Year A
Jeremiah 31:1-6
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Acts 10:34-43
John 20:1-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spoke some last evening about being reminded that the stories which have come down to us\u2026 stories which remind us that we are freed from all that enslaves us\u2026 and I want to say something more this morning\u2026 about the faith which frees us from the slavery of death…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There used to be a time\u2026 when a handshake was all it took to seal the deal\u2026 when trust came from being known by name\u2026 these days\u2026 handshakes have given way to contracts\u2026 which themselves are broken too often and too easily\u2026 we have become somewhat cynical about taking things on faith\u2026 but still\u2026 there are times when faith is all we have\u2026 even when what we experience just doesn’t make any sense at all\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the movie Contact\u2026 Jodie Foster plays Dr. Elizabeth Arroway\u2026 a scientist who’s not much of a believer\u2026 and she’s involved in what is in the movie\u2026 an actual\u2026 real-life program called SETI\u2026 the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence\u2026 in this case\u2026 by scanning for alien radio transmissions\u2026 well\u2026 cutting to the chase\u2026 a machine in built\u2026 and she travels through wormholes\u2026 well at least one\u2026 she’s been outfitted with the most sophisticated recording equipment that’s available… to make sure\u2026 to make certain\u2026 that every moment of her encounter is documented\u2026 and she meets with an alien from a technologically advanced and ancient civilization\u2026 who appears to her in the image of her beloved father\u2026 but although she was gone for eighteen hours\u2026 from everyone’s perspective at Mission Control\u2026 she appears to have been gone for no time at all\u2026 and to have gone nowhere\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples\u2026 I have seen the Lord<\/em>\u2026 and she tells them what he had said to her\u2026 Dr. Arroway testifies before Congress\u2026 and the story she tells seems implausible\u2026 impossible\u2026 and she has no proof of it\u2026 and as her story unfolds\u2026 she’s made out to be a delusional woman\u2026 orphaned young\u2026 under a great deal of stress\u2026 part of a failed project she’s staked her life and her self-worth and her very sense-of-identity on\u2026 and she’s accused of creating a fantasy which has reunited her with her Father in Heaven\u2026 as it were\u2026 she’s asked how she can present a story that for all appearances\u2026 strains credibility\u2026 she’s asked if she expects everyone sitting there to simply accept her story on faith\u2026 and she says\u2026 what we might imagine Mary Magdalene to have said\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had… an experience. I can’t prove it. I can’t even explain it. All I can tell you is that everything I know as a human being, everything I am \u2014 tells me that it was real. I was given something wonderful. Something that changed me. A vision of the universe that made it overwhelmingly clear just how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something greater than ourselves. That we’re not \u2014 that none of us \u2014 is alone. I wish I could share it. I wish everyone, if only for a moment \u2014 could feel that sense of awe, and humility, and hope.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I said last evening\u2026 the stone wasn’t moved so Jesus could get out\u2026 but so that those who came could see in or get in\u2026 but the disciple whom Jesus loved had this kind of unshakable faith\u2026 and when he looked in… and when Peter went in\u2026 all they saw were the linen wrappings and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head\u2026 there were no angels\u2026 or angelic pronouncements for them\u2026 no inquiry about why they’d come\u2026 and although the passage says nothing about what Peter thought or felt\u2026 we’re told that the other disciple saw and believed\u2026 he could have let his senses and his head convince his heart that he had no evidence for the conclusion he drew\u2026 that he was just imagining what he saw\u2026 or didn’t see\u2026 he could have allowed the authoritative voices of his time question his credibility and sanity\u2026 but he believed because he already believed\u2026 he believed in his prior experiences with Jesus\u2026 he believed in the relationship he had with him\u2026 and he trusted his experience\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the alien being called Dr. Arroway by her nickname \u2013\u2013 Sparks \u2013\u2013 she knew that she was known\u2026 and when Jesus called Mary by name \u2013\u2013 when he used Name to re-establish community \u2013\u2013 she was known… and she recognized him as Lord\u2026 something happened that changed these people\u2026 we may not always be able to explain these things to others\u2026 or even to ourselves\u2026 but we know what we know\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n For John\u2026 the writer of today’s Gospel\u2026 everything begins with Logos\u2026 In the beginning was the Word\u2026 and the Word was with God\u2026 and the Word was God<\/em>\u2026 everything begins with the Word and his relationship with God and the Holy Spirit\u2026 and although the church celebrates Easter through the lens of resurrection appearances\u2026 for John\u2026 there’s another way of marking Jesus’ victory on the cross\u2026 the Good News that Jesus commands Mary to proclaim is not that he is risen\u2026 but that he is ascending to God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cross brings the incarnation to a close\u2026 but the story of the Logos finds its conclusion in Jesus’ return to God\u2026 which completes his descent from Heaven\u2026 and this return makes new life possible for the believing community\u2026 because Jesus has turned resurrection from a historical event\u2026 into an eternal state of being\u2026 that\u2019s available to us in each and every moment\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Resurrection is about more than just life after death\u2026 it’s about a new kind of life that starts here and now\u2026 and about a new way of being in the world and with God\u2026 the assurance of hope in every new beginning\u2026 because in the beginning\u2026 the fabric of creation was woven with the threads of redemption\u2026 ] because in the beginning\u2026 the fabric of creation was woven with the threads of new life\u2026 because since the beginning\u2026 we’ve been surrounded on every side by the persistence of life\u2026 every moment is a new beginning\u2026 all creation shouts for joy every time we choose that which God blesses… and what God can’t bless\u2026 God redeems\u2026 over and over again\u2026 until there’ll be no need to redeem… but only to bless\u2026 and for that\u2026 and so much more\u2026 we say\u2026 Alleluia\u2026 Happy Easter\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Jeremiah 31:1-6 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Acts 10:34-43 John 20:1-18 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 I spoke some last evening about being reminded that the stories which have come down to us\u2026 stories which remind us that we are freed from all that enslaves us\u2026 and I want to say something more this morning\u2026 about the faith which frees us from the slavery of death… There used to be a time\u2026 when a handshake was all it took to seal the deal\u2026 when trust came from being known by name\u2026 these days\u2026 handshakes have given way to contracts\u2026 which themselves are broken too often and too easily\u2026 we have become somewhat cynical about taking things on faith\u2026 but still\u2026 there are times when faith is all we have\u2026 even when what we experience just doesn’t make any sense at all\u2026 In the movie Contact\u2026 Jodie Foster plays Dr. Elizabeth Arroway\u2026 a scientist who’s not much of a believer\u2026 and she’s involved in what is in the movie\u2026 an actual\u2026 real-life program called SETI\u2026 the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence\u2026 in this case\u2026 by scanning for alien radio transmissions\u2026 well\u2026 cutting to the chase\u2026 a machine in built\u2026 and she travels through wormholes\u2026 well at least one\u2026 she’s been outfitted with the most sophisticated recording equipment that’s available… to make sure\u2026 to make certain\u2026 that every moment of her encounter is documented\u2026 and she meets with an alien from a technologically advanced and ancient civilization\u2026 who appears to her in the image of her beloved father\u2026 but although she was gone for eighteen hours\u2026 from everyone’s perspective at Mission Control\u2026 she appears to have been gone for no time at all\u2026 and to have gone nowhere\u2026 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples\u2026 I have seen the Lord\u2026 and she tells them what he had said to her\u2026 Dr. Arroway testifies before Congress\u2026 and the story she tells seems implausible\u2026 impossible\u2026 and she has no proof of it\u2026 and as her story unfolds\u2026 she’s made out to be a delusional woman\u2026 orphaned young\u2026 under a great deal of stress\u2026 part of a failed project she’s staked her life and her self-worth and her very sense-of-identity on\u2026 and she’s accused of creating a fantasy which has reunited her with her Father in Heaven\u2026 as it were\u2026 she’s asked how she can present a story that for all appearances\u2026 strains credibility\u2026 she’s asked if she expects everyone sitting there to simply accept her story on faith\u2026 and she says\u2026 what we might imagine Mary Magdalene to have said\u2026 I had… an experience. I can’t prove it. I can’t even explain it. All I can tell you is that everything I know as a human being, everything I am \u2014 tells me that it was real. I was given something wonderful. Something that changed me. A vision of the universe that made it overwhelmingly clear just how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something greater than ourselves. That we’re not \u2014 that none of us \u2014 is alone. I wish I could share it. I wish everyone, if only for a moment \u2014 could feel that sense of awe, and humility, and hope. As I said last evening\u2026 the stone wasn’t moved so Jesus could get out\u2026 but so that those who came could see in or get in\u2026 but the disciple whom Jesus loved had this kind of unshakable faith\u2026 and when he looked in… and when Peter went in\u2026 all they saw were the linen wrappings and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head\u2026 there were no angels\u2026 or angelic pronouncements for them\u2026 no inquiry about why they’d come\u2026 and although the passage says nothing about what Peter thought or felt\u2026 we’re told that the other disciple saw and believed\u2026 he could have let his senses and his head convince his heart that he had no evidence for the conclusion he drew\u2026 that he was just imagining what he saw\u2026 or didn’t see\u2026 he could have allowed the authoritative voices of his time question his credibility and sanity\u2026 but he believed because he already believed\u2026 he believed in his prior experiences with Jesus\u2026 he believed in the relationship he had with him\u2026 and he trusted his experience\u2026 When the alien being called Dr. Arroway by her nickname \u2013\u2013 Sparks \u2013\u2013 she knew that she was known\u2026 and when Jesus called Mary by name \u2013\u2013 when he used Name to re-establish community \u2013\u2013 she was known… and she recognized him as Lord\u2026 something happened that changed these people\u2026 we may not always be able to explain these things to others\u2026 or even to ourselves\u2026 but we know what we know\u2026 For John\u2026 the writer of today’s Gospel\u2026 everything begins with Logos\u2026 In the beginning was the Word\u2026 and the Word was with God\u2026 and the Word was God\u2026 everything begins with the Word and his relationship with God and the Holy Spirit\u2026 and although the church celebrates Easter through the lens of resurrection appearances\u2026 for John\u2026 there’s another way of marking Jesus’ victory on the cross\u2026 the Good News that Jesus commands Mary to proclaim is not that he is risen\u2026 but that he is ascending to God\u2026 The cross brings the incarnation to a close\u2026 but the story of the Logos finds its conclusion in Jesus’ return to God\u2026 which completes his descent from Heaven\u2026 and this return makes new life possible for the believing community\u2026 because Jesus has turned resurrection from a historical event\u2026 into an eternal state of being\u2026 that\u2019s available to us in each and every moment\u2026 Resurrection is about more than just life after death\u2026 it’s about a new kind of life that starts here and now\u2026 and about a new way of being in the world and with God\u2026 the assurance of hope in every new beginning\u2026 because in the beginning\u2026 the fabric of creation was woven with the threads of redemption\u2026 ] because in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[110,161,18,111],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-easter","tag-faith","tag-new-life","tag-resurrection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Ressurectionresized.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2030,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}