Notes From Jon

Whew!  Holy Week is over – and what a ride it’s been.  This has been one of the most meaningful Lenten seasons I’ve had in a long time (more on that in another post), and to me, this sermon was a culmination of it.

I really wish I could show it to you in video format to give you the full visual effect.  So I’ll have to ruin the “surprise” and tell you what happens visually at the end.  I had a sheet hung on a pole that represented the veil of the temple.  And when we talk about how the ripping of the veil represents God’s ripping the barrier between himself and us, I ripped the sheet from top to bottom and stepped through it.

Hope your Holy Week and Easter have been meaningful.  Christ is Risen – He is Risen Indeed!

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“Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?”

Sermon for Easter Sunday (year A)

March 23, 2008

Matthew 28:1-10, Ephesians 2:13-20

Introduction – the question

As I listened to the accounts of Holy Week in the Gospels this past week, I practiced “spiritual listening” – that is, I prayed that God would open my ears to hear something, and then I would listen for something to attract my attention.  When I do that, God never fails to catch my attention, and this time was no different.  I first heard this question last Sunday night as we worshipped at the Community Palm Sunday service.

It’s a simple question.  It comes in John’s account of that Thursday evening before the crucifixion (13:1-17).  Jesus is talking about what it means to be “great,” and he decides to give them an example of what “greatness” really is.  He goes among them, and one-by-one, he performs one of the most menial tasks  a person could perform in the ancient near east.  Countering their resistance, quietly going about his work while they watched in stunned silence, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet.  Then he turns to them and asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (13:12)

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Yes, I’m aware it’s been several days since my last post. There’s a lot going on – least of all, it’s Holy Week. Sadly, all the events of the last few weeks have come right at one of my most creative points in a long time. So there are a whole lot of half-finished drafts glaring at me from the top of my page tonight. But they’ll have to wait.

What I can post is my draft from the sermon last Sunday. The text – predictably enough – is the Triumphal Entry. Specifically, I looked at Mark’s version (Mark 11:1-11), but you really have to read all three to get the whole story. All kinds of cute names came to mind, but all of them involved using a word I’m not allowed to use, so I’ll let you fill in the blanks when you get to the end.

Remember that this is a preaching draft – I’ve tried to edit it quickly, but there are likely a few spots where I placed a note to myself that probably makes no sense to you. But I think you can get the main ideas.

Hopefully, after this weekend I’ll be able to finish some of my posts. But until then, I’ve got services to plan!

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One of the ways I look at a passage with an eye towards writing a sermon, is to look at the story through the eyes of some of the characters. It’s a helpful way to read a novel or story, as well – and even though the Bible is a retelling of actual events, it’s still placed in the form of storytelling. When you look through the eyes of the people in the story, even though you can’t fully get inside their head, you’re really able to get inside the story and begin to see what’s going on.

It’s like the movie Vantage Point, which I’m interested to see because of the premise – the President has been shot, and the only way to get to the bottom of the story is to put together the information of various witnesses from the crowd. [Note: I've actually seen the movie now, and while it doesn't really make my point like I thought it did, it's still a pretty good movie!]

Inevitably, you begin to like a certain character, or to envy their position in the events as they’re unfolding. You also gain empathy for others in the story, or find some whose shoes you’d rather not be in.

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I’ve been taking a class in Richmond at the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, and one of the friends I met there is an intentional interim pastor.  He’s currently at a church in Virginia that seems to be in decline, with around 150 regularly attending and EIGHT full-time staff people.  I’ll let you do the math.

Anyway, this guy makes me want to be an interim minister.  He gets away with stuff some pastors only dream about.  For instance, he said his newsletter article at the end of last year was “Are We A Church Or a Nursing Home?”  He reviewed the characteristics of a church: People come voluntarily, they come with a primary objective of taking care of others, and a good portion of the group’s money goes toward helping others.  Nursing homes, however, are places where people don’t really want to go, where people let others take care of THEM, and places where most of the money is spent on taking care of themselves.

Just as a matter of reference, he called the local country club and asked them what percentage of their yearly budget was donated to outside charitable causes.  The answer was surprising in light of his current church’s budget: 15%.  As a closing statement, he said, “We don’t even qualify to be a Country Club.  So what ARE we?”

Please know that my current church is NOTHING like this, but it sure would be nice to feel like you could say something like that.

Maybe I WOULD have the courage to write something like that… with my letter of resignation copied on the opposite page.

This is the last sermon in my Lenten series (now shortened), Living With Death. The first sermon was about coming to terms with our own death. The second sermon was about dealing with death around us, and looking at our own grief and the grief of others who have experienced loss.

Two weeks ago, we talked about a lot of the details of grief – what happens, who experiences it, what we can do. For that sermon/lecture go here.

Again, I want to emphasize why it’s important for us to talk about so difficult a thing right now. Our church has experienced loss and grief these past few weeks – we’ve lost several church members and family members. Grief is something that can be addressed by faith, and among people of faith. Grief is also something that can destroy our relationships with God and with others.

In other words, dealing with grief properly is as important a matter of health as watching and dealing with your cholesterol!

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As I sat in the coffee house a couple of days ago working on my sermon, a man came in who was obviously the delivery man from Sysco or some-such. The TV caught his attention as he came across the room – coverage of upcoming primaries happened to be on at the time, particularly a look at Hillary Clinton’s recent campaign ads. With a big sigh, he went to the counter and began unloading his things, then started broadcasting his political views to everyone.  Since it was impossible to work or to carry on a conversation while he loudly ranted, everyone listened – though most of us pretended not to. The unfortunate woman behind the counter had no choice but to acknowledge his tirade.

“Can you believe we might have to choose between some woman for president and this athiest guy?”

“Hmmm,” she said, looking down at the order form she was filling out and keeping her thoughts about his comment to herself.

“I mean, she’s some kind of communist, and he doesn’t believe in God. Wouldn’t even take his oath on the Bible, can you BELIEVE that?” he asked, though he wasn’t really asking. And no one answered. He then proceeded to unfold his theory on how Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (or both) are somehow the Antichrist, using references to the book of Revelation.  His prediction for the November elections – Obama will be President and Clinton the VP, and the world will come to an end sometime in 2009.

I seemed to recall getting both “Obama the Atheist” and “Obama the Muslim” emails forwarded to me, and figuring from the sources of those emails that their claims were false. But just for fun, since the Coffee Shop Pundit wouldn’t allow me to work, I decided to check out the stories for myself. Turns out this guy knows a lot more about Revelation than he does about the candidates.

I was reminded of the little fliers that the Christian Coalition of Alabama used to send to all the state churches every voting season – a “Candidate Report Card,” covering only issues which they deemed “important to Christian voters,” and sometimes smudging the truth a bit. Those made me chuckle, too – until I started seeing editorials and talking to friends at seminary who were using arguments and language that was all too familiar. It was upsetting to know that lots of folks – even my educated seminary friends – let “Christian experts” do their election research for them.

Silly as the coffee house episode was – and I did chuckle while he ranted for a few minutes – it ended up leaving me thoughtful and, honestly, a little scared. I take facts from email about as seriously as I take facts from cartoons. But if the number of these emails I get a week are any indication, someone out there obviously believes this stuff.

What else would these kinds of people believe if you sent it over email? All you have to do to convince some people is use big words and say you know someone at the CIA who confirms it. I’ve read (and heard with my own ears) people IN THE PULPIT make statements that they obviously got from these kinds of sources. And you know that if you hear it from the preacher AND you saw it on the internet, it might as well be written in the Bible.

The reporters and pundits say that religion and the internet will be big factors in the outcomes of this election, and I think they’re right. I’m just not so sure it’s a good thing…