillar, and we don't know how God raised Jesus, but for those of us outside the cocoon and outside the tomb, we know that what looks like no hope can be hope in God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Spread the News!
John 20:1-18
Objects: a newspaper and a Bible
Good morning, boys and girls! Today's Bible reading is taken from the gospel of John. The word "gospel" means "good news." Let's see if we can find out why the story of Jesus is called good news. See this newspaper? This is how a lot of people hear important news these days. We also get our news from television, the computer, the radio, and magazines, but one of the quickest ways to find out something is to have someone tell you face-to-face.
On Easter morning, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She wanted to see where they had put his body. When she got there she found out that he was gone. At first she thought that someone had stolen his body, but then she found out what had really happened. Jesus had risen from the dead! Mary was so excited that she ran off to tell the disciples as fast as she could. She couldn't keep it to herself; she had to tell everyone the good news.
The good news that Mary told is still good news for us today. (hold up the Bible) The Bible is one of the ways that this good news has spread to people all over the world. People have also used music, art, dance, and words to share the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Why is this story good news? It's because Jesus' love for us is stronger than death. Even death couldn't stop Jesus -- his love is more powerful than anything in the world. The story of Jesus is the greatest news the world has ever heard.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus. Thank you for giving us a love that is stronger than anything else in the whole world. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, April 4, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 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.
