PUMC March 22 2009 R Swenson Text Ephesians reading for the day
While were spiritually dead in our disobedience God brought us to life with Christ.
Hear that.?. Even when we were dead through our trespasses .. God made us alive together with Christ or in Christ..
by grace... you have been saved..
And raised us up.. With him.
.hear that? raised up ..that s resurrection ...language
we are alive ....you are alive..
What does that mean
or more importantly do you believe it ?
do yo believe that you really are alive
Rabbi Edwin Friedman . A great family systems therapist..
wrote this fable about a man who believed he was a dead
I tell it this way...one evening
a man came home .... and announced that he was dead
.Of course , some of his neighbors
tried to show him
how foolish this idea was.
Just look they said ...you’re walking .... and dead men cannot move themselves.
You cant be dead.. because your thinking,
you’re brain is functioning, your breathing
and those after all
are typical examples of being alive
But none of that had any effect on the man
No matter what reason they came up with
no matter how sensible the argument was
the man insisted ...that he was dead.
He answered their arguments with great skill.
He seemed to have a way of constantly putting the burden of proof back on them
. He never came right out and said, "Prove it."
But that was the message that he implied,
not so much by how he answered
as by how he avoided giving any answer at all.
Every now and then
someone thought,
"Now, I’ve pinned him down,"
now I’ve got evidence that he is alive..its so obvious.. no one could deny it.
But then he would use his trump:
"If I am dead, ..he would say ..then you don’t exist either,
because the living do not talk... or travel with the dead

Eventually
most of his friends and neighbors ..just quit arguing with him
and the few that were left
including his own family,
got very afraid
Several of them came to the same conclusion:
He had gone mad, or at the very least,
he was suffering from an erratic mental process.
Maybe it was Exhaustion from work, ?
A brain tumor?
He needs a rest,
we’ll call a doctor,
perhaps a psychiatrist,
maybe the family physician,
or call the minister.

The man, however,
was not upset by any of these suggestions.
He shrugged them off without even making any reply
and finally he said,
"I don’t know what’s the matter with you all.
It is just absurd
to think of a dead man ...as tired,
let alone sick."

His wife,
was almost literally beside herself
and she was thinking to herself
("If he believes this,
then how can he say that?
If he does that, .......how can he think this?")
the fear and the frustration in the house was so intense
they needed some outside help
so they invited a psychiatrist to interview him.
After some preliminary questions,
the doctor wanted to see the man alone.
And the man
agreed.
The two of them went into another room
and closed the door.
Now and then
you could hear a voice getting louder from the room
though nothing could be understood.
It was clear, however,
that the voice they heard getting louder belonged to the psychiatrist.
Some time later,
both men came back to the living room
The doctor had his jacket over his arm,
his necktie had been loosened
and his collar open
(in fact, the collar button was nt even there any more ).
As for the man,
he seemed totally unchanged.
"Hopelessly psychotic," muttered the psychiatrist.
"You will have to have him committed.
He has lost all awareness of reality.
If you want, I’ll call the hospital
and see if they have room."
But the man
said very calmly to the psychiatrist
"Now really,"
"what kind of therapy would you prescribe... for a dead man?
You do realize, doctor , of course
how ridiculous it would make you look
if they heard that you were trying to give therapy to a dead man?
Talk about losing your grip on reality!
The doctor started to answer,
but then
caught himself, and just left.

Next...... the family decided to bring in the clergy
well,, The family minister was not available.
So who should they get
Which type would be best?
Should they get the modern kind of pastor
with sophistication about psychological problems?
Or would it be better
a good old-fashioned fundamentalist?
someone said
"Let’s fight fire with fire,"
Now As it happened, that very evening
a well-known evangelist was in town
preaching at a nearby theater.

and when the preacher heard about the problem he rushed over,
he was thinking that a success with something like this.
.could really add something to the show
Once again,
the two men went into another room
the little group of family and friends
was waiting in the living room
they could here the voices behind the closed door.
Again, nothing that was audible, ,,they could not make out the words
again the rising tone,
again
never the man’s voice rising.
This time the clergyman came out alone
he looked at everyone,
.he seemed all shook up.
Then he kissed his little black book,
and bolted out the door.

Some of the family peeked into the room;
and
the man was fast asleep.
Then they decided
to call the family doctor
This doctor had known the man since he was a little boy,
and he was well known
not only for his medical reputation ... for patience and skill,
but he had this kind of old fashioned....down to earth wisdom.
He came right away
and after a couple of questions in front of everyone,
he said to the man ..
in a no-nonsense way,
"Tell me,..... do dead men bleed?"

"Of course not," said the man...dead men don’t bleed
"Then,"
said the doctor,
"would you allow me to make a small cut in your arm,
say
above the elbow?
I will treat it
; there’s no reason to worry about infection,
and we can see, once and for all,
whether you are dead."

again the man was not worried about anything
he simply said
"Doctor,
"Dead men do not get infections,
nor do they bleed,"
and he started to roll up his sleeve.
everyone was watching anxiously,
the doctor neatly slit the flesh,
and blood came spurting out.
There was a sigh of relief.. joy even
throughout the group.
Some laughed, others even applauded,
The doctor very quickly dressed the wound
and turned to everyone,
he said
"Well, I hope that puts an end
to this foolishness."
They were congratulating the doctor and thanking him
when they suddenly realized
that the man was headed for the door.
As he opened it, he turned to the group
and said, "I see that I was wrong...
dead men,
in fact, do bleed."
That’s the fable..
And of course its used as lesson

how deeply do get stuck in our denial and insist on our beliefs
no matter what anyone says , we get stubborn about our verison of the truth

I thought of that story
along with the words form Ephesians
and the very central truth of the gospel
we are alive..in Christ
so what’s the problem?

Aren’t we like the man in freidmans fable?
we keep insisting that we are dead
that we are dead men and dead women
we keep insisting
or acting as if we are spiritually dead
but the message from Ephesians this morning
says ...that we are not dead

well ok
yes
we used to be dead
we have been dead
and yes we might possibly still be dead
acting like we are dead
but the real truth
is that we have been raised with Christ
we are alive,, believe it or not
you are not dead..to the new life
So come alive.
.that the invitation
,the call..even the command of the Gospel
did you also here verse 10
we have been made alive
so we can do good deeds ..do good works
we are alive for Gods purpose...
for are being made alive for our true purpose of life
this is all part of that great faith language
spiritual understandings
about new birth.... new life
and being a new creation..
It’s the same idea as the born agin language in John 3
or the words about being in the light..and being alive
.but we are so good at denying ...this life.
How do we keep insisting that we are dead?
well..maybe it sound like this..
Listen to the words we use:
You have to look our for number one
Nothing ever changes
People never reelay change
he will always be that way
nothing good will ever come from her
or maybe..
"I can never get over this..
I will never be happy again"
Does that sound like words of the spiritual living or the dead..
we never did it that way before ?
this is hopeless.... We’re doomed
its will always be this way
its impossible
language of death
Whatever happened to the power of hope
and life
and new creation
as in
Christ has died and Christ is risen!
we are heading to the resurrection message on Easter morning
and part of that message is that if we can believe the resurrection
as the power of God
raising the dead
if you believe in the resurrection of Jesus
then you should be able to believe just about anything
right
what could be more impossible than that!
well how about your new resurrection..your new beginnings..
The resurrection in this world!
The overcoming of death and its powers
Y ou too are raised with Christ.
.in Christ
then we are opening the door
To power and vision that is beyond imagination
Easter in the resurrection of Christ says we too
a re a new creation
alive
yes we are dead to sin
we are dead to the powers of destruction a and oppression
dead to the power of greed
dead to whatever separates us from God and one another
dead to the power of violence
dead to the political powers of Caesar and Rome..or the rulers we have today
dead to the power of selfishness
dead to the powers of domination and injustice
Dead to all of that spirit killing behavior
but we are also alive
What are you alive to ?
alive to forgiveness. .reconciliation...
a live to the possibilities of peace..no matter what the nightly news seems to say
As the church
we are alive to mission and compassion
we are alive to the call of God
alive to the vision of God
where ther hungry are fed... they shall surdy war no more
we are alive to the kind community welcome...that gathers everyone
opening hearts...opening minds..opening the doors
going across the narrow boundaries of this world
In this new life in Christ
we are alive to the One who ate with tax collectors and sinners
bringing in .. the outcast
alive to the gospel of Gods redeemign love
life changing love
alive to prayer ..alive to the word of God
we are alive
to the life of faith hope and love
Jesus makes me alive to you ..
and you are being alive to the people next to you
to love your neighbor as you love yourself
alive to the pains of the world
to do as Paul
to suffer with those who suffer ..and to rejoice with those who rejoice
that’s life
so how is it with us this morning ?
more dead that alive
ready to come alive
As a church
as a person in your heart and soul .in your actions
are you open to the new ideas
the new surprises
are we alive to the urges of repentance and renewal
the new dream,,
the new courage
alive to the future
alive to the true life
again.. If you think
that this Easter resurrection thing is all about the time when you get put in a grave
well ..that’s just part of the message.
that is too small of a gospel
you are raised with Chrsit into new life.....Now..
And that what our ministry is all about,,,here at park church
in Jesus Christ..
raising the dead..
...learning how to be alive in this faith
I came that you may have life Jesus said in John 10
and have it abundantly..eternally..
Thats what we say..we believe... Paul is saying to the church stop acting like your dead..to God
Hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
.you are alive..by grace
by love
by the gift of God
you are alive... say it to the person next to you....by the grace of God .. you are alive