April 27 2008

April 27 Everyday to us is Easter
Ad lib intro......Did you get the feeling that Easter was just too early this year?
came up around too fast
did you feel like that?
well you're right
it was early ...there won’t be another Easter that early for 152 years
this early Easter ....was something very rare
but at least you can say.... that you were there in 2008
you did it
one of those "once in a life time" kind of Easters
I’m still thinking
it just came up too fast ..
But then
I noticed (as I said )
we get another chance at Easter on the orthodox church calendar .
..it's Easter today..
So I decided to do Easter all over gain..
And I tested this idea out on the Wed Bible study group and they seem to like it.
,,,Easter all over gain..
I know...
We don’t have the Easter crowd
and the extra chairs
and the sunrise service with youth and the Easter breakfast..
No we don’t have all the Easter flowers..
I tried to tell Lorraine Ehrich that I needed about 40 flowers for today
And of course
I didn’t give the choir time to get ready again
so we are not going have the hallelujah chorus at the end
.and d Angel rolled the stone away..
But we’ve got some special music..
And "no" I don’t Easter candy. for all of you
.I was too late to get the Easter candy on sale

But its still Easter.
We have the whole season of Easter
so its never one day on the calendar
Easter is who we are
Easter is the new life that we live in..
.as we sang "everyday to us is Easter and
And you do know
that the reason we have worship on Sunday
is because every Sunday is a little Easter
our whole life in Christ is pointed to the resurrection..
We are the Easter celebration
this is simply who we are

now with that
let me go back to one of the Easter gospel lessons
back in March
we looked at the lesson from Matthew
but John's Gospel can be used for Easter every year..
And what always get my attention in Johns Gospel
is the timing...
you’ve heard me say this before
but in John
when did the resurrection happen?

In John 20 it says
early on the first day of the week
while it was still dark..
May Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw that the stone had already been rolled away
That intrigues me..
that means
that Easter happened in the dark ,
resurrection happened
in the dark,,
by the time that Mary got there
the tomb was already opened..
Easter happened in the dark,
Now the orthodox church has this figured out
Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox and so on.

so they usually start the Easter service
just before midnight.
.they start in the dark
and its a kind of candle light service
as they spread the light of the Easter candle though the congregation there in the dark
It's a powerful
liturgical way of saying
." the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness does not overcome it"
But you hear that?

.they seem to know
that Easter starts in the dark
and it does
look at the days before Easter Sunday..
the darkness of the suffering for Jesus
the darkness of that night in the garden of Gethsemane
the darkness of Judas betraying him and Peter denying him
the darkness of the cross
and Good Friday
the darkness of our sins and the injustice of it all
the pain and the agony
MY God my God why hast thou forsaken me..

The darkness of the tomb and that long day of Saturday
the disciples are hiding in the in fear and confusion
Easter gets set up.. The stage get set in the dark,,
now this is not just the way the Bible story plays out
this is not just some interesting theology
this is the spiritual truth in our life..

This is the reality of faith
That’s how it is

you cant have resurrection without the cross
you cant have Easter without Good Friday
you cant have the life... without having the death
Jesus himself said it.. Again and again
to find your life you must loose

you see what’s going on ...don’t you ?
we are being invited to look into the dark
and see it in a different way
we look at the dark and we don’t see just the darkness
we can look at the darkness of world
the pain of this world
the suffering in the world and we can see it..in a different way
some people look at the war in Iraq and the thousands of people who have died
or they look at the fuel prices ..food prices,
and the economy and the mortgage crisis
or global warming
...and yes those are serious
and complicated ,,troubling things..
But some people just get sour and cynical..
.and they want to just drop out somehow..
they get down
. They don’t have the energy of hope
But if we believe that Easter happens
that resurrection happens
in the dark
or even
especially in the dark,,
then we cant afford to be cynical
and passively resigned..
We get to be Easter people
searching and looking for the hope .
.for the signs of resurrection
in the dark.
and maybe
you and I can also dare to look in our personal darkness
of our confusion and our brokenness
we can look at the darkness of our shadows and pain
and we can trust that we are not alone in the dark
God is already there rolling away stones in the dark
God is already there working for life even in the dark.
In your life
Do you believe this
that resurrection is happening in you ..
God is raising you from the deadness
maybe your emotional deadness/
God is in the moving business ..on the night shift..
in your heart..
Moving away the stones of sin and death
this is where faith meets you life..
can you hear that!
The darkness is not Godless
and the darkness
is not hopeless
because resurrection happens
when?
in the dark.
in Jesus Christ we are being that picture.
Easter is the picture ..it is the revelation of Gods ultimate power and truth
Let me add a little story from
Rachel Naomi Remen
she talks about this in her book called
Kitchen Table Wisdom
its about something in her home growing up
when she was just a very little girl
her parents liked to do jig saw puzzles
they had those great big thousand piece puzzles kept up on a table
but just to make it more of a challenge.
Rachel’s father would always hide the top of the puzzle box
so you couldn’t see th e picture ..
you didn’t get to see what you were making.
You couldn’t see the picture ahead of time
now this was an ongoing project
and the custom was
that if you came to visit at their house
you could go ahead and work on the puzzle ..
if you saw a piece that would fit you could just put in
so people would do that for few minutes
or sometimes Rachel mom or dad
would be there for hours..
working on the puzzle
......usually in a few weeks
with these hundreds and hundreds of pieces
it would all come into place..and they would see the finished puzzle
Rachel said that over the years her family did dozens of puzzles like that
and she got pretty good at it.
She really loved being the first one to guess what the picture was
when they got some sense of what the pattern was.
She could see what had been hiding there all along
but then she tells about the first puzzle that she could remember
They had just gotten the puzzle table
it was a birthday present to her mother from her father
she was about 3 or 4 years old
and she can remember how happy they were
when they set up the table
and dumped out the puzzle pieces on the table

back then for this first time as just a little girl
she didn’t understand what this was about
and they figured that she was too young to play this game
or whatever it was they were doing
so they didn’t explain it to her
but of course she wanted to know what this was
so one morning when she was alone in the living room she climbed up on a chair
and dug around in all the loose puzzle pieces and all these pieces spread out loose on the table
.of course these pieces are pretty small
; some of them had bright colors
and they looked like they might be birds or flowers
and they seemed to be the fun shapes..
But
some of them were dark and shadowy.
And The dark ones seemed kind of scary
shaped maybe like they were spiders or bugs,
ugly and strange.
She didn’t like dark things. So she took some of those dark scary puzzle pieces and hid them underneath one of the sofa cushions.
For several weeks, whenever I was alone in the living room,
she would get up on the chair,
take a few more of those dark pieces,
and she would stash them in that hiding place
down in the couch
Well of course it was taking the adults forever to finish that puzzle
something was just wrong
and people got frustrated when they tried to work on the puzzle

,the mother finally counted the pieces
and she realized
that more than a hundred pieces were missing!
By this time
Rachel had been seen hanging around the table now and then
so the mother said to her
Rachel have you seen any of the pieces
do you know anything about this

so Rachel took her over the couch
over to where where all the missing pieces were hiding
The mother got the missing pieces and in just a little while
she got the whole puzzle put together
Rachel remembered watching her do this.
And she could see the picture coming to life
As she watched it come together
little Rachael back them
didn’t even know that it would be a picture
so she was surprised
to see this the beautiful picture of a deserted beach
with just a start.. of the sunrise
the sun was coming up to start this new day.
that was the picture
but Rachel had taken out the dark pieces..
And the picture could not happen
without those dark pieces
the sunlight
the sunrise
the beauty
the wholeness
could not be seen with out those dark pieces
.
There is a lesson in there
maybe it is the gospel story
th Easter story..


Maybe it tells me something about living in faith..

There are e pieces that we don’t like in this puzzle of life
we don’t understand them
probably don’t want them..
..but pieces like that...are in every persons puzzle

And when they are just a single piece ..its true
they can be senseless and frightening and ugly..
And that’s a fact.
But can we leave them out
can you leave out pieces of your life.
Can you leave out
and hide or deny the pieces
that t you don’t want..
Well we do that in some ways
we take out those pieces
and stash them deep in some hiding place in our hearts..
But that doesn’t really work...
The puzzle work of life .gets stuck..
eventually we have to go and find them
and dig them out
Because we cant live with those holes in the puzzle
those blanks... in our life ..
to get the picture We have to eventually claim all the pieces.
The failures
the losses
the choices we made
the mysteries
and the bad ..along with the good
every life has those pieces that we think... cant fit
When you look at the story of the cross
and the Easter Sunday
I'm sure those dark pieces
standing alone ...
By themselves..
have nothing much to offer..
But like Mary on that Easter morning
we can go ahead and go to the tomb in the dark

not knowing at all what could be there..
Probably expecting only to grieve..and
then to find
that God has already been there..and rolled away the stone
something indeed had happened
and more of it..will come to light
like Rachel and her puzzle
we can....see that t life is not just one piece at a time.
.and life is more than the piece of the puzzle
that you might be holding right now in you life.
Trust that there is a promise of light
a son rise
the rising of God’s son
it’s a bigger picture of life
its like getting to see the picture of the puzzle
on the box
"While it was still dark
Mary went to the tomb..and saw the stone had already been rolled away"
Christ is risen
Christ is risen indeed







.

Caring for Creation

Faithfully caring for Creation April 20th 2008 PUMC R Swenson

I thought about some ways to talk about this Celebration of God’s creation
Of course it is designed to stand along side of earth day
which ,,by the way..
is now printed on my little church calendar from Cokesbury
I hope you know.... all across the church

Catholics.... Protestants
right and left ,,conservative and liberal.
evangelicals or.. mainline
the church might actually agree on this issue !

we just might try to be eco friendly
Caring for creation is getting talked about

as a basic and essential part of Christian living and discipelship.

Its not just a little special interest for some people on the fringe
its really a core concern
... centered around the belief
that God is the creator
that somehow
this life..
whether intelligent design
or creationism..or evolution
.the methodoolgy ....is not even the point
because ..in faith...
this creation... is a gift from God

and it needs to be treated that way

as human beings we have a special responsibility for taking care of creation.

That is what the Genesis story is really saying


Christianity also teaches us that all of creation

is included in Gods healing and saving work in Jesus Christ
Paul in (2 Corinth) says
God was reconciling the world
restoring the world back to God..

God so loved the world..... ,,not just people on the world

so as ....the church
we’re trying to pay attention to how we live on the planet
and with each other


..well anyway

I thought about going on with all kind s of theological support
and Bible verses
and their really is quite abit of Biblical material for us..

But I also choose the lesson from Matthew

because so much of the injustice in world
and the waste and the environmental abuse
happens

because we are over consuming and we aren’t sharing things very well.

we are all wrapped up with our worries
and our comforts..and insecurities
about getting enough

“What shall we eat... what.. shall we wear...and so on..”

.instead of keeping our eye on God..

anxiousness \and greed
..Lack of faith feeds the environmental problems....

Worry and insecurity
feed the ecological problems.

and those are spiritual problems

Worry and insecurity

are ,not just political or social problems ..
but spiritual issues.

And as the church..
we need to say that.

faithful living
involves a more trusting and simple and balanced kind of living....

It means that we live prayerfully and gracefully on Gods earth

That’s the theology behind it.

then too
for this morning

I thought about some of the practical things that we can do


and that could be the whole sermon ....

.there are policies and practices for us to implement

again
we need to pay attention to the problems in the world

when the word is sick... the people get sick...

doesn’t that mean that we need to learn about alternative energy..

And the carbon footprint ?

and trying to be more socially and politically educated about global conditions...


Do you know about the connections between rainforest and agriculture and global markets

and pollution..

Do you know
about the deforestation and the hunger riots in Haiti


Can you make some sacrificial consumer..choices in your life..

.because for you
its an act of faithfulness


I know that many of us are trying to be more green

in our lifestyles and in our shopping...

most of us..
I think try to reduce and reuse and recycle

and I admit that I don’t do enough

Personally..this is something that I want to do more of...

.and by the way

one of the things that we haven’t gotten done here at Park church

we’re trying to use less paper.. But
we still need to get our paper recycled

.. We got the cans and bottles covered and so on.

.but we need somebody to collect the paper.. And recycle it.

Personally
I would invite you to pick one thing you can do,,,
This week even

think of one thing
you could do that would be better for the environment
and know that you are doing it as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Now
I want to tell you a story that about caring for the gifts of creation
with deeper spiritual respect.


once upon a time
long ago when the earth was still very young
there lived a women who decided to live near the water

there was also village nearby

and the people lived by planting their fields and setting out their fishing nets..

Now the woman had been born in that village

but as the years went on
she moved farther and farther a ways form the village

you see
while she was growing up

and the other children were learning their skills and trades form the teacher s and the elders

she discovered that she had a very special gift..

Instead of putting out nets to catch the fish as they went up stream

she would spend long hours looking into the water
until she could see the fish

then,,exactly at the right moment
.the fish that was going to be caught

.would come right up into her waiting hands.

She would catch the fish with her bare hands

and strangely enough.
.whatever she caught
was Always enough to feed her and her family with even a little bit left over
for someone who might be visiting.

All the villagers
soon heard about this
she tried to explain her new way of catching fish

she told her friends
then she told the elders f the tribe..

but they just laughed and made fun of her.
After all.they had been putting out the nets the same way for years and they had always gotten plenty of fish.

In fact they caught so many fish that they had enough fish to toss the leftovers to the dogs
and they could use the fish as fertilizer in the gardens and the fields
well sometimes thy just didn’t need it all. The fish would always be there!

Besides
this new way
was stupid and time consuming

what good could there be

from something that took more time
..waiting
and wasting endless hours ............
watching the water ?

so they decided that the young woman didn’t have any special gift

she was just lazy
or slow witted..or strange

And the people just mocked her
more and more
so ,,
sadly
she moved farther and farther away from the village

and she spent more and more time..watching the water.

Then one day

after thinking about this for quite awhile

she decided to break with her tradition
she would even move down stream
and go to another village
maybe these other people would understand
and they would take her in.
And so she moved on.
Settled into the next village
worked in the fields
taught the children
lived like everyone else

but always she would go back to the edge of the water
dangling her feet in the water
watching the water

sometimes she would be there very early when the sun was barely up..
sometimes she would come out and watch the mist and the fog over the water
before the sunlight melted it away


sometimes
she would just go out and watch how the wind

would make its ripples and waves,,,


or sometimes at night

she would come and see how the stars reflected on a clam night on the water
sometimes it was so dark
with no moon at all..
no stars
but she could hear and smell the water in the darkness.

Through all of this
she knew the water
almost everything about it.
.and when the fish came rushing up stream

or when they came just to swirl around in the sunlight or the shade

they would look at the women there along the shore


and sometimes they would jump out of the water and into the air.
And the women knew exactly which ones she was supposed to catch
..and which ones belonged to another village and which ones needed to be safe so they could spawn and keep the species strong
And whenever her village set out the nets,,

she cringed inside...
such unnecessary..

indiscriminate death.
Finally she had to speak out.
She told them about this other way to fish..
.standing still..watching..

Taking only what you need,
,carefully thoughtfully.


But again...
just as they did back home in her other village..they just laughed,

they told her to leave them alone..


And so she did.

.and she went like that from village to village

always the same old story

finally she came back to the village of her childhood,

she had changed..and so had they

They didn’t remember her days when she was a young woman with them

but there was another change in the people as well.

They were tired
and slow moving..
They were hungry and there was no laughter.
Strangers were not welcome anymore because
They were just another mouth to feed
and their was barely enough food to go around.
She went back down the path to the old house down by the water. Where she used to live
No one had been there.. All those years..

But she could still here the water calling to her..
.. and so
obedient to the call
she went down to the water
and looked deep into the water,,
for a long time a very long time.

But she now she could se that the water had also changed..

It was murky ,slow, stale and lifeless.
She felt this ache in her heart,she had lost her gift..of water watching...
and she could not see though the water.
Worse than that,,, she had also lost the fish

their were no fish in the water.

And she began to weep
well now

she understood why her village was lifeless

and she knew that this was going to be the fate of all the villages that she had visited, o


now she was weeping for her people

who had lost so much because of their carelessness
..and their ignorance.

Even she, herself

had not seen how important her own gift had been,

and how she had to insist on teaching this wisdom to others.

Now she needed to learn to feel as much tenderness and appreciation

for the people
as she had felt for the fish and the water
and the gift for catching them.

And so she cried,,

for the villagers as well as all that happened,

and as she bent over and cried,,
she could not stop her tears,
they fell into the water at there feet
and then something so mysterious happened,
as the tears entered the water

they darted away

flashing for a moment before swimming away as fish.
The tears streamed from her eyes
dripping into the water.. Turning into fish
and the fish multiplied.

Until the villagers,,, hungry and desperate
saw the gleaming of the fish
leaping once again in the water.

But this time they remembered the strange words of that young woman
who lived in the village long ago

so They watched the fish and went to the water
with patience and gracefulness and newness
they sat still with waiting hands and the fish came to their hands now
just as they had come long ago
to the hands of that waiting young woman,
They say that this woman is still there.
By the edge of the water..
Alone and weeping still keeping her people alive..
Learning the truth of her gifts.
And so it is said. In the old sayings
The old wisdom..
What you catch and take for your own..
Can be returned by compassion alone.

So it is today that we sit..at the edge of the water..
With the res to the village.
Watching.. And leaning to se and to be in true compassion and wisdom.. not to abuse or to hoard or to waste..
So My friends remember the woman who caught fish with her hands..
As you think about the story of the woman whose compassionate tears
continue to give life

its not that far fetched of a story....it’s a sacrificial picture
isn’t it.?.. based on love..

Don’t we also talk about being saved...... and fed
by the sacrifice of Jesus ..
the suffering servant
..his sacrifice is the bread of life..
(A Fish was also the ancient symbol for Jesus and the church ...)..

don’t we talk about a compassionate savior
who gives his life for us
and
that his sacrificial love is still

giving life to this wounded world.....

not just for the people but for the world
..
Life depends on compassion

For God so loved the world
Perhaps we need to love it as well
that the gift we have been give..and it must be taught


Adapted From Keepers of the Story by McKenna and Conan p. 103 Orbis Books 1997

Holy Thursday Bread and Story

Holy Thursday 2008
As we gather this evening we have two right things in front of us
we have the sacrament.. this Holy food....
Sacramental bread
and a story ...and we also have a sacred story.
They ..of course,,, go together....
It reminds me of another story about bread and stories.
a true story...
It was During WW2 in a Nazi labor camp,
concentration camp......
the prisoners
were packed into tents
with a few hundred people
in every tent
I cant imagine what the conditions were like
and Every morning, the prisoners would come out of those tents
and they would be marched out for another day of hard labor.
When they got back in the evening,
they gave out the food rations
but they only gave food to the prisoners who had worked that day
of course
it wasn’t much
thin soup
and some stale bread.
Now of course
with such poor nutrition,
prisoners usually got sick.
It barely kept them alive and sometimes it just was not enough
But still
If you did not walk out from your tent
for that days work,
if you did not work
you got no food at all that evening,
and soon that person
would die of starvation.
The food was so scarce
that they had this unwritten rule
don’t share your food..
The evening food rations ....just could not be shared
– it was everyone for himself or herself.
So Every tent got into this horrible rhythm of work,
starvation and death.

But now the people in this one tent
had a story teller in there group
every night they also got into the rythymn of listening to this old women
who told them stories
the would huddle together
they would hold their meager rations in their hands.
and listen to her stories.
But one morning
they woke up
to find
that their storyteller was sick.
They left her in the tent that morning,
they knew what this would mean
would she even make it through the day?
But then
That night
the people in this tent broke the pattern
they did something different
and one by one
they broke off a little piece of their own stale bread
and gave a drop or two
of their soup
and they shared with the old story teller.
And she told them stories.
The next night,
the same thing,
they shared what little they had with the old story teller
and she kept telling them those life giving stories.
Soon
the people in that tent decided
that the old storyteller
just should not go out and work anymore.
They would..work all together
to guard her health
they would all share their food rations with her.
From that day on,
until the war ended
and the camp got liberated
there were no more deaths
from starvation in that tent that had the storyteller
now of course people still died
starvation was not the only horrible thing that happened in that labor camp

but in that tent
nobody else died of starvation,
and most of them lived and survived the war.’
That’s the story
and it true
its true in many ways
Now,
I could let you think about the story and find your own meaning but let me point you into a few directions

in some ways that story is like us
Here we are in our tent,
certainly not in the misery of a concentration camp
I don’t mean to compare us. Tot hat.. Or minimize the horror of that setting..
But
we also live in a world
where selfishness and work and sickness and death...can get to be the pattern of existence.. Just look out for yourself.
except that we also have something different going on in our tent..

We have a story teller
and we have stories
we have stories that bring us together
and keep us alive

this week
the story is bringing us together
It is story of a crowd that shouts hosanna to Jesus
it the story of a different kind of power and authority making an entrance into our lives
it is the story of a last supper..
it the story of a crowd that shouts Crucify him
it is the story of a selfless life
and a sacrifice
it is the story of a divine power
that forgives us
and it forgive us from the cross
when we are at our worse
when the injustice is at its worst
when faith had died
and betrayal and denial has gone to work
but it is also this story of an undying power
and undefeatable love
it is the death and rising of Jesus Christ
it is our story//
and in that sacred story of Jesus Christ there is also the sharing of food..
This is my body this is my blood
the bread and the cup..
And we too come with that food and the story and the story teller
is there enough to share
.is it mine and only mine
to keep it for myself
and we discover that there is enough to share..
Love to share. .grace to share..
Does that change you..?
We do not have to protect or hoard this bread of life
It creates
the community of sharing
..and it makes life different in this tent of faith
and in this world
we share the forgiveness
yes we protect the story
by keeping it alive.. We believe it.. We tell it..
we share the possibilities
we share the vision
we share..
and because we learn to share and to give..
in light of the story
no body goes hungry anymore..
The law of selfishness gets broken.
Life gets changed because we come to the story
there is an old song
I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love..
Come tonight as we in this gospel tent
the old revival tent....I suppose
or you can call it,
story tellers tent..
Share the food.. ...and live.
This is how survive.
. This is how we live the bread of life
by .the WORD of God

Source Mircea Eliade by way of David Mesenbring SEE
(the St. Mark’s website: http://saintmarks.org/)

Easter 2008 Christ is Risen
I used to spend quite a bit of time
trying to come up with just the right sermon title for Easter Sunday
I wanted to be creative and clever or maybe sophisticated or philosophical
just something .. to get your attention somehow.

.(.its not like you have never heard this Easter thing before)
but I don’t do the fancy sermon titles anymore.....
All I have to say is this : Christ is Risen!
and honestly even though I do love the whole Easter crowd experience
if I had my way
..instead of doing this whole preaching thing to a large group at once
or whole congregation
I would like to do this ..as a pastor....in more pastoral kind of way
I would like to get personal..

Maybe more like that first Easter morning was... almost 2000 years ago
this didn’t start off with a crowd ..there was no preacher with a congregation at the first Easter
in the Bible it started off with one or two people
John’s Easter gospel says it was just Mary Magdalene at first
and she thinks she is talking to the gardener..
And then the Easter recognition moment happens
when Jesus says to her "Mary"
Jesus said her name .
Hear that?.. .the Risen Christ. Got personal.. ..by name
Or here in Matthew
this morning
its just a couple a of women who get the news at the tomb.
.and then later
they are supposed to tell the disciples
but Jesus appears to just the two of them
,but it starts off small and personal....
One or two or three people at a time
if I could this morning
I would do Easter like that..
I would go around to each one of you....
one at a time ....face to face
and we would look each other in the eyes
for a moment of silence
we wouldn’t go too fast
take our time and
..maybe we could hold hands
and look at each other.
And maybe I would know something about the ups and downs in your life.
The hard times and the pain...your hopes and your dreams,
.it would be kind of a prayer time
...a personal liturgy
looking at each other

and I would say your name like this
I would say Charles. Or Beth.. (Or Sandy or Jean)

"Christ is risen... "and then after a little bit
you would say my name too
Rory ..."Christ is risen"
..Christ is risen. Indeed
I wish I could do that.
It suppose it would take all morning
But I want you to have that moment... to hear that word personally..
Christ is risen.
But
I cant do it that way..
we don’t have all morning..
so will you help me?
can we do that with each other
kind of a liturgy
I know you already did an Easter greeting this morning..
but this one is a little different
Don’t leave anybody out
you can say this to more than one person
Turn to somebody around you ...and say there name..
It can be family or it can be somebody you don’t know..
If you don’t know who they are
.ask them...
say there name
look them in the eye ..if you want to hold their hand that’s fine..
If you know anything about their life..
then think about that ,, for a moment..see the perosn in front of you,
what are they going through
what’s going on in their life
But look them in the eyes
and say that word of hope and presence
that word of healing and light
that world of life
the word of rising..
Christ is Risen
.and then wait until they say it back to you.
Christ is Risen
.don’t rush now
but let s do it.
I know we are in Minnesota and we are Methodists
and you want to be anonymous.
I know ...we don’t normally get that personal in worship
.and its disorganized and noisy
but hey
its Easter.. And we’ve got to say it.
This is sacred conversation
Go and do this now..
..................................
All done..?
I suppose we could just sing the Hallelujah chorus and go home now?.


But let me say a little more to all of us together
what did we just do?
what is the power of that of Easter message
what did you here?
Why do we come here at all.
What were you looking for?
Why does this touch us..?
Why is the church and Christianity even here?


How about this:---- in some deep way
we know...that this is just so true.
You cant get at it .rationally or scientifically.
.but it has
truth..
you know there is some spiritual power in that message
I think you’re here
because you really want to believe it somehow
it calls you
and you want it to get inside of you
and you want it to change you
you need this message of life and hope.
somehow you want it ...to raise you up.....

And that’s right
it’s the right desire....so pay attention to it.
Some of the great spiritual leaders of the church
called it the deepest desire.
.the holy hunger inside of you..
And Easter ...can take you to that spiritual life force.
If you look at how the early Church understood the resurrection
.they saw it as a renewing..and world changing power.
It was not just an idea or a creed
It was a spiritual reality
.Divine power. Life in Christ..the redemptive power..salvation was at work..
it is something
that still goes to work in us
the work in Christ.
it is the overturing of sin and death.
.in all its forms.
it changes us..
somehow
it raises us up also

Christ is also risen in us..

st Paul says in Colosians 3
that we too
are raised with him now.. to a new kind of life
This is not just a Holiday
or just a doctrine ..for the afterlife
but it is the redeemed life.. ..working in us..now....for this life..
..
it is the heavenly power to live
in a new way.
.it is a sprit of Christ..that is still alive
(are you with me?)
it is something to live by..
Easter is our way of Living in Jesus Christ.
* A heard a story about a teenager named Marcia
when she was young Marcia loved to dance.
So When Marcia was sixteen
her parents gave her dance lessons at the Martha Graham Dance Studio
in New York City.
Now this was a big thing..
If you don’t know who Martha Graham, was
she was a creative pioneer
maybe you could call her the Picasso of the dance world
she introduced a whole new style of contemporary dance
Anyway
Marcia’s parents signed her up for lessons
three nights a week.
One night
when Marcia going was going to her class,
she opened up the door,
but it was the wrong door,
so when she looked in
she could see these very professional dancers
they were dancing at a very high level of mastery.
She realized,
this was Martha Graham's personal company.
This was the top class and the inner circle of it all.
It was wonderful.
Her heart was pounding just to see this and be that close
so She decided to stay
just inside the door
and watch.
Two nights later when she went to her class,
she said to herself,
"I wonder?"
She opened up the same wrong door and she found that same company in there dancing again.
This time she snuck into the back of the room
just to watch.

But As they went through their dance routines,
she started to move with them
as they were practicing.
Week after week,
that is what she did,
she didn’t tell anybody
She cut off her leotard at the ankle
just like they did;
for weeks in a row
she danced at the back of the room
no one said anything to her

But one night
while they were in the middle of rehearsal
the door to the middle of the room opened
and in walked Martha Graham herself.
She was dressed in purple except for some long white gloves

She looked at the dancers and said,
"Group in threes and move across the floor.
Show me your exercises."

Marcia just stared at Martha Graham. This was like seeing the Wizard of Oz.
And the next moment
all of a sudden she realized
that every dancer was now on the other side of the room,
and she was all alone
and visible.
Martha Graham looked at her,
and of course
Martha Graham knew she did not have a sixteen year old in her company.
But she
said to her,
"Move across the floor.
Do the exercises."
Marcia thought to herself,
"I have two choices.
I can say,
‘I can't do this
I'm a fraud.
I’m just a kid;
can't you tell I'm just a kid?
I can't do this;
I'm sorry;
I've lied by being in here;
I'll apologize;
I'll get my parents to reimburse anything;
but I can't,
I'm a fake. I'm out of here.’"
Or,
she thought to herself,
I could reach deep down inside of me,
and with everything I am,
I could live this moment.
I could just dance.
I could just become dance."

She decided to dance
She said that to this day
she still does not
remember crossing that room.
But the experience
was like
being ...a beam of
light.
Everything in her
was living her life
at that moment
-- the melody was carrying her, the love was carrying her.
She trusted the power and the movement of the dance
She got to the other side of the room,
and she remembered again
how afraid she was.
The dancers were positioned there
like dancers stand,
one hand on a hip,
so she got behind another dancer
she was wondering what was going to happen next.

And what she saw
was the finger of Martha Graham
beckoning her to come
to her.
This young woman stood before Martha Graham.
Years later
she remembered what Martha Graham said.
Martha Graham looked her right in the eye
and she said,
'Young woman.
There is no reason to live any moment of your
life
other than the way
you just crossed that floor."

Well ...that is also the story of our faith..
That is also the invitation of the resurrection
God is calling us to live this moment...
with everything we are.
We have been taken into a new dance company
so to speak..a new community..a new school ..a new Way...this Jesus Way

so now
Le the dance of resurrection fill you
go ahead and trust the Gospel of life
and move across the floor


Yes I know
can stay in the corner
locked in our fear
or we can live life
in hope,
carried
by love.
We can believe what we hear


Our Scripture said this morning that
the women ran from the tomb
with fear and great joy.

Filled with fear and with joy.
That is how life is,
isn’t it?
And there is plenty of things that would keep us afraid
I Don’t KNOW WHAT KEEPS you or a church
hiding AGAINST THE WALL....
.instead of moving out across the dance floor
it might be the cancer or some illness
maybe the economy
or the war ..or the news.
or the mortgage ..
or the school situation.
.
or the trouble at home.
.I don’t know
tombs come in a lot of ways..
Fear is always around..
But Resurrection happens.
In the Scripture this morning the angel says to the women,
"He is going before you to Galilee,... there you will see him."
Its as if
the angels
are saying to those women and to the disciples..
and to us..
go and move across the floor.
The invitation..
the call..the beckoning... is given
but You Make the decision .
.you can say
I don’t really belong here..
This is not for me.
I don’t deserve it..
and I cant trust this..
Or
you
take that leap of faith.
Again and again
.you can want it..and try it..
you can believe this ..
maybe that too
is a mixture of both fear and joy!
It sounds too good to be true..
.but .go back on the road..
..the scripture is saying
.go out there
and he will be there..
the gospel says
He will be there
and he will meet you
trust it

in verse 10
Jesus says it so clearly
Do not be afraid
maybe that is the mysterious power that pulls us here..
every year
and every Sunday
..the Easter Gospel
do not be afraid
do not be afraid of death
do not be afraid of the enemy
do not be afraid of your failure
do not be afraid of your shame
do not be afraid of your weakness
do not be afraid of the future..
do not be afraid..
of Gods love. and the vision of True Life.
move out of the fear.
.and move
more and more..into the joy of the dance
(Remember last week the choir sang.. Lord of the dance..)
And the dance goes on..
Christ is Risen
the impossible is happening
that means that you ..and
this church
can dream
and you can change
you can be more courageous
you can be more forgiving and joyful
you can be more graceful
you can be more generous.
you can be more prayerful and faithful.
.we can be peacemakers
and we can be people of the Risen Christ.
We can be the church
we can dance this life of incredible Love
ok
I know ..like Marcia in the back of the dance room
maybe you need to watch for awhile..
Learn a few moves..
Try it out. Imitate it ..
and be around out
..just be amazed to see what it can do..
But eventually.
.maybe right now..in some way
you can let it actually move you
..move us..carry us... inspire us
And there is absolutely no reason for you personally
..and for this congregation
to Not move ...faithfully....and joyfully
across the dance floor..of life
Jesus said do not be afraid.

Christ is risen...say it now..
Maybe this is the fist dance step..
Say Christ is Risen again..but this time..
say out loud to yourself
say it with your name...in the sentence..say it to your self..
as if God is saying it to you..
Rory
Christ is risen
Say it out loud.. All together with your own name it

....that was your invitation to dance

* The source for Martha Graham dance story is Martie McMane, senior pastor at First UCC in Boulder Colorado ..from one of her sermons printed on their website.www.firstcong.net. She says it was told to her by a friend. . I have adapted it.

Raising of Lazarus

PUMC John 11 Raising of Lazarus

This is one of the longest gospel lessons we will ever read.

.and I’m sure that it would be worth at least a dozen sermons
I’ve preached on it a few times already.

What do you need to hear..this morning; which sermon is the one for you today?

...I’m sure you all don’t answer that in the same way
for some of you this morning..

as you heard the lesson
this is another clear and direct word
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life

and I have spoken those words
somewhere
in just about every funeral service
and memorial service that I have ever done.

I believe these words
I need those words

I depend on these words for ministry
they are gospel to me

resurrection and life....
life that is stronger than death ......the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ


as you know... I said that Gospel again this week

as we gathered to remember Dorothy Little on Wed


I said these words of resurrection life again
on Thursday
as we said good bye to Dean Prushek


. This Lazarus lesson is another chance for us to tell some of the Easter story

with revelation and power of Jesus Christ

yes..we can come forth from the tombs

I could say amen......
and sit down

and I think you would say amen also.

That would be one sermon
......
Another sermon is in this image of Jesus who weeps with us..

And of course
we get the shortest verse in the bible
in the King James version its
Jesus wept

You all have that one memorized don’t you ?.
(I can teach it to you)
repeat after me
. John 11:35 Jesus wept.

.. Really its not a bad verse to memorize


Jesus weeps with us..

Why does he weep
he weeps ...because he sees our pain

he see our fear... he see our ignorance.
.he s see our struggles he sees our lack of understanding

for all these reasons and probably more


Jesus wept with compassion

will you let God do that with you...don’t deny it.
..but let God be there with you...


We don’t have some impersonal God who does not join us
in the human anguish

maybe that’s the message you need to hear this morning
God who grieves with you..and with this world
our God...enters the pain with us.

but
now this morning
I am looking at this strange part of the story

sometimes it bothers us
you know what it is

it’s the delay..

Its all over this story
. What do you do with it?

They send for Jesus


and he does Not come running
when he hears that Lazarus is ill.

Jesus doesn’t come right away to the rescue

and it is an issue
or a question at least in the story

And yo can hear that ,,
confusion
frustration. anger.. Maybe.
.or at least some disappointment..

With Martha in verse .. 21

she says
Lord if you had been here
my brother would not have died
..
As if to say
where were you.?

.why didn’t you do something
don’t you care about your friend..

don’t you love him..?


but this isn’t just a Martha’s feeling

because Mary also says the same thing

in verse 32

Lord I f you had been here

my brother would not have died.

And then later
some of them said
well if Jesus loved Lazarus so much.
.why did he let him die..

You see how this is being underscored..

this disappointing delay....
one more example

when Jesus tells them to roll away the stone

they say
on no there will be a stench

it has been four days
again
emphasizing

lord .. You made us wait..and now..its too late....
And course

as you heard from the story

Jesus does raise up Lazarus

and they are called to unbind him... and set him free
so...

Here’s want I want to spend time with this morning

Lets talk about the delay

on the surface..
it’s a way
of demonstrating the power.
and giving glory to God...

se how great this really is .......power and truth


.Lazarus is dead //Jesus says

and he was so dead.
.that it stank...

But even that condition
that much deadness could still be resurrected.....


now
back up on this other issue
what’s the spiritual lesson

I think its this

new spiritual life and faith

doesn’t just happen in an instant..

Well sometimes it does... in some ways .,,,I know that..

But that just is not the whole story


We have to deal .
.in our lives..
We have to deal with..what looks like a delay

sometimes
we are going to be spending time in the tomb..\
like Lazarus
in the cold dark times of the soul

sometimes
you are simply going to have to wait for the process of life to unfold


And in fact ..if you get the point of this story

the greater miracles happen
or get learned..
And discovered

revealed....by the waiting process..

time in the tomb..

that’s what makes this such a powerful story..it’s the delay..

The delay even shows the greater glory of God

But
we don’t get that part of the story very well

in fact We could even be accused of Ignoring that part.... Of the spiritual life

sometimes we make Christianity just sound like it s all quick and easy....
a little too easy..


Bill Meier who is at St Cloud now..

talks about a TV commercial that he saw for some big church in a city

the commercial shows the senior pastor walking along the shore of a
lake in a beautiful park.

He stops

looks into the camera and
then says,

“If you believe, anything is possible.”

then He starts to walk towards the water.

He steps into this shallow water

and you get idea that he’s going to walk on water
as a demonstration of faith.

You know if you believe.....anything is possible..

But then,

as he goes into the water.

you see that his expensive suit is going to be ruined
..he is not walking on water..
H’s getting wet
he finally stops
when the water is over his knees.

Then, he looks at the camera again

and he says,
“Perhaps
there’s more to it than that.

If this is where you are at,
we’ve got a place for you to grow in your faith...”
and then he gives his pitch for the church.

“Perhaps there’s more to it ..than that.”


This lesson
with the raising of Lazarus is also saying Perhaps there is more to it.

Jesus doesn’t do a long distance quick miracle resurrection

sometimes the journey of faith
makes us wait
until it seems too long ..and we go under.

Sometimes the change doesn’t come
until things really stink in the grave

so to speak.

we know ....what Mary and Martha feel like

Lord why did we have to wait ?!
why did it take so long

where were you....

.when we needed you
in the hospital..
in that misery...or in that doubt..in that problem..

have you been there,

Im thinking of all the psalms

that talk about having to wait..

Psalm 119 says How ,long must your servant wait.

Psalm 130 Out of the depths I cry for thee. O lord
I wait for the lord
my soul waits..

Why are those words in there..?

You can find those words again and again in the bible..

and I think this lesson
of Lazarus is an illustration of that waiting..and crying out in the depth..in the low dark times,,



maybe this story
allows us
to tell our stories ...that also feel like that.


We all know ...in some way or another...

that our faith is not just
as simple as walking on water in an instant.


in our believing..we are still going to get wet.

Sometimes
it is more complicated.
or confusing.
.or mysterious.

.and we end up .and wondering...
What next ...why..
and what now? When..when..

Have you ever felt like Lazarus in the tomb
or Mary and Martha.....left to grieve and wonder.

We need to be honest and truthful about that..

---------------------------------------
The book study retreat
that we have rescheduled with the Pums the church seniors group

is using Sue Monk Kidd’s book When the Heart Waits..

In the book

she uses the example of caterpillars and cocoons and butterflies

those are a old symbols for Easter and the soul and the spiritual transformation process.

You know that you cant just skip from caterpillar to butterfly

and she talks about how
that cocoon time
is just necessary
for the growth process

or the transformation process..

And she compare the cocoon time
to those times

when we are growing through change..

It is a process.
Cocoon time
is the waiting time..
The time when we are maybe vulnerable

or in the dark..scared,,,maybe stuck..
or feeling like we are in a tomb

and we are not in control
we are having to wait.

Its Biblical
she says

.look at the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days
kind of tomb or cocoon story

or the Hebrew people as slaves in Egypt
or 40 years...of wandering in the wilderness
or the time of the exile...

or even the stories of the beggars ..blind and
waiting along the side of the road..

..and even Jesus in the tomb ...three days

waiting

and one of the chapters has a very relevant message for us

she talks about the quick-aholic thinking that we have
in so much our faith and church..tall

She says we get caught up ‘Quickaholic Spirituality”
so we have to keep busy,
rush past our pains and doubts,
and we try to avoid our cocoon stages

she says

and I quote
"When it comes to religion today,
we tend to be long on butterflies and short on cocoons.

Somehow we're going to have to relearn that the deep things of God
don't come suddenly.

It's as if we imagine
that all of our spiritual growth potential is dehydrated contents
to which we need only add some holy water to make it instantly and easily appear." (p. 26)


Maybe Mary and Martha
represent that quickaholic thinking in the story..

Jesus fix it ...we prayed ...
quick now..
we have the faith
we are calling for you Lord..
We know you love us..
now what!

Lord if you had been here.

Sue Monk Kidd gives this example

.... .A 20 year old college student who came to see her in a crisis.

After years of denial,

this young woman was finally facing the realization
that she had been sexually abused as a child.

This whole thing of course
had her in a lot of pain and confusion

. As she told Sue Monk kid
that she already
"turned it over to Jesus" three weeks earlier.

She asked Jesus to heal her wounds,

take away her pain, and resolve her torment.

To put it simply

she wanted God to come with an eraser and make it go away.

God hadn't done that.


Kidd says
she could understand the urgency
that this person felt to have everything okay again.


But The college student said
"If I can't trust God now, when I need Him the most,

how can I ever trust Him again?"

this was causing a real faith crisis for her

“If not now,,how can I ever trust him again”

Sue Monks Kidd goes on to say.. It wasn't a matter of whether God could be trusted, but whether or not she could wait.

She didn't understand that there was a journey to be made here
. A waiting.
A gestating.
A slow and uncertain birthing.

That is where God would be found. Not in the erasing of the experience, but in the embracing of it.
Archbishop William Temple once said that one of the mistakes Christians are fond of making
is trying to be more spiritual than God..
. When Jesus was in pain,
he didn't try to squirm out of it. He embraced the pain. He let it happen. He experienced a sense of God's absence. He cried out "My God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me?"

What that college student didn’t know .at that time in her life

Was that to be spiritual is to confront our pain,
instead of just making an enemy out of it

When Jesus told us to love our enemies
, maybe he was also talking about our inner enemies too.

He knew that love was the only means by which to transform them.

...
Finally Kidd in her words again
says
How did we ever get the idea that God would supply us on demand
with quick fixes?
that God is merely a rescuer
and not a midwife? "


Can you see that same kind of lesson in Raising of Lazarus?

process .....time... time in the emptiness...in the pain
in the tomb
waiting ..transformation..
The longer time of trusting.

Yes the resurrection still comes

The calling forth still comes
the new life still comes.
.the unbinding and the setting free

but sometimes it doesn’t come until ..its almost seems too late.

Do you need to hear that part of the story today.///?

Maybe you have been struggling with something for years and years
or maybe just a few weeks or months..

Maybe your getting impatient..
About something in your life

and wondering if Jesus will ever show up
if the help will EVER happen
if you will get through IT
get free OF IT
and the problem will ever BE over
r..

I cant promise that it will be easy


/so maybe as a pastor and a s a church

we need to help each other
to wait
to listen
to be together.
.to feel with each other
to pray
and to be in silence

sometimes to share the grief
to share the dark...

to do what Jesus did

to weep

...to feel the situation..

And yes sometimes it will just plain stink as if its hopeless

Do you think we need to need to a better job of teaching this lesson
teaching people how to do this..

spiritual .waiting
.and trusting God in this kind of way..

Listening in our wounds.
.. Listening to God in the dark.....
.discovering God at those shadowy places of our lives..as well

can we .as the Gospel lesson says ,,,let that that too.. lead to the glory of god..

Of course
the waiting is not the only part of the story

because as I said...
When we think nothing can be done as if the problem and the grave
really is the last word.

.we still
can share the promise
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life..


Maybe its it s in the waiting...this long long
deep
waiting
that we really discover
the greatness of God....

Maybe after we have given up hope
.beyond what we thought was possible
we find ...
Resurrection can still happen..

I think that is the Lazarus lesson
............................

Sue Monk Kidd When the Heart Waits

Blind to the Message John 9

Source note. Touching the Heart By William J Bausch p. 59
PUMC March 2 2008 Blind to the Message John 9 R Swenson PUMC
George Bernard Shaw said that the British and the Americans are "two nations separated by a common language".
I think that saying fits a lot of the conversations in johns Gospel.
You get the same words being used..
but they don’t mean the same thing to everybody in the conversation....
you get two people separated by a common language.
for example in the last Sundays we had Jesus talking to nichodemus
they are talking about being born again or born from above.. Nichodemus is thinking literally and physically
how can I be born again !!!
Jesus uses the same words "born again"
but he s not talking about anything literal or physical at all,,
same word
but a double meaning..
And the spiritual meaning is the message.
.the implication for us
is that we shouldn’t just be like Nichodomus..
h’s a scholar and a teacher.. thinking at the natural //intellectual..literal level of the world
last week
we had another example
the woman at the well
they are talking about water and thirst..
but the Samaritan woman is thinking H2 O And physical thirst..
She is thinking about this literally....or in the rational kind of way
because after all
Jesus wants drink
and they are standing by a well
but relay this all about that deeper meaning
and the inner well..
Spiritual water
living water
spiritual thirst..
Now
by now..
As readers of Johns Gospel
coming into the 9th chapter.
We are supposed to have this figured out.
We should have caught on by now..
..John is famous for these double meanings
in the stories s of Jesus .
.and the good stuff.
The important part..
.is in the second layer.,
in the symbolism.,
If you think on just the surface
if you think on just the literal level
if you think a storm is just a storm
and a physical healing is just a healing
and a cloud is just a cloud.
And a death is just a death..
.and so on..
you are going to miss the message
and you will miss the truth.
.
But to give us still another clue
John has a special way of telling us that we are supposed to go deeper in all these stories
healing stories
miracle stories
these object lessons
are called signs.. In johns gospel
he uses that word 17 times.
So this morning
in the story of the blind man
it is a sign for us.
as I said
by now
you gotta know that the physical healing
and the physical blindness is not the real point..
this is about getting your spiritual eyesight.
The blind man gets that
and so he is truly not blind
but the pharisees ...who have perfect physical eyesight.
.are blind
because they do not see who Jesus.
and they are blind to the message.
To .the revelation.. In this story.
Now here the important part for us
this is the interesting question
when you read these stories of Jesus
are you and I
still blind to the deeper kind of message
when you read the scriptures
can you do
what John wants you to do
and get the metaphor
and the symbolism
and the double meanings and the spiritual message carried in the words..
Are you with me..
we have to be interpreters..
Johns Gospel style is telling us that we have to become interpreters.
Now..let me underline that with a story to make my point.

One upon a time
there was a young king
who decided that it was time to find a bride.
Now this king was different
H e didn’t care if his bride was tall or thin .
.blonde or dark.
.but he wanted her to be intelligent..
.with a special kind of wisdom
so he decided to go traveling around in his kingdom
trying to find the most intelligent woman in the land.
He took off his royal robes
and put on the overcoat of a common peasant..
Disguised I suppose
as kings sometimes do.
He went off wandering around on the roads. From town to town .village to village
one day
as he was walking down a dusty road...
the king met an old man.
And since they were going in the same direction the kind said Grandfather where are you going
the old man gave the name of the town
just down the road
and since the king was going that way as well
they got to taking
and very soon the king said to the old man
Grandfather
should I carry you
or should you carry me?
"My what a strange question" the old man said to himself
this traveler must be crazy Im not going to answer him.
And so the old man didn’t say a thing.
He just walked a little faster.
The king didn’t say anything either.
But then they came to large field
and they could see these ripe heads of grain.
Grandfather.the king said again to the old man..
As he stopped to look at the field
Do you think that grain is already eaten or not?
Already eaten or not
What kind of a question is that
this man is truly crazy.
What nonsense is he talking..... I am not going to answer him.
Th older man shut his mouth tight
and would not even look at the this traveler with him along the road..
He just walked faster.
The king kept up with him..walking without a word.
Finally they came to the walls of the city..
But they couldn’t go into the gates right then
because a funeral procession was going by.

Grandfather, the king said..
Do you think the man in the coffin is alive or dead?
Now the old man was again thinking to himself..this fellow is not to be talked with.
Another foolish question
.so he turned to the younger man
and said
"Thank you for your company along the way
but this is my town and I am going home now.
"Thank you for your company’, the king said..
"But don’t forget to knock on the door first
before you go into your house."
‘Knock on my own front door."
the old man was just fuming.
. Knock on my own front door.
I don’t need to do something like that!
By the time the old man got to his house
he was so upset
that he threw open the front door to his house.
.stormed through the doorway
and as he did that.
.he knocked his daughter down to the floor.
Oh daughter,,, he said.
.I am so sorry
I guess I should have knocked
I should have listened to what that young man said..
.but everything he said...was such nonsense.

Father ....slow down..calm yourself.
What young man./
What nonsense?
..The young man I traveled with along the road.
You will never believe the ridiculous questions he was asking me.
Tell me father..said the daughter..
tell me what he said.
First he said to me,
"Grandfather
should I carry you, or will you carry me?
Now what kind of a question is that?
I am not so old that he has to carry me?
And he wasn’t so young that I had to carry him..
Both of us could walk just fine.
‘O father" the daughter said,,
that s not What he meant at all.
He wanted to ask you..... if he should tell you a story..
or if you would tell him one?
The journey is so much shorter when you’re listening to stories

it is the storyteller who carries the listener...that what he meant

oh... said the old man,,
maybe that is what he meant
but that doesn’t explain the next question:
we came by a field of grain.
.and he wanted to know if the grain was already eaten or not?
Now what kind of a question is that..?
We could see the grain right there in the field.
Oh father said the daughter..
What he was talking about;
was whether you thought the owner of the field had already sold the crop
or not..
If he had already sold the crop and spent the money..
it would be the same
as if the grain had already been eaten.
Oh daughter I see..what you mean
But you cant explain the last question.
We waited for a funeral to pass by..
And he wanted to know if the man in the coffin was dead or alive.
..Isn’t that a bunch of nonsense.
Father think about this.., the daughter said
He was asking you if the man inside the coffin had any children.
Because if the man had children in his family line ....then was living on.. If not. Then he was truly dead.
Oh daughter I’ve been so foolish
I think I should go back and find that t young man and apologize.
So the king went back
and looked around the town until he found the king who was still wearing a disguise.
I am so sorry ..,
He said, Now I understand what you were asking me.
Please come and have dinner with me.
But the king had another question
who helped you to understand/
it was my daughter,,,
now please come back to my house with me..

They got to the old mans house just as the meal was ready
the young man sat down at the table with the older man
and his wife
while the daughter came to the table with platter full of roasted chicken
Because the young man was a guest
..she put the platter in front of him
and asked him to carve the chicken.
And so that is What he did.
He gave the drumstick to the wife
he gave the daughter ..the wings..
And to the old man he gave the back and the neck.
When the old man looked at his plate and saw the scrawny neck and the head of the chicken he got angry
his face turned red
and he stood up to yell when his daughter gently put her hand on his shoulder.
Father
its alright
the young man carved the chicken very well.
He gave the drumsticks to mother
because she is always standing and working
he gave me the wings because one day soon
I will marry and fly way form home
he gave you the head and the neck
because you’re the head of the household
he kept the rest for himself
because there was no one else to share with.
When the king heard this..
He realized that he had found the very clever women he had been searching for.
He asked the father if he could marry her.
The father looked to his daughter to see if this was her wish
she nodded her head.. Yes it was.
It was then that king took off his disguise
and the daughter realized that she would become the queen.

now that is a very old story from Persia
to our modern western ears
it a strange and charming little story
but our minds
and our ears
are years away from the mentality, that formed that story
we are more like the grandfather who took everything so literally
it is hard for us to appreciate a culture
that so easily accepted symbolism and metaphor
..images and hidden meanings.
The idea that language might say..more than it says..
Is something we know about in other areas of literature.. Art and poetry and theater.
. But why then
do we seem to forget that when we come to the bible.

But that is the kind of world that gave us the Bible..
and that is the kind of story telling and teaching that Jesus gave us..
It is exactly the kind of world that we get in Johns gospel..
And it is essential
that we learn how to be more like the daughter
with the ability to listen to the bible stories.
.listen to the words and ideas....
and to go deeper than the surface.
.to go deeper into the meaning.
Now
sometimes
that means that we have to learn the expression of that time and place
the old sayings of the Palestinian world from the first century
don’t always translate with the same meaning today
but even more important
..is the interpretation into the spiritual insight./////.the seeing..

The scripture lesson this morning is a good example
this is about two different kinds of blindness
and different kinds of seeing and being in the light..

If you just think this as story about a man being physically healed of blindness..
You really are blind to the big picture of the story

you don’t need to try and figure out medically..
or scientifically
. how Jesus did this miracle .....but I’ve been in few Bible studies where I had people trying to do exactly that!
But that’s that the foolish part of this long conversation.
That’s what the pharisees are trying to do!
.all this interrogating that they are putting this man through!
Trying to see if this really happened...and figure it out
.we don’t need to interrogate and examine..the story and try to figure out if its real..
and say how did Jesus do that!
It’s a sign !
Its an illustration..a symbol..

spiritual eyesight.. Into the revelation of God in Jesus Christ

You see how the scriptures in John themselves
are kind of like the story
about the king and the old man and the daughter.. ?

In John 16:26
Jesus says
I have told you these these things in figures of speech..
Hear that? "figures of speech.."
figurative language..Images,,
symbols ,,metaphors,,
like sheep and vines..and branches..flesh and body... And light and water..and bread.
and then
he goes on to say that you need to understand those things
through the Holy spirit.
.with prayer..with spiritual interpration
Not with the rational intellect of the head
but the heart..
...listening and interpreting at a spiritual level.

Now as I said..
I think it’s a serious problem for us in our head based .
.intellectually based..
science minded..
Literal kind of reading...
Lots of people
try to read the bible that way,
and they don’t believe the bible or Christianity
.because it looks like non sense to them
... they cant figure it out?

but its not just a modern problem
St Augustine
the great theologian and bishop from the 4th century...
Three hundreds years after the time of Jesus
he was trying to understand the scriptures..
Augustine was smart man ..with a great classical education
but he went to Bishop Ambrose
and told him
that he thought the Bible was inferior literature..
he wasn’t impressed.
But Ambrose said to him
You young fool..
You cant get it,
because when you read the bible a bout fish..
You think fish....
when you read Bread.
.you think bread..
Ambrose..had to explain the meanings
Told him
that he could not just go with the surface meanings..

Well
we still have people making that mistake to day...
. how blind are we when we read the scriptures
..
or do we listen to the holy Spirt
and get down
To the spiritual level that feeds our faith
down in the heart and the soul.
.where believing really happens
---------------------------------------------------
This morning we are celebrating a baptism
Does it look like we are saying some words and putting some water on little Coopers head..
but if you ve got your spiritual eyes and ears open you
will see so much more..
Its not just water .
.and it s not just a ritual
that we do...
but its giving Cooper publicly
into the path of God
the love of God..is his gift.
..and the presence of God
somehow at work
its not just water..
but it’s the living water
and the life of God
and the cleansing
and the renewing
and the washing of Gods spirit
it’s the new ....regenerative.. life of Jesus Christ
or in terms of the Gospel lesson today
we pray
that the muddy or earthly human blindness
that we are all born with.
(Yes.. .we are all the man who is born blind..)
But the sign of baptism.
. Is That the darkness.
.and the blindness..
will be washed away from our eyes ..
by Jesus Christ
so that we can see Jesus ..as the Christ..
and we can see the truth. ..
We pray that Cooper.. will grow to see the light..
And as we do that
I would also ask you today
what do you see
..

FOR 11:15 only,,,,,,This morning in the sacrament of Holy Communion..
we have another example of this symbolic meaning and metaphor..
Jesus himself said it..its not just t bread
its not just fruit of the vine..
Its his life
his body
his blood
his love his forgiveness..
Present with us
Your physical eyes
are not going to be able to see that.///
. But in the light of Jesus
we can see the sacrificial and redemptive. gift of God

What do you see.. This morning.. .