Ramblings

Smelly Boundaries – 4/21/2013

    Sermon based on Acts 9. It was a beautiful late morning in the mid 1970's around Killdeer, a small town located in western North Dakota and I had been invited to participate in an event that I have only done once.

It all began when I was invited by an elderly member of the church to participate as his helper. After receiving permission from my parents, I was told to wear jeans, a long sleeved shirt, work boots and a good pair of gloves. Then on one cool, June morning, we began the journey in his old IH 4x4 driving about an hour into the badlands.

When we arrived we joined other ranchers and their families as well as a couple of other volunteers --- largely young teenage boys like me. Besides us there were about three hundred restless cattle in one of three stockades an assortment of full grown steers, cows, yearling, calves and "weaners" those calves who were weaned.

After everyone had arrived and everything was settled, we began with the training and pairing. Thankfully I was assigned to work with an experienced friend from school by the name of David. Together we reviewed the basics, the cattle are going to be sorted and we boys were assigned to the branding and castration pen, a smaller stockade next to the larger.

We were told the cattle were going to be sorted with the adults going into one pen and the unbranded calves and weaners going into our pen. There we would work as a team with one of us grabbing the head and the other the back legs. The person who grabbed the head would be responsible for pushing the calf to the ground and holding on tight with his shoulder on the shoulder of the calf. The other person would help get the animal down and put one leg with their boot on to one of the back legs while pulling and holding on tight to other. At that moment when we were secure, we were to shout "Ready," as a man would come up and if male would quickly castrate the animal. Another person would follow up and whichever haunch was up, a hot branding iron would burn a brand. I'm still not sure how they knew which out of three brands would be used on which calf.

After the branding we would shout to each other and let go and get out of the way, catch our breath and then look for the next calf. The last of the young cattle to go through the process were the oldest of the spring weaners because they were the largest and the hardest to get down.

There are many details that I could share, but the one memory that still lingers, many years later --- imprinted into my memory --- was the branding. There is nothing like the smell of burning hair and flesh, feet from your face. I can still recall the pungent smell; a smell so strong it would linger in my nose for days.

The reason I bring this episode in my life up is that this week's first lesson marks an important transition in Acts, where the author ends one section and begins another. It begins with the raising of a widow named Tabitha from the dead. But the last sentence includes a very revealing detail and important transition: "Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon." It is so important it is going to be repeated. Later the author of Acts begins a new story about a Roman solider named Cornelius where it repeats: "Send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Peter, who's staying with Simon the tanner." And just in case you missed it, not too much later the author of Acts writes a third time: "Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner." Why make three references to Peter, a disciple of Jesus, one of the main apostles, one of leaders of early church, staying in the house of Simon a tanner?

First, if Joppa, modern day Tel Aviv, rings a bell, you're right because about 800 years earlier; Joppa was the seaport city where Jonah "fled from the Lord" because as a Jew he was repulsed at God's call to preach to the pagan Ninevites, a background --- showing how God's irony works --- that change happens --- miracles happen --- people grow.

Now let us consider the main character in our lesson, Peter who grew up an observant Jew on a lake --- the Sea of Galilee. Then there is this moment in Peter's life, were things change. Who knows just how this began? Maybe he sat, nets in hand, and the thought just popped in Peter's head one day that there might be more to life…or maybe he had a conversation with someone or heard something in synagogue that week that raised some questions about his faith and threw him for a tailspin. Or perhaps there was a crisis… we do not know, but we do know is that one day a man named Jesus came along and said simply: "Follow me." And Peter did.

And perhaps the change in Peter that had been incremental moves into hyper drive for within three years, Peter's life is turned upside down. Miracles happen that defy his understanding of the world. Peter hangs out with people he may have before disliked, like Matthew, one of his new colleagues who was a former tax collector from ---- his own community!

And then Peter is watching Jesus, breaking other rules he had grown up to believe… hang out with unclean people like lepers for example. Then before you know it --- three years is really not very long --- Peter sees things he never thought he would see and now on the other side of a cross and an empty tomb and fellowship moment in a room, this same Peter, the old sailor, is standing up and preaching. Not only before crowds but this former fisherman is up in front of people like the religious supreme court.

Then Peter is leaving Jerusalem. And everything is changing again, for now Peter finds himself at the head of a bed where he is witness to two miracles. One of them is obvious. Peter shows up in Joppa at the request of some grieving believers. Apparently, they think maybe Peter might help their friend. When he arrives, Tabitha is already dead, and Peter, as opened and changed as he is, Peter tells her to wake up. She did and that is the first miracle.

But when the reader read the lesson, we may not have noticed the second miracle for Peter and the important transition in Acts. It is equally and perhaps even more astonishing. As I said earlier "Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon." That was the second miracle.

A tanner… for an orthodox Jew… was as unclean as unclean could be. A tanner worked with dead animal bodies all the time. Simon was ceremonially unclean and therefore, spiritually unclean and could contaminate other people. Simon the tanner was a socio-economic outcast. He lived on the margins of society. A woman could actually divorce her husband for being a tanner. He was a "dirty" man in both a literal and figurative sense.

Simon was also a religious outcast. For example, if you remember an important aspect of Jewish life are the dietary laws to "keep kosher" by eating only what is "fit" or "clean" — from the Hebrew word "kasher." As you may remember, this was based on the fact that one way to express your relationship to the holy God is by not defiling yourself with "dirty" food. However, in the case of Simon the tanner, handling animal carcasses was expressly forbidden by Jewish purity laws in Leviticus 11: 39–40. Simon could not just eat his way to cleanliness; he would have had to find a totally different profession.

And just imagine the stench before refrigerated trucks and before the days of clean butchering meat factories. I lived with a stench of branded burned flesh for only a few hours on the day in June. Just imagine how Simon looked and smelled at the end of a hot day, day after day. Just imagine the smell in the house; that was the world that Peter entered, an orthodox Jewish fisherman from Galilee when he walked into the home of Simon. That is the second miracle. That is why this line is repeated three times, a not so subtle reminder of what the life of following Jesus, the cross and the resurrection means.

It is also a transition into the boundaries Pentecost was pushing these disciples to cross; Peter's story shows how the early believers struggled with Jewish laws about ritual purity as Gentiles joined their movement. And it was a good thing because in chapter 10, Peter is going to have to take an even bigger step. Living with the smell of Simon the Tanner was just this first step because next comes baptizing the household of Cornelius the Gentile… a Roman centurion of all things, an encounter that will push Peter into a vision, a dream from God, which invites Peter to move beyond and leave behind all those purity laws; a vision that the good news knows no boundaries.

Amazing is it not? We take for granted that Christians are people who are willing to be Spirit led, but I wonder if we may forget what that really means. Peter was led along one lesson at a time… so are we. Our world is God's classroom fashioned for us. What is around us? Who has meandered into our lives? What person, what pain? What dream? What smell? What challenge… is before us?

Maybe even something as awkward as a Bloody Tanner to a Kosher Fisherman? Maybe someone or something is there to bust open our stereotypes and lead us one step further into the flock led by the Good Shepherd.

Peter began one day in a small fishing boat… and the tradition says he wound up in the center of the known world… in Rome, as the leader of an exploding faith. Jesus had even predicted it; "What you really are Peter, is a rock." Furthermore, tradition has it that down under The Vatican, down in the deepest place, under it all, acting as the foundation God made him to be, there is a grave marked with the name Peter. Who would have known that his journey began on the beach of a lake, through the house and smell of Simon the tanner to Rome?

Life will not leave us short of where God wants to take us, the flock God intended for us to be around. Life will not leave us less than God has made us to be. Let us Wake up… pay attention…to the smells --- to the places --- to the people --- God would have us be in community under Christ as our Good Shepherd. Amen.

Worthy – 4/14/2013

Sermon based on the text: Revelation 5: 11-14. As is the case in many instances what is written was not presented on the day of worship, but a general outline.

There is a famous fictional story that has been used countless times. So if you haven't heard before, here it is: "a story is told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his family home for generations. "I couldn't read it," the friend explained. "Somebody named Guten-something had printed it." "Not Gutenberg!" the book lover exclaimed in horror. "That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy is worth millions!" His friend was unimpressed. "Mine wouldn't have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin had scribbled all over it in German."

Great illustration isn't it especially for us Lutherans because the Martin that marked that Bible is hinted to be none other than Dr. Martin Luther, the 15^th century reformer, our namesake, the first to translate the Greek and Hebrew of the OT and NT to German. But that is not what interests us about that story; rather the illustration points us to the subject of value; for the book lover the Bible was priceless, while for the other man an old Bible with scribbles was worthless.

How do we measure worth… if something is worth the effort, the time and the work, "Is it worth it?" The question can be asked in many ways: "Is it a worthy cause?" "Is it worth my time?" Is the relationship worth it? Are children worth the effort?

There is something that drives each decision we make in life. Our life is one big pursuit of what we believe is going to ultimately bring us joy, contentment, and satisfaction. We pursue what we value the most. Dave Harvey in his book Rescuing Ambition put it this way: "We consciously pursue what we value. It's not simply a matter of being driven by biology or genetics or environmental condition to satisfy instinctive cravings. Rather, we perceive something, prize it at a certain value, and then pursue it according to that assigned value because were created that way." (Italics are mine)

We perceive something, prize it at a certain value, and then pursue it accordingly. Today's second lesson is a great illustration and tool for us during this Easter season to help us perceive, prize and pursue. In this lesson, John of Patmos has a vision in the late 1^st century, of what will be and then writes it down to encourage Christians of the heavenly prize. John did this to encourage the Christians as they pursued their faith in the midst of great persecution from Rome.

John begins to share what he perceives earlier in Chapter 4, where John sees the throne room of heaven. In the throne room John observes the worship of God in all of God's holiness and worth. Now, what we find in chapter 5 is a continuation, witness to a massive heavenly choir consisting of angels surrounding God's throne, along with the living creatures and the elders. John perceives that they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice. What a feast for John's eyes to see and ears to hear; what a picture for us the readers. The shapes and sizes and colors of that massive heavenly choir in this vision are astounding.

Also in this vision these voices sing in a hymn of praise to the exalted Christ, the Lamb of God who has been raised from the dead and now ascended into heaven. For those of you who have heard this world's best choirs singing this passage of Revelation from Handel's Messiah; you might have a foretaste of what John perhaps was caught up in his vision of a heavenly choir.

Let us look more closely at how does John perceive this heavenly court to be? John tells us that those gathered around God's throne were diverse and numerous. That is very encouraging for people in the first 1^st century who face difficulties. Rome although grand in architecture was in governance a small, over-crowded place for a group of elitists. We could say the same for our world, the further up you get in the totem poles of life, the fewer and fewer people there are yet the more crowded it can seem as they pursue power. Heaven on the other hand is a spacious place where there shall be room enough beyond our imaginings. Heaven also shall consist of a variety of beings --- here John mentions angels, the living creatures and the elders. That, too, is an encouraging detail. I think we'd all grow very bored very quickly if heaven consisted of everyone being exactly the same. Rather, heaven in John's grand vision consists of an amazing variety --- we will have no time to get bored with one another.

Another detail John gives us in what he perceives heaven to be is that the beings are busy. They are a massive heavenly choir; singing their hearts out; worshipping the victorious Christ the Lamb. For the persecuted Church, John's vision of this massive heavenly choir is a message of hope --- reminding them of better times ahead, filled with joy and celebration; in the presence of Christ the Lamb.

This leads to the prize. Turning now to the actual hymn of praise that the heavenly choir is singing, John mentions seven attributes of the exalted Lamb of God --- power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory and blessing. John, writing in his symbolic underground language, is fond of the number seven because John sees the number seven as a symbol of completion and wholeness. Seven is an all-inclusive number in reference to God and the Church. Another characteristic of John's writing in Revelation is his numerous references --- either directly or indirectly --- to the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. In this particular portion of the hymn of praise sung by the heavenly choir, John may have David's great thanksgiving to God in mind found in I Chronicles 29:10-12. Listen to the words of that passage now, and see if you can recognize similarities with the heavenly choir's hymn of praise: "Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly; David said: "Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all."

As you can see, there are some similar attributes ascribed to God as in the passage from Revelation. In both I Chronicles and in John's vision, we see that the prize is of a certain value. And what is that prize …? At this point in the first century, Rome was the center of the known world. If you lived at the time, there was nothing else, difficult for to understand for us who live in an interdependent global world. Rome however at this moment of John's vision, was the perceived center, nothing or very little was known by most of China or the Inca or Mayan empires. Thus all the prizes of power went to Rome.

　　 That is why John's vision, the music, the worship and the choir grows even larger, becomes ever more diverse and loud. John hears a universal hymn of praise to God the Creator and the Lamb. The universal choir this time consists of every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them singing. The universe now explodes into what must have been a beautiful, holy, deafening hymn of praise, worshipping God and the Lamb. This was the center, not Rome.

    We finally turn to the final component of this vision --- pursue it accordingly. In our day and age when anyone with a computer can create graphics, and paint a world even more amazing than that shared in John's vision, do we really perceive this vision as a prize of value to pursue? Nearly 1900 hundred years after John's vision, we in the church can seem as archaic, irrelevant and irrational. What could in John's vision inspire us to pursue being a Christian in this day and age?

In the everlasting song of the saints and angels, we hear them sing "Worthy!" They sing "Worthy is the Lamb." We know that this Lamb is Jesus. We know it because we have seen John the Baptist point to Jesus, saying "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Jesus was "worthy," worthy of honor and glory and praise.

As I said before, John uses images from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and in that we see the language of a lamb, and not just any lamb. This lamb in John's vision had seven horns and seven eyes, symbolic for complete power and knowledge, and yet this lamb was one who have been slain and whose blood was spread, like the blood spread on the doorposts centuries before on the doorposts so the angel of death would Pass-over the people.

This lamb furthermore was not sacrificed simply so blood could be painted on doorposts but as the spotless, perfect lamb that could be sacrificed to God for "the sin of the world." In other words, the lambs sacrificed in the temple pictured forgiveness and access to God through the blood of a substitute. Jesus was that substitute in John's vision. Jesus bore the sin of the world. Our sin. A lifetime of sin. And now, because of Jesus Christ, we are worthy because Christ was worthy.

John's vision to Christians suffering tremendous challenges is one ultimately of hope and worth. Just as Jesus was not literally a four-legged sheep or lamb, so Revelation's other symbols and numbers should not be read literally because John's visions are not about predictions but about perceiving God's love, the prize that is ours in Christ. Is that love worth singing about? Is God's love not worth worshipping in response? The first century Christians obviously found John's words helpful in their daily lives. Under great persecution the perceived God at work in the world around them and prized the worth they received in Christ and pursued this faith in love and grace. They can be words of hope for us as well. We too can perceive and prize God's love for each one of us and pursue that love in song and praise. Amen.

Uplifting Easter – 4-7-2013

Sermon based on Acts 5. What were you doing in April 1963? It's been a while -- 50 years. If you are over seventy, you might have watched the first episodes of the soap opera General Hospital. If you are over 60, you might have purchased the first album put out by the Beatles, Please Please Me. If you are under fifty, you were not even born yet. But if you were a leader of the clergy in Alabama, in April of 1963 you may have received a letter from none other than ---- the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Fifty years ago this month, Dr. King, the African-American civil rights leader was locked up in the Birmingham, Alabama city jail after being arrested for his part in a campaign. The Birmingham campaign was a nonviolent protest conducted against racial segregation. The non-violent protests included sit-ins, boycotts and marches.

Although Dr. King would be jailed at other points in the future, this time was for many of us Christians the most interesting because, while in jail, King wrote a letter on the margins of a newspaper, which was the only paper he could find. Then those bits and pieces of the letter were carried by his lawyers out of jail, compiled and published. So why did King write a letter?

Dr. King's letter was in response to eight white Alabama clergymen --- bishops and pastors --- from the Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and one rabbi from the local Jewish synagogue --- who had written and published a public statement called a "Call for Unity." These Alabama clergy leaders were upset because the campaign was provoking a heated and violent response in Birmingham and throughout the state. This statement called Dr. King's efforts "unwise and untimely." Although they agreed that racial segregation was a problem, the clergy argued that it should be handled in the courts instead of in the streets. Furthermore, these religious leaders rebuked King for being an "outsider" causing trouble in Birmingham.

In response, over four days after his arrest, Dr. King issued his now famous response to these white clergy in a document called "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Dr. King wrote that he was not an outsider because of his numerous ties to the Alabama Christian Movement, but more importantly he wrote, "I am in Birmingham because injustice is here." All communities and states are interrelated, King asserted, and "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ... Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Dr. King acknowledged that the demonstrations were unfortunate, but then argued that for blacks in the United States, the word "wait" suggested by the clergy, had almost always meant "never." "Negroes," King wrote, had already been waiting 340 years for their "constitutional and God-given rights." King contended that the black community was sick and tired of waiting for human authorities to act. It was time to obey God.

This letter in the history of the US Civil Rights Movement is helpful to consider because the story of Peter and the apostles in today's first lesson could easily be labeled "Letter from Jerusalem Jail."

In the portion of Acts not included in today's reading we would have heard that Peter and the apostles had been arrested for performing numerous healings and for telling the story of Jesus. Their actions provoked the local community of Jerusalem. Their time in jail did not last long, however, because an angel opened the prison doors and brought them out to continue their teaching. Then, on the day of the apostles' trial, the temple police arrested them again, and they were brought to stand before the Jewish council. The high priest questioned these Galileans, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in [the name of Jesus], yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us." In other words, the efforts of the apostles were "unwise and untimely."

But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

The apostles decided to obey God, rather than human authority --- a bold stand for them to take. It is bold because the same question could be asked of Peter and the apostles as was asked of Dr. King; how did any of them know that they were obeying God? After all, the clergy of Alabama believed that they were obeying God, just like the high priest and council of Jerusalem. And in both situations, Jerusalem and Alabama, the religious clergy also had the authority of human beings on their side.

For many of us, we could reasonably come to the conclusion that it should be obvious that Peter and the Apostles, the Dr. King and the protesters were in the right. Obviously, from our Christian perspective, Jesus is savior and Lord and I do not hear many Christians arguing for a return to segregation.

But as they say "hindsight is always 20/20."

These letters from jail help us consider the fundamental question: obey God over human authority. When is it right? When can we tell the difference? Where do we begin?

We begin in Easter. We are to begin as Peter and the apostles began from fact that the death of Jesus is overturned by God's rising of Jesus. We are to live in the resurrection, meaning that Christ's resurrection, his rising from out of death legitimizes and empowers the witness of the community of followers. Because of what happened in that first Easter we enter the Kingdom of God from the gate of Easter.

To explain let us return to what Dr. King said in his letter. There are two types of laws: just and unjust Dr. King said. That seems obvious. Although a good answer, how do we know the difference between the two? That's the tough part. Dr. King put it this way: a just law is "Any law that uplifts human personality." An unjust law is: "Any law that degrades human personality." Based on this reasoning, Dr. King concluded in his letter, that "all segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the person. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority."

Let's think through that in light of the Acts of the Apostles. Easter uplifts so then we want to be on the side of any uplifting action --- Easter action. Peter and the apostles point out that the "God of our ancestors raised up Jesus." That is ---- Uplifting! "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior." ---- Uplifting! "That he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." ---- Uplifting! "And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit." ---- Uplifting!

All who obey God are obeying his just and uplifting laws --- the Easter gate. On the other hand, the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem killed an innocent Jesus "by hanging him on a tree." That's an act that degrades the human person, making it an unjust law. In other words, just laws uplift and unjust laws degrade.

It's not often I want to quote Ozzy Osbourne but in 1980 he released a song called "Crazy Train." The chorus of the song is ridiculously simple, but very evocative: "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train." What the apostles were doing must have seemed like this to much of the surrounding world. The religious leaders of Jerusalem and Alabama certainly seem to think this.

This crazy train, Peter is clear to note, does not have a human conductor, and God is taking it right off of the rails because the current rails on which the human train journeyed were no longer bringing God's forgiveness and renewal, but actually hindering it.

What Dr. King and others fighting for civil rights were doing must have seemed the same way. This is not to condone going off of the rails for its own sake or irresponsible witness to Jesus Christ. Rather, the death of Jesus on the cross and his rising out of the tomb is the red carpet that leads to the lordship of Jesus and defines his kingdom. Easter --- the cross and resurrection of Jesus --- is how we enter the Kingdom. The cross and resurrection is God's offer of repentance and forgiveness, God's desire to uplift all.

Christians today are certainly going to have different ideas about where to draw the line between just and unjust laws. We live in many countries with many different systems. We may not all agree with each other, but we do need to support each other in our attempts to follow the Easter guidance of God. How can we be up lifting Easter?

Some will march in pro-life rallies, based on the belief that an unborn child has a right to life. Some will take a stand for marriage equality, based on the conviction that gays as well as straights have a right to marry. Some will join demonstrations for immigration reform because they are convinced that our current system is unfair and degrading. Some will join a movement to end child sex slavery and human trafficking. Some will stand with women so we do not return to back alley remedies for unwanted pregnancies. Some will support families so that children are raised in safe, loving, two parent homes.

No matter our Christian experience the challenge is to obey God and tell the Easter story that uplifts all human beings. The apostles did this, and we are called to do this today. We won't always be popular for uplifting the Easter story --- the cross and resurrection --- and we certainly will not enjoy quick and easy success. We may even encounter resistance, persecution and arrest. Later in Acts, Paul and Barnabas tell the other disciples, "It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God." Persecution may come. But our Easter lives are about our faith and hope in God who through the cross and empty tomb unrolled the red carpet to raise people up for Easter is up-lifting!

Hopes Lives! – 3/31/2013

Sermon for Easter Sunday. This is going to be a Call and response sermon; so whenever you hear the words Christ Is Risen please respond with: Hope Lives!

In February 2011, while responding to a suspicious person report, a 46-year-old police officer in St. Petersburg, Florida, was shot to death by a teenager. The wounded officer was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Then, as his body was wheeled out of the hospital to go to the medical examiner's office, about two dozen of his fellow police officers lined up outside, saluting as the body passed by. As they then dispersed, a reporter asked an officer for a comment. The officer simply said, "We live in a fallen world," and then he quietly walked away.

"We live in a fallen world." Christ Is Risen …. Hope Lives!

Most of us experience life as a mixture of the good and the bad. Imagine if you would if we had a piece of paper in front of us with a line drawn vertically down the center, dividing the sheet into two columns. In the first column -- let's call it GOOD – we were to write down all the good, enjoyable and happy things of our life, the things we count as blessings. What might go on there? --- children, some fun vacations, a hobby or pastime you really enjoy, your health, life free from worrying about having basic necessities, etc., as well as wider-scale blessings, such as the freedoms we enjoy in America, our relative affluence as a nation, and so on.

Then in the other column -- BAD – we were to list the things that we count as troubles, pains, bitter disappointments, fears, terrors, grieves and so on. What might go on there? -- worries about our children's choices, crime, fear for personal and family security, chronic pain, unemployment or employment at a job you hate, poor health, etc., as well as such global problems as abused children, poverty, drug use, human trafficking, wars, terrorism, homophobia, sexism, racism, and on and on.

Depending on our individual stories, some of us might have a longer list on one side or the other, but suppose for a moment that we could simply take all the bad stuff in the BAD column and with a wave of our hand, make it vanish into thin air, as though it never happened. Our lives would consist of only the Good, --- blessings on the other side of the paper. What might you call our world then? How about "paradise?" Christ Is Risen ….. Hope Lives!

Now just imagine if instead that the awesome stuff in the GOOD column totally disappears and our lives consisted only of the awful stuff in the BAD column. What might you call our world now? How about "hell?"

But as most of us know, life it is not just GOOD stuff or just BAD stuff; it's a mix of both. So what do we call that world?

We call it "reality," "the real world."

Let us go back to the police officer and his comment that the world we actually live in is a "fallen" world. In other words, what that officer was saying is that the BAD side sometimes intrudes into the GOOD side, and that is what happened that fateful day when his comrade was shot to death, the bad fell into the good.

Now let us go back to that two-column list once more. In which column would we put death? Certainly the police officer, thinking of the death of his comrade, put death into the BAD column and from there went into the good. And no doubt most of us would put death in the bad as well.

Today however, on this Easter, we are remembering, experiencing and celebrating that this two column world that we live has been transformed --- that the good, Jesus Christ, broke through the bad, defeated death and transformed the good and bad and our reality. Christ Is Risen …… Hope Lives!

For example, in writing to the Christians in Corinth, Paul talks in our second lesson about the resurrection of the dead, apparently in response to some who were saying there is no such thing. Paul argues that there is such a thing as the resurrection of the dead, and for proof, he points to the resurrection of Jesus. Listen to Paul's argument from 1 Corinthians 15 again, but this time from The Message, which is biblical paraphrase by Pastor Eugene Peterson:

"If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries."

Christ Is Risen …….. Hope Lives!

Paul is trying to explain that because we live in a fallen world, the bad intrudes on the good and we will all die, but everybody and everything comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait according to Paul for our turn: Christ is first, and then the grand consummation when Jesus Christ will hand over his kingdom to God. Jesus will not let up until the last enemy is down --- that is what is on the bad side --- and the very last enemy is death!

Another way to say this is: "The fallen world has passed away."

Christ Is Risen …….. Hope Lives!

Easter then is a time of celebration for that very reason and thus has an impact on our lives and the way we live. For example, because we follow a risen Christ, we have full knowledge that sometimes it is not possible to immediately know whether something is BAD or if it's GOOD because we have learned that Jesus has a way of transforming or redeeming things that at first we thought were BAD into beautiful things like death into life, a cocoon into a butterfly, an tomb into resurrection. Isn't that amazing… we no longer see things, as Paul said from a human point of view! Following a risen Christ means we no longer let a fallen world define us because we are citizens of another world and we live by its rules, ethics and values. Christ Is Risen ……….Hope Lives!

What else are we celebrating this Easter? When we follow a risen Christ, we know that the events of today are not the end of our story. Our lives; are stories being written. And we know that our temporal lives are but a prelude to a life hereafter. In other words, because of the resurrection, I can walk into a cemetery and say this is not the end! Following a risen Christ means that we do not despair or sorrow as others may despair "as those who have no hope." We follow Jesus in the context of hope. Christ Is Risen ……….Hope Lives!

What else are we celebrating? We can follow the risen Christ by living as he lived --- to serve others. Because of Easter we do not have to be self-centered for survival. Instead because of Easter, there is a joy in serving others that helps to relieve the bondage and dispel the shadows that linger around all of us in this "real" world. Christ Is Risen ………..Hope Lives!

The list goes on! So, I don't know about you, but I think that is worth celebrating. Christ Is Risen ………Hope Lives!

We do not gather on Easter morning merely to celebrate a miracle that happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago. No, we gather to declare that because Christ defeated death, Jesus Christ is the Lord not only of our lives, but also of our destiny. We live in a fallen world, the bad intrudes on the good, but we follow a risen Savior who has come to release our world from bondage to death and to put the shadows that are on our lives -- all that terrible BAD column stuff -- into a context of hope, until the day when the kingdom of God comes in its fullness, and BAD stuff is transformed! Christ Is Risen …… Hope Lives!