He is Not Here-Promise fulfilled

 

Sermon Matthew 28:1-10 April 9, 2023 Easter Sunday 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 NMPC & FMPC Monica Gould

He is Not Here-Promise fulfilled

There is no greater joy in our faith and for our church than the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Today we celebrate the fulfillment of all the promises that we have been taught. Today we rejoice in the truth that Christ is risen indeed! Today is the day many sing the song Because He Lives-The words offer the hope we all experience on this day when we realize the power of God’s love for us. We know that because he lives, we can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because he lives, I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.

As I shared with the children, we receive signs all around us of the promise of new life. In the egg is the new life of a chick (and candy), in the seed a flower, and in the cocoon, a butterfly. Today we are reminded to look around us for the signs of new life. 

What signs do we need to believe the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

In the gospel of Matthew, the women arrived at the tomb.  It took a great earthquake to stun the guards and witness the appearance of the angels. These angels rolled away the stone and then sat upon it. I find the angel sitting on the stone rolled away as God’s humor. All obstacles were in place to prevent human interference with the body of Jesus. Then the power of God was at work. Look, He is not here. The angel told the Marys. Jesus has been raised. He then invited them inside the tomb to see that Jesus was not there.  It is the miracle of God at work.

All generations are to know there is nothing on earth that can stop what God ordains.

It is the greatest of all miracles. God raised his only Son from the dead so that the world would have life. The angel told them to go ahead to Galilee and Jesus would meet them there. On the way Jesus walked alongside them and said ‘Greetings’ which literally means, “Hi”. The women realized it was really him and they grabbed his feet. They paid homage to the Lord who was physically alive. Touching his feet showed that he was in bodily form, not a ghost or a spirit. We have been taught to believe this.

On Easter every year we come face to face with this truth and have the opportunity to accept it all over again.

We offer ourselves to him in the realization that the promise of his love lives within us. In dying, God was making sure there was a rising. Jesus went down to the dead to make sure we also may rise to new life.

The caterpillar crawls into the tomb like form called the chrysalis. It is transformed to the beauty of new life as a butterfly. So, God grants us this sign to help us understand the transformation we receive when we turn our lives over to him.

Paul spoke to the Corinthian church regarding the power of the resurrection. He said, 15:1-5: Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,  through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.  For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. The power of the resurrection is alive in us to successfully live our lives to serve him in the world today.

I digress for a moment to talk about the other part of Easter that we all love.

The egg hunt.

The egg has been an important part of the Easter story and proclamation of the resurrection for centuries.

It is time we, as the church, take the egg hunt back from the secular world.

There is no greater sign than the miracle of the egg bringing new life.

There is no greater miracle than when the egg opened is full of surprises.

We hunt eggs because as followers of Jesus we know that finding them reminds us of the promise of God of new life through the resurrection.

This story of signs of promises is so important for the church to continue to provide for generations to come.

Let’s make sure our kids, no matter how old, will always have the opportunity to experience an egg hunt.

Matthew’s account of the resurrection is full of miracle signs. It is on purpose to make sure that we continue to look for the signs of God among us.

Perhaps this Easter, that is all we need.

We may struggle with the practical possibility of the resurrection, but today, this Easter, this year, we can take strength in the signs that lead us to the power of the miracle.

May faith find its way in you today.

A final note important to Matthew’s account is that Jesus went ahead to Galilee to let us know that faith does not stop at the discovery of the resurrection.

There is more to our faith in Jesus Christ than this. God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself. Through Jesus we are able to be one with the Father. God who went before the Israelite people leading them out of the land of Egypt and into the Promised Land, continues to go before us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Our life is filled with the daily sanctification of his presence through the Holy Spirit.

There are times when we are distracted from our focus on Christ. I know that we have all been faced with emergencies that call us to deal quickly and make decisions. We have probably also all felt the pressure of too many things to do in too short a time. It is at these times that the knowledge of Jesus going ahead of us is so important.

If we can trust that the path before us has been prepared by him then when we are caused to think quickly we can be assured of his guidance. His path is straight and right and as the psalmist says he puts us on the right path.

He is there to give instruction, to give comfort, to alleviate our fears, and to fill us with joy.

Rejoice, the Lord is Risen.

The Lord goes before us.

Believe the signs.

Trust in him.

Enter into his arms of love now and forevermore.

Amen.

 

Resources: Carolyn C. Brown Sharing the Easter Faith with Children; NIB Matthew; Feasting on the Word year A; Working Preacher Greg Carey Professor of NT at Lancaster Theological Seminary.

 

All rights reserved. Copyright Reverend Monica Gould 2023.

Many are Called

 

Sermon Matthew 22:1-14 October 11, 2020

Many are Called

We used to think hosting birthday parties and banquets was challenging figuring out how to invite people and where to seat them and if we invited enough or the right people. We used to fret over the feelings of everyone involved worried that someone would feel left out or we would lose funding if we didn’t seat the right people next to each other.

Parties and banquets in the days of covid have possibly been as turbulent as this allegory given to us by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew.

We have this story for us about a king and his desire to host a fabulous party. 

This is a striking story told by Jesus according to Boring’s commentary in NIB, “in which all invited guests to a dinner party refuse to come at the last minute, so the host rounds up people from the street to come who find themselves at a party they had never dreamed of coming to.”

This parable is the climax of a three parable set. First the parable of the two sons, then the tenants in the vineyard and now this king and his banquet. This is a parable of instruction in the early church.

It’s a message for those who have answered the invitation to the grace given through Jesus Christ. It’s a reminder of the cost and the hardships that those who choose Jesus will have to face.

In the early church the truth of accepting the life as a follower of Christ was to risk one’s life. There was no doubt that the life of the people post destruction of Jerusalem was turbulent, confusing, full of distrust, difficulties, an upheaval of religion, it was scary!

Remember the gospel of Matthew was written after 70 AD, after the destruction of the Temple.

The Jews had no central place for faith.

And Christians were just beginning to figure out their identity.

Life was hard.

Folks had trouble figuring out who to trust and where to go. 

Sometimes in harsh stories like this it’s troubling to find the message of the love of Jesus.

Yet, it begins with overt hospitality.

The king wants people to come to a party that celebrates his son!!

What a gift!

A wonderful opportunity is laid out for many to come and be in the presence of the Father and the Son.

And at the last minute his guests refuse.

And at the second invitation the guests treat the messengers of the invitation in the same manner the prophets of the Old Testament were treated as well as the early church missionaries,

they were killed for brining good news,

they were killed for bringing the truth.

 

This story presents a strong indictment to those of us who read it even centuries later.

Even though this was written to a specific group of people in a specific time during a specific traumatic historical period, it has perhaps, the possibility to place before us this question. “How might we come to acknowledge specific things in our lives that might indict us?” (Working Preacher)

The truth is that a king who loves his son wants to celebrate his joy with everyone.

How often have we hoped to share our joys with others only to be rejected?

Our heavenly Father not only wants to celebrate his son with everyone

but wants us to receive this gift and then go out and live it.

Notice how he sends his messengers into the streets to invite everyone to come-so similar to the Great commission we will read in Matthew 28.  

How do we receive the invitation from God to come to the banquet?

The invitation is always there and yet, it is more often rejected than it is received.

In the 10 commandments we hear in the very first commandments that describes our God “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” It is no wonder that the Matthew allegory shows an enraged God of the OT carrying out wrath at the refusal of his people to love him in return.

It begs the question for we the people of the new covenant of God’s love in Jesus Christ, how do we embrace our accountability to the love freely given to us?

Will we disregard the invitation with arrogance?

Will we reject the hospitality of our Lord?

Will we refuse to be clothed in Christ?

Even though all sinners and saints have entered into the house of the king, there is one who still refuses to receive the gift of identity in Christ and sits there in disdain in the kings own home mocking him by not donning the robe of his child.

And so the king has no choice but to throw out the one who mocks him.

One who mocks,

one who refuses to be identified with the son

cannot serve the king

for the father and the son are one.

 

You see, friends, many are called!

From the beginning of creation God has called us.

God has never given us the choice.

God has proclaimed, “You shall be my people.”

And again, in Jesus Christ God proclaimed, “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

 We are not our own.

God has claimed us with a life of purpose. We have a responsibility.

It is time to accept the truth that many are called.

It is time to accept the truth that being called is to be loved.

It is time to accept the truth that you are one of the many that have been called.

Put on the clothes of Christ.

Accept him and celebrate him at the banquet with the Father.

In these days of covid we’ve found some fabulous ways to celebrate our Lord with-drive by birthdays, outdoor worship, virtual communion, painting work days, video Sunday school.

God has not stopped calling many, let us accept his invitation with our whole lives.

Let us sing the new song of joy and let us serve with love. Amen.

Rev. Monica Gould 

Resources: NIB Eugene Boring; Working Preacher Matthew Skinner; Feasting on the Word Year A

Jesus is the Gate

Sermon John 10:1-11 May 3, 2020 Good Shepherd Sunday Easter 4A

Jesus is the Gate

Good morning. As you saw me share with the children about support animals; we lean on God’s special creation of critters for comfort, company and courage. 

We pour our emotions into them. We hug them tighter than they can manage. 

We pull them into our covers to protect us at night. 

We depend on them to be our friend. 

Its no wonder that God created the world full of amazing creatures. As humans we are nothing without them.

We know Jesus is not a squishy critter for us to hug and adore, yet, sometimes, just sometimes, when we are deep down in a funk, in a miserable mess, it’s nice to know he’s there with us as we hide under the covers. Sometimes, we think of Jesus our shepherd like that.

 Jesus is our shepherd. He is our guard and guide. He is the one we run to when we’re in need. He is the very one we trust with our whole heart. And we do whisper our secrets to him so no one else can know. Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday we think about all the ways Jesus is for us.

Photo from HK Farms in Florida. A real gift they offer their community. Look them up.

Before Jesus tells us he is the Shepherd he starts out telling us that he is the Gate.

Which considering how all of us are feeling these days, that’s a really appropriate description. “Jesus, be the gate for us and let us out, keep us in”. Which really, really, makes me glad that I can count on Jesus to be the one standing there holding the Gate that he says is his, not mine, but his.

What is a gate? In order to have a gate it means it is attached to some kind of boundary. Fences, walls, hedges, personal space are boundaries. They surround, define, protect, keep out, and keep in. Our boundaries all possess the presence of a gate.

Can you think of any boundary that does not also have a way of entrance and exit? I can’t.

Even when Berlin was divided by a wall there was a gate to open one way or another. Even the most negative way we can look at things that create barriers have a way in or out. Countries have borders. Boundaries and Gates seem rather exclusionary.

Do we look to Jesus as this kind of gate; exclusionary?

I like to think of gates as gates of welcome. Garden gates reinforce that for me. A beautiful gate made of pickets covered in English ivy swinging on a barely fastened hinge. Barely touching it causes it swing wide open as one gazes on beds of flowers bursting in full bloom. I remember reading ‘The Secret Garden’ and being carried away by the scent of the flowers in the story.

Jesus is in control of the gate. Jesus is the one who manages grace. Jesus is the one who makes the invitation swinging wide open the gates of heaven. Jesus welcomes us all.

And that’s important to know as these words are shared after he has healed the blind man. The blind man was not welcome in the sanctuary while he was disabled. And then when he was healed and should have been allowed in the sanctuary of worship he was forced out by the leadership for speaking the truth.

Jesus wants us to know that he does not exclude and that his sanctuary gate is open to all. Jesus does not engage with us through religious rhetoric or political stigmas, or social justice, or moral, or educational ideals. Jesus turns us upside down and inside out with his grace. It is continuously paradoxical.

So here we are: Every country and state has had challenges with this pandemic. Every community. Every home. Every one. Not one of us is alone in this crisis, yet all of us are facing different challenges because of it.

How will we understand Jesus as the Gate in times like this?

I know there are those who are putting their lives in danger every day. 

How do we respond to them? 

Do we seek to protect them? Do we remain at home while they risk their lives? 

What do we do?

How do we wrestle with this dilemma and wonder what Jesus wants us to do?

It’s so hard. 

I wish we had hard solid answers as we live our lives of faith. 

I wish Jesus would come directly to each of us and tell us how to make decisions. 

Jesus tell me which team to be on. 

Jesus tell me which job to take. 

Jesus tell me who to trust. 

But, Jesus doesn’t it make it that easy for us. And, that’s the challenge of our faith…to discern, to pray, to hope, to trust and to act as God has called us to.

That’s it, we can all be followers of Jesus with varying opinions about the world in which we live. 

And Jesus welcomes us in. 

I just love that more than anything about Jesus. 

He lets my neighbor who I’ve disagreed with for years about how to trim the hedge in through the same gate as me.

We are all at home anxious to return to be together. 

Some of us more eager than others. 

Yet, all us are loving Jesus and each other more than we’ve ever known or realized.

We don’t need to let the gate of our life be so locked and fastened that we only see out through the peephole.

Let Jesus really be Lord of our conscience. 

Let go of our control of the gates of our life and listen to Jesus for a bit. 

Talk to him. 

Ask him to enter our thoughts. 

Ask him to enter our habits. 

Ask him to be with us as we do our chores. 

I guarantee you that you may not still have the answers your seeking. 

But, you will know he’s there. 

You’ll get a sense of comfort. 

You’ll get a stirring in your heart. 

You’ll get a conflicting feeling in your mind about your views. 

You’ll get that Holy Spirit turning you topsy turvy tugging at everything you’ve always believed and causing you to think hard again. 

Our hard heartedness to others and our digging in our heals to each other and the world; gets hammered by the love of Jesus-look out. 

It’s true this Gate-this Jesus Gate-is welcoming and challenging, it is full of grace and full of love and full of transformation. 

Be on the lookout to your heart ‘cause God’s gonna open it up and welcome you.

Jesus is our shepherd. 

He is our guard and guide. 

He is the one we run to when we’re in need. 

He is the very one we trust with our whole heart. 

It’s true friends, no storm can shake our inmost calm, 

We hear the music ringing, since Christ is lord of heaven and earth, how can we keep from singing?  Amen.

Reverend Monica Gould 

Resources: NIB John, NRSV Bible translation. 

A Walk to Emmaus

Sermon Luke 24:13-35 April 26, 2020 3^rd Sunday of Easter

A Walk to Emmaus

Gathering with you this morning in the intimacy of our safe sacred spaces, our sanctuaries beyond these walls, our sanctuaries at home is a real blessing. 

We have the opportunity to worship our God beyond all praising; to offer our voices to a love so amazing, to the gift of God sent to us and revealed to us, with whom we rise to bless. These are the words from the anthem we’ll sing soon. But, I think on this morning as we gather across the internet, its important to be mindful of this gift of praising God from wherever we are.

It wasn’t until we’ve had this shelter in place order that I began to look at this post resurrection story of Cleopas and his friend differently.

Here we are today all hunkered down in our homes waiting for a moment to allow us to get on with life.

We are all waiting for the word that this mess we’re in is all over.

We’re all waiting for the word that we’ve emerged healthy and unscathed.

Cleopas and his friend are scared, disillusioned, and bewildered of the events of their past few days. They only want to go home, to get away from the turmoil and agony of the cross. This story is about the walk to Emmaus. That seven mile journey from Jerusalem.

But, these days all the familiar things we do that offer us solace, we are unable to do. It’s hard to identify with this story.

We can’t participate in all the familiar things they mention.

We can’t journey far,

we can’t gather at table with friends,

we can’t engage with strangers.

These elements in our lives are the things we miss. This story has the potential to create an even deeper sadness.

And yet, we are here holding God’s Word in our hand wondering, hoping, trusting, how Jesus will be revealed for us, to us today.

Cleopas and his friend were at their home and they had invited Jesus to join them. And in their home at table together, they recognized him in the familiar acts of their life.

Perhaps, this is all we need to remember today.

You see all the stuff that happened on the road to their home was important. That’s how they wondered and recapped the events and did their best to process out loud with each other what had just happened in history, what had just happened to Jesus, what had just happened to them. It was more than they could bare. They didn’t have enough within them to go on. They didn’t have what they needed-they didn’t have Jesus anymore.

Jesus was the one who they followed and who all the disciples loved. Jesus was the one who provided for them in a way they had never experienced before. It wasn’t the miracles. It wasn’t the preaching. It wasn’t, well, they couldn’t put their finger on exactly what it was that caused their hearts to be moved when they were with him.

And now he was gone and they missed him and all that had become familiar to them seemed to be gone too.

Through their connection with Jesus they experienced the joy of family and community with the other disciples. They experienced their lives transformed into a new identity with Jesus. They experienced the power of God within them to sustain them from day to day. And the cross took all that away from them…so they thought.

We too have important connections with one another.

Coming to church gives us the joy of family and community.

Coming to church reminds us we are a transformed people with our identity in Christ.

Coming to church we experience the power of God at work within us to sustain us from day to day.

And this covid crisis has taken all that away from us…so we think.

Mike and I learned a lot when we took our trip sailing across the Atlantic. Every time I look around at my life in these last four months since our return, I see a connection of our trip with our life as it is right now. And that’s just it. It’s connections. When we joined the World Cruising Club Atlantic Rally Crossing we had no idea how important the connections we made were for us before we sailed. We discovered how the relationships we built with the crews of the different boats prior to our departure created what we needed. We discovered the connections of the church and our family prior to our departure became an important part of our daily routine. We knew we were far apart from each other while we were by ourselves on our little boat out in the middle of the Atlantic. But, our faith in our connections with one another allowed us to know we were never alone out there. Whether by radio, or email, or looking at the same night sky, we knew we were present with those beyond our reach.

On this Sunday we are all beyond the reach of one another.

And yet, through the connections of radio, email, letters, computers, the night sky and the sun, we can know we are fully present with one another.

The one thing that seals this connection is the invitation to Jesus.

Cleopas and his friend invite Jesus into their home.

And there they are together at the table enjoying a meal.

And then they remember!

And then they recognize him!

And they are lifted up in the joy of his presence.

We do not have to pretend that we have it all together.

We do not have to pretend that life is dandy.

We do not have to pretend that ‘we’ve got this’ staying at home gig figured out or are even coping.

We can be truthful.

We can speak the truth of where we are and how we are.

 And then we can do one thing.

Just one thing is all we need. And that is to invite Jesus in.

We can invite him into our home to be with us.

To sit with us.

To cry with us.

To laugh with us.

To sustain us.

Wherever we are Jesus shows up at our invitation.

It is a gift.

The greatest gift of amazing love.

As one podcaster said (KCBowler) when there is more than enough for us to bear, the math of self care is not enough. Kate C Bowler says, when we no longer have enough for ourselves the prayer for the Holy Spirit to show up for us, to carry us is real. God shows up, she says, to put us in our hamster bubble and push around for awhile when we just can’t do it ourselves any longer.

Cleopas and his friend couldn’t do life the way it was any longer. At their home they invite Jesus in. and in that moment of returning to the familiar, a meal together, they recognize the gift of the fullness of his presence with them.

And so on this Sunday, you out there, and we in here.

Trust the promise.

Trust the invitation.

Jesus has us connected with one another.

We are not alone.

In life and in death, in all our circumstances, we belong to God and to each other-and these are our blessed connections.

We are gathered this morning in the intimacy of our safe sacred spaces, our sanctuaries beyond these walls, our sanctuaries at home with Jesus at our tables, and we are blessed. Let us lift up our sacrifice of praise. Amen.

Resources: Podcast Working Preacher podcast for April 26, 2020  Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, Joy J. Moore, and Matt Skinner; Podcast Kate C Bowler; NIB Luke

Touch Me Not

Sermon John 20:1-18 (KJV) April 12, 2020 Easter in COVID19 Naomi Makemie & Francis Makemie Presbyterian Churches

Touch Me Not

There you are out there somewhere.

I cannot see you.

I cannot touch you.

But there you are out there.

I know its true.

You are beyond my ability to see, to hear, to touch and yet I know you are there watching and I am comforted by this truth.

This reality of your presence even in the emptiness of this space is what we believe week after week.

Yes, I’m talking about our resurrected Lord.

You thought I was talking about you?

Well, that’s true too.

I miss you. I miss our face to face time. It's not easy to be at virtual church. 

But, I’m grateful you are here with me today, with each other today.

Today of all days we are in awe of the truth Jesus spoke to Mary at the tomb-‘touch me not’ (KJV translation) ; for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go tell that I am ascending to my Father, your Father, my God, your God.’ In this moment we witness the reality of our entrance into the kingdom of God. Jesus is including all who hear the invitation that his Father is also our Father, his God is our God.

I don’t think we’ve ever been aware of the power of touch in our lives until we’ve been told we cannot touch. We’ve been aware of our noses itching, our eyes burning, and our ears tickling. We’ve been trying to deal with them without using our fingers to scratch, rub, or wipe our facial parts.

We are told not to touch our loved ones.

Do not hug them.

Do not kiss them.

Do not come near them.

Stay six feet away from everyone.

How hard this has been for us all. The ones we love most are protected best by our absence. It is contrary to our understanding of love. It is a paradox. It is impossible to comprehend.

Perhaps that’s why John’s gospel account of the resurrection is so poignant this year. Mary arrives alone in the morning. She discovers the stone rolled away. And without even researching further she runs away to tell Peter and John. She reaches the conclusion by the evidence of the stone rolled away that the body of Jesus has been stolen.

She had witnessed his death at the crucifixion.

She witnessed his burial in the tomb as she wrapped his body and anointed it with spices.

She witnessed the stone rolled in place.

The only conclusion when she witnessed it moved was that someone had moved the body of Jesus. Her grief of his death was now deepened even further with this loss of his body.

She cannot be contained in her despair.

Sometimes we witness just one thing. And with that one piece of evidence make all kinds of conclusions without even a moments hesitation. We run to tell everyone what we think and we all get spun up. We begin to tell a story that’s not quite the truth. We end up creating a narrative that suits our account without ever finding out more.

Our deepest longings, our greatest desires are what turn us back.

They are what cause us to enter into spaces and places we might not have dared before.

Peter and the beloved disciple run straight into the tomb and discover the grave clothes and the veil of Jesus. They remembered what Jesus had said in that moment. Their hearts were stirred by the memory.

We have all entered the Easter story somewhere along the way.

The Easter story started at the beginning.

In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God.

The Word was God.

Our beginnings were with God at our birth,

at our baptism,

at our growing,

our awakening to the world.

Where in our story do we encounter the resurrected Jesus?

Where does the Easter story become our story?

At the beginning of the gospel (John 1:38) Jesus asks the disciples, ‘Who are you looking for?’ ‘Who are we looking for?’

Mary is so filled with grief as she looks in the tomb that she isn’t even awestruck by angels.

She is on the hunt for the body of her Lord.

She turns around and Jesus is standing there right in front her.

Jesus is there for her.

Jesus is fully present with her.

Jesus is alive and well and in her space.

And she doesn’t recognize him.

She is blinded by her despair; she cannot see the one she longs for.

Are we filled with grief and despair?

Are we unable to see Jesus standing there with us, in front of us, in our space?

Are we blinded by our grief, by our pain, by our expectation, by our longings that we cannot recognize our Lord fully present with us?

Friends, he is there.

He is here.

He’s asking us the same question he ask Mary? Who are you looking for?

And then in the same moment he calls Mary by name. He calls us by our name.

In that moment through the mist of our tears, we hear his voice.

We hear the familiar sound of love.

We hear the truth, the reality of being raised up,

lifted up from death to new life.

We can all jump for joy with her as she discovers the truth that her Lord is alive! He is risen indeed! And in her excitement she, like any of us would do, wants to go running and give him the biggest embrace, the hug larger than life-squish the stuffings out of him kind of hug.

I think that’s the hug we are all imaging that we can give each other when this isolation is over.

But, Jesus tells her, ‘touch me not’. Which the Greek word Hapto means don’t hold on to me. Don’t hang on, cling, or squish. It has the larger meaning of ‘do not manipulate, manage, or own, possess, or control.’ She cannot hold on to the Jesus of her making.

We too, can no longer hold on to the Jesus of our making.

He is here for us. He is right in front of us. He is with us. He is calling our name.

Let us let go of our hold on him and the way things ought to be and open up to the glory of the Resurrection. The joy is here friends let’s believe.

Because he lives. Let’s go announcing, “We have seen the Lord!” Amen!

Sermon by Reverend Monica Gould
Resources: Encounters with Jesus, Frances Taylor Gench

It's NOT a Dream

Sermon John 11 March 29, 2020 5^th Sunday in Lent. Covid19 Livestream worship.

It's NOT a Dream

When bad things happen we sometimes deal with it by asking someone to pinch us. We look to them and ask them. “Was that a dream; did this really happen?”

When we feel the pinch which can really hurt-we realize it was NOT a dream!

Martha and Mary are living their worst nightmare.

Their precious brother Lazarus is ill to the point of death. They do what anyone would do and they call on their best friend to come and help them to save their brother.

What do we do when we are faced with a tragedy, a trauma; we call out to our dearest ones. We call to them to come back to us and help us. We want them to help us through our fear and to solve and fix our problems for us. 

We trust them with our life and we have some pretty high expectations of them. 

Most of the time we get pretty mad at the people we have preset assumptions of what they can and should do for us.

Especially when we are in a crisis.

And when we are suffering from grief.

To make this story even more interesting is that we too get mad at Jesus as we read how stalls showing up for his friends.

It’s not that he is showing up for some acquaintances-no! These are his best friends ever! When Jesus heard the news he should have dropped everything and gone running to be the hero and save the day.

So, along with Martha we’re really upset with Jesus!

We ask him too, “Where were you?! You could have done something to fix this, to save Lazarus.”

I imagine many people have been in Martha’s shoes this week.

And Mary’s too.

“Where were you Jesus when this virus took over the world?”

“Why didn’t you stop it yet?”

“How could you have hung out in other places and not put us on the top of your list of favorite people to come running to?”

We can be encouraged to know that Martha and Mary are not afraid of Jesus to let him have it.

They are not afraid to let him know the truth of how they feel.

They are not afraid to let him know what they expected of him and how disappointed they are in him for not coming to save their brother.

Perhaps, we too need the assurance that we can let Jesus have it

and let him know our feelings of disappointment and anger too.

These three were Jesus closest friends ever.

Jesus doesn’t react to their feelings. He doesn’t scold them. Jesus just loves them.

He recognizes in them the power of their faith.

Lament and expression of frustration and grief is as much a part of faith as any other expression.

Our feelings of grief and pain, hurt and sorrow are holy.

They are not unbelief but the truth of the power of faith.

Why?

Because when we believe God could have done something, we believe in the power of God of death and life.

And that’s when Jesus lets us know who he is in the heart of our faith.

He IS the resurrection and the life!

Jesus asks the women if they believe and they let him know-yes!

But, then Jesus heads to the tomb and asks the stone to be rolled away and the reality of the death within the tomb hits hard.

It hits home.

And they yell, “no don’t do it! He stinks!

It’s been four days!”

Don’t open the tomb.

Don’t open the reality of death. Don’t open the truth.

From the confession of faith in Jesus to the stark reality of the un-denying dead as a doornail Lazarus-the women are no longer dreaming!

We too have hit the hard reality of the death in the tomb.

And it stinks!

We are stuck in a pandemic and it stinks.

It really, really smells.

And it is NOT a dream!

It has hit home to us.

We have someone we know who has been infected by this virus. We have someone we know who has lost a loved to this virus. We have someone we know who has had negligent medical care because the focus has only been on this virus. And beyond that our daily life is totally turned upside down.

Hopes and dreams of retirement are now in limbo. Our young people are without career opportunities as all job interviews are on hold. Graduations, weddings, birthdays, funerals all are cancelled until further notice. Parents are scrambling to figure out how to work and teach. Teachers are scrambling to figure out how to teach without touch, toys, or tutors. Yes. We are all together standing at the tomb with Martha and telling Jesus don’t roll away the stone of the reality of how all of this really, really, stinks!

We are fearful the truth will escape in a wretched odor.

The power for us as individuals and as the church, as the community of faith and community of people everywhere, is that Jesus IS the resurrection and the Life!

He is the truth of who he has claimed and God has anointed from the beginning.

When Jesus says even though they die, they live-that’s exactly what we believe!

We say it in all our confessions.

All who live will never die.

Death is but a transition from this life to the next without any interruption of life with Christ.

The future hope is in today!

Abundance of life is now in any circumstance.

There is no fear about rolling away the stone of reality.

God is with us.

God is calling the stone to be rolled away and for new life to emerge!

God loves the world so much he has given the world Jesus for salvation.

Life is promised from the first breath of faith and the fullness of God is there, present never leaving us.

Abundance of God’s presence is what the gospel of John promises.

Over the top wonder of God working new life in those who seek him.

So when Jesus calls Lazarus to come out,

he is calling all new life to emerge.

New beginnings will emerge from the death of reality.

As we face our fears and do not let them keep us apart from God or from one another, we discover the power of God to work the abundance of opportunity in us.

Hold on to hope!

It is true that this is NOT a dream.

But, we can trust that Jesus is there calling us

to come back to him with all our heart.

Jesus is waiting for us to allow new life to emerge from the tomb.

Jesus is waiting and longing for us to come to him.

To believe in him.

To say yes when he asks us if we believe.

Friends, it’s NOT a dream.

Jesus is here right now, fully present,

all powerful,

filling us with the breath of life.

Believe his love for you today.

Amen.

Resources: NIB Gospel John Gail O'Day; Encounters with Jesus by Francis Taylor Gench,