Easter C

Sunrise

Introduction

Have you ever had one of those nights? You cannot sleep and the worry and fear keeps gnawing at you... maybe someone you love is travelling all night, perhaps you are waiting for word of a new job, or a medical result... Or maybe something horrible has happened and you cannot let it go.

So you toss and you turn and you stare at the ceiling. And eventually, somewhere close to when it doesn’t matter anymore whether you sleep or not; blackness engulfs you.

Now, here is the real question... have you ever woken up from one of those nights to discover that everything is all right? That the person made it, the test is negative, you got the job or your kids are safe...

That is Easter Morning.

This is the festival of new life, this is the celebration of hope, this is Spring and flowers, and sunshine, and stones rolled away and every good thing we can think of rolled into one service.

And it started with a story of a man who said that love was more powerful than death. Almost no one believed him... his closest friends and followers gave up on him during his arrest, trial, and execution... they all had that long dark night of the soul when they were sure their dreams were gone, when they were sure their friend was dead, when they were sure they were next.

But then came morning; and the reality that life had so much more to offer and that feeling was so powerful that the followers of Jesus have been sharing it ever since.

The Politics

Crucifixion is meant to put down rebellions. Pure and simple, effective too; you find the leaders of the movement, and you hang them up in the sunshine on the road into the city. I tell you this, the next person is going to think twice before suggesting we go against Caesar.

Of course, the thing is, Jesus kept trying to tell them... it was not Caesar he had any problem with, it was the way people were living. And the story he told went back to childhood tales around the fire, of a God who created a man and a woman and put them in a garden with the animals and said, “take care of each other.”

And Jesus wondered, whatever happened to that? Whatever happened to the days when you knew your neighbours name, when you trusted the mechanic and the teacher and the police officer and the banker? 

Whatever happened to neighbourhood BBQ’s and letting your kids play outside all day on their own... what has happened to life?

And the people in charge pointed out that life is better now than it has ever been; although no one quite believed them; and they got rid of this guy who dared to speak for God, who dared to say that life should be different.

But the thing is, the message seemed true to the people. It echoed what they had always been taught in church, they believed the words of the prophet Isaiah who said that God was going to make the world better, peaceful, loving, hope filled. And Jesus was just pointing out that these were the promises of God.

4,000 year old promises for us... that the lion will lay down with the lamb. And sure, there are days when I am discouraged, there are times when I think it will never happen... and then I see some random news story about a stranger who does something loving.

Last week I watched a newscast from the states about a kid who threw the basketball to a member of the wrong team, on purpose... seems there was a boy with Down ’s syndrome playing this one game, he usually takes care of the equipment and the coach let him play the final game. Well, all through the game he had tried to get a basket and missed. There were three seconds left and the opposing team had the ball on the sidelines... So the boy who had the ball takes a look around, and throws it right to the guy, right in front of the net, on the other team, who has waited his whole life to take this one shot... and he makes it.

You cannot tell me that that is not a story of Easter.

Sunrise in the Garden

The story of the wee hours in the garden where Jesus was buried is a very passionate one. You can imagine the pain, the wonder, the fear... I mean, think about it... if someone you knew were dead, and you discovered the body was missing, and then that maybe they were not dead after all... how fast could your feelings keep up?

But in this one passage in John we see everything laid bare: disbelief, wonder, fear, pain, hope, loss... and we see how hard it is for us to accept the wonder that is all around us.

Mary argues that Jesus has to be dead. She argues against the miracle... And I don’t think she really wants Jesus to be dead, I just think it is next to impossible for her to accept anything else.

We know how things work... we know how the world is... and we expect the worst.

That is where Easter gets in the way.

I want you to see how powerful resurrection is, and that is why I started by asking if you have ever felt those nights of fear and mornings of relief... because this is a biggy. This is the thing that happened to those who loved Jesus – they lost everything, in one weekend, in one night....

And somehow, inexplicably, they found it all the next morning.

What if the promises of God are true? What if some of what we have said for thousands of years really does make sense? What if there is something more powerful than the darkness we too often feel? Mary, Peter, the disciples, the followers, they all came to know, completely and totally, that this was true.

They saw Jesus love come back to life in a way that cannot die.

And for them, that was the story of Easter.

Conclusion

If you ask me, the one thing we are meant to take from Jesus is the idea that anything is possible.

Add to that the truth that love conquers all and I think we have all the tools we need to make it into any future, to face any pain, and to come to love one another the way that God intended.

For me Easter is so much more than the story of Jesus returning from the grave, it is the story of the complicated way we live, stuck between all that goes wrong, and the potential for so much goodness. And when I hear this story I am able to say that there is something else... that God does come through... that new life is all around us...

This is what God invites us to celebrate.

 

Palm Sunday - C

Of Parades and Palms

A Parade

With the kids…

How many of you have ever seen a parade? What was it like? Has anyone ever been in a parade? What was that like?

The idea of a parade is that it is exciting, it is a celebration, and we are all supposed to be caught up in it, and have fun…

Why do you think they had a parade for Jesus? What do you think they wanted to say about Jesus?

Without the Kids…

One of my favourite places to watch a parade is Disney World. There is something about being there that just sucks you in, you feel like you are in a magical place, and all these magical things come to life. I remember being just as excited to watch Santa Clause parades when I was a kid, whether on television from New York, or in whatever city I lived in.

Parades create emotion… Parades create feelings… there is music, there is laughter, there are floats with magical presentations, there are smiles and waves and balloons…

That is where we start, with our own thoughts and remembrances about parades, with all that they have meant for you over the years, and with how they make you feel….

Because today is about a celebration. The Passover is about to being. The whole world makes its way to Jerusalem.

The Imperial March

Passover was the most important festival of the Jewish year. It was a time when everyone made a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. So I want you to picture the dusty streets leading up the hill to the city. It is a spring day in 30 AD and the sun is shining… Now, picture this, there are two processions winding their way up on opposite sides of the city, two parades.

One was a peasant procession, and one was an Imperial procession. The one we enacted today was the entry of Jesus. He rode a donkey from the Mount of Olives… he was a poor person from Nazareth and those who came out to watch him ride were the normal, poor, people of the city. Jesus had come 100 miles from Galilee in the North, and word had spread ahead of him, word of what he proclaimed, the Kingdom of God, which most heard as a message of freedom.

Over on the West side of the city Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of all of Judea was entering the city with fresh troops, right off the boat. There were cavalry on horseback and infantry with their spears and bucklers rattling as they marched. Sunlight shone off metal armour and penants proclaimed this the army of Caesar. These soldiers had come to reinforce the Garrison in Jerusalem, to keep the peace during Passover. 

And as they marched they displayed not only the idea of Empire, but the theology of the Romans as well. 

According to this way of thinking, The Caesar was not only the emperor, but the son of God as well. And as the drums beat and swords crashed, these soldiers carried shields and banners emblazoned with their version of God.

You can imagine as a people who have been beaten into submission, who have seen foreign soldiers every day, that you watch this procession a little nervously, a little awed, but a lot resentful.

So back to the other end of the city, and our friend Jesus’ parade. This is a carefully crafted counter demonstration. Jesus planned it all in advance. He sends his disciples ahead of him in two directions as he approaches Jerusalem, some to get the donkey, some to go into town and gather the people who are sympathetic to the cause.

They line the streets and throw blankets and cloaks and palm branches onto the street and shout “hosanna! 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” It makes the Roman parade seem a non-event.

The symbolism is from the prophet Zechariah, who wrote that the king would come to Jerusalem humbly, riding on a colt, and the foal of a donkey… Zechariah goes on to say the king would cut off the chariot, and the war horse and the battle bow. In other words, Jesus is the prophesied king, who has come to bring peace.

This is the carefully crafted message as Jesus heads to the temple for Passover.

It is the beginning of the confrontation that fills Jesus final week…

The Same Mindset

I have been doing this for a while, as have you… Palm Sunday… Easter… Christmas… Church… and when I started out as a minister I pretty much went by the book. That is what most people do in whatever job they find themselves in. But the thing is, over the years, I have found that we are moving further and further away from just doing things because we have always done them.

We need to start thinking deeper about things, asking deeper questions; and we need to start reworking our faith stories into our real day to day lives so that they make an impact, a difference.

Which for the last month has been one of my obsessions; what do these high holy days, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, mean to us? What is the “Good News” for our lives? What was Jesus trying to get across?

And the more I thought about it Jesus was trying to get something across. He was working hard on it. He had been circling Jerusalem for months, waiting for the perfect time, for Passover. He waited until Pilate was coming into the city to make a scene. He gets everyone on board and has a parade. Then the second thing he does is march right up to the Temple and kick out the money changers; so he is trying to stir things up, he is trying to get people angry, he is forcing everyone’s hand… why?

Perhaps it was about choosing sides. Perhaps it was about showing an alternative. Perhaps it was about giving us a way to recognize the right side?

This is a parade in favour of love, in favour of helping each other, in favour of honesty and compassion… all those values which we need to make it through.

And the point was to create a reaction. To get us to see that there is something else going on here. To make us think differently about what we see in the world around us.

Then there is Pilate, and the High Priest, and the tax collectors, and the soldiers; and all of those who have some reason to like things just the way they are. There are always those who want to keep things the same, who are either gaining something from the status quo or too afraid to rock the boat.

And we all know that those can be some pretty powerful enemies to make. Of course, we also know where this is leading, and what is going to happen to Jesus in a few days. But the question is, knowing what we know, are we willing to join the parade?

Conclusion

So, the problem is, we all know where this ends up. Palm Sunday is the first day of a week which ends with an arrest and execution…  It is all well and good to point out to you that there is difference between the way the world works and the way God works.

Jesus spent years trying to show the people, trying to make them trust God instead of Caesar… but there are always those who see it the other way. There are always those who are more powerful.

But as we enter this week I want you to realize that what was happening was politics pure and simple… it was about two ways of seeing the world; two ways of living life…. And Jesus was inviting us to choose.

Lent 3 - C

Pruning in the Garden

Gossip

“Hey.  Did you see what that Stephen Harper has done this time? Look at him trying to take away people's hard-earned money with all these EI changes. And all those problems with the Senate... I'm sure he's involved in that too somehow… And global warming... when is he going to stop killing the Earth?!   

Somebody really has to stop him!

And what about Obama? Now don't get me started on him! People still are walking around without healthcare down there in that country. I bet most of things he promised aren't even going to happen. And look what he has done to the poor budget!  Yikes! 

What we need is a revolution to get rid of all of these leaders.

And what's with that Pontius Pilate character? Did you hear about that war he tried to start? A bunch of people were killed. And I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind that tower that collapsed over there in Siloam. What a horrible man! Something must be done.” . . .

It's easy to come up with a laundry list of someone else's offenses and to get enraged.

A group of people came to Jesus with a list of their leader's offenses. They were sure that this would make Jesus angry and that he would jump at the chance to lead a revolt against Pilate and the Roman Empire.

They were really, really wrong.

Instead of doing what they expected, once again, Jesus did the unexpected. He turned everything around. He told the people in front of him to forget about Pilate and to look at their own lives instead. He told them to think not about how someone else should change but about what they had to change. He told them to repent of their own shortcomings.

Kids Story

Tug of War – Needing Help – Where do we get out strength?

Repent

Repent.  What a scary little word!

For a long time, repentance was understood as confessing to someone else or to God every little thing you'd ever done wrong.  The purpose of this exercise was to unload your burdens so you could feel less guilty. Somewhere along the way, repentance became about making a highly judgemental God happy. 

It became about seeing ourselves as “sinners” who needed to be punished for our crimes; and it took on a real negative connotation; which is unfortunate because the act of repentance is actually wonderfully cleansing.

What if we were to put that word aside for now and use the word “change” instead? Because that's really what repentance is – it's about changing ourselves. Change is about doing what we need to do in order to be healthy and whole. It's about intentionally making alterations to our lives so that we can have good relationships and contribute positively to the communities we belong to.

We don't change to please God; we change for ourselves.... so that we can be happy.

And the good news is that God helps us to do this.

At the end of the day, we don't need to feel bad about making mistakes or having flaws. Instead, we need to understand that we are meant to be human, we are meant to live,… even with all the flaws and the problems. 

As someone once said, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Our job is to be always experiencing things, always taking risks, always experiencing life fully.

At the same time, we are supposed to be learning from those experiences, and striving to be better… and in order to do that we need to be intentional about changing.

Living with Intention

Throughout this season of Lent, I have been talking about getting deeper into who we are, and why we do things. We have been trying to see that Lent is a time to take a good hard look at ourselves and focus on what we need to be doing to live life right…. We have talked about choosing to live in God’s way; then we talked about choosing to live with hope…

Now I am taking a little bit harsher stand and saying that there are things that need to go – there are things that need to change in order to actually walk the path we have chosen. 

I am not saying I know what those things are for you… I know what some of them are for me; I am impatient, I get angry pretty easily, I am shy and find it hard to be the first person to talk… all of those things are little things that get in the way of me living with intention – there are certainly bigger things as well.

So I am inviting you to take the first step towards letting go of some of the things that get in your way… and that first step is to simply admit it… there are things you need to change… And then, and only then, can we work on step two…. Which is to actually start changing….

The Fig Tree

Scripture gives us a beautiful image to help us with this – the image of a fig tree.

There was this fig tree in the middle of a vineyard. It had become diseased and no longer would bear fruit. 

The landowner wanted to cut it down...to get rid of it. He thought of it as an eyesore with no value.

But just as the axe was about to hit the trunk of the tree, the gardener said, “Hold it! Give me a chance to heal this tree. Let me help it to grow again and you will see how beautiful it really is.”

The gardener knew that if he cared for the tree and paid careful attention to the problem areas... if he could dig at the roots and properly fertilize it... that it would come back to life. He knew that if he made some changes to the tree's environment and to the tree itself, that it would flourish once again.

We are the gardeners of our own lives. If we are intentional about identifying what we need to prune from our lives, we can bear fruit time and time again.

Of course, we don't do it alone.

God is the catalyst in our process of change. God gives us the tools we need for the pruning. God gives us guidance and gifts and wisdom and strength – all we need to grow.

Tree Meditation

Last week I talked a bit about the idea of us being a tree firmly rooted in our past, in our traditions, and in God. This week I want to take that the one step further that Jesus did and invite you to see that if you really want to grow and flourish, you need to work on pruning…

Are there parts that need to be cut away so others can grow stronger? Are there things you need to do differently so that life can be better?

We all know this is true… this metaphor. We have all seen plants that need to be pruned. And we can all admit that our lives could use a little too.

That is what I want you to take away from this today… the idea that we are in control of our lives, and we are always given another year to see what fruit we can bring into being – but we need to be intentional – we can’t just let it all grow wild and expect that something good is going to happen!

So I want to close with a little meditation exercise… I want you to close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine yourself as a tree in the desert – withered and wasting away?

Maybe you have bark that is hurting.

Maybe you have branches that need to be pruned.

Maybe you have leaves that need to be shaken off.

I want you to think about the spots on your tree that need to be transformed. Think about what you would like to see changed.

Now, can you reach down within yourself and find God's presence?

Maybe its way down in your roots. Maybe it flows through your trunk. But it is there. Grab on to that presence...to that Spirit. Use its strength to send your roots right down through the parched earth.

Send your roots out seeking the living water. Persist. Look for the love that is yours for the asking. And God will pour the waters for your soul into the dryness of the ground.

Feel God's love flooding through you... nourishing you... pushing up through moist earth.

Feel yourself changing, from dry and withered to vibrant and full. Feel your colour returning and notice how rooted you are in God's love. You are solid yet yielding – a fruitful tree in the wind.

Living with Intention means looking closely at yourself and at all you do. This week, remember the tree that is your life. Work at nurturing it and changing it into the tree you want it to be. And then we'll gather again next week, as a beautiful, thriving forest.