Friday, March 21, 2008

Easter Sunday Sermon - 3/23/2008

The ELCSA Daily Lectionary uses the Moravian texts, but they also designate a passage for the sermon. As you will read, it is not always the Gospel. HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED.

First Corinthians 15:19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. {Gk [fallen asleep] }
21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;
22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
24 Then comes the end, {Or [Then come the rest] } when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27 For "God {Gk [he] } has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "All things are put in subjection," it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him.
28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

Holy week has always been difficult for me as a pastor. I feel as if I have been on wild elephant ride, or I have somehow been able to ride on the back of a running rhino. The ride has been a thrill, but at the same time the fear has been tremendous. This Saturday on the seventh day I celebrated on the telephone with my mother as she was celebrating her 85th birthday. In coming to South Africa for 5 months she has been the one I have worried about the most. Her health is not the best, her memory has sometimes forgotten that I have traveled to South Africa, but when I called this past Saturday before Palm Sunday, she was joyful, she was bright and cheerful, she even remembered that I had traveled to South Africa and was hoping that I was having a good time and that I would learn a lot.
My time with her on the telephone was not unlike the joy that many of us had in breaking out the palms and celebrating the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The songs of the morning were joyful, the children handing out the palms for the members of the congregation were a delight to see, it was as if the celebration of Jesus entry into Jerusalem was timed to be with my mothers birthday. For it has been over 200 years since we have celebrated Easter and thus Palm Sunday this early in the calendar year. Often my mother’s birthday is closer to Ash Wednesday than it is to Easter. So the celebration was quite fitting, and it was blessed with my mothers health and her happiness.
It is now one week later, and I find myself in an entirely different mood. Today I feel like a minister who has experienced his third death in a week. There may be good reason for my feeling this way. For in many ways I have experienced three deaths during the past week. Last week Nkosi, one of our students was quite worried about her mother Octavia. Her mother was in the hospital, but she had heard that she was getting better and would be released, so she made plans to be at home with her mother to help her readjust to life at home after her release from the hospital. She left the campus and was at the bus terminal when she received word that her mother was not released but had been readmitted to the hospital and had later died, before she could return to Durban. On Monday evening we prayed for Octavia who had returned home to her creator.
On Tuesday morning I received word that the last and the youngest of the three brothers in my father’s family had had a heart attack. This was the uncle whom I had called before coming to South Africa to tell him that I would be in coming to see him in July after I returned to the United States. He was looking forward to the time together. He and I had shared in the suffering of the same type of cancer at different times. He had asked my advice about how to receive treatment and had asked how I had managed to live with the chemotherapy. It was one of the first times that one of my elders had asked me for advice. I appreciated his trust and enjoyed his confidence in me. This Thursday morning I received word that he had died peacefully on Wednesday about the same time we experienced load shedding here in Limpopo.
Our text for the sermon comes from Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians and in reading it I had to look again at me, and ask a serious question of what is it that I hope for. Do I hope for my mother’s continued life? Of course I do, but I am realistic to know that there may come that day when she leaves this life before I do. So Paul’s phrase “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied,” begins to make some sense and be clear. We sometimes think that we and the ones we love are invincible. We think that we will go on in life forever. We even pray to Jesus to bless and keep those who are dear to us. But Jesus tells us like he told the disciples, I WILL NOT BE WITH YOU FOREVER. When we hear that phrase we want to close our ears. It is at that point where we are to be as Paul describes pitied. We know the plan, we know the inevitable, yet we pray against it. We do not want to let God’s will be done. For Paul continues his lesson to the Corinthians, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” We know that the lessons tell us that Christ is Risen, He is Risen indeed. We have been told that he had fallen asleep, and now arose from the dead. Christ had beaten death. But his victory is only to show us that there is more to our life in Christ than what we experience here on earth.
When Nkosi told me of her mother’s illness, I asked this young woman who is in her early twenties, about her siblings, one sister, and how old her mother was, 74. I asked how old was her sister, she is 46. I said, “I guess that explains the other name your mother gave you, “Carol”. You are the song in her life. We both laughed, but that did not decrease the depression of a young woman who wanted desperately for her mother to be alive. That did not change the wish of a young woman to want to have her mother at her college and seminary graduation. I can almost hear the plans that would be in place for the family celebration at the time of her ordination. So in this Easter season Nkosi is home planning her mother’s funeral.
Paul continues his lesson to the church at Corinth, “For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being.” I’m sure that if I asked Nkosi on a test what was the central point of Easter, she would say the Resurrection of the Dead, but this Easter, I am sure that she is having difficulty putting the resurrection first. For her mourning will be first, because death has come to a human being that was extremely close to her. It may take awhile for Nkosi to hear the words of Paul, that the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being. Her mother Octavia has gone home in the same resurrection of the dead for those who live in Christ. In the midst of a week of mixed emotions, it may be difficult to let go of a mother, who is now gone home to be with Jesus, but that is what Paul is telling the people of Corinth, must be done as we remember the significance of Easter
My uncle, to the best of my knowledge was not a religious man. He was not apt to get dressed up and go to meeting on Sunday. Yet if there were a task around to which he could add his expertise, he gave it freely. I remember him helping my dad and me to put a new roof on the kitchen and bathroom of our home. I especially remember him pulling me back up after I slipped on the beams and put a new hole in the bathroom ceiling with my feet. I experienced this for the first time at the end of high school career, when the Lutheran Youth assembled San Francisco, his hometown. I had found a set of friends and we wanted to “see California”. So this contractor cleaned his vehicle and removed his work tools, so that he could take my nine new found friends on a day of exploring Northern California. I experienced it for the last time when he said he had some questions about my cancer and how it had been treated.
I do know that all of the Stewart boys were baptized in the Baptist Church, Grandpa Stewart and Aunt Princess, his sister who was married to the minister, made sure of that. So I’m sure that My uncle like all the baptized here saw the Old Adam die when they were cleansed with the waters of baptism. I’m sure that my uncle was made new in Christ, just like all of us. I just don’t remember him practicing his faith inside a community. I never knew the community that was gathered around him at his address of over 45 years in Oakland, California. I may yet get to meet the community that found him when he did not answer the door, but that too was a caring community who looked out for him, as I am sure he looked out for them. Again Paul reminds us, as he reminded the Corinthians, “22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, It is Easter. We know the end of the story. Jesus is not dead, Jesus is alive. Paul recounts that mystery in his letter to the Corinthians, “24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” In multiple ways other members of the family of God will sing with extreme joy in their hearts “I know that my redeemer lives.” He has conquered death, he has put all enemies under his feet, and as he walks free of the tomb, he lives so that death is not the victor.
Paul finishes this section of the passage from this first letter to the Corinthians by saying, 27 For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "All things are put in subjection," it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. This is Easter, we see not only the strength and power of Jesus in overcoming death, but we continue to be in awe of the power of God, who has the ability to live with us in human form, submit himself to judgement by those who are not his equal, and demonstrate to them and to us, that the fear we have of death can be overcome, but those who willingly commit themselves to be members of God’s family by adoption through faith. May all the faithful rise, and say with me HE IS RISEN, HE is Risen INDEED. AMEN.

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