The Gospel Lesson                                                                    Mark 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.
Sermon Text – Easter Sunday

Easter is here! We celebrate Christ’s resurrection and proclaim that death has no claim over life. In dying Christ has set us free from Sin and in rising again Christ has opened the door for use to live eternally. The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. If the resurrection did not happen then we would have no reason to gather together as God’s people. The Kingdom would have remained closed, a potential that never came to be. Despite the many different cultures and contexts, opinions and practices that Christians have – here in the resurrection we find common ground. We all share in this New Birth and we all proclaim it today as one people.

Our scripture for the day captures the first reaction that Jesus’s followers had to the resurrection. Several women came to Christ’s tomb to properly bury him. He had been left without any preparation because a holy day was starting as he died. The women gathered to give him a proper burial, to show him the honor that a life like his was worthy of. They worried as they waked there, realizing that they were not capable of opening the tomb which had been sealed with a large rock. They walked on though, confident that they would enter somehow and finish their work.

They arrive at the tomb to find the rock has already been moved and the guards on duty had left their station. Thoughts flood through their minds of what could have happened. Did the soldiers take their teacher and hide him away? Worse yet, have they put him out as an example somewhere? Maybe they left and grave robbers pried open the door looking for treasures that simply were not there. Whatever has happened it must not be good…

They enter though, not sure what is going to happen. Inside they find a man dressed in white, and he tells them that Christ has risen from the dead and is no longer there. They are told to leave and tell the other disciples what had happened, and where Christ would find them.

The women are described as fleeing the scene, not just leaving. They run as fast as they can because they are terrified. The two words translated as fear and amazement literally mean “trembling and ecstasy.” On one hand they are shaking with fear, but on the other they are so shocked at what just happened that they seem to be in a different world entirely. Elsewhere, “Ecstasy,” is used to describe religious visions. The women fleeing the tomb are in a new reality from what they had been in before. Before this moment, death was absolute, and now resurrection is possible. Before this moment, Christ had lost to the powers of this world, and now Christ had overcome them all.

The other Gospels include stories of the disciples meeting with Jesus and him giving further instructions of how to conduct themselves on their way to Galilee. Mark keeps it simple. Older Bibles may include a longer ending to Mark, but this was added later to make it seem more like the longer Gospels. In the original version of Mark the story is left open, because the story of what Christ has done is not over. The terror of the moment, the amazement of a new world being born, all leads to us being in this room today – and to us going into the world to do God’s will.

We all get to enjoy God’s goodness and we all are able to take part in God’s new Kingdom. The light shines in the darkness and it cannot be stopped. The sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal life is ours to make and the world needs to hear it. Our life is always meant to tell the story of God’s work in this world, but today especially we must proclaim God’s goodness. Go out into the world then, to all people you meet, and let the love of God shine out. Proclaim the resurrection and the life and celebrate. Christ has overcome all obstacles let us worship him and take part in the life we have been freely offered. – Amen.

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this: ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’ ”

They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Sermon Text

 When we gather together on Sundays, what do we tend to call our meeting? Two terms come to mind – we gather for “Service,” and we gather for “Worship.” The two terms are related, but how do we make that connection and why? What about our gathering is a service and how are we ever able to define “worship?”

The first is easier than the others. We are not, as my initial thought when I started looking at these words, calling what we do “Service,” in the sense of us helping God. That would be a strange way to talk about Sunday mornings. Service, it turns out, does not actually mean “help,” not in its literal meaning at least, though we use it that way all the time. If we trace it back to origin of the work in French and by extension Latin, then the focus moves from just helping to a more wide-reaching action. To serve is to make oneself available, to pay homage, to give oneself over to work for someone. Servitum, from which we derive the word service is also the root of “servitude,” after all.

To make the statement that we are gathering for “service,” means that we gather here on a Sunday to offer ourselves up to God. We offer ourselves up to follow what God is asking us to go into the world and do. We offer ourselves up to receive what God is offering to give to us. We offer ourselves up and empty ourselves of anything but what God would have us do and be and receive. We offer ourselves up in worship and that is why we call it, “Service.”

Worship then is the word we still have to define. What does worship mean? I’ll open that up to you all, what does it mean to worship God? All of these are aspects of what we are getting toward with worship. In English, “Worship,” comes from an older word which essentially means “to give what is owed to what is worthy.”[1] Specifically this came to mean giving something to a god that fit the status of that god in the giver’s heart. So, on this level “worship,” means to give something to God, simple enough right?

Not apparently. The concept of giving something to God is complicated enough that the Church developed two different words to describe how people give honor to something. These terms were “latria,” and “dulia.” Latria is what we give when we honor great people, lifting up heroes or saints that we celebrate for the example they give us to follow. Dulia was meant only for God though, a special kind of honor. The gifts we bring to God, whatever they may be, are therefore meant to be different and more significant than that kind we give to anything else in our life. “Worship,” then, is something special we offer up to God. Something that can be captures in presence, in prayer, singing, and in the work and resources we offer to our neighbors.

I think there’s a simpler way to understand “worship,” though, and that is with a bit of an antiquated word, “adoration.” Adoration is another word that comes out of ancient terms for worship, but it conveys something that connects more clearly to our modern understandings of language. When we hear old hymns and prayers that describe Christ as, “Our most Adorable Lord, Jesus,” it may seem weird, but I want to give you a direct examples of why that language still works. Babies. If you bring a baby into the room, people immediately and often involuntarily react. “Aww!” “How cute!” “Wow so much hair!” All kinds of reactions just happen. While this is an example of “latria,” in the old way of naming these things, I think it shows us something about how Palm Sunday happened the way it did so many centuries ago.

Today is a day that the Church celebrates “worship,” in its purest sense. When we see something come and offer ourselves up  to God, when we give God all that we can in a way we can only give to God. There was a natural outpouring in response to Jesus entering the city and it was not like anything Jerusalem had seen for years and years. People were ripping their clothes off and throwing them in the roads, tearing down trees so they could shake them and throw them on the ground as they sang. They screamed out “Hosannah!” A word we do not fully understand the meaning of today, but seems to be a deep, heart felt cry meaning something like “Save us!”

In worship we are often waiting for something to inspire us to react this way. However, the only thing that can really bring us to that place, authentically, is God. Music is nice, prayers written well are nice, but it is only an authentic meeting with God that causes us to cry out “Hallelujah!” and “Amen!” When God shows up, we react, and that can take so many forms. Hands in the air! Tears streaming down our face! Or, most frightening and powerful, a sudden impulse to give everything we have to all that God would have us do.  There are wonders at work in God’s creation and when God shows up, I pray that we can cry out like the crowd did by the gates of Jerusalem long ago.

We have Palm Sprigs in hand, we have the songs of our faith resting in our mouth, now we need to let ourselves embrace the Spirit when it comes. In Bible Study recently we saw two ways that God meets with people – spontaneously and suddenly – but also whenever God’s people called on God’s name, God appeared. We have to trust that God shows up when we gather, trust that God is at work on every day that we wake up and say “Yes!” to what God is doing. We have to be willing to see what God is up to and celebrate when the divine crosses our path. Open your eyes, open your ears! Salvation is coming! Hallelujah! Hosannah! Amen!

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[1] Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/worship,

John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Sermon Text

 There are many triumphs in a life of faith, as there are many triumphs in Christ’s story. When we look at the progression of Lent and the texts we’ve looked at, we should see that there are highs and lows for God’s people. Sometimes we are rejected by others because we pursue righteousness, yet other times we are lifted up to do something exceptional. There are times when we are called to shake the foundations of this broken world we live in and times where we are permitted in faith to simply live in the knowledge that God has done the hard work for us. We are able to do all of this, not because of our own skills or worth, but because God was willing to take on all hardship for us and raise us up in the same way Christ was raised. Every calendar year, every Church year, every aspect of life is wrapped in this ebb and flow, this rise and fall.

Today, we stand seven days from Palm Sunday, the height of Jesus’s acceptance before he was rejected and crucified. If next week brings us a high, then today we are allowed to see a low. Christ stands before his disciples and has something of a crisis as he hears that people are interested in hearing him speak. It seems strange, that Jesus should have this moment of realizing his death is near and expressing how troubled he is just because several men are asking to hear him speak, but I think there’s more to it than that, there almost always is.

The passage tells us a few things in quick succession that set the stage. Several “Greeks,” come to Phillip and ask to speak with Jesus. These are not Greek speaking Jews, there’s a different word to describe them, these are Greek God-fearers – Gentiles that worship the God of Israel.[1] They go to Phillip, who is named as a disciple from Bethsaida, a town relatively south in Galilee, but far away from central Judea. It was a place where people spoke Greek as much as they did Aramaic. They find Philip, perhaps because he was speaking Greek, and ask if he can take them to see Jesus. Philip decides to check before he does so, and so finds Andrew, and only after the two of them discuss the matter do they go on to Jesus. Jesus hears that the Greeks are looking for him and then he has the chilling reaction we read about here.

The sudden arrival of Gentiles into the story means that Jesus has succeeded in his mission of reaching the people of Judah. The selective Gentile believers here and there were just a side-affect of this outreach, but now Jesus has become known beyond his own people in a much bigger way. The era of Christ’s ministry to Judah was ending and soon his universal, resurrected ministry was going to begin. The resurrection of Christ requires something before it can happen though, and that is death. Now Christ’s time had come to free all humanity from Sin, now he was to destroy death and chase out Satan from his throne, now was the time for him to die.

We are given clues throughout Jesus’s ministry that one of the things that was given up when he took on humanity was the ability to see exactly how the future was written. Though not losing Godhood, Jesus lost many of its benefits in becoming human. There is an ability then for Jesus to be surprised, to react to something as it happens, and in this case, to have a sudden realization. Christ always knew his journey ended in a cross, but in this moment, when this message comes to him, the sudden weight of what is to come overtakes him. Jesus is no longer composed, not even especially holy, he speaks frankly to his disciples.

“I am so worried. What should I even do, ask for help? That’s not what I’m here for… I came to do this… but does that make it easier… Father, glorify your name.” A voice booms from the Heavens, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it.” The crowd thinks an angel has spoken to comfort Jesus, but Jesus responds differently, and I won’t modernize his response because the language cuts deep, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself”

Jesus was speeding toward the hardest day of his life, the day he would die a miserable death. Facing the realization of how inescapable that fate was and how close it had become, Jesus could not be comforted. A voice came from the Heavens, but not for him. His disciples would spend days with him, doing their best to lessen his pain, but Jesus moved forward intentionally, not yielding in his focus. He was worried, he was afraid, and yet he kept going because he knew what he had to do. Jesus was going to bring all people together and Jesus was going to do it by giving his life for everyone.

There is a deep sadness in this passage, but as we make the move toward Easter, I hope we can also see that there is a strange hope to it as well. Jesus unflinchingly walked toward Death, not just because he was strong – but because it was that important that he completed the work ahead of him. Jesus was afraid, Jesus wanted anything but what was set ahead of him, and yet he was willing to keep moving. Why? For us.

The voice of God thundered from Heaven, not to comfort Jesus – he knew that God was going to follow through even in this dark moment – that voice was for us who hear it even today. Christ lived a life of sacrifice, a life meant to bring life to others, and Christ did so despite fear and anxiety and a strong desire to avoid this awful pain.

If you ever feel like you cannot face what lies ahead of you, know that Jesus had that moment too. If you are ever deeply concerned, know that Jesus was too. Still, in the midst of all our worry and our fear, remember what Christ faced all his trouble for. He faced this to free us from needing to fear, from needing to face troubles alone or without hope. Christ suffered so that the judgment of the world would be settled, so that evil would lose its claim over our lives, and so that our faith would be confirmed in our consolation. Take heart, for Christ has overcome the world. – Amen

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[1] The word for “Greek,” is “Ἕλλην,” (Hellen,) while the word for “Greek Jew,” is “Ἑλληνιστής” (Hellenistes.)

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.

All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else, but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.

Sermon Text

 Life is full. It is full of work that needs to be done and worries that we can have. It is full of those moments we could just sing and the moments where all we want to do is cry. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we are always stepping into a deep river of things. They can become overwhelming, demanding everything of us at every moment. It is hard to take a rest, to find any place of security in the great sea of experience that we all struggle through. Despite that, rest is essential, and finding a foundation we can rest upon is the only way we can really find any peace.

Sometimes it can feel like a marvel, as we walk through the concrete surroundings that defines so much of our life, that plants grow up in the midst of the cracks between the cement. However, for the right kind of plant, that concrete is an ideal place. Unlikely to wash away or break, it shield their roots from their elements. Meanwhile, that little stem poking out and spreading leaves and flowers is able to take in all the sunlight and water and air it needs. Is there anything especially shocking that a well rooted, protected plant can thrive? The anchor need not be anything extravagant as long as there is something for it to grab onto.

In our own lives, as people of faith, there is a strange foundation on which Christ asks us to find rest in. We sing, of course, of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, we trust in Christ’s transformative Spirit, but that is not the image that scripture conjures again and again to give us a foundation for our ability to rest. No, I would say that those are the natural conclusions of scriptures mantra regarding why we should not worry or wrap ourselves up in fear. Strangely enough, when scripture asks us to be at peace it is almost always in the context of our own limitedness. Christ bids us come and rest  because we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, and we mortal beings who are here today and gone tomorrow.

Why is that comforting? How can we look to our short time on Earth and sign in relief instead of anxiety? Likewise, what in the world does my sinful foundation have to do with my future hope of redemption? Why are we constantly reminded of these seeming shortcomings when scripture is trying to inspire us to something better?

There is a contradiction in our lives as people of faith. We are able to be confident in what we do, not because we are especially holy or talented or good, but precisely because we are not the best at everything we set out to do. While God gives us gifts and talents – God does not make those talents perfect nor does God give us every possible talent. There are blind spots and weaknesses that we all face and those are common to all people. Despite appearances, the most sainted person in a Church community has their fair share of failings and the person who is seen as an outcast or a troublemaker, probably has something God gave them that they either do or could excel at.

Let me provide myself as an example. I was an angry child. My family was not good at expressing their feelings, and so I learned from them that shouting was a good way to get things across. That was a limitation of my flesh, imposed partly by innate predispositions in my soul and as a product of my raising. However, when I was fully aware of my limitations, I asked God and others for help, and suddenly I was not working toward being a calmer person alone. I had God on my side, I had people willing to understand my journey. Now, only two things ever make me snap at people regularly – anytime I have to put together furniture and sudden and very taxing problems.

The foundational truth of our limited nature is build upon a larger truth, namely that God is not limited. Though we can easily see scriptures description of us as having hearts prone to sin, bodies that rebel against God’s law, and minds that just don’t get it as a reason to beat ourselves up – to fall down spiraling rabbit holes of self-hatred – God means us to see this as a leveling statement. We are all of us sinners, yes, but we are all of us loved by a God who went from Heaven to Earth, Earth to the Grave, and all the way back again just so we could had a chance to break from all that trouble.

Ever wonder why God forgives us our sins, long before we get any better at not sinning? Why we can come back to God when we fail and trust we will be given another chance? It is not because God wants to write as many blank checks for salvation as God can. No, instead it is because God earnestly believes that the foundational thing shared by all humans is our mortality, and the greatest gift God can give us is hope for a second chance.[1] It can seem paradoxical that we are freed and lifted up by acknowledging our weakness, but the foundation of our faith is that while we are weak God is strong. Again, not so we develop complexes about how awful we are, but so that in every good things we do and every good habit we develop, we can see God’s Spirit at work,

I said at the outset that scripture often gives us our own human failing as the foundation of our hope in what Christ did. I say that intentionally because the reality of my shortcomings is often more obvious to me than anything God has done. I know I will die and I know that I sin. Those two things I trust will always lurk in my mind. If I know that is true about me, and scripture tells me that I am not alone, but that all people have this same struggle, I can look around and see that it is true. No wonder then, that I feel hopeful when scripture tells me that God is greater than either death or Sin. That I can grow to become better, and enjoy more of this life, because God is not done with me or with humanity.

I grew up in a church that wanted us to be ashamed a lot. Girls were always told that they were tempting boys, boys were always told that they were neglecting God for sports. If we did anything commendable, anything good, we were also reprimanded with the idea that even our best work was like dirty rags to God. It was not an environment that inspired hope. I believe it is because the youth minister I had, had never understood what we talked about this morning. God does not hold sin and death over our heads, God breaks the chains of sin and death. We bring the reality of sin and death with us wherever we are, God simply points to it, holds out a key, and asks if we would like to be free.

Free from the need to chase after empty things that do not comfort us. Free from the need to fight each other over crumbs of attention. Free from the need to sin and sin again, just for an inkling of something meaningful. God points to our sin, not to send us down into a bog of self-hatred, but to acknowledge what we already know. We are lost and weighed down and we need help to get out. We are offered redemption and we are given it freely. My hope is built upon Christ and all that he has done, and when I need inspiration to keep moving toward his ideal, oddly enough it helps for me to take a moment and acknowledge first how frail I am.

Christ did not sin, so he did not have these problems I have. Yet, he lived a life just like mine. If I follow his example, I may just be able to live a fraction of the life Christ lived. Yet, I am limited, I could not do it alone. Thanks be to God, that when we remember our sin, we as people of faith are not called to be lost in it. We mourn the harm we have caused, we make up for the damage we have inflicted upon others, but we do not sit and wallow in it. When we see our Sin for what it is, it naturally follows that we see how much bigger Christ is than it, and somehow we can grow, we can be redeemed, as we once never could have dreamt. – Amen

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[1] This is discussed at length in Barbara Brown Taylor’s Speaking of Sin.