Expecting Resurrection

Last week, I wrote about Abram and Sarai (renamed Abraham and Sarah) who laughed when the angel told them they would have a son and be the beginning of a multitude.  

In his study, Harnish says that when the women went to the tomb to care for Jesus' body, they didn't expect to find a resurrection. They never thought to see a risen Christ. They only worried about the stone, and how to roll it away.

Again, we are on this side of the story, and we know what happened, so our surprise when (in Mark 16) they see a man in a white robe sitting on a rock, and no corpse in site, is dulled.  We aren't surprised.  We aren't shocked.  They are, but we miss it, because God isn't surprising us.

Has our lack of anticipation dulled us to the presence of God in lives? Where is God working? Do we see it? We we believe we will ever see it? Is it something reserved only for the women who come to the tomb? Or do we ever open our eyes to the possibility of resurrection in our every day lives?

Worship in a Synagogue

In December of last year, there was a fire in the Sanctuary of our church.  Luckily, the fire was detected quickly and extinguished, but it did cause some damage to one side of the church.

The damage was limited enough that we can still use the building (not the Sanctuary), but construction started the Monday before Easter to repair the worship space.

As with most church, our attendance increases on Easter, so the alternative spaces we've been using in the building weren't going to be large enough.  The decision was made to accept the offer from B'nai Sholom Synagogue to meet in their facility on Easter Sunday.

It is a beautiful space, and it was worship inhabited by God. A few comments:

1. This is hospitality, when a congregation of another faith, one that doesn't believe in the resurrection of Jesus, offers to house your worship celebration.  It is radical, and it is what the God both congregations worship tells us we should do.
2. This is evidence that "church" has nothing to do with the building.  The "church" is wherever the people are gathered.  I hope we learn that.
3. I hope this is a door to greater community between us and the B'nai Sholom congregation.  

Over 80 years ago, our church had a fire that destroyed everything except the outer shell of the building.  The congregation then met for 2 years at the Synagogue, so this Easter, there was a sense of home in a different place.  The church is the people.

Too Hard to Believe

Adam Hamilton wrote in his book 24 Hours that Changed the World, that Easter is both the most powerful and most challenging Sunday on which to preach each year.  I thought that was an interesting statement.  He says it is "challenging precisely because the events we celebrate are difficult to believe."  Think about that for a moment.

For those of us who grew up in the faith, it is easier to accept that Christ was raised from the dead.  It's an amazing thought, but we grew up believing it. Dare I say we take it for granted?  If not that, then at least we don't have to convince ourselves of it - we already believe.  The mission of Adam Hamilton's church is to reach the unchurched.  Imagine for a moment that you never believed any of of it.  I think it would be a challenge to convince you of the truth.

Hamilton goes on to say that scholars sometimes try to explain it away.  They use explanations such as: he wasn't really dead, or the tomb wasn't really empty.

I don't think we routinely do that, but I do wonder if we do something that is related.  Are we so entrenched in the faith that we forget what it means? When the disciples saw that Christ has risen, and when they encountered him after the resurrection, their lives were changed.  Before, even though they knew what was going to happen, I don't think they really believed it.  Even though Christ was with them, alive, before his death, it was after his death that their faith was solidified.  Before, they had deserted Christ; now they stood up for their faith, most of them to the point of their own deaths.

Do we allow the resurrection to transform us?  Is it easier for us to recite the Apostles' Creed than it is to live a life as if we believe what we say we believe?

Rejoice

The word for today is rejoice.

It's kind of an odd word for the beginning of Holy Week.  Tulips, symbols of new life, might be an odd picture for the beginning of Holy Week.  I even feel guilty about posting them.

We haven't yet shared the last supper, or witnessed the trials, or overheard the conversation with Herod, or walked the road to Golgotha, or felt the pain of the crucifixion, or the known the loss of Holy Saturday.  Why post tulips?   Why even whisper the word rejoice?

Because we live on this side of Easter, and even the experience of Lent does not separate us from being post-resurrection Christians.  It's a gift to us that no matter how dark it as, how much pain we anticipate, or how many trials are coming our way, we are still children of the resurrection.  Tulips are our flower.  Rejoice is our byword.

God is with us.  Even in the darkness.  Rejoice and anticipate new life.

Easter season

I've heard twice today the idea that Easter is a season, not a Sunday.  While I understand that based on the liturgical calendar, I wonder what that means in practice.

The Easter season -- what does that mean for us?  What happens after the resurrection?  The disciples are locked in a room, fearing life without Jesus.  Thomas, who can't stand it all anymore, leaves.  The Easter season has uncertainty and loneliness.  Do we experience that?

In the Easter season, Peter has to live with his betrayal of Jesus.  He learns about forgiveness on the shore of a lake, over a campfire.  Do we experience that?

In the Easter season, the disciples witness the ascension of Christ.  A miracle.  Do we experience that?

What is part of our Easter season?

Son Rise

Sunrise over the cemetary. The Son rose over death. Happy Easter. Christ the Lord is Risen Today! Amen.