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

Fruit that Lasts.

Sermon John 15:9-17 May 6, 2018 Easter 6B

Fruit that Lasts.

Last month was science fair month in many of the local schools. Charlie worked on a project about fruit. He wanted to know how long fruit lasts. More accurately he wanted to what lasted longer-whole fruit or cut up fruit.

How long fruits lasts is an important question if you pack your lunch for school or work. It is also an important question if you buy fruit from the store. Stocking up on tons of bananas when there is only one person in the house that eats bananas would not be wise if they all rot before they can be eaten.

It’s helpful to know how long fruit lasts and how long anything lasts.

Here in the gospel of John, Jesus is talking to his disciples and to a whole crowd of followers. He wants to give his final thoughts on how they should be living after he goes away.

When I hear Jesus talking to his disciples like this it reminds me of my dad. It reminds me of my grandfather. It reminds me of a teacher from long ago. It also reminds me of my pastor-who really wanted me to understand how to live out this amazing faith that gripped me and made me so in love with Jesus. He really wanted me to grasp what it meant to live in abiding love.

Have any of you ever thought on those words of Jesus-abide in my love?

It sounds a lot like something that happens when tow people marry.

It sounds a lot like this: marriage is not the culmination of love, but only the beginning.

Love remains and deepens, but its form changes. Or, more accurately, it renews itself in a different way. Less and less does it draw its waters from the old springs of romance, and you should not worry if over time these dimensions fade or are seen less frequently. More and more, love draws its replenishment from love itself: from the practice of conscious love, expressed in your mutual servanthood to one another. . . .

It will transform your lives and through its power in your own lives will reach out to touch the world. . . . But how to stay in touch with that power? At those times when stress mounts and romance seems far away, how do you practice that conscious love that will renew itself and renew your relationship? . . . CAC core faculty member, Cynthia Bourgeault

Those words are beautiful and they are words to seek to live by.

But, if we always use these beautiful words of Jesus about abiding in his love as they relate to girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives, we might never get the idea that these words of abiding in his love about you and me and the church and everyone outside the church. 

Jesus says abide in my love because that’s the only way to be able to be consistent in love. It’s the only way to have the strength of love when we are angry and when we are crazy excited. Love in the way Jesus tells us here is not a feeling but an action. “Love seeks the well-being of others and is expressed in concrete efforts on their behalf. Thus love can be commanded.”

Love is not about us, but about the other.

It is about the surrender of our will.

It is about the giving in to God and the giving up of things that would be obstacles to another’s receipt of love.

Regardless of how we feel we move forward and show love towards another.

That’s why Jesus can say to us that our joy may be complete. The unity of the love of Christ within us makes it possible to move our way into new relationships, to strengthen old ones and sustain the ones we have now-all these leads to joy made complete.

Love is shown in ways of doing that are not always noticed as love when it comes to teaching responsibility, or saying no, or using time out. Love comes in ways that are difficult when we walk with someone through disease, illness or loss. Love is really challenging when those we love go a different way from what had hoped for them.

Henri Nouwen writes, “If we wait for a feeling of love before loving, we may never learn to love well…Mostly we know what the loving thing to do is. When we ‘do love’, even if others are not able to respond with love, we will discover that our feelings catch up with our acts.’ Joy complete!

Jesus reminds these amazing followers that they are his friends. It is so important to have friends. Jesus also reminds them that he is the one who chose them. It is so terrific when we discover someone who wants to be our friend. We have the choice to receive the gift of their friendship or turn on our heels and walk away. We have the extreme gift of the power of God’s love in us to choose friendships as he chose us-undergirded with genuine love.

How often have we gone out of our way to seek new friendship or sustain the current ones?

Are we tired?

Are we too busy?

Are we just exhausted from even the idea of one more task, esp. talking to someone?

And yet, Jesus points out that it is through his initiative that these friendships exist.

Perhaps that is our main lesson about fruit that lasts.

Perhaps, we are reminded again through the words of Jesus to abide with him and seek out others to share his love. 

Yes, that’s it. 

Abide in Jesus, 

do love, 

seek friends, 

and so our joy is complete.

The science experiment shows us how fruit lasts. 

Thank you, Charlie. 

Cut up fruit doesn’t last. 

Whole fruit such as bananas and strawberries last longest when they are kept in the bunch or on the vine. 

And mostly, we know it lasts best when it is shared. Amen.

‘Crucify Him’

Sermon John 18:28-19:16 March 30, 2018 Good Friday Community Service The Passion of Christ-The Arrest

‘Crucify Him’

On this Good Friday we come mournfully as we remember the events of today 2000 years ago. On this day we recognize the darkness that surrounds the story of our Lord. It is dark day, a day where dark memories return to us. We will not pretend the darkness does not exist. Darkness was with the world on that day of trial. Darkness took hold of the people, the leaders, the faithful, the ordinary, the crowds, and even the silent ones. We observe the story as it unravels and can’t imagine how a people could become so evil toward our Savior. We need this story of the crowd, of the darkness, of the power to turn our backs on those who would save us. We need this story because we repeat it over and over again. The dark days of Good Friday continue. We condemn our Lord over and over again. Year after year.

You see the power of a crowd to praise or curse is amazing. We are a people who loves to cheer and jeer. Let me share how well we are doing this. How many of you are sports fans? How many of you love to go to games? How many of you are awesome super fans?

I’m going to ask each of you to become a fan. On this side I want you to cheer ‘Go Blue’. On this side I want you to cheer ‘Go Red’. So let’s give a little competition now, who can cheer the loudest. Alright red and Blue team. You get the idea of how powerful your voices can ring out. When Jesus was entering Jerusalem the crowds were cheering Hosanna. Can we give Jesus an Hosanna cheer together, all of us raise our voices and shout, Hosanna! Yes, one more time, “Hosanna to the King!” It is exciting to be together in celebration and joy and raise our voices to bring honor and praise to our King.

But, this same crowd of people who sang out together joined in anger and hate and yelled to Pilate, ‘Crucify him, crucify Him!’. How angry do we get (no matter how justified we think we are) and yell out ‘crucify him?’ You may say to yourself, “Not me, I’ll never betray my Jesus.” You may say, “I can’t be persuaded that easily, no one has control of my mind.” But, look around at advertising, at editorials, at the TV stations, people’s minds are being changed all the time. Here in Holy Week and on this Holy Friday we are reminded how much damage people can do to each other just by the power of the negative voices surrounding them.

Every time we get angry, every time we get riled up, every time we throw around the expletives, every time we hurl insults, every time we broil inside, we are condemning Jesus. No, that’s not true, preacher, we’re just airing our feelings. But, when we let one angry thought pervade our emotions, it has the chance to take hold and make us an angry person. Jesus was condemned by a bunch of angry people; people afraid of what love might do. We cannot be angry people. We can be people filled with love even all the way to the cross.

Today is the day the light disappears and the flame goes out. It is the day that we would say death has won. But, we know the truth. We know that even in the condemnation of Jesus-as we are haunted by the shadows, the light will come, the light of redemption will reign. 

It’s never too late to let love win. Amen,

Community Pastors
Eastern Shore of Virginia

#GoodFriday, #crucifyhim, #love, #condemn, #communityservice, #light