salvagedfaith

The Sorcerer and the Eunuch

Posted on June 27, 2021Leave a comment

Text: Acts 8: 4-6, 9-10, 12-13, 15-24; 26-27, 29-31, 34-39

Last week, the Jerusalem community of disciples was shaken when Stephen, one of the first deacons, was killed for his beliefs.

The church scattered and one of those deacons, Philip, found himself in Samaria, preaching Christ.

That moment of tragedy and the threat of persecution could not stop the good news from moving beyond Jerusalem… to Samaria… to the ends of the earth.

Before we get too far this morning… why Samaria?

Why is this place so important?

Well, first, we have to remember that Samaria isn’t a far flung place, but had been right in the center of Jesus’ ministry. In order to get from Jerusalem to Galilee you had to pass through… Samaria!

The Samaritans were distant cousins, “lost sheep of Israel” as J. Jervell describes them.

These neighbors were not Gentiles, not complete outsiders to the Jewish faith, but there were differences between more traditional Jews and their Samaritan kin that created animosity and division.

The reason the story of the Good Samaritan was so controversial was the very fact that the priest and Levite – faithful Jewish folks – didn’t stop… but the Samaritan, whom the crowds would have expected to do the wrong thing, did.

This is where Jesus promises that the ministry of the church will spread first.

From Jersualem… to Samaria… to the ends of the earth.

This journey of Acts starts with the Jewish faithful… but then it starts to take root in those who are on the fringes of God’s people.

Philip finds in Samaria an audience that is eager to hear more about Jesus and the good news.

But his ministry in this chapter is largely the story of how two folks on the fringe of faith receive the invitation.

The sorcerer and the eunuch.

One arrogant and brash, the other humble and full of questions.

For one, the power of the Holy Spirit is a commodity to be bought and sold, possessed and tamed.

For the other, that power is precious, mysterious, and a gift to be treated delicately.

Let’s dive in deeper.

In Samaria, “Simon the Great” was known throughout the area for his dazzling performances of sorcery.

But he finds that notoriety fading as a new player, the deacon Philip, comes on the scene.

Suddenly, it is someone else doing the healing…

Someone else drawing the crowds…

And Simon Magus, himself, is astonished by the power that this follower of Christ displays.

He is overcome by the good news of God and joins in the fellowship of believers.

But we get the sense that stepping out of the limelight was a really rough transition.

Simon misses drawing a crowd and being the center of attention.

Now, there is an interesting point here that I want to mention.

Philip, as a deacon, appears to have the authority to preach and to baptize folks, but it wasn’t until the apostles Peter and John show up that the gift of the Holy Spirit was received.

Philip had the gift of the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t have the ability to share it with others.

The apostles did. They began to lay hands on folks so that they, too, could be filled with the Spirit, and when Simon Magus sees this, he suddenly wants their job.

He perceives the Holy Spirit as a kind of magical ability that could be possessed and he wants to take it on the road to give some new audience a show.

So this former sorcerer runs up and throws down a bag of coins… “Give me that authority!” he demands.

Faith in Jesus Christ is a new part of Simon’s life and so he naturally starts from what he knows and where he is gifted. He knows how to draw a crowd and perform and thinks…“I could do that.”

What he has misunderstood, however, is that the Holy Spirit isn’t interested in being possessed. The apostle Peter calls him out and rebukes him for trying to buy God’s gifts.

We remember what happened not that long ago to the likes of Ananias and Sapphira and you almost have to hold your breath waiting for Simon Magus to drop dead.

But he is invited to pray, to repent, and our last impression of this sorcerer has him asking the apostles to intercede on his behalf.

Maybe there is hope for him, after all.

After this encounter, Philip is led by the Holy Spirit in a different direction, this time southwest of Jerusalem to another person on the fringes of the Jewish faith.

Whereas in Samaria, the Holy Spirit was a power that amazed, in this story, she seems to be moving subtly behind the scenes.

Our text tells us that this individual was coming from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for worship in the temple. We might assume that they were a God-fearer… a term used for those who followed the God of Israel, but like Samaritans, they found himself on the margins.

In this case, it wasn’t because of their own religious history, but because of their identity.

Luke tells us the passenger in the carriage was an Ethiopian eunuch – which might not mean a whole lot to us today – so I appreciate Gary DeLashmutt’s more modern description: this was a “sexually altered black man from a pagan country.” [1]

Despite their standing in the court of the queen of Ethiopia, their wealth, and all the power they did possess, this eunuch knew they could not buy a place in the family of God. They understood the barriers.

And yet, we can’t help but ignore that the eunuch is reading the words of the prophet Isaiah – who talked about Ethiopia’s inclusion in God’s blessings (18:1, 45:15) and who shared God’s promise that outcasts like eunuchs and foreigners who kept the Sabbath would be welcomed in God’s family (see chapter 56). They knew how important scripture was in their quest for a relationship with God… even though they were on the fringes of the Jewish faith.

The Holy Spirit brought these two together in this moment and Philip climbs in the carriage to lead a Bible Study. And in this dialogue with Philip, they discovered someone who, according to DeLashmutt, “understood that their standing with God was based not on ethnic identity, moral record, religious heritage, etc.—but through Jesus’ death alone…”

Philip is led by the Holy Spirit to tell this fellow sojourner the good news about Jesus and the eunuch is ready and eager to receive this word and join in the fellowship.

In spite of the lingering suspicion that the answer might be no, when the eunuch and Philip come to a small oasis of water by the side of the road, they ask a heartbreaking question: “What would prevent me from being baptized?”

It is not a demand, it is a humble question of faith from someone who has everything in the world… except for a place in the family of God.

Because they were castrated, this eunuch could never have completed the conversion to Judaism – which would have included circumcision and then baptism.

But if it is the death and resurrection and exaltation of Jesus that brings us salvation, and if this eunuch has taken this message to heart, why should anything stand in their way?

Philip is led by the Holy Spirit to baptize the eunuch and they go on their way rejoicing.

The story of the church began with a small crowd in Jerusalem, but already it is defying our expectations.

Those on the fringes are ready and eager to hear the good news and to join in the community of God’s people.

They might not all respond in the way that we want them to and there are sure to be challenges along the way… but the Holy Spirit is constantly reminding us… we don’t get to control who hears the message.

[1] https://teachings.xenos.org/es/teaching/1484

Go. Do. Teach

Posted on June 20, 2021Leave a comment

Acts 6:8-15, 7:51-8:3

A father was trying to teach his three sons to do their fair share of the house cleaning. The first place that he started was the bathroom.

Dad crammed the three boys into the room and proceeded to clean the toilet in front of them.

Alright, I’ve showed them, the father thought. Next time, they can do it.

So, the next Saturday came, and the father set the boys to work. They wiped off the counter tops, cleaned the mirror and then stared at the toilet.

“How does that work again, Dad?” “Will you show us one more time?”

Dad got down on his hands and knees and cleaned the toilet again for their benefit.

Next Saturday… same situation… The boys couldn’t or didn’t want to learn how to do it.

So Dad got an idea. He called in the eldest son and showed him how to do it. Then he had the oldest son repeat what he had done – only on the clean toilet.

The following Saturday, Dad brought the oldest and the middle son into the bathroom.

“Okay son… now you teach your brother how to clean this toilet. Show him, what I showed you.”

Lo and behold, the toilet got clean!

The next Saturday, Dad had his middle and youngest sons come into the bathroom.

Again, the older child taught the younger one what to do, with no problems.

Having run out of children, the next Saturday, Dad took the youngest son and their dog into the bathroom. “Alright son, teach Rufus here how to clean the toilet.”

The father never had to clean another toilet again!

What we find in the scriptures is a very familiar story.

Jesus spent the entirety of the gospels showing the disciples how to live.

He is like the father who gets down on his hands and knees to clean the toilet.

This is what you should be and do.

This is how you should live.

Feed the hungry.

Love the sinners.

Seek the lost.

Take care of one another.

And if we follow the story of the disciples through the gospels, they don’t get it.

Jesus keeps showing them again and again and again.

Like the three boys in the bathroom staring at a toilet, we faithful believers often find ourselves staring at the Way of Jesus and don’t quite know what to do.

Ever pass by a homeless person on a street corner and pray: “I just wish you would show me how to help that person, God”

Or get into a fight with someone you disagreed with and said: “Jesus, just show me how to stand up for my beliefs in love!”

The task is daunting.

It is overwhelming.

It is messy and real.

We don’t want other people to see us on our hands and knees like that.

And so keep saying… Will you show me again?

GK Chesterton once penned, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”

Eventually, we must stop watching and start doing.

As Jesus told the disciples in John 14, “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.”

Faith or belief is not about having the right theological opinion.

It is about placing your life in God’s hands.

To believe in God… to believe in Jesus… means to trust that God is already working through your life and that God has given you everything you need to love or serve or pray.

Faith equals action.

I’m giving you this task, Jesus says. And you can do it. I don’t have to show you anymore.

But even more than that… not only can you do it… but you can help others to do it.

As Jesus tells them in the Great Commission:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20).

Go. Do. Teach.

That is the story of the book of Acts.

It is the story of how the apostles stopped asking Jesus to show them and started to do.

They accepted the gift of the Holy Spirit into their lives.

And they got up in front of everyone and started to teach and share.

Because they did, others began to see… and do… and teach in turn.

Others began to follow the way of Jesus.

Including a man named Stephen.

Stephen seems to appear pretty suddenly on the scene.

He is one of the seven people who were set apart to serve the widows, as we talked about last week.

But there was also something that really stood out about this particular guy.

He got it.

He was full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit… which meant he was full of action.

Stephen didn’t sit back, watching… He did it.

He trusted God was with him, that the Holy Spirit had his back, and that he was called to act.

He served tables.

He cleaned toilets… or he would have, if they had toilets like ours.

He made sure that the neglected were cared for.

Just as Jesus promised, Stephen started to do amazing things in the name of God.

And just as Jesus has experienced, all of those wonders and signs began to stir up opposition.

If you have been following along with our daily readings, you know that this isn’t the first time that these early followers of Christ got in trouble.

The high priest and the Sadducees had already arrested the apostles and threatened them to stop talking about Jesus.

But they stood firm in their beliefs… in fact, celebrated that they were worthy to suffer, as Jesus had.

They were let go… that time… but in doing so, they showed people who came after them, like Stephen, how he should respond to slander and opposition.

Trust in God. Hang on to the faith. Speak your truth.

When people began to conspire against Stephen, he didn’t back down and wait for someone to show him what to do next.

He trusted. He believed. He opened his mouth and let God speak through him.

We didn’t take the time this morning to read ALL of Stephen’s speech before the Jerusalem Council… but in it, he renounced the false rumors and retold the story of God’s people from the Torah.

Stephen compared these leaders to those who rejected God’s prophets and calls them out for being too focused on the things of this earth.

In doing so, he claimed they were fighting against the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, as it moves among the followers of Jesus.

What is different about Stephen’s story is that the Council no longer has any patience for this rebellion and these comparisons.

Like Pharoah whose heart was hardened, they would not let him go.

And suddenly, Stephen realizes the path that lies before him.

He watched as Jesus gave up his life and now it is his turn to go and to do.

Even as these leaders react with anger and fear, this young man responds with love and grace.

“Accept my life, Jesus,” he cries out. “and don’t hold this against them.”

Jesus showed these first Christians what it meant to live according to the Kingdom of God.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen claimed his ability to go and do likewise.

What Stephen may never have anticipated is that his death taught others how to keep going.

This was a turning point for the early church and opposition began to come from every direction.

Even as the community in Jerusalem began to scatter, they carried with them his story.

They learned from his witness and found the ability, themselves, to stand firmly in the faith.

And not just those who were on God’s side…

Standing there that day was a man named Saul who not only approved of Stephen’s murder, but led the charge to persecute the church.

But unbeknownst to him, seeds of truth were planted in his heart that day.

A spark that would forever change his life.

In a few weeks, we are going to talk about his journey from Saul to Paul but for today let us simply say this…

We are not called to sit back and watch.

Our job is not to keep asking for Jesus to show us how to live.

We are called to go and do likewise.

You know what to do… reach out your hand and do it.

Trust that God is with you and speak the words you need to say.

And bring others along with you, teaching and showing them how to do it, too.

Jesus said that we would do even greater things that he did.

And I think that is true because as the Body of Christ, the people of God, we will reach farther and wider than one person every could… holding, guiding, encouraging, learning together how to make the Kingdom of Heaven a reality here and now.

We have already been shown how.

Now, we just need to go… and do… and teach.

May it be so.

Real Church is Messy

Posted on June 13, 2021Leave a comment

Acts 5:1-11, 6:1-7

This summer, as we study together through the book of Acts, I wish that we could talk about every single verse… but we simply don’t have time.

So I hope that you are checking out our daily video devotion – which can be found on our facebook page OR on our church website.

In fact, we made it even easier to find on our website… just go to iumc.org and scroll to the bottom and you’ll find the latest three posted right there!

Today, we are skipping over chapter three and four and diving into more of what it meant for these first faithful folks to live with one another.

Two weeks ago, our Director of Youth Ministry stood here and shared this beautiful, rosy picture of a church community that seemed perfect.

They devoted themselves to prayer and teaching and fellowship and sold everything they had and make sure everyone’s needs were met.

And, if you are anything like me, we hold our own imperfect, human community up to that standard and get a bit discouraged.

But never fear… things were not as perfect as they seemed.

This community was messy.

After all, it was full of humans, too.

Real humans with real problems.

People who are dishonest.

Others who are ignored.

There is jealousy, and complaining, and growing pains.

It is church, after all.

So let’s dive into the dirt and the muck as problems of the church appear in chapters 5 and 6.

First, we’ve got a problem that results from dishonesty and disrespect.

In our short video clip from The Bible Project, we are reminded once again of the temple.

God’s presence once led the people through the wilderness.

Then it was understood to dwell in the temple in Jerusalem… a building… and people would travel to Jerusalem to encounter God’s holiness.

But the story of Pentecost is how God’s presence now fills individuals through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Body of Christ is the temple.

I am the temple of God.

YOU are the temple of God.

And so we have these lovely, good, and holy things happening that would you would expect in God’s presence… teaching and fellowship and reaching out to the needy.

But when we say that something is holy, we also have to acknowledge the danger.

We stand in God’s presence with fear, with awe, with trembling…

There is a line I love in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by CS Lewis which captures this idea perfectly.

The lion, Aslan, is a Christ figure in the narrative and one of the children is apprehensive…

“Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”…
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King; I tell you.”

God isn’t safe.

But God is good.

And God calls us to a better way of living.

We don’t have to be perfect.

But we do need to bring our full selves into this community.

We can’t simply dip our toes into the water and pretend.

In fact, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is not about how this couple should have sold all they had and given it to the community.

It was about the fact that they lied.

They could have chosen NOT to sell their property.

Or they could have sold the property and chosen to be up front about keeping some of the funds.

But they wanted all of the benefits and glory without actually doing the work.

As Peter says, they lied to the community and they lied to the Holy Spirit.

They disrespected the presence of God that was dwelling in their midst and are struck dead.

I started thinking about that scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Nazis think that they can open the Ark of the Covenant and take the power of God for themselves…

Dr. Jones and Marian know that God’s power is holy… They shut their eyes and refuse to look.

But the Nazis have no respect for God… only what God can do for them… and when they reach in to take it with fury and fire, God’s presence overwhelms them and their faces melt off.

Just like the priests in Leviticus who disrespected God in the temple.

You can’t use the presence of God for your own selfish purposes and you shouldn’t reach beyond your own limitations.

When I think about how we might apply this lesson to our relationships with one another today, I think about that idea of respecting the presence of God that dwells within each of us.

We need to respect one another enough to be honest.

If you aren’t able to say yes, then you should have the freedom and ability to say no.

We don’t have to pretend, but can simply bring ourselves and our gifts into this community without apologizing.

Whether they are gifts of finances, or time, or abilities and talents that you might offer.

You don’t have to sell everything you have to be included, or sign up to serve on every committee.

In fact, as we heard in one of our daily devotions earlier this week, you don’t even have to have a penny to your name.

Honor what you have.

Offer what you can.

God’s Spirit dwells within you and your gifts, however big or small, matter.

A flip side to this is that each one of us is called to honor and respect the gifts of others.

Sometimes we find ourselves in that ugly, jealous, comparative mode.

We think that someone is offering too little… and then rub it in or make them feel guilty.

Or we get overwhelmed by what someone else can do and become ashamed about our own value.

God’s presence is working through every person.

Be grateful and honor the faithfulness of each person you encounter in this community.

Our job is not to compare what other people can do… but to celebrate what every person offers.

The second real community problem that this early church struggles with has to do with some growing pains and, to be honest, some discriminatory behavior.

As the community kept growing, suddenly they began to notice there were differences among them.

It was all nice and good and warm and fuzzy to be able to hear in new languages on that day of Pentecost… but it’s a whole other kind of conversation to figure out how all of these different groups are actually going to live together.

And some people began to raise real and honest questions about equity in their midst.

While it might not have been intentioned, the widows who came from a more Greek, or Hellenistic cultural background, were being neglected compared to those who identified more with the Hebrew culture.

Someone stood up, and basically said, “Greek widows matter, too.”

If we are going to be a community that takes care of the needs of everyone, then we need to do what we say.

And when we aren’t living up to that value, if we are overlooking someone, then we need to address it.

What I love about this story is that there is an obvious flaw and problem in the community.

But the leadership listens and calls together the people to solve the problem.

And then they think outside the box.

They don’t just add a task to the job description of those who were already leading, but come up with a new and creative solution that actually allows more people to serve and engage in the work.

The church lifts up new leaders who can help make sure that each person is cared for in the way they deserve.

And these new deacons, servants, are blessed… commissioned… into this ministry of waiting tables.

Friends, we will encounter problems in our church and in our larger community.

There are times when we will be come aware that someone or a group of folks has not been treated fairly.

In fact, I’ve had this on my mind as we think about how this coming Saturday, our nation celebrates Juneteenth.

You know, I’ve never really thought about Juneteenth as a national holiday.

I’m going to be totally honest, I didn’t know what it was and maybe you don’t either.

Juneteenth is the day we commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.

This date comes two and a half YEARS after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation… but remember, this was not a time of 24/7 cable news.

It wasn’t until General Lee finally surrendered in April of 1865 and Union troops landed in Texas on June 19^th that the war ended and the word reached these communities that all slaves were free.

Now, every single American should claim this day as our own.

We didn’t always get it right, just as the early Christian community didn’t always get it right.

But we can do something about the harm.

We can listen to the pain and we can work for a better future.

And we can celebrate the steps we have taken, the leaders we have raised up, and claim the task that is still before us.

The early church was not perfect.

Because it was filled with imperfect people who were learning and growing and still discovering what it meant to follow Jesus.

And friends, we aren’t perfect either.

We are going to get it wrong.

We are going to make mistakes.

We are going to have days when we focus on ourselves and what we want and forget about others.

But the word I find in these chapters of Acts is this:

We are the Body of Christ, the dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and how we treat one another matters.

So we should hold one another accountable.

We should honor the presence of God that lives within us.

And we should keep working to do better every day.

May it be so.

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us!

Posted on May 23, 2021Leave a comment

Text: Luke 4:18-19, Acts 1:8, 2:1-4, 38-39

One of the things that we have re-discovered and remembered this year is that church is not a building.

We have a building, sure.

But the church is the people.

You and me.

The body of Christ.

In the same way, the presence of God is not confined to this physical structure.

And, we don’t have to travel to the Holy Land to be in the presence of God.

It is right here.

Among us.

Wherever two or three are gathered, there I am… Jesus said. (Matthew 18)

Well, that is exactly what happened on that Pentecost morning.

The disciples were gathered together, worshipping, praying, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen next.

Waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit.

And then there was a sound…

Like the howling of a fierce wind…

The entire room was filled with an overwhelming presence…

Tongues of fire danced over their heads…

The Spirit of the Lord was upon them.

The presence of God was right there, in their midst.

When the Spirit of the Lord first appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he heard the call to go back to Egypt and liberate the oppressed.

That power and presence of God released the slaves and set them free for the promised land.

Through a pillar of fire and smoke, the Spirit of the Lord was with the people as they journeyed.

God provided food for their hunger and water for their thirst.

God led them and healed them.

God dwelt among them.

On the mountaintop, the power and presence of God was seen for miles around in wind and fire and Moses journeyed back down forever changed.

He brought with him commandments that would allow them to live according to God’s will.

Laws to help them love God and to love their neighbor.

God wanted this people to bear God’s image to the world.

Yet, as time went on, and the people became settled and rubbed shoulders with folks from lots of different places and cultures, it became harder and harder to stay connected to God’s presence and power.

While the spirit of God continued to call prophets and leaders to keep reminding the people, it was easy to forget about a God who dwelt somewhere else.

So God decided to dwell among the people again.

The Word became flesh.

Jesus entered our lives.

And the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.

As Luke tells us, the Spirit of the Lord sent him forth to preach good news to the poor and heal the sick and to set people free.

People experienced the presence of God through his touch and his words.

And then Jesus promised this same power would be given to the people.

That the Spirit of God would come upon them.

That the presence and power of God would dwell in them.

And they, too, would be sent forth to preach, and to heal, and to change the world.

God would turn the world upside down starting in Jerusalem… heading out to Samaria… and to the ends of the earth.

This was not a promise just for the disciples.

Not just for the Jewish people.

God’s Spirit was pouring out on all people.

On that day of Pentecost, tongues of fire danced over their heads.

God’s presence filled their hearts.

And people from every corner of the world experienced it.

They heard God speaking to them.

They felt God’s presence among them.

And they allowed the gift of the Spirit to fill their lives.

Three thousand people were added to their community.

It is good to be in this space together with folks once again.

But I have to be honest… It is not the space that makes this time of worship holy.

The psalmist may have cried out “How lovely is your dwelling place” and at the time they were talking about the temple.

But the miracle of Pentecost is that the spirit of God dwells in you.

The very presence of God that set that shrub in the wilderness on fire…

And that led the people of Israel through…

That dwelt in the temple…

That filled the life of Jesus Christ…

The Spirit of God filled those first disciples… and then three thousand…

Through them, the presence and power of God moved from Jerusalem…

To Samaria…

To Rome…

And across the oceans…

And right now God’s spirit is upon you.

God’s power dwells in you.

Oh, and how lovely are your faces.

God’s presence is right here in this very room because you are here.

God is with you at home… on your couch… sitting around the kitchen table.

Because the gift of the Holy Spirit is yours.

Right here in the greater Des Moines area, God is with us.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us right here in this city…

One of the unexpected miracles of Pentecost was the way that this presence of God brought people together.

In the time of exile, Jewish faithful were scattered the winds.

They made their homes in far away places and learned new cultures and languages.

But when able they made the pilgrimage back to Jerusalem to be in the presence of God.

Over these last fourteen months, we have felt a bit scattered to the winds.

We have felt like we were in exile.

Exiled from one another and familiar places.

But that exile is not just a result of quarantines and distancing.

This past year we have experienced political discord and division in our responses to racism and vaccinations and masks.

Although the official language we might speak is the same, the words we use have meanings that separate us.

And so even when we gather in the same space, we are not unlike those pilgrims to Jerusalem who can’t understand one another.

When I read through these verses in Acts once again, I am reminded that this division and discord is not what God intends for us.

As Jana Childers writes in their commentary on this passage, “The human community… begins to be mended. As the Spirit arrives… instead of widening confusion, there is dawning comprehension, incipient reunion. What was divided is mended… The Spirit-baptized are drawn together, this time in the Spirit’s power, for the purposes of extending the realm of God.” [1]

We are drawn together in the Spirit’s power to extend the realm of God.

When Jesus stood up in the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry, he read from the scroll of Isaiah.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he said,

God has chosen me to preach good news to the poor.

To offer forgiveness and pardon to prisoners.

To be an agent of healing and ease the load of the burdened.

And when he finished reading he sat down and told the people, “Scripture came true just now in this place.”

Right there in Nazareth, the realm of God, the Kingdom of God, was at hand.

The as the disciples claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit and began to preach and teach and heal in Jesus’ name… the realm of God became a reality on the streets of Jerusalem.

People who had been divided began to hear and understand.

It didn’t matter their background or their language or their culture… the presence and power of God rested upon them as the Holy Spirit danced in their midst.

And over the course of this summer, we are going to explore just what it meant for those first disciples to be led by the Holy Spirit and how the realm of God expanded.

We’ll learn about what it means to be a community centered in God.

How to speak God’s truth in the face of opposition.

Along the way, we’ll meet sorcerers and centurions and kings.

We’ll experience earthquakes and shipwrecks, tragedy and miracles.

In the footsteps of Peter and Paul, Barnabas and Silas, Lydia and Tabitha, we will witness how the Spirit of God becomes known to the people of Antioch and Damascus, Lystra and Philippi.

And we will discover how we are “part of the widening circle begun in Acts – part of the growing momentum, building ripple by ripple…”[2] until the realm of God stretches to every corner of this world.

As United Methodists, we see ourselves as part of that widening circle. In our Book of Discipline, we claim that:

“Guided by the Holy Spirit, United Methodist churches throughout the world are called afresh into a covenant of mutual commitment based on shared mission, equity, and hospitality… we commit ourselves to crossing boundaries of language, culture, and social or economic status. We commit ourselves to be in ministry with all people, as we, in faithfulness to the gospel, seek to grow in mutual love and trust. We participate in God’s mission as partners in ministry, recognizing that our God-given gifts, experiences, and resources are of equal value… creating a new sense of community and joyously living out our worldwide connection in our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” [3]

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us right here in Des Moines.

We might have a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds and gifts, but there is one Spirit.

And right here in this city, God is calling us afresh to focus on our mission… to cherish what each person uniquely brings… and to reach out in love welcoming all.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to bring good news and offer forgiveness and heal what is broken and divided.

May the winds of the spirit blow…

Amen.

[1] Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 3, page 19.

[2] Ibid.

[3] 2016 Book of Discipline, ¶125, p. 95-96

You Will Be My Witnesses

Posted on May 16, 2021Leave a comment

Text: Luke 24:44-50, Acts 1: 9-11

Forty days after Jesus rose from the grave and conquered death, he led the disciples out to the countryside to the little town of Bethany. And he reminded them of everything he had done.

Jesus reminded them of how he healed and forgave.

He reminded them of his words and truth.

He connected the dots for them and helped them to understand his suffering and death.

I’m pretty sure that he probably talked about love.

And then he said five simple words: “you will be my witnesses.”

He blessed them.

And he left them.

On that day, forty days after Easter, Jesus was taken up into heaven.

And the disciples, our scripture says, returned to Jerusalem with joy in their hearts to spend time in worship and prayer and to wait.

You will be my witnesses.

You know, we started this series on what it means to practice resurrection by talking about how we are called to be the living witnesses of the resurrection.

We are the proof that Jesus is alive and that God is real and that the Holy Spirit is moving.

Everything we say and do is a sign to the world of the reality of resurrection power.

There are some days, however, when I wrestle with why Jesus couldn’t have just stayed with us and done all of this himself.

Wouldn’t it be so much better if Jesus was standing here teaching and preaching? Leading us? Showing us how to live?

There are so many problems that we face in the world today…

The ravages of illness and death…

The exploitation of workers…

Natural disasters…

And then there are the political tensions and violence…

Our scripture today takes place in Bethany – just two miles from Jerusalem in the time of Jesus.

But today, that journey would require traveling from Israel into the West Bank through a separation barrier.

Today, the conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli people over land and the right to exist and live and move freely makes this a dangerous place.

As rockets and missiles fire, and the death toll rises… especially among the Palestinians who are far more vulnerable.

How I long and pray for peace for these peoples.

And how I wish that in that very spot where Jesus once stood, he might stand again, raise his hands, and breathe peace upon the world.

What is the ascension all about? Why is it good news?

Why were the disciples… who were so scared and timid in the days after his death, so filled with joy at this experience?

This language of going up or ascending is really the “language of enthronement.” (GBOD)

In the ascension of Jesus, he rises not simply from the grave, but up to his full authority.

He no longer walks and talks among us but he is now “seated at the right hand of the Father.”

He is no longer the prophetic carpenter from Galilee, but he has risen to his fullest stature as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The ascension is the completion of the resurrection.

And that is a good and holy and awesome thing.

But there is something else to the ascension that we often miss.

In the incarnation of Jesus, we celebrate the word of God was made flesh. We witness how God came down and was born as a tiny babe in Bethlehem.

Every aspect of our human life was experienced by God.

Love and loss.

Stubbed toes and broken promises.

Laughter and tears.

Disappointment and overwhelming joy.

Fear and grief.

Jesus experienced the fullness of our lives – and the ultimate depths of suffering and death.

God entered our humanity in the birth of Jesus… that little child who was fully divine.

And when Jesus Christ – a man of flesh and blood, a fully human being who ate and drank and lived and died – when Christ is taken up into heaven, all of humanity is taken up to God also.

These two moments: the incarnation and the ascension unite the human and the divine. They establish an unbreakable relationship.

And so we don’t need to stand on the Mount of Bethany, with our mouths open, staring at the sky waiting for Jesus.

As the angels – those messengers in white robes who show up remind the disciples – ask, what are you doing standing around for?

Jesus has not left us… he has united us with the divine.

“You will be furnished with heavenly power,” he says as he is carried up into heaven.

You will be my witnesses.

You are going to tell my story.

Jesus blesses us and empowers us to carry on the work of love and grace and transformation in the world.

To be the people of the resurrection.

As I think about our graduating seniors, I think about how this time of transition is just like that blessing and ascension moment.

For years, we have been pouring our love and faith into you.

Today, we have the opportunity to bless you and send you out into whatever God has prepared next for your lives.

But you aren’t leaving us.

And we aren’t leaving you.

We are simply moving into a new phase of our relationship and lives together.

You are crossing a threshold and claiming your lives in new ways.

You are going out to be witnesses for Jesus.

To tell the world what Jesus has done.

To love people as Jesus has loved us.

To share God’s kingdom with the world… as you learn and grow and teach and play and serve.

But there is another truth here…

Sometimes, I bet you as students have heard that your real life begins after you graduate.

But you have been pouring love and ministry back into us through your leadership and energy and service and witness this whole time.

You are not the future of the church… you ARE the church and have been the church.

You didn’t have to wait until you graduate or until you finish college or get a job… you get to serve Christ right now.

One church put on their sign, “We believe in life before death.”

And in the church, just like we sometimes get it wrong about our young people…

We can get so caught up in life after death, in what happens up there with Jesus and whether or not we are going up there, that we forget about this life.

Jesus invites us to live before we die.

He invites us to go and share and tell and bless and love.

He invites us to not only live, but to share new life with the broken and hurting of this world.

William Herzog II writes that “neither resurrection nor ascension is about human longing for life after death. Resurrection is a call to mission. Nothing is said about the disciple’s resurrection… they are focused on waiting… until the mantle passes to them and the power from on high endows them for the mission ahead.” (Daily Feast, Year C, pg 277)

We practice resurrection and work to make God’s will happen on earth as it is in heaven.

We practice resurrection because the Kingdom of God has come.

And in the ascension, we are connected and reminded of the divine power that will allow us to do so.

You know, those disciples were asked to wait… but they didn’t have to wait long.

Next week is Pentecost Sunday and after just ten days of praying and praising and expectation, the Holy Spirit rushed into their lives and forever changed the world.

You know… if Jesus had simply stayed with us – he would have just been one person.

But the Body of Christ… the church… is greater than one man.

And we are going to explore in these coming months how those first disciples claimed the power of the resurrection.

How they found the courage to speak God’s truth.

How they reached out in love.

And how the message of Christ moved from Jerusalem, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Quick spoiler alert… it wasn’t easy.

At times it felt impossible.

As impossible as it might feel today to pray and work for peace for the Palestinian and Israeli people… or to respond to a natural disaster… or to navigate forces of oppression… but…

That is our mission.

To receive God’s power.

To share God’s love.

And to change the world.

May it be so.

Shoulder to Shoulder

Posted on May 9, 2021Leave a comment

Text: John 15:9-15

Exactly one month before the pandemic began, I got away for a few days with some of my best friends in the world.

Stasia and I have been friends since Kindergarten.

Cara and I were assigned to the same table group in fourth grade.

Jana moved into town in seventh grade.

And somewhere in between, Anna and Theresa rounded out our small group.

We forged our friendship in those awkward and complicated years of middle school, where boyfriends changed all the time and school work increased and you never knew who was in and who was out.

But we fit together. We somehow found a way through high school and cheered one another on. We made mistakes and had fights and stayed up way too late making silly home videos.

When we all went our separate ways in college, we began to drift and build new lives…

To be honest, there have been times when there is little that we hold in common, but the bond that we forged is stronger than acquaintances that have come and gone.

Even after twenty-five years, we still try to get together at least once a year to catch up.

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve texted and called and been more connected than perhaps we have been in the last few years.

Somehow this time of isolation has also been a time to really touch base with your people.

The ones that you know will always be there.

Through thick and thin, and joys and struggles.

I know some of you have friends like that in your life.

Whether it is your sister or bible study partner or neighbor or your friend from elementary school.

People that are there for you no matter what and who make you a better person.

And people for whom you are willing to do the same.

As we continue this week to think about what it means to practice resurrection, we find ourselves once again in the farewell speech of Jesus in John’s gospel.

And if we didn’t get the message last week… or the week before that… or any of the other twelve times it shows up in the New Testament… here it is again:

“This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

This isn’t a suggestion or a recommendation.

The Word of God is standing before the disciples and giving them a new commandment.

A commandment on par with the greatest commandment – to love God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This goes one step farther.

We are commanded to love others in the way Jesus has loved us.

And then Jesus goes on to tell us what that love looks like.

It looks like sharing your life with your friends… putting your life on the line for your people.

If we do this… we are his friends.

Now, I don’t know about you, but usually my friends don’t go around commanding me to do things.

When I hear the word “command” my mind goes to the word “obey.”

And I obey largely because someone or something has authority over me.

Because I recognize their power to speak truth and direction into my life.

But Jesus turns this idea upside down.

He rejects the idea that he is our master and we are slaves or servants.

Jesus calls us friends.

I think to understand this, we might need to go back and remember what it means to be a friend in the time of Jesus.

If we go back to the original Greek, Jesus uses the word philos to describe this kind of relationship.

It is rooted in philia, one of the four ancient Greek words for love, and the one usually referred to as “brotherly love.”

Think – Philadelphia.

When Aristotle wrote about philia, some three hundred years before Jesus was born, he described friendship as a kind of mutual affection between two parties.

But it goes beyond simply feelings; philia is wanting good for another person, for their sake and not your own. And, it is actively working, as far as you can, to help that good come into being. (Aristotle, Rhetoric)

That is deeper than mere camaraderie or getting together to watch a game or share a hobby.

C.S. Lewis, as he reflects upon these four types of love says that in romantic love, eros, two people stand face-to-face, eyes on one another.

But in philia love, you stand shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the world. You find your place alongside another and your strengths become their strengths. You urge one another on to accomplish something larger than yourself.

“To the Ancients,” he writes, “Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it.”

We can all think of acquaintances and people that we hang out with… people we might call friends.

But it is far more difficult to name those people who stand by our side, shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the world.

The ones we choose to walk alongside through triumph and tragedy.

The people for whom we are willing to set aside our own needs for theirs.

People that know us intimately… all of our secrets, all of our warts, all of our dreams… and who we know intimately in return.

But this is the kind of relationship that Christ wants to have with us.

Jesus knows us inside and out… and he wants us to know him fully.

He wants us to throw in our lot with him, to abide in him, to give 100% of our lives to his cause.

He wants to stand side-by-side with us, shoulder-to-shoulder, working to build the kingdom.

He wants to help us navigate the ups and downs of life and believes that when we walk together, abiding in God’s love, our joy might truly be complete.

You see, like a philos, like a friend, Jesus was willing to lay down his own life for our ultimate good.

Not for his sake, but for ours.

In a relationship between a master and slave, the slave obeys out of fear or out of duty.

They obey because their life or work depends on it.

It is an entirely self-serving and self-interested kind of response, rather than focused on what is good for their master.

A slave is not able to see the bigger picture, merely the next step in front of them.

And a master always puts their own needs above those of their servants.

But we know the great love that God has for this world.

A self-giving, sacrificial, grace-filled love.

As people of the resurrection, we understand the journey of redemption and new creation that God has initiated in Jesus Christ.

We find our joy and our hope in the Kingdom of God, where all people are invited to the table, where death is no more, where we are finally free from the power of sin.

So, when Jesus commands us to abide in his love and to love others in the same way…

To “unselfishly seek the best for one another,” as the Amplified Bible puts it…

we obey, we act, we do so not out of fear, but because we have claimed God’s vision and made it our own.

We love others because we have decided to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Jesus and put the good he seeks above our own life.

And we choose to work for the good of every person Jesus has put in our care.

To love others in the same way he has loved us.

How do we practice resurrection?

We love.

We love in ways that are embodied and deal with the real needs of real people.

We build relationships with people… the ones we know and the ones we don’t know yet.

We draw close to God and let God’s grace and love fill us up.

And then we give it all away.

We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all of these people, knowing that our joy is found in their good.

We don’t have to wait for heaven.

We get to experience God’s resurrection life right here and right now.

And we do so every time we choose to love.

Like a Shepherd

Posted on April 25, 2021Leave a comment

Text: John 10: 11-18; 1 John 3:16-24

Last week in our time of worship we remembered that WE are EASTER people.

We are the living proof of the resurrection.

We are the body of Christ, alive, serving, sharing the good news with the world.

That’s all well and good…

But what does it actually look like to live it out?

What does it mean to practice resurrection in our daily lives?

Pastor Katie, you might be asking… what am I supposed to do?

In the assigned lectionary readings for this season after Easter, we go back and we remember how Jesus taught us to live.

And today, we find a very familiar piece of scripture…

Jesus proclaims, “I am the good shepherd.”

I am the one who lays down my life for you.

I know you…

I really know you…

And I am willing to give up my life to make sure that you are okay.

And not just you.

All of the sheep.

The ones right here…

And all of the ones out there, too.

These words are so comforting.

It is a reminder that my God will not abandon me.

That my Lord will not leave me in my struggle, but wants to lead me to still waters and green pastures.

In fact… there is this video that has been going around this week that I think perfectly exemplifies how the Good Shepherd loves us…

Let’s watch:

How many of you are that sheep?

Just me?

No? Of course not… it’s all of us.

And no matter how many times we get stuck, or fall in the crack, or screw it all up, Jesus doesn’t abandon us.

Jesus, our good shepherd, was willing to go through the valley of the shadow of death in spite of our failures, and mistakes, and sins.

My Savior loves me so much that even his own life is put on the line for me.

Or as Debie Thomas reminds us, “As the Good Shepherd, Jesus loves the obstinate and the lost… he’s in it for the long haul, he not only frolics with lambs, but wrestles with wolves. He not only tends the wounds of his beloved rams and ewes; he buries them when their time comes.” (https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2990-a-shepherd-who-is-good)

Oh, what wondrous love is this.

As Christians and people of faith, we are so eager and ready to claim this message.

It feels good to be loved like that.

It is amazing to have this kind of assurance, right?

Someone else gave up everything so that I might be saved.

And our hearts are all warm and fuzzy and we are held in the hands of our God and everything is right with the world.

We read this story in the season after Easter not because it makes us feel good, but because it is a reminder of how we are now supposed to live.

How we are supposed to act.

How we are supposed to embody the power of the resurrection in the world today.

You see, if we are now the body of Christ, alive and present in the world, then we are called to carry on the love of The Good Shepherd.

Or as we read in 1 John 3:16-20:

This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our [siblings]. But if someone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help – how can the love of God dwell in a person like that? Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth.

Or as we’ll read next week from John 15:12:

This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.

We are not supposed to simply rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd.

We are called to embody what it means to be a shepherd.

I think about Peter on the seashore, eating breakfast with Jesus after the resurrection.

Jesus told him to feed his sheep. To tend his sheep.

We are called to walk in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd.

We are commanded to love like Jesus loved.

What does that mean?

Well, let’s take this Good Shepherd scripture apart and see what it has to teach us.

First: we are called to relationship.

Jesus says throughout this parable, “I know my own sheep and they know me.”

The good shepherd is not a thief, or a stranger, or even a hired hand.

A thief seeks to harm others.

A stranger shows up and the sheep will scatter because they don’t know their voice.

And a hired hand, well, they are in it for the paycheck and the sheep don’t matter.

But the good shepherd has built a relationship with the flock.

And we are called to build relationships with the people around us.

We are called to get to know one another, to share our joys and concerns and life together.

As a church, we can do this through our prayers, but also through the times of fellowship and how we show up in one another’s lives.

One of the primary ways we do this at Immanuel is through some of our small group ministries… whether it is choir or a bible study or the mission trip.

Because the truth is, it takes time to get to know someone.

And when you get to spend time together each week or all at once on a trip, we learn an awful lot about what people are excited about, what is important to them, and how they struggle.

And all of those things then allow us to show up and stand beside one another and remind each other that they matter.

We care about what happens to them.

Second: we are called to look beyond this flock.

Jesus says that he has other sheep and I think that this is a call to look beyond our circles of friends and colleagues and loved ones.

It is a call to share the love of God far and wide.

We don’t get to determine who is in and who is out and who is worthy.

We are simply called to love.

We are called to recognize that every life we come into contact with matters.

Not because of how we benefit or gain from the relationship, but simply because they matter.

And goodness that’s hard to live out.

Because there are some people in this world who try our patience.

Who just can’t seem to get it together.

Who we have been willing to write off or diminish or ignore.

In fact… I want you to picture in your mind right now someone like that.

Someone that you have a hard time loving.

Do you see their face?

Okay… now I want to invite you to watch that video again, and I want you to imagine that they are the person stuck in that ditch.

We are called to love our enemies.

To pray for those who persecute us.

To forgive over and over and over again.

And to keep showing up in the lives of people who keep making mistakes… because they matter, too.

Finally: we are called to love sacrificially.

To lay down our lives for other people.

Sometimes that looks like giving from our own abundance and blessing to make sure the basic needs of others are met… like folks from Immanuel will do this afternoon as we reach out in love to our homeless neighbors through Joppa.

Sometimes it is standing up, protecting, and grieving with people around us who are vulnerable… like so many neighbors gathered together this week to stand at a vigil in support of the central Iowa Black community.

Sometimes it is setting aside our own desires or comfort to take on actions that benefit the common good… like we have all done by wearing masks and social distancing to flatten the curve.

And sometimes, we are called to give everything. In the line of duty, or service, or love, we put our lives at risk so that others might live. From law enforcement officers to hospital workers to missionaries who serve in dangerous places, and more…

We are not asked to love just when it is safe or easy, but in the midst of wolves and powers and forces beyond our control as well.

We are called to speak truth and work for change in the fierce and powerful spirit of love.

What does it mean to practice the resurrection?

It means to build relationships and make sure people know that they matter.

It means to stretch our love beyond those of our tribe so that all might know the good news.

And it means that we carry that love into situations that are broken and hurting and we show up with our full selves and work towards God’s promised future.

There is only on Good Shepherd… but as disciples of Christ, we are called to love like him more and more every single day.

May it be so. Amen.

Living Proof

Posted on April 18, 2021Leave a comment

Text: Luke 24:36b-48

Did the resurrection actually happen? I know what you are thinking… that’s an awfully strange question for a pastor to be asking. But I wasn’t there. You weren’t there. It happened a really long time ago. If someone asked me that question today, if I had proof that Jesus is alive, what could I show them?

Well, to be honest, I would show them you. We are an Easter people, aren’t we? Our lives are marked by the resurrection of Jesus, isn’t it? If the resurrection is real… if Jesus is alive… then it is our lives that bear witness to that truth.

Let’s back up a bit and explore what that means. In our gospel for today, Luke tells us about how the disciples first encountered the resurrected Jesus. In this version of the gospel, women had traveled to the tomb and the body of Jesus was gone. Instead, they encountered two messengers who told them that Jesus was alive. The women ran back and told the disciples who were mighty confused. Only Peter was willing to take their story seriously and when he went to look in the tomb for himself, he simply found a linen cloth.

Later that day, two followers of Jesus were walking along the road to Emmaus and Jesus showed up beside them! When they finally realized who it was, they ran back to Jerusalem, found the eleven remaining disciples and the rest of those gathered and told them that Jesus really, actually, truthfully, was alive. And bingo-bango… Jesus appears in the room. Without warning. Without doors opening.He just shows up.

Luke tells us that they thought they were seeing a ghost and Rev. Dr. Derek Weber (Discipleship Ministries) picks up on that idea… “They were haunted by him,” Weber writes. “by the idea of him, by the blood of him. They were terrified of their shame, of how they had abandoned him, of how they wouldn’t believe in what he had told them before or what the women said they saw.”

This idea that Jesus would simply appear. And be there. Right there. Standing before them. It was almost too much to comprehend.

And so, Jesus offers them living proof. He isn’t a spirit. He isn’t floating in the air. He’s real. Flesh and blood. Here are my hands, he says. Look at my feet. Touch them. This was about more than just seeing the marks from the resurrection still present on his body. It was also about grabbing on and feeling the blood and the life and the warmth coursing through him.

In our modern English translations, we might read “touch and see” here in verse 39, but Weber notes that in the Greek, the words are more of a command. He is telling all of them – Grab a hold of me! Ground yourselves in my reality. Hang on to it. Don’t just see, but behold! What you are going to touch and experience when you do will change your entire life. Or as Weber puts it: “Grab hold of the reality of Christ and see not just him but you, too. See your path, your future, your mission, and your reason for being.”

And then, to dispel ANY remaining doubts about whether or not he was really real, Jesus eats a piece of fish. Because, ghosts don’t eat, right? Things that are dead don’t eat. I am real. The resurrection is true. Everything I told you is actually happening. And then he goes on to remind them, once again, about what God wants not just for them, but for all people.

As we launch into the summer, we are going to follow the disciples as they travel to the ends of the earth with this message of transformation and life and abundance and hope. We will walk step by step through the ways they lived out the resurrection of Jesus in the world. So we aren’t going to dive into all of that today.

You see, first, we need to appreciate and understand and grab a hold of the truth of this moment. As Derek Weber writes, “the gospel, the life of faith has to be grounded in reality… If we don’t start here, if we don’t watch that piece of fish being eaten, if we don’t grab hold, we won’t see. And if we don’t see, then we are likely to turn our message into one of the hereafter, the sweet by and by and not the here and now.”

Think about it. If all that Jesus did was create a way for us to get to heaven… there would be no need for the resurrection. In his death, he could simply have cracked open the wall that separates heaven from earth enough for our disembodied souls to get in. He didn’t need to come back and walk and talk and eat fish to carry us into heaven when we died. He could have simply sent a messenger, or showed up as a spirit. And the message of the Christian faith would have been something like: everything will be better after we die.

To be honest, that is how I see a lot of Christians walking around and acting. That is the message that is often shared with people. This world doesn’t matter. These people don’t matter. Who cares what is going on in Myanmar or Minneapolis or on the Mexican border, because my faith is about what comes after this life.

Except, it’s not. That is not the truth of the Christian faith. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead then our preaching is useless and so is your faith. The good news is that the resurrection life transforms THIS world and not simply the next. It is born out in flesh and blood and love and community right here and right now. Our faith is an embodied faith. Our spiritual lives cannot be separated from our physical lives.

Debie Thomas reminds us in her essay this week that we have a Savior with a body like ours… a body that was nurtured in a womb and who hungers and weeps and gets angry at injustice and who was vulnerable to forces of violence and cruelty beyond his control. And we have a God who resurrects bodies, “The physical resurrection of Jesus is God’s definitive offering of both compassion and justice: all that has been taken, broken, mistreated, wronged, and forgotten, will be restored.”

This truth, this good news, this resurrection is so real that you can reach out and grab a hold of it! It begins right here and right now. It is experienced anytime we feed our neighbors who are hungry. Or advocate for justice in our neighborhood. We behold the resurrection when we cling to the hand of our elderly neighbor or sick friend. Or break bread with an enemy. It is the proclamation that lives matter. Bodies matter. Stories matter. What you are experiencing in this world matters and God wants to heal and restore and redeem anything that has broken or separated us.

As Jesus tells the disciples, huddled together in that room on the day after the resurrection: You are witnesses of these things. You are the proof. The living proof. You bear out the truth of the resurrection in everything you say and you do. Friends, we are Easter people. We are called to practice and embody the reality of the resurrection in all that we say and do.

So in these coming weeks, we, like the disciples, will go back to some of the teachings of Jesus and remember what exactly that means. We’ll practice what it means to listen… and to remain… and to love… With not just our minds… And not just for an hour on a Sunday…But with our whole lives. So that anyone who meets us will know – the resurrection is real and Jesus is alive among us. Amen.