Time for Renewal: April 18, 2021

Year B, Easter 3                                                       Luke 24:36-48                                                                    

            There is a theory that every 500 years or so, the church goes through a major upheaval and changes dramatically.[1]  We know what happened in the 1^st century.  That is when Jesus was born, crucified and resurrected.  500 years later, the Roman Empire collapsed.  This had a huge effect on the church and caused it to shift in many ways.  500 years later, the church experienced “The Great Schism” and split into Eastern and Western branches.  500 years after that, in 1500, we had the Reformation.  Since we are at our 500 year mark people have been predicting another major transformation for a decade or so. 

How will the Christian Church change this time?  There have been a lot of theories—many have even predicted the end of the institutional church.  Then came COVID when most churches completely stopped worshipping in person.  This led to further speculation about the demise of the traditional church or even institutional religion as a whole.   This speculation didn’t start in the 21^st century.  People have been increasingly negative about the institutional church over the years. They like the idea of Jesus.  They might even love Jesus, but the church---not so much.

            I get it.  It is a lot easier to love someone who lived 2,000 years ago, than an institution that survives to this day.  It’s a lot more convenient to love a man who was perfect, than an institution that is maintained by flawed human beings.  But in my opinion (and I know I am a tad biased), you can’t separate Jesus from the church.  Jesus gave us the church.  That was his last gift to his followers.  He didn’t say, “I give you the church.” It was a little more subtle than that.  Plus, it would have been hard for him to give them something they had not yet created.  What he did say was this, “the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sin is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses to these things.”

            Often in the church, we describe Jesus as the head, and the church as the body.  That is why we refer to ourselves as the body of Christ.  For a long time this metaphor was a little lost on me.  I had heard it so often, that I never really considered what it meant.  A few years ago, I came across a sermon by Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest theologians in the history of our church.  He wrote that the disciples could see Jesus, but they could not see what he was promising.  What he was promising was not just his presence with them, but a church dedicated to him that would extend throughout the world and throughout all time.

Jesus was asking his disciples to take his message and the story of his life, death and resurrection to all nations….the world.  They could not do that with just the 11 of them.  He was aware that.  Therefore, they would have to spread the word. They would have to create networks.  They would have to create doctrine.  They would have to complete a canon of scripture.  If you put that all together, it looks a lot like a church.  I am sure it seemed a little overwhelming to the disciples.  No wonder they were joyful and disbelieving at the same time.

            I believe they knew what and who they were looking at. They were looking at the resurrected Christ.  They were looking at the very man who they had followed for years and worshipped.  They were looking at the man who had died and rose again.  While I am sure all of that was shocking, more than anything it was joyful.  The truly frightening thing was what it meant for them and their lives.  Think about it---he did not ask them to touch his face.  He wanted them to touch the places where the scars were, where the pain had been.  This was not just so they could recognize him, but so they could recognize their own place in the future of the church---a future that would include tremendous joy and pain at times.  He wanted them to not only believe in him, but believe in their own potential as witnesses to him, as leaders of this church that they could not yet fathom.

            In many ways, we have the opposite faith crisis than the disciples did.   They were able to see and touch the resurrected Christ.  They were able to watch him eat, and hear his familiar voice.  However, there was also something they had to take on faith, and that was their future, their future as leaders of a church that had not yet been created. For us today, the problem is quite the opposite.  We have seen the proof of the resurrected Christ in the existence of the church, but we have not seen the resurrected Christ in the flesh. We have not eaten with him. We have not heard his voice.  We have not touched his scars. 

Or have we? Do we not eat with him every week when we share the Eucharist? Do we not hear his voice every week when we hear the scriptures read?  Do we not touch his scars when we witness the injustice and the pain that surrounds us?  That is what the church (the flawed and sometimes hypocritical church) is trying to do, help us all experience the resurrected Christ, and live out the commission he gave to his disciples.  It is up to each one of us to carry out this mission that Christ gave his followers. 

We have a much bigger head start than the disciples in that we have this long history of the church.  This is both a help and a hindrance.  Because along with all the good the church has done, it has wounded many as well. It is our job, not to walk away from the wounded, but to help them find healing, help our church find healing.  There might always be scars, but if Jesus could live with them, so can we.            

While the pandemic brought more pain and strife than I have the capacity to fathom, it has also given the church an opportunity.  Being online, we have a greater mission field than Jesus and his disciples could ever imagine.  And I think losing 9 months of in person worship has shown many of us how incredibly precious this community is. We can see ourselves and the church with new eyes.

The last line of our Gospel reading is Jesus telling his disciples, “You are witnesses to these things.”  He was referring to his life, death, resurrection and the forgiveness he showed to his disciples.  We have not witnessed those things directly, but we have witnessed so much in the last year. Let’s take this time of regathering as a time of renewal.  We could go back to the way things were a year ago, or we could do better and go back to what Jesus asked of those disciples after his resurrection.  Spread the Gospel to all nations. Be the church that Jesus asked his disciples to create.  It’s not too late.

 

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[1] Phyllis Tickle is typically associated with this theory as she wrote about it in “The Great Emergence.”  However, I don’t believe the theory is unique to her.

Easter: April 4, 2021

Easter, Year B                                                                       Mark 16: 1-8                                                               

           When we had to close our church building last year weeks before Easter, I thought that would be the hardest moment of the pandemic for the church.  I comforted myself and others with visions of Christmas inside, surrounded by poinsettias and carols.  When we were not able to worship in person for Christmas, I said, well we will definitely be open for Easter.  And we are. Alleluia, Christ is Risen! We are open!

            But I have to say, it’s not what I pictured a year ago.  If you had told me then that we would still be wearing masks, separated by 6 feet, unable to sing the hymns-- I would have disagreed vehemently.  I’ve decided denial is a unique form of optimism. I am thrilled to see your faces and hear your voices--but there is a small part of me that is disappointed.  This is certainly better than meeting online, but it’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  I know that others feel that too because some have said that they don’t want to come if it has to be like this.  It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

            I cannot help but wonder if that is how many people feel about the ending of Mark’s Gospel.  There is no appearance of the resurrected Jesus.  Not only that, but the last line is: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Jesus never appeared and talked to the disciples.  He never sat and ate a meal with them.  The women ran away in terror.  This is the original ending of Mark. 

            Now if we were allowed to have Bibles in the pews, I could direct you to the end of the Gospel of Mark and you would see that while it ends on verse 8, there are two possible additions.  There is a “shorter ending” and a “longer ending.”  It is the only Gospel where you get to pick your own ending.  Most Biblical scholars will tell you that the earliest versions of the manuscript ended at verse 8.  So why do we have these alternate endings?

            Because this ending feels unsatisfactory.  This is not what we want for Easter.  To be fair, these 8 verses aren’t completely devoid of Easter imagery. We know that something miraculous happened because the huge stone has been rolled away and there is an angelic messenger announcing that Jesus is risen-- but we want to see Jesus—alive.  We understand that these women are afraid, but in the other Gospels, we see the disciples move past the fear because they get to meet the risen Christ.  I don’t want the Easter story ending in silence and fear. 

            Perhaps that is what makes this Gospel ending so appropriate for Easter 2021.  We are back in church.  There are lilies.  It’s definitely Easter.  Yet there is still silence (no congregational singing) and fears (too many to mention).  While I was so excited when I found out we could open, I was also afraid that people would be disappointed, because it’s not the same.  And I am not sure it ever will be.

            That scares me and I know it scares many of you.  But I learned something about faith and fear over this last year and while studying Mark.  Many assume that since the women ran away from the empty tomb in fear, then that implies they failed in their mission—that they did not do as the angelic messenger asked them to. They were supposed to tell the disciples that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee. It says they didn’t tell anyone----well not immediately.  Obviously they must have, or we would not be telling this story 2000 years later.

            Throughout the Gospel of Mark, fear doesn’t imply desertion or even failure.  Fear is a part of our journey with Jesus.   That is why angels are always telling people not to be afraid…because they know it’s a natural reaction to encountering God.  There were many times when the disciples were afraid and they didn’t always look so good when they were.  And yet…the fear did not stop them as followers of Jesus and it definitely didn’t stop Jesus.

Photo by Jonny Gios

            I’ve always found it interesting that the women were so concerned about the stone.  Given everything that had happened, and all that Jesus had foretold, why were they worried about a stone-- a stone that could have been rolled away?  But isn’t that always the way, instead of looking for openings and new opportunities, we looks for roadblocks and impediments.  Instead of rejoicing about worshipping in person with you lovely people, I’ve been freaking out about what we can and cannot do.  And I am not saying we should not be taking these important precautions---we should.  However, once we have done all that we can do, then we need to put ourselves in God’s capable hands.  We can rest in the assurance that we worship a living God who continues to walk with us even when we stumble around in fear.

            While the women were worried, they didn’t let that stop them from going to the tomb.  That’s what matters…when all the other disciples hid or ran away, these women showed up.  They didn’t just show up, the text says: “When they looked up…”  They faced their fears and they looked up, they raised their eyes and their heart to the road ahead.  When they did---they realized that God had already removed the stone.  They just needed to open their eyes wide enough to see it.

            As we move into this 2^nd or 45^th phase of pandemic life, let us take a new look at the perceived barriers in front of us.  We may find that those barriers aren’t really barriers at all. They are opportunities for a new path.  The angelic visitor told the women that Jesus has already gone ahead of them to Galilee.  While they stared at an empty tomb---while the disciples hid in a locked room, Jesus was already charting a new course. He was moving ahead. 

            I don’t know what is next for our schools, our jobs, our economy or our church.  What I know is that Jesus is already there.  He’s been busy moving boulders out of the way.  When we follow him, it might feel like a tricky obstacle course at times—but the obstacles aren’t endings, they are new beginnings.  That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, but it’s still amazing and achingly beautiful at times.     Let’s not spend too much time looking back because that’s not where Jesus is.  He’s on his was to Galilee and the question is—are we ready to follow?