Immanuel Lutheran Church - Benson

Yesterday was a wonderful, sun-shiney day.

Sunshine at the camp

Sunshine at the camp

After two days of almost straight rain, the kids were thrilled to have time for outdoor activity.  The counselors shifted the entire day around so that they had the morning to do all the things that they put off for rain, starting with a nature scavenger hunt.

Since we didn’t have Bible study time in the morning, I took a mid-week break and had an adventure of my own.  At the camp, Pr. Al continued to take pictures of all the expoits going on.  He’ll have plenty of pictures to show later.  And I’ll have more to post from our adventures today.

After the light storms we had last night and early this morning, we’ve had a wonderful bright day today as well.  So after Bible study time this morning, we’ve been playing outside and having a blast!

We’re now waiting, biding our time for some game called “Bonkers,” which I’ll show you what that looks like later.

Well, we’ve had another rainy day up here at camp, so we’ve been entertaining ourselves the best we could with indoor games and activities.

Ping pong

Carpet Ball

I saw some kids brave the waterfront, but they didn’t look very happy about it!

In class time, we’ve been learning about “Honest Talk,” a Bible study in four parts talking about gossip, slander, honesty, and listening.  Our teens are really interested and engaging in this, as a way and place to learn more about language and the way we use it.

We just got done with a talent show, but none of our kids volunteered for anything.  It was pretty exciting, especially to see and hear some of the kids who wrote their own music to their own songs!

We’ll try and get some more pictures up tomorrow, although some of our youngsters seem a bit camera shy!

Have a great day!
Pr. Bryan

Last night, we had some play time, with the kids running like mad people through the yard.  Here’s some pictures:

Group shot

Playing around!

And Pr. Al was caught in his natural state, taking pictures:

Pr. Al taking pictures

Today has been raining most of the day, so we haven’t had many pictures yet.  We’ll get some though, and post them later!

Pr. Bryan

Well, we packed up and left around 12:30.  Twelve kids plus two pastors, plus two vans equals:

Group picture

The trip was about four hours, with Pr. Al driving the van with the luggage and the rest of us packed into the only van with air conditioning:

On the road

We all got here fine, got checked in with about 200 of our new closest friends:

Behind us in line

In front of us in line

We enjoyed getting to meet new people who will become new friends by the end of the week. 

I’ll post some more later!
Pr. Bryan

“Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
Hosea 6:3

Since it is now spring time here in the midwest, we’re seeing a lot of rain.  Days become overcast, humidity becomes oppressive, and those of us with joint injuries just know that rain is coming.

But we also know this because it’s spring time in the midwest, a time and place for planting, tilling, working the soil, and waiting and watching things grow.  We know there will be days of rain and days of sun, days of warmth and days of cool.  We know this because we have seen it, over and over again, year after year.

The ancient Israelites knew the times of the land as well.  In their agrarian society, living close to the land, eating what the land provided, they knew the times and season.  They knew that, every spring, rain would come and water the earth and make things grow.  This happens year after year, season after season.  It happens.

In the same way, the dawn appears each morning.  Now, some mornings it’s harder to see, or maybe we don’t see the sun at all, but we know that the earth follows its path around the sun, spinning as it goes, so that the sun appears, and we have hours of daylight.  We know this happen because we have seen it, year after year, day after day.  Baring evil plans like this one, where Mr. Burns blocks out the sun, we will always see the sun rise.

Check it out here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/22244/the-simpsons-sun-block-burns

These are the examples the prophet Hosea gives us as examples of God’s steadfast love for us.  Just as the rain comes in the spring, every year to make the plants grow, so God’s love for us follows a regular pattern and makes us grow. 

Rain, after all, is a constant reminder to the Israelites about the providence of God.  Just a glance through the Old Testament will demonstrate how much the ancient people depended on the rain for their lives, and how the rains were a sign of God’s providence.  From the book of Job, we learn that God is the giver of rain for all the earth: “He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.  He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety” (Job 5:9-11).  And from Deuteronomy we learn that the lack of rain is a sign of God’s judgement: “Take care, of you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).

Jesus too teaches us that rain is a sign of God’s love, but differently than our ancestors.  This is, of course, a sign of the different emphases that the earlier writers expressed.  Job, wondering about the majesty of God in a world that allows suffering, proclaims that the rain given is a great and wonderous work of God.  Deuteronomy, in regulating actions and behaviors, warns that not following the laws will bring about drought and famine.  But Jesus, teaching us about the wideness of God’s grace, tells us, “You have heard that it was siad, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45).

Rain, for Jesus, Deuteronomy, Job, and Hosea (and most of the rest of the Bible, but that’s too long to list here), is a sign of God’s steadfast love for all people, good or bad, righteous or unrighteous.  It is no longer just a sign for those who know the Lord, but an example or the wonderous love God has for all of creation, even those who are enemies of God.

And this is good news for us, those who are suffering under the weight of our sins.  Our sinful humanity makes us God’s enemies.  But God still gives us rain and sun, and most of all, his Son, to turn us from enemies to adopted children.  If God will send life-giving rain on us evil people as well as the good people, and we are children of God, how can we not love even our enemies.  This is our calling, as those who struggle to know the Lord, to understand God’s desire for us, as evidenced by the rain that God sends for all creation!

 So the next time it rains, remember the glorious promise that God makes through this water from heaven, that all earth is claimed under God’s wonderous rule, that all people, good and evil, are loved by God.  And give thanks to God that even you receive the rain, as a sign of God’s love for you!

“Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.  Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.  Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
1 Peter 1:13-16

What does it mean to be holy?

We Christians are called a holy people.  Certain actions that we do are holy.  Some words we say are holy.  Some places are called holy places.  Some things we touch, taste, or look at are called holy as well.  Is holiness some intrinsic piece of the atom, or is holiness added, like we add seasonings when we cook?

A simple definition of “holy” is: Set apart for God’s use.

Something that is holy is something that God has decided to use for a specific purpose.  This requires three characters in the drama of being holy.  The first character is God, who gets to use things.  Why does God get to use certain things?  Because God made all these things, put everything in motion, and maintains all creation through the Word.  God gets to use things because all these things belong to God.

The second character is the thing, person, or place that God decides to use.  This could be something as normal as a little bit of water, that mixed up with the Word, becomes a baptism.  Or maybe a little bit of bread and a little bit of wine, that mixed up together with the Word becomes the Eucharist.  Or it might be a place, like a church or a specific site like the little French city of Lourdes, that God decides to use for people to gather and worship.  Or God could pick a person, or a group of people, and use them to further God’s work in the world.  This is exemplified in the calling of Abram: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing’” (Genesis 12:1-2).  This is also shown when Jesus calls his fishermen disciples: “And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people’” (Matthew 4:19).  People are selected to do something, to be something, and that something is to spread the Good News of God’s love to an unbelieving and unloving world.

Just like Abram so long ago, and the disciples a little bit more recently, we are called to be a holy people.  Notice, that this does not mean we are called because we are better than anyone else.  Nor does it mean that, by being called, we are intrinsically more special than anyone else.  We are not called because we were special, we are special because we are called!

And being called out, specifically picked to be holy people in the world, we have a job to do because Holy is as Holy does.  This is why the letter 1 Peter does not hedge its claims on us like a lot of Paul’s letters seem to do.  The writer of 1 Peter does not allow us to dodge God’s calling.  God is the creator, the only one who has holiness.  But because God calls us, sets us apart, we are made holy.  So, the apostolic author tells us to be holy in all our conduct.

But what does holy conduct look like?  As with any conduct, there are two sides, the personal conduct (how you act when you are alone and no one is watching) and public conduct (how you act when others are around and everyone is watching).  Personally, holy conduct means following the Ten Commandments, living according to the Lord’s Prayer, and allowing them to shape your life.  But notice actually how small guidelines those are!  There are only ten fairly simple rules!

Holy public conduct, however, is much more complicated.  It is not easy to live a public life of not judging others (Matthew 7:1), of interpreting our neighbors actions in the best possible light (Small Catechism, Eighth Commandment), and always working for the best for the world, whether we agree with it or not (Philippians 1:9-10)!

How do we live a holy public life?  The first step is to remove from ourselves the idolatry of self.  We are all too often disposed to believe that we are right, we are correct, and if anyone disagrees with us, they must be wrong.  We are not holy by ourselves, but only because God calls us, just as God has also called others to be holy.  We work with God when we act as the full body of Christ, complete with disagreements and dysfunction that works to build up the whole body.  We are not made holy alone, but only together, with the whole history of holiness that God has been working on since the creation. 

Holiness is our calling, and holiness is our job.  Together with all the other holiness in this world, we get to live and work in God’s kingdom now, before it comes to be fully and completely to everyone whether they want it or not. 

Who are we?  God’s holy ones.  Now we behave that way.

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

Have you ever gotten a phone call, late at night, from a friend in need?  Maybe they needed a ride home, or maybe they were lost.  Or maybe they just needed to talk.  Whatever the reason, that person called you, and expected you to help them.

What did you do?  Did you stay up late talking with them, or did you ignore them and hang up the phone?  Did you drop whatever you were doing to go out in the dark to find them and bring them safely home, or did you leave them to their own devices?

Well, if was a good enough friend, I suppose you did the good and helped them.  You lived up to the hope that they had in you, and fulfilled their need, which was why they called you in the first place.

This is what the writer of Ephesians had in mind when he wrote, “I … beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  Each one of us is called by God through our baptismal relationship with Jesus Christ to do something.  Callings take different shapes and sizes for all people, and change over time depending on the person.  Some people are called to be parents, some people are called to be teachers, others are called to be factory workers, others farmers, others mechanics, etc.

Most people have more than one calling, just like most of us have more than one friend.  God calls people to multiple duties: a farmer may be a parent as well, and both are important callings.

But to live out these callings, to live a life worthy of them, we need to do what God calls us to do.  Just like your friend calling you in the middle of the night for a ride home, you should do your best to fulfill your friends’ need.  So it is with God’s calling of you.  If God has called you to be a teacher, be the best teacher you can be!

So how do you fulfill God’s calling?  The writer of Ephesians gives a few guidelines to help us out.  The life we are to lead, no matter what our calling, is to be a life of humility, gentleness, patience, bearing each other, and maintaining our unity.

We’ve already talked about humility (check out my Feb. 19th post on this blog).  Humility, basically, means not taking yourself too seriously, and putting other peoples’ needs before your own.  This is what Paul means when, in the letter to the Philippians, he writes, “And being found in human form, he [Jesus] humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”  Jesus put our needs before his own desires, and laid his own life down so that we might take on his new life for our own.

Gentleness means just that, to be gentle.  This does not mean to be weak.  It means to be strong in faith, but soft in touch.  Dealing with other people is much like catching eggs.  You must have soft hands, but a firm grip.  If you grab the egg to strong, it will break in your hand.  But if you go limp, it will fall on the floor and break there.  So it is with our daily interactions with other people.  If your words are to strong, it will crush their feelings, and break them away from what we want, to gather them into Christ’s church and his loving embrace.  But likewise, if we are limp in our faith and dare not speak out, then they will fall through the cracks.

To be patient is to be able to wait, to not expect immediate results.  Some people have to wait for their calling, patiently waiting for their great desire to meet the world’s great need in a miraculous turn of events that only God could have transpired.  Other people wait to see the results of their work.  But patience is a must in our life, because God works only on God’s time table, not ours.

Bearing each others’ burdens is hard.  This is a derivitiveof humility, where we place others’ needs before our own desires.  To bear anothers’ burden is to take their sins as our own, to declare their forgiveness before they even ask!  This is not something we are used to doing!  Usually, we want forgiveness to follow repentance, and if there is no repentance then there is no forgiveness.  But notice: Jesus did exactly the opposite.  Never did Jesus wait for someone to express repentance.  Jesus just forgave sins and hoped that repentance (turning around) would follow.  And that is just what Jesus does for us still.  We, poor unrepentant sinners that we are, are still given forgiveness whether you turn from your sins or not.  What is the difference between “us” and “them,” then you ask?  Really, nothing.  The only slight difference is that we know we need forgiveness.  But in order to know our need for forgiveness, we need to know our sins.  And for many people in the world, both us and them, “sin” doesn’t really mean anything any more.  That is why “we” need to grow more in bearing each others’ sins, for the sake of this world.  We need to sacrifice our self-righteousness on Jesus’ cross, and take up the sins of the world and offer them to God.

Finally, we must live a life that maintains the unity of the one Spirit in whom we have been baptized.  This was a radical call in Biblical times, because the first Christians came from both Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, men and women.  This is an even more radical call today, when we have let our divisions define us.  There are those who support abortion rights and those who oppose abortion rights.  There are those who support homosexual marriage and those who oppose homosexual marriage.  Maintaining the unity means that the Spirit comes first, before any and all of our differences.  Maintaining the unity means finding a way around lines in the sand that divide us to reach a new goal, a new life, and the new calling that we have all recieved to be children of God together.

God calls us to this new life not because it will be fun, or easy.  It is hard work to be humble, gentle, patient, bear each others’ sins, and maintain the unity of the Spirit in word and deed.  In fact, it’s impossible!  But luckily, in God, even the impossible is possible.  And God calls us to the impossible, simply to show the rest of the world God’s true and wonderful power and glory. 

Today, give thanks to God for allowing us to be a part of this wonderful endeavor of being workers in the Kingdom.  Listen, God is calling YOU!

“The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
Psalm 34:10

During different times in our lives, different words comfort us.  When things are going well for us, we may not need too many words of comfort at all.  But when things are going badly for us, when we are suffering from death, loss, disease, or other catastrophes, we need all the comfort we can get.  Sadly, though, a lot of what people say to try and comfort us can be insensitive or even harmful.

Statements like this verse from Psalm 34 can be rendered harmful to people undergoing suffering in their lives.  After all, if those who seek the Lord lack no good thing, and I am, in fact, lacking good things in my life, then what does that say about my relationship with God?

But, thankfully, that is not what this verse is talking about at all!  Psalm 34 is a song for someone who has come out of the other side of suffering.  No more does this person feel the sting of the loss, the depression, the doubts and fears that accompany suffering.  In fact, they attribute their new-found hope on God: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). 

This is a song to be sung on the other side of the Red Sea.  Every time we read “delivered” in the Old Testament (and probably most of the time in the New Testament), we recognize God’s mighty acts of deliverance throughout the history of the Israelite people.  And no one act is more important, more typical of God’s actions, or more referred to than the Israelites crossing the Red Sea in Exodus. 

Remember the Exodus story?  Moses and Aaron are sent by God to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to set out for the land promised to Abraham for the Israelites to live on.  After arguments, miracles, plagues, and a passing over of God’s Spirit, the Israelites are freed and sent on their way.  However, the Pharaoh rethinks this, and sends his army out after the Israelites, who are celebrating their freedom and lazily walking out of Egypt.  Here begins a prehistoric car chase, with zig, zags, explosions, and fatalities.  Up to the point when the Israelites come to the banks of the Red Sea.  Here they think they are doomed to be crushed between the Egyptian army and the hungry waters.  But instead of seeing the people destroyed, God parts the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites can cross the boundary of the water on dry ground.  When the Egyptians follow, however, God closes the waters back over them, drowning them all.

This story became the prototypical story for the Israelite people.  Everything that they knew about God was based on the fact that God delivered them from death through the deathly waters to new life.  God took what would have killed them, and used it to bring them to new life!

And so it is with suffering even today.  God doesn’t take suffering away from us.  Nor does God rearrange the universe so that only I may never suffer.  We suffer mostly through our own deeds and doings.  We suffer also simply because we are mortal, finite beings who are aware of our impending death.  It would be, after all, more than luck to get out of life alive.  We will all die, and when we encounter our impending death (either through stark reminders of our own finitude like sickness and disease or vicariously through other deaths or other’s sicknesses), we suffer.

But what we know to be true, like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 34, is that God delivers us through suffering.  God does not take it away from us.  God walks through it with us.  God did not abandon the ancient Israelites to the whims of the pharaoh and the Egyptian army, but as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, walking with the Israelites through the parted waters to the other side.

God will walk with you through your suffering, caring for you even as you cry and scream, and other people seem like no help at all.  God will deliver you from suffering to new life, on the other side of the sea, so that you can, with this psalmist, proclaim the good news of life: “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble” (Psalm 34:6).

So if you are going through suffering now, my prayers are with you.  And my faith is for you, because I know God will see you through this present suffering, this present darkness you find yourself in now.  If you have come through suffering, join with me in praising the Lord using the words of Psalm 34, because there are many people who need the support and care of the loving, living Lord:

“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.  O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.  I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Look to him, and be radient; so your faces shall never be ashamed.  This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.  O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.  O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want.  The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing”  (Psalm 34:1-10).

God bless you today!

“Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.  But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.  None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-10

It’s a hard thing in this day and age to claim to have wisdom.

First of all, wisdom itself is seen as almost archaic, having no more use in today’s world.  After all, what good is a philosopher like Aristotle or Socrates in this world.  Philosophers of old had experience and knowledge in all kinds of subjects.  Today, we live in a specialized society, where we expect any one person to have experience and knowledge in only one, or maybe two, subjects.  And that is the way we are taught in schools and work.  We select our speciality, work only on this area, and let everything else pass by.  Why do you think I have no apptitude for construction?  I studied philosophy and theology, and it was assumed that knowing how to use a hammer was not important.  Looking back on it now, I wish I had learned more from my grandfather!

But secondly, claiming to have wisdom is seen as presumptuous, conceited, and rude in this world of specialized training.  How can any one person make the claim that they know what to do in this crazy, mixed-up world?  And what does that claim mean for the people who have studied and worked at this particular field for years?  For example, I could claim to have wisdom in electrical work, and even hire myself out for jobs (This is assuming that I have that wisdom, which I don’t.  It’s just an example!).  But what would that mean for the people who went to school to learn to be electricians?  Would my wisdom take away their jobs?  What about the local union?

This situation, though, was probably not much different in New Testament times.  They had begun to build a network of a specialized skill force, with some people being carpenters, some people being fishermen, some people being blacksmiths.  Very few people would have tried to do all things.  They would use the goods that they made or caught to trade for everything else they needed.  New Testament times would have been a time when claiming to have wisdom would have been challenged.

But Paul, in the beginning of the First Letter to the Corithians, speaks of the wisdom he shared with the believers in Corinth.  Paul is claiming that we have seen real wisdom through Jesus Christ.  And not by what Jesus taught (Paul quotes no teachings), and not by the miracles Jesus performed (Paul cites no historical miracles).  Paul’s claim here is as controversial today as it would have been then: We have seen real wisdom in Jesus’ death.

What does this mean?  Who can handle this?  Who can see wisdom in this toturous death Jesus suffered at the hands of Pilate? 

The wisdom that we see is that one man was willing to give up his life to be faithful to God.  This is a radical change from the wisdom of the world, that still today operates on a “save your own neck” mentality.  We still struggle daily to improve our lot in life, obtain more creature comforts (a funny little phrase, don’t you think?), and do whatever we want, even at the expense of others.  For example, we all probably want a raise at work, and we could have it if the boss fired someone else.  It is clearly better for all if more people are working, but I worry that some businesses might be firing workers just to allow CEO’s to make more money.

The wisdom of this world only leads us to paths of death and destruction.  Jesus’ life proved that, as he challenged the authorities of his time, and they killed him for it.  But Jesus was following a different order of wisdom, a wisdom more complete than the wisdom of this world.

Who can understand this wisdom that God uses?  Who can understand that God used Jesus’ death to defeat death?  Who can understand that God used chooses the lowly and poor to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God?  Who can understand how, in serving the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, we are in fact serving our Lord (Matthew 25:31-46)?

Only those who are wise in the Word of the Lord and in God’s ways can understand these things!  Only those who are familiar with the topsy-turvey way God works in this world can make any sense at all out of the mysteries of God!  Only those who struggle with the Holy Spirit, who knows the wisdom of God, can take what appears to be foolishness to this world and see it for what it is: right and true!

This Spirit is given to each of us in baptism.  Remember the prayer said at the end of the baptismal service: Pour your Holy Spirit upon _____: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the Spirit of joy in your presence” (LBW page 124).

This is the same Spirit who resides in all of us, to make us wise and smart, pure and strong, fearful and joyful in the presence of God.  To those who love God, who have been given this gift and who struggle to live in this way, these gifts are of utmost importance.  To those who do not care, these gifts are still foolishness. 

If you care for the fragile rewards of this world and not for the wisdom of God, then this has all probably sounded like hogwash.  But if you love the Lord, struggle against sin, the devil, and the powers of this world, then let us pray together:
My savior, Jesus Christ, breathe on me your Holy Spirit today: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the Spirit of joy in your presence as I live my life for you, as I stuggle today against sin and the powers of this world, as I learn your wisdom.  I pray this in your name, for your world, for your glory.  Amen.

God bless you today,
Pr. Bryan

For all of you who couldn’t make it to church yesterday, I thought I would put my Easter morning sermon up here.  Enjoy!

Mark 16: 1-8

[1] When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  [2] And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  [3] They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”  [4] When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.  [5] As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  [6] But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  [7] But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”  [8] 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.

What Good is a Resurrection? 

If you have been following the news over the last couple of weeks, you will probably agree with me that it has been a difficult time to see hope in this world.  There has been a rash of multiple-murders recently.  We have inundated by news stories of people killing their entire family, school shootings, gang violence, or even a woman who neglected her son to death, but made a plea agreement that she would be innocent when her son was resurrected!

So what good is a resurrection to a world that apparently does not value life?  What does this one-time resurrection mean to us, who find an easier time holding grudges than offering forgiveness, where all through this country we use guns to end disagreements instead of reconciling differences?  What difference does it make to us that at one time in history, a man who was dead was resurrected, brought back to life.  Many people today do not believe that this resurrection really even happened.  After all, resurrection is impossible.  The dead do not come back to life.  And even though there were hundreds of eyewitnesses to Jesus resurrected self, people still doubt (although if you took the case to court, you only need three eyewitnesses!). 

But we have these eyewitness accounts, or accounts written down second- or third-hand, but that does not falsify their account.  We trust the stories that we are told second-hand today with no qualms or questions, even though I, for one, am lucky if I can remember my telephone number, much less a story accurately.  I wrote this very sermon, but am still using notes to preach it, because my training did not include memorization skills.  The people who committed the stories of Jesus to the page were trained in the memorization of stories!  Their stories are far more reliable than any news story today!

So, being that this story is accurate, what good is this resurrection to us? So what if at one time, one man died as was raised?  Well, it just so happens that that question is exactly the question Mark tried to answer in his Gospel story.  Mark began his gospel with the kind of cryptic line: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Jesus’ ministry began with the also cryptic statement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  There is one thing that is common in both of those statements, one said about Jesus and one said by Jesus, and that is that they are both Good News, and they are good news for us!  See, for Mark, the good news for us will not happen until the end of the story, the resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the beginning of the good news of the kingdom of God!  So what is the kingdom of God?  Well, to answer that, you have to read through Mark’s gospel, hear the teachings of Jesus as instructions of what the kingdom looks like, play with Jesus’ parables as examples of how the kingdom will act, and most of all see his life as the one and only model for living in this kingdom.  And, I think today, when we all go home, we should read this gospel straight through.  These stories were not meant to be read piecemeal, bit by bit, arranged around our calendar, but read and proclaimed as a story. 

But for now, I’ll give you the highlights, and you can double-check me when you get home.  The kingdom is different than any form of human government.  The kingdom of God, for example, has only one rule: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.  Compare that with how many laws and rules we have even in this country, with its incredible freedoms.  The kingdom of God operates under one condition: forgiveness of sins.  Compare that with the usual standards of retribution, retaliation, and hostility that occupy our current attitudes.  The kingdom of God has one primary example, the life of Jesus Christ, who lived in such a way that his enemies had no other recourse except to use their earthly powers and kill him.

And Jesus was dead, killed at the same time as the Passover lamb would have been slaughtered in remembrance of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.  Jesus is the new Passover sacrifice for us to leave our bondage to sin and be set free to worship God!  Jesus sets us free to be a new creation, a new people, in the midst of this world does not believe, does not forgive, and has no faith.

Jesus could have chosen to come down from the cross, as he was taunted, he chose not to.  Jesus chose on the cross to not save himself so that he could save everyone.  So he could save you, from the devil and from yourself.  Jesus could have deserted us, left us to our own devices, but instead came into this world to give us the kingdom, so that we could live in that kingdom now! 

Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead because he deserved to be raised (even though he did).  Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead because he didn’t deserve to die in the first place (which he did not).  Jesus was raised from the dead for us – to show us that the kingdom of God has in fact broken into this world, where so many people suffer oppression and death at the hands of the powerful and evil.  Like all of the teachings and miracles that Jesus did during his life, his resurrection from death was for us.  So that we might know that God is just that powerful, just that holy, just that willing to set aside all the rules and laws by which the universe operates just to call us to faith.

Jesus was raised from the dead.  Jesus is now alive.  Jesus will never die again.  And even though we die, we will receive the new life promised to us at the final arrival of the Son of Man in power.  But the fantastic thing is that this new life is open to us right now!  We do not have to wait for Jesus to come riding on the clouds.  We can tap into the power of the Holy Spirit right now, and live in the kingdom of God as it quietly and powerfully changes us and changes this world. 

Jesus’ resurrection is far from being a fictional story to entertain us.  It is not simply an explanation of how we will be at some future time.  No, Jesus resurrection and the wonder that it is, shows us how much the God of all creation loves each person, values each life, and wants to bring all into the new Kingdom as it has exploded into this world!

So what does this one resurrection, from so long ago, mean for us today?  Simply, everything!  Jesus dying and being raised from the dead means everything to us who believe.  Jesus’ resurrection means that no longer must we be caught up in a never-ending cycle of revenge.  Jesus’ resurrection means that even though there will be violence in this world, all violence will come to an end.  Jesus’ resurrection means that even though there is fear and hatred in this world, we can live in his kingdom, loving and serving one another, seeking out the best for all, secure in our hope for the arrival of God’s rule in this world! 

This is truly the beginning of the good news for us.  In this world of financial problems, multiple-murderers, poverty and homelessness, we are given a glimpse, ever so brief, of a new life, a new kingdom, and a new world where these things will cease to exist.  And we are given this glimpse all because one man, at one time, was killed, and then raised from the dead to new life, for us!  Jesus died for us.  Jesus is risen for us.  Jesus will come again for us!  Thanks be to God.  Alleluia!