resurrection breaks in: easter 1a

The holy gospel according to Matthew (28:1-10).

After the sabbath,

      as the first day of the week was dawning,

            Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

²And suddenly there was a great earthquake;

      for an angel of God,

            descending from heaven,

                  came and rolled back the stone

                  and sat on it.

      ³The appearance of the angel was like lightning,

            and its clothing bright as snow.

                  ⁴For fear of the angel the guards shook

                        and became as if dead.

         ⁵But the angel said to the women,

            “Do not be afraid;

                  I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

                  ⁶He is not here;

                        for he has been raised, as he said.

                  Come, see the place where he lay.

                        ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples,

                              ‘He has been raised from the dead,

                              and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee;

                                    there you will see him.’

                  This is my message for you.”

⁸So the women left the tomb quickly

      with fear and great joy,

            and ran to tell his disciples.

⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said,

      “Greetings!”

            And they came to him,

                  took hold of his feet,

                        and worshiped him.

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them,

      “Do not be afraid;

            go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee;

                  there they will see me.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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I need to confess that I have not been feeling Easter this year.  I have felt like I’m still in Good Friday, or even Holy Saturday.  Like these women—these Marys—I feel almost numb.  Every time I turn on the news or get online, there is another tragedy.  As I was working on this sermon, the news came out that we had dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat in Afghanistan. 

And it’s not just what our and other governments are doing in other countries.  It’s in our corner of the world too.  Kids are still sick, people we love still die, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could come in and tear this community apart at any time, and domestic violence still haunts our community.

We know that the world both far and near is not how it should be.  And yet we still show up.  Like the brave women, the Marys, who show up at the tomb.  They bring nothing.  In Matthew’s account they don’t bring any spices to anoint the body, or anything at all really.  We don’t hear them worrying about how they’re going to get into the tomb.  They just go, walking numbly along the path to the tomb.  Maybe to sit and stare.  Maybe to sit and cry—if there are any tears left, that is.  Maybe just to not be alone with their grief.

The women show up and God crashes into their sorrow and grief.  God breaks in, literally rocking their world with the resurrection.  The folks guarding the tomb are lost in fear and become “as if dead.”

There is no denying the violence and pain that put Jesus on the cross and then into the tomb.  That violence is just as real today around the world: at the hands of our and other governments, as well as at the hands of individuals, like the pastor in San Bernadino who killed his estranged wife, a child in her class, and himself, and in domestic violence in our own community over the last few years.

Violence is real.  Jesus is still being crucified and in this reality the women come to the tomb.  Mary and Mary, these faithful women caught in despair, show up at the tomb.  They show up because even though they might not have a plan or hope, it is the faithful thing to do.   

The witness of these women—the first witnesses of the resurrection—would have held no legal standing in their time and they have been maligned throughout church history.  Yet these women show up, expecting nothing but a tomb and the bloodied corpse of the one in whom they had placed their hope.  The One they thought would change everything.

But this isn’t the end.  This is where we are with the world right now, and this is where Christ breaks in.  This is where the resurrection shakes the foundations of this world.

Bishop Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land points out that “The powers and principalities of sin and death could not overcome the love of God.  Yes they could crucify Jesus.  Yes, they could bury Jesus.  But they could not bury God’s love for this world.”

THIS is what Easter is. 

The women show up at the tomb, because it is the faithful thing to do and God breaks in.  Into their sorrow and confusion, the angel proclaims the message Christians have greeted each other with for thousands of years as the angel says, “⁶He is not here,” Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed.  Alleluia!

In the face of all the violence: resurrection breaks in!

In the face of sickness, death, and despair: resurrection breaks in!

In the face of broken relationships, lost lives, and hopelessness: resurrection breaks in!

In the face of every single thing that beats us down, discourages us, and gives us every reason not to believe: resurrection breaks in!

Resurrection breaks in no matter what!

The women respond “with fear and great joy” because resurrection breaks in.

These women show up today and throughout history.  Though they are not always named or recognized, women have been showing up forever.  They have known the secret that perhaps we who gather here today know deep in our souls, no matter what else we might think.  The women know: sometimes you just need to show up, even if you don’t want to or even if you don’t know why.

Because resurrection does break in!

And God, after all these years, still breaks into our lives, shaking the very foundations we’ve thought were so solid. 

Resurrection breaks in when executions are stayed, granting life in the face of death.

Resurrection breaks in when Muslims give blood to help Coptic Christians who were victims of violence.

God breaks in in surprising ways that don’t make sense.

Resurrections breaks in and changes us!

Resurrection changes our relationship with Emmanuel,

      who is God-with-us,

      and who is the God of life!

Jesus has vanquished death and the power it holds over this life. 

Despite all of the potential for evil, resurrection breaks in and Love wins.

Despite all of the reasons we might have to despair, despite our human capacity for death, destruction, and hatred, resurrection breaks in and evil doesn’t have the last word. 

Love is still stronger than hatred or fear.

Life still conquers death.

Because: Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

Resurrection breaks into our lives!

Christ resists oppression and overcomes evil!

In the face of all that may come, we can trust that no amount of evil will ever be the final word.  No amount of evil will conquer.

Because life is different

Because resurrection breaks in

Because Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

Jesus' Abundant Life is Dangerous

The first reading is Ezekiel 37:1-14.

The holy gospel according to John (11:1-44).

¹Now a certain man was ill,

      Lazarus of Bethany,

            the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

                  ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume

                  and wiped his feet with her hair;

                        her brother Lazarus was ill.

³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,

      “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

      ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said,

            “This illness does not lead to death;

                  rather it is for God’s glory,

                        so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

      ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

            ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill,

                  he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples,

      “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to him,

      “Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you,

            and are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered,

      “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?

            Those who walk during the day do not stumble,

                  because they see the light of this world.

            ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble,

                  because the light is not in them.”

      ¹¹After saying this, he told them,

            “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,

                  but I am going there to awaken him.”

¹²The disciples said to him,

      “Lord, if he has fallen asleep,

            he will be all right.”

¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,

      but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

            ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly,

                  “Lazarus is dead.

                        ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there,

                              so that you may believe.

                                    But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin,

      said to his fellow disciples,

            “Let us also go,

                  that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived,

      he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,

      some two miles away,

      ¹⁹and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Mary

            to console them about their brother.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,

      she went and met him,

            while Mary stayed at home.

      ²¹Martha said to Jesus,

            “Lord, if you had been here,

                  my brother would not have died.

                        ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God,

                              God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her,

      “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to him,

      “I know that he will rise again

            in the resurrection on the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her,

      “I am the resurrection and the life.

            Those who believe in me,

                  even though they die, will live,

                  ²⁶and everyone who lives

                        and believes in me will never die.

                              Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him,

      “Yes, Lord,

            I believe that you are the Messiah,

                  the Son of God,

                        the one coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this,

      she went back and called her sister Mary,

      and told her privately,

            “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

                  ²⁹And when Mary heard it,

                        she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village,

      but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

      ³¹The Judeans who were with her in the house,

            consoling her,

            saw Mary get up quickly and go out.

                  They followed her

                        because they thought that she was going to the tomb

                              to weep there.

      ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,

            she knelt at his feet and said to him,

                  “Lord, if you had been here,

                        my brother would not have died.”

            ³³When Jesus saw her weeping,

                  and the Judeans who came with her also weeping,

                        he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

            ³⁴He said,

                  “Where have you laid him?”

            They said to him,

                  “Lord, come and see.”

                        ³⁵Jesus began to weep.

                              ³⁶So the Judeans said,

                                    “See how he loved him!”

                              ³⁷But some of them said,

                                    “Could not the one

                                          who opened the eyes of the blind man

                                                have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus,

      again greatly disturbed,

            came to the tomb.

                  It was a cave,

                        and a stone was lying against it.

            ³⁹Jesus said,

                  “Take away the stone.”

            Martha,

                  the sister of the dead man, said to him,

                        “Lord, already there is a stench

                              because he has been dead four days.”

            ⁴⁰Jesus said to her,

                  “Did I not tell you that if you believed,

                        you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone.

      And Jesus looked upward and said,

            “Father, I thank you for having heard me.

                  ⁴²I knew that you always hear me,

                        but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,

                              so that they may believe that you sent me.”

            ⁴³When Jesus had said this,

                  he cried with a loud voice,

                        “Lazarus, come out!”

                  ⁴⁴The dead man came out,

                        his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,

                        and his face wrapped in a cloth.

      Jesus said to them,

            “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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When I started my first call in South Jordan, Utah, I didn’t know anybody anywhere near me.  So, I looked up the Salt Lake City Pride Center as a way of connecting with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community there.  In my search on the website, I discovered the 1 to 5 club, a group for those of us who identified more along the bisexual, transgender, and queer + lines than the lesbian or gay ones.

I still remember the anxiety I had early on there as I came out, not as queer, but as a pastor.  Particularly in the queer community of Utah, I knew my queerness wouldn’t be an issue in the group, but I also knew that the dominant religion in Utah was pretty clearly against lgbtq+ folks.  And here I was both queer and part of a religious institution.  To many people not just in Utah, but throughout this country and even in our town, I remain an anomaly or a contradiction.

I wonder if that’s what Lazarus felt like. 

Coming out of the tomb, he was both dead—as in good and dead—four whole days of dead!  And yet he was alive.  He would eventually die again, but for now he was alive … and smelled awful!  He certainly didn’t fit the mold for an acceptable part of the community.

But Jesus was there, so what else could he expect but to come out of the tomb?

That tomb that had been comfort and tranquility, separation from all of his hardship and heartache.  Yes, it was dark.  Yes, it smelled terrible!  But when you’re dead, I’d guess you don’t really notice those things as much.

Then Jesus gets the folks gathered to move the stone and calls out, “Lazarus, come out!” and as Ezekiel points out, those dry—or perhaps just rotting—bones gain flesh and breath—gain life again.

It would be great if we could say that Jesus brings Lazarus back to life and everybody lives happily ever after, but that just isn’t true.  The smell still hangs on Lazarus, as the strips of cloth used to bind him in his death, trail out of the tomb with him.  And when Lazarus is at this most vulnerable moment, Jesus calls the community into the mess and stress and stink. 

The abundant life that Jesus brings is radical and revolutionary.  It threatens the systems we have in place that govern power and resources.  It threatens, as we renounce in our baptismal rite, “all the forces that defy God” and “the powers of this world that rebel against God.”

And this abundant new life requires something from the whole gathered community.  Jesus doesn’t call Lazarus back into life and leave him to go on his way alone.  Jesus calls him out and then tells the community to “unbind him.”

Abundant life is a community thing.  It’s not always convenient or comfortable, and sometimes it’s downright dangerous.  Touching this one who was dead would challenge the community’s policies around being clean and unclean.  Is Lazarus unclean because he was dead or clean because he’s now alive?  To unbind him, the community has to risk their own separation from religious practice, not to mention dealing with the stench and grime of someone who’s been dead for four days.

Right now, our government’s policies have bound up immigrants and minorities with legitimate fears of immigration raids, deportations, bans, and a wall.  The abundant community that we glimpse each week as we gather in communion means that the comfort and convenience of the relationships we’ve developed is being called to account.   

No matter what, God will love us, but we have the choice as a community of faith to give up some of our comfort and convenience in order to remain faithful not only to the abundant life that Jesus brings, but also to the relationships we’ve been investing in.

The next part of today’s gospel, which we don’t get, is the fallout from Jesus’ encounter with Lazarus at the tomb.

The gospel reads:

⁴⁵Many of the Judeans therefore,

      who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did,

            believed in him.

         ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees

            and told them what he had done. 

            ⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council

                  and said, “What are we to do?

                        This man is performing many signs. 

                        ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this,

                              everyone will believe in him,

                              and the Romans will come and destroy

                                    both our holy place and our nation.”

                  ⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas,

                  who was high priest that year, said to them,

                        “You know nothing at all!

                              ⁵⁰You do not understand

                                    that it is better for you to have one man die for the people

                                          than to have the whole nation destroyed.”

                        ⁵¹He did not say this on his own,

                              but being high priest that year

                                    Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation,

                                    ⁵²and not for the nation only,

                                          but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 

            ⁵³So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

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We will learn more about the fallout next week, especially on Good Friday. 

But what we do know is that abundant life is dangerous.  It threatens our comfort and our convenience.  It threatens the ways of the world so much that people immediately begin plotting to kill Jesus and it will lead Jesus to death on a cross. 

And yet it is profoundly life-giving. 

My relationship with those who became deep friends in Utah would not have been a part of the abundant life Jesus calls us all to if I had not shared not only the part of me that was similar to them, but also the part of me that was potentially contradictory.   

In sharing all of myself and entering into the messy unbinding that comes with our relationships and abundant life, I actually received the gifts of grace and vulnerability from my friends as well, and together we walked with each other in the struggles and triumphs of our queerness and in the struggles and triumphs of our faith.

I will never promise you that abundant life, this life we have through Christ, will be comfortable or convenient. 

I can pretty much guarantee you that when we are most faithful to Jesus it definitely won’t be, especially now, especially in these days. 

But it will be worth it.

Thanks be to God.

God makes the Table every table: 5th after epiphany

The first reading is Isaiah 58:1-12.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (5:13-20)

Jesus said:

¹³“You are the salt of the earth;

       but if salt has lost its taste,

              how can its saltiness be restored?

                     It is no longer good for anything,

                            but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world.

       A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

              ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,

                     but on the lampstand,

                     and it gives light to all in the house.

                            ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others,

                                   so that they may see your good works

                                   and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;

       I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

              ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away,

                     not one letter,

                            not one stroke of a letter,

                                   will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

       ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments,

              and teaches others to do the same,

                     will be called least in the dominion of heaven;

       but whoever does them

              and teaches them

                     will be called great in the dominion of heaven.

       ²⁰For I tell you,

              unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,

                     you will never enter the dominion of heaven.

The gospel of the Lord.

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In today’s readings, we catch a glimpse of Lent on the horizon.  While Lent is still several weeks away, we hear in Isaiah a call to reflect on our own piety.  When we fast, why are we fasting? Today we might ask, when we pray, why are we praying? What do we hope for? When we tithe or give offerings, why do we do it?  Do we hope that God will cure us? Provide for us? Save us? Protect us?  Be at our every beck and call?

Or, following Jesus’ exhortation in the gospel, are we living into Isaiah’s and the gospel of Matthew’s conviction that faith comes with action?  Are we salt for the whole earth?  Are we a city on a hill?  Are with the light of the world?  Are we loosing the bonds of injustice?  Are we praying for the refugees who, like Jesus and the holy family shortly after his birth, are fleeing violence in their own countries?  For the refugees who have been waiting through screening after screening, years of waiting and being vetted, to get into this country. 

Is our prayer, our fast, our offering, our piety “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ⁷…to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

I don’t have to tell you that a lot has been going on in this country lately.  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all that is happening so quickly and so confusingly.  And it can be easy to think of the executive orders and nominations coming out of Washington DC as far away and disconnected to what is going on here in Rushford and Peterson, Minnesota.

But Minnesota is known for and takes pride in its welcome of refugees and immigrants, which means that travel bans harm Minnesotans.

Even if this weren’t the case, in this second part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth; … ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”  As followers of Christ, our concerns are not just for ourselves or our businesses or our immediate circles. 

Salt actually doesn’t taste that good when you eat it by the spoonful—it’s disgusting, really.  Salt is best when it’s sprinkled throughout a dish, bringing out the natural flavor of the other foods in the dish, or spread evenly over ice, to melt it into walkability.  And light shines best when it isn’t hidden or blocked, so that it can reach to the farthest corners.

Perhaps the most poignant of the three, is you are a city on a hill.  Salt and light tend to have inherently positive connotations (as long as we’re not talking about blood pressure), but being a city on a hill is not inherently good.  It comes with its own vulnerabilities.  It is easy to see people approaching, yes, but it also means people can see what’s going on from many different angles—the good examples and the bad ones.

We as Trinity and First and we as individual followers of Christ, are a city on a hill.  This is especially true since we are the only Reconciling in Christ congregation in the area—the only one to explicitly welcome people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.  And we are the ones in relationship with our neighbors who work locally on the farms. 

People notice what we do and say and what we don’t do and don’t say.  When someone makes a disparaging comment about Muslims or immigrants or loving the sinner and hating the sin, do we speak up?  Do we tell them about the immigrants we know?  Sharing our stories of friendship?  Will we invite them to come learn about Islam with us in our My Neighbor Is a Muslim study?  Do we admit when we mess up, apologize, and try to do better?

How do we live into our identity as a city on a hill?  How do we give in to our saltiness and our light?  How does God work through us to bring out the flavors—the uniqueness of those around us?  How does God shine through us so that we can see the ones who are different from us more clearly?  To see them as beloved children of God?  How do we let people see who we are and whose we are in our daily actions and conversations?

Today is a communion Sunday.  In a little bit, we will each receive bread and wine or juice, the body and blood of Christ.  We will receive The Light of the World who makes us lights of the world when he shines through us.

We will receive the Lord’s Supper, God’s enactment of community that does, as Isaiah says, “loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke … share bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into a house; cover [the naked], and not hide from kin” or stranger. 

Communion does this because each person is fed.  Every person has a place at God’s Table.  Every person deserves a place at God’s Table.  Every person deserves a place safe from violence.  Every person deserves justice, freedom from oppression, bread, clothes, shelter, recognition. Because Jesus comes to every person out of immense love.

It is in God’s gathering of our broken bodies—bodies broken by life, by the pain of the world, by sins—our own or others’.                        All the bodies.  God gathers us together and nourishes us and this Table becomes every table.  This Table becomes the tables downstairs where we will share soup, feeding each other and supporting the food shelf, which ensures that everyone has enough to eat.   

And this Table becomes every table we gather around—at home and in the community, whether we’re sharing a meal, holding a business meeting, or gathering to support each other in sobriety. This Table becomes every table, where we ask, “Does everyone have a place? Can everyone make it?  How do we break down the walls that keep some people away?  Can we bring the table to them?” 

God makes this Table every table.  And God makes this city on a hill into a Table in the bluffs where each person shines.

Thanks be to God.