Go!
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/27/16 – Sermon 156
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
He is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia! It's
finally Easter morning. The third part of a worship service that started on
Thursday with the Last Supper, that continued on Friday with Christ's
crucifixion and death and now concludes this morning with the empty tomb and
the story of resurrection. There is nothing like the miracle of life,
especially in places and circumstances where there are threats to life. There
is nothing quite like the announcement of life. But, what do we do with it?
For the last several weeks
in worship we have been looking at the history and purpose of a worship
service. We looked at questions about why we do certain things, where the
foundation comes from and what our worship rituals actually mean because if we
have a room full of people who can't tell you why we share the peace or sing
hymns, then no one is going to want to be a part of it. It will just seem like
something old, outdated and useless. Today, saved specifically for Easter
Sunday, I want to take a look at the end of a worship service and the
commissioning of God's people to go!
At the end of worship, a
portion of the service is dedicated to sending us out. After we receive Holy
Communion, we pray that we would be strengthened through the gift of life, in
faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another. We are being prepared
to "go!" We are then blessed for the journey with what is called the
benediction. We are given the sign of the cross, a reminder of whose we are and
in whose promises we can trust. One blessing I learned that I like to use, and
you've heard it before, incorporates the sign of the cross right into the
blessing itself. I say "as you go your way may Christ go with you"
and isn't that the point of the blessing? We want to be strengthened for the
journey but we are not fully strengthened until we have Christ with us. So, as
part of that blessing, I pray that Christ would be with us in the many ways
that we experience life in the community. When we are lost, may Christ go
before us to show us the way. When we're uncertain, may he go behind us to
encourage is. To guide our path, may he go above us. To keep us from falling,
may he go beneath us to sustain us. To give us a shoulder to cry on or a hand
to high five, may he go beside us to befriend us. And where we are afraid, may
he go within us to give us peace. To be sent, we need Christ and that is the
point of the benediction. Then the last words of the entire service echo our
reason for going. We are not going because we're so tired we can't possibly
keep our eyes open any longer. We are not going because there is coffee
downstairs and we could really use some. We're going with that peace of Christ
to love and serve the Lord. We are going to see Christ in the community and be
Christ in the community. We are going to give life wherever we can.
How We Respond
To Easter
Since we are talking about
resurrection and new life coming from something that was dead and I thought I
might share with you the resurrection story of the Easter Bunny. You see, a man
was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw something on the side of
the road. It was some kind of creature. He got closer and saw a basket on the
ground next to it, on its side, having spilled eggs and candy all over the
road. As he got closer and pulled over to see, he noticed it was the Easter
Bunny. Dead on the side of the road. Unsure of exactly what was going on, he
stood and stared for what seemed like several minutes until another motorist
pulled up behind him. A woman stepped out of her car with a spray can. She
walked over to the limp, dead Bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can
onto the little furry animal. Miraculously the Easter Bunny came to back life,
jumped up, picked up the spilled eggs and candy, waved its paw at the two
humans and hopped on down the road. 50 yards away the Easter Bunny stopped,
turned around, waved and hopped on down the road another 50 yards, turned, waved, hopped
another 50 yards and waved again!!!! The man was astonished. He said to
the woman, "What in heaven's name is in your spray can?" The woman
turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: "Hair spray. Restores life to
dead hair. Adds permanent wave."
This is what our response to
Easter should be, to go out into the world giving life just like the woman with
the hairspray did. This is what our response to Easter is supposed to be and
our worship services always include a blessing and a sending of God's people
out into the world. To be honest, though, this has been the toughest part about
being the Christian church. To "GO!" is our commissioning but we're
not exactly good at doing it. Don't get me wrong, there are people in the world
who are very skilled at getting out of a church building in record time like it
was an Olympic sport, but when I say we're not exactly good at going, I mean
that we do not always know why we are going and what we are going for.
I think a reason we might be
so reluctant to go is because we are having an experience much like the women
as they were on their way to the tomb. They had no intention of receiving any
good news that day because they knew Jesus was dead. They knew the stone sealed
the tomb shut. So, full of grief and betrayal they went to the tomb where not
only the body of Jesus had been buried but where their hope and their faith had
been buried as well.
We, too, feel this way. We
are full of lost hope and betrayed faith. Even on Easter Sunday when we shout Alleluia. We might do so
gritting our teeth wondering how this seems to solve all of our problems.
Before we walked into this place this morning and as soon as we leave we are
going to be surrounded by the realities of death and suffering. You will still
turn on the news and hear of yet another terror attack where innocent lives are
lost. You still have your doctor appointments on the calendar. You still have
your chemotherapy. You still have your family arguments. We know that even when
we leave nothing changes. We still are mourning the realities of death and
suffering just like the women on the way to the tomb. This is what the sealed
tomb represents. It represents the end of hope. It represents the end of life.
It represents all we have left in our tiny existence in this world. And that is
where each of us are walking each and every day. We are walking to the tomb.
How the Women
Respond To Easter
But, this was no ordinary
morning. This was no ordinary man that had died. And the tomb was no longer
sealed. The angel tells them, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are
looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen just as he
said." The angel knew of the hopelessness they were facing and the doubt
that was in their hearts. Their very predictable journey to the tomb had just
become ever so unpredictable. I imagine their first reaction was to be in
disbelief. There is no way that this man could have risen from the dead. One of
the guards must have taken him away. Yet, suddenly there was a proclamation of
life where there has never been anything but death. The angel said. "Then
go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him'" So, not only has Jesus
been raised from the dead but now the women have the opportunity to see him.
Their only instruction was "Go." So, they went. They hurried to the
disciples but ended up meeting Jesus on the way. Now, not only did they get to
see him but they got to touch him and worship him. They were even told one more
time "Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see
me." A second time they were told these instructions.
How We See
Jesus
When we are sitting in the
face of death and suffering we should be encouraged to listen to the
instructions given to the women to “Go.” Okay, but the women and the disciples
actually got to see Jesus, how do we see Jesus when his physical presence is
not here? When we can't see the physical body of Jesus, we need to look for
evidence of his presence. Much like we see the wind only because of the effects
it has on trees and flags and other things. We need to go and see evidence of
Jesus' presence. Where is there life being given? That's where Jesus is. Where
is sickness being cured? That's where Jesus is. Where are people being fed?
That's where Jesus is. All we need to do is go out those doors and we can see
and be signs of the Easter story with those that we come into contact with each
day. We can give a meal to someone. We can clothe someone. We can be of
assistance to someone. We can lead someone. We can coach someone. We can do all
of this because Christ was raised from the dead. He gave us life and through us
He can give life to others. We can be evidence of Christ here in Trufant.
Something does change when we leave this place. We have power through Christ to
bring hope to a world that on Good Friday had no hope because Jesus had died.
Now we have hope because Jesus isn’t in the tomb anymore and our focus doesn’t
need to be on the tomb anymore either.
The women looked for Jesus
at the tomb because that is where they thought he would be. We look for Jesus
in the tomb also when we struggle to believe his promises. But, we can't stay
there. We can't doubt his promises because without the promise of resurrection
in our hearts, the grave, for us, is the end. But, when we have the promise of
life given to us by our risen savior, we can see that though the terrorists
will continue to attack and attack and lives will continue to be lost,
terrorism is not the end. When we have the promise of life given to us we can
see that though cancer will continue to eat and eat away at our bodies and
lives will continue to be lost, cancer is not the end. Though people nearby and
around the world will continue to die from lack of food, hunger is not the end.
We have the encouraging
words for each of those situations. Jesus is not in the tomb and because of
that we won't be either. The most excruciating death could not keep Jesus
buried and neither will anything that affects us or our families or friends.
The message of Easter is that we are encouraged with life where there is no
room for life anymore. There is no room for life when it comes to terrorism.
There is no room for life in cancer. There is no room for life in depression.
But Jesus brings life where it is not welcome. Jesus uses us to bring life
where it is not welcome. He brings it into our hearts and through us he shares
it with other people. And no, life may not come as easily as it can in a bottle
of hairspray but the life that Jesus gives can easily come through our words
and our hands and our hearts and our minds. The angel told the women to go.
Jesus told the women to go. We are also being told to go. Jesus is out there.
He's not at the tomb. No longer do we have to face death and suffering the same
way. There really is hope. There really is a reason to have faith. There really
is a reason to say Alleluia
because he truly has and if you simply go and look for him out in the
community, even if in some small place, you'll know he's there. So, let's go.
Let's leave the empty tomb behind and go find Jesus out in the community, in
our nation, and throughout our world because that is where he told us he would
meet us. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.