Have You Seen the Gardener?

April 20, 2025 John 20:1-18 Have you seen the gardener Easter Sunday Year C Prelude Greeting Prayers at the Easter Garden Leader: Alleluia. Christ is risen. All He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Leader: Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. John 20:15 All: He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia Leader: Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To you be glory now and for ever. In your great mercy you have given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. By your blessing, may we who have prepared this garden in celebration of his victory be strengthened in faith, know the power of his presence, and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory. Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All Blessed be God for ever. Leader: Risen Lord Jesus, as Mary Magdalene met you in the garden on the morning of your resurrection, so may we meet you today and every day: speak to us as you spoke to her; reveal yourself as the living Lord; renew our hope and kindle our joy; and send us to share the good news with others. All Amen. Leader: Alleluia. Christ is risen. All He is risen indeed. Alleluia. The Lighting of Candles The minister Lighting the Christ Candle says The light of Christ. All Thanks be to God. Acclamation Alleluia. Christ is risen. All He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: All he has given us new life and hope by raising Jesus from the dead. [God has claimed us as his own: All he has made us light to the world.] Alleluia. Christ is risen. All He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Once the congregation’s candles have been lit a minister leads the following Acclamation Listen to Easter Prayer When everything was dark and it seemed that the sun would never shine again, your love broke through. Your love was too strong, too wide, too deep for death to hold. The sparks cast by your love dance and spread and burst forth with resurrection light. Gracious God, We praise you for the light of new life made possible through Jesus. We praise you for the light of new life that shone on the first witnesses of resurrection. We praise you for the light of new life that continues to shine in our hearts today. We pray that the Easter light of life, hope and joy, will live in us each day; and that we will be bearers of that light into the lives of others. Amen. This video was produced by United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tennessee. Media contact is Joe Iovino, jiovino@umocm.org. This video was first posted on March 14, 2017. Extinguish your candle one the light comes Song Christ the Lord is Risen Today UMH 302 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon Theme: Hope Unlocked. Jesus comes to us even when we are locked in fear behind closed doors. Introduction: Instructions: Designed to be pre-recorded, but can be modified for livestreaming needs. NEED: A set of keys Good Morning everyone, and Happy Easter! I’m so glad to get to share with you all on this amazing Sunday, even though we’re far away. Now, when I say ‘Christ is Risen’ I want you to say ‘Christ is Risen indeed’. Okay, ready? Christ is Risen! [ pause ] One more time! Christ is Risen! [ pause ]. Good. Bible Story: [John 20:1-20]- This morning, we are going to talk about something very special that happened on Easter Sunday. Jesus’s friend Mary Magdalene was going to visit his tomb when she saw that the stone, which meant to keep Jesus locked inside, had been rolled away. Mary was so excited that she ran to meet another of Jesus’ friends, Simon Peter, to tell him what happened. But, unlike Mary who also saw Jesus and talked to him in the garden outside of Jesus’ tomb, Simon Peter and the other disciples did not see Jesus there and went home, locking themselves inside out of fear. Object Lesson: Now, these are my keys. [Take a moment to explain what a few of the keys on your keyring do- car keys, house keys, etc ]. I’m sure your grownups all have keys that do some pretty similar things. A lot of the times, we use keys to protect ourselves and our belongings by making sure that nobody can get inside. Jesus’ disciples probably used keys like these to lock themselves indoors after Jesus’ death. We’ve probably heard people around us say that they feel like they’re locked inside too, right? Have you ever felt that way – like everything in you is squeezed tight? Like there are really big feelings trapped inside of you, locked up in your heart? And sometimes, those big feelings inside of us keep us from being friends with other people, too. They keep us locked away from others. Just like the Disciples, we feel afraid of something that feels like it is out of our control. Jesus, though, does something amazing when we are locked inside our fear. Jesus appeared to those disciples who were locked inside out of fear and said “Peace be with you!”, and they were amazed. Peace means all that wound tight stuff inside us lets go. It means we can rest and feel calm. It means we can reach out and be friends agin.Jesus didn’t have a magic key to open the door and walk inside – he IS the magic key! He simply appeared, and gave them peace. He unlocked all those big, tight, wound-up feelings inside them and made them call and joyful again. Conclusion: Because He was resurrected, we, just like the Disciples, know that we have no reason to be afraid. So don’t be afraid, and don’t feel alone. Christ is risen [ pause ] and He will appear to us(come to us), even when we’re locked behind closed doors and give us peace too. Close with prayer Jesus, thank you for coming into even our scary, locked up places. Help us to look for you when we are afraid or upset. Give us peace inside, and peace with each other. Amen. (Western Pennsylvania United Methodist Church) Scripture John 20:1-18 Sermon Have You Seen the Gardener What is so Good about Good Friday? I think that one of the main points of Good Friday is that it forces us to get in touch with the heart of our faith? Reliving the passion story forces us to ask some serious questions about our faith and to acknowledge our doubts as real. This year, here we watched the movie The Two thieves and. Were able to have an honest conversation about faith and doubt, and God’s grace. When we left on Friday, we all had a lot of questions, but I am not sure that we got a lot of answers. Things have not gotten any clearer this morning. Easter is a mystery within itself. When you think about it, Easter raises more questions than it answers. All we know is that the tomb is empty. Christ should be in there, but he is not. Growing up, I always loved to participate in Easter, but it never really made any sense to me. I loved getting new clothes, getting a new hairdo, dying eggs, looking for Easter baskets, even going to church one time a year was fun – it gave me a chance to put my best foot forward. Even as a church – we go through the ritual of renewal – putting out flowers, preparing special music, making sure the church is a little cleaner, acting on our best behavior for the visitors. We all know the routine, but we are never quite sure of what Easter is really all about, what actually happened. We are all familiar with the Easter bunny, but no one really knows quite what bunnies have to do with Christ dying and being resurrected. Easter is such a mystery, that we don’t even know what date it will be celebrated next year. (April 5th by the way.) Easter is this big question mark in our heads, and yet Easter is the defining moment of our faith. Easter has been shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding from the very beginning of the story. No wonder we are so confused about our faith, and have so many doubts. John 20 is a very familiar story, we hear it every year in some form. We know the part about the women in his life sticking with Jesus all throughout his ordeal. They were the ones who got up early in the morning to make sure that he was properly anointed. They were the first witnesses of the resurrection. John 20 features Mary Magdalene, coming to look for Jesus only to find two angels in the tomb. The gardener asks her why is she crying. I hear this story every year – but it was only this year that I realized that Jesus was present all along – Jesus was the gardener – Mary just didn’t realize it. Mary is so preoccupied with grief, that the miracle that she was looking for was right there in front of her in plain sight, and plain clothes, doing a plain job. How many times in my life, am I stuck in my grief, crying about being alone. Convinced that God is not answering my prayers. God is silent in my life. Caught up in my circumstances, when all along the gardener is present in plain clothes, working harder than ever, I just don’t recognize him or her as God. A colleague tells the story of being at a point in her life when everything was dark. She had lost her job, she was going through a divorce, she had not idea of how she was going to get by in life. She felt that her prayers were unanswered, she started to doubt whether God really cared about her. She started to ask questions about where was this Jesus? If Jesus us the messiah, who doesn’t he come and save her? Is it that he can’t or wont help her out of the situation. (These were the same questions that were asked on Good Friday by the way). Jesus didn’t say anything now, and he often does not say anything now. In the midst of her faith crisis, she started to experience grace in small unexpected ways- friends who bought her food and helped her with her rent. Unexpected checks that came in the mail, opportunities that started to arise. As a person of faith, she realized that the gardener was there in her life taking care of her all along. She just didn’t recognize that it was Jesus. In our minds eye we are expecting Jesus to be the bright spiritual figure dressed in white, and instead he has dirty fingernails and work overalls. He is working miracles, showing grace shedding light while hidden in plain sight. It makes a lot of sense that Jesus would appear in resurrection as the gardener, and that the tomb would be placed in a garden. Jesus is a gardener, like Adam. The story of our faith begins in the Garden of Eden. Before sin took over our lives, God placed Adam in the garden to tend to life. So now Jesus comes to tend to new life and resurrection. Sin drove us out of the garden and away from our purpose. Jesus died for our sins and in resurrection opens the gates for us to return. The world can be a dark dreary lonely place to be. Just living in the world can sometime cloud our vision and distort our expectations. All along the gardener is working to bring us grace. This Easter Sunday I thought it was important for us to spend some time in the garden – looking for the gardener in our life. More Hope than We Can Handle Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn’t be able to come for a visit over the holidays after all. "The grandkids say hello." They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone they didn’t dare look at each other. Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor’s office to hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. "So sorry." She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids. Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you anymore." Earlier this week, someone’s hope was crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming. No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It’s about more hope than we can handle. Craig Barnes, Savior at Large, article in The Christian Century, March 13-20, 2002 p. 16. Let us pray…… Song Up From the Grave He Arose UMH 322 Prayer of the Day On this Easter, as on that first day long ago, you come, Steadfast Love, continuing to walk with us on this strange pilgrimage of worry, fear, and loss, showing us the good news of the empty tomb, calling us to run and tell everyone of the new life which is ours. On this Easter morning, as on that early first morning, you wait and watch, Gardener of the seeds of love, hope, and grace you planted deep within us, as we stand amazed at the harvest of hope and life which is handed to us this day as you call us by our names. In those early morning moments, Spirit of the broken hearted friends, you whispered of that love which cannot be held behind the stones of our fears and doubts, of that hope which puts grave clothes into bandages for the hurting, of that grace which turns cartwheels in the gardens of our hearts, even as you whisper them to us. On this Easter, as on every day, your grace, your peace, your love gives us new life and hope, God in Community, Holy in One, and so we pray as we are taught, saying, (Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (You don’t have to print this) An Offering of New Life Resolutions This can include, or not, any passing of plates or announcements about monetary offering. Friends, you received a cup on your way in today. Those of you who are visitors, this is not just one of those “give a visitor a mug” things… this is new for everyone here. If you consider yourself a Christmas Eve and Easter church-goer, you might be interested to know that Easter isn’t just one day. It is a “week of weeks” and so we will celebrate Easter until the Day of Pentecost, which is another seven weeks! I’m kind of kidding you about being an Easter church-goer, but I do want to invite you to think about traveling on this journey into new life, which we all know takes a bit more than one day to accomplish. We might not consider Easter the beginning of a “new year,” but in many ways, it is a symbolic moment to consider starting with a clean slate. What would you like to move forward away from and into a new lease on life? If you could leave something behind, what would it be? We aren’t going to answer that question right now, but I just want to invite you to consider it this week. Resurrection is not just a story about Jesus; it is a rejuvenation that can happen within us, anytime. Today we are going to bring forward the flowers that are in your cups/mugs and place them on our flowering cross, filling it with more signs of beauty and life and love and fresh beginnings. Song Thine Be the Glory UMH 308 Sending Forth We could just return to our homes, slipping back into pandemic mode, but we will go to rebuild communities, to care for those who are still so lonely. We could stand looking around, wondering if Jesus has left us on our own, but we will turn and, seeing our neighbors, we will call them by name and embrace them with hope. We could keep our lips sealed, not telling anyone of what we have heard and seen, but we will run to tell others, grabbing them by the hands to go and meet the Gardener of grace. (Thom M. Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies) Additional Illustrations My Soul Is Rested Martin Luther King used to tell the story of Sister Pollard, a seventy-year-old African American woman who lived in Montgomery, Alabama during the now famous bus boycott. One day, after walking significant distances daily for several months, Sister Pollard was asked if she wanted a ride. When she answered, “No,” the person responded, “But aren’t you tired?” To which Sister Pollard answered, “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” Resurrection living, moving beyond our fears and trusting that God is fashioning a way out of no way, celebrating the promise that a new world is unfolding — this leads us to affirm as well that our souls are rested. We will continue to face all kinds of challenges and struggles along the way; “our feets will be tired,” but our spirits will be strengthened through the presence of the risen Christ. This is the good news we celebrate this Easter morning: There is no tragedy that God cannot redeem, no dream — even the elusive dream of peace on earth — that the God who raised Jesus from the dead cannot energize and advance. Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed! Joel D. Kline, Frightened Out of Our Wits ___________________________________ Yes, There Is Hope In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope." This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder: Is there any hope? Bill Self, Is There Any Hope? _________________________________ The Easter Formula In April 2002, the well-respected Oxford University philosophy professor Richard Swineburne defended the truth of the Resurrection at a high-profile gathering of philosophy professors at Yale University. Swineburne used Bayes Theorem, a broadly accepted mathematical probability theory and tool to defend the truth of Christ's resurrection. In a New York Times interview, Swineburne said, "For someone dead for 36 hours to come to life again is, according to the laws of nature, extremely improbable. But if there is a God of the traditional kind, natural laws only operate because he makes them operate." Swineburne used the Bayes Theorem to assign values to things like the probability that God is real, Jesus' behavior during his lifetime, and the quality of witness testimony after his death. Then he plugged the numbers into a probability formula and added everything up. The results? There's a 97 percent probability that the resurrection really happened. That's nice to know. It's one more tool in the tool kit of ministry. But the truth is that you and I don't really need that. The church doesn't really need that information. Because we have our own formula. It's the Easter Formula: R+ET+F=LE. The Resurrection plus the Empty Tomb plus Faith equal Life Eternal. That's the Easter Formula. Billy D. Strayhorn, From the Pulpit, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. ____________________________ Graveyard Wreaths If you had been living in the Roman Empire in the first century, you would have noticed a strange custom practiced by the Christians. They would go out to their graveyards with laurel wreaths, the wreaths that had been used in Greek and Roman culture to crown the victors of athletic contests. They would take those laurel wreaths and place them on the graves. If you had asked them why, they would say, "Because we believe that in Jesus Christ we have received victory over the power of death." Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com I Want to See Your Resurrection Father Basil Pennington, a Roman Catholic monk, tells of an encounter he once had with a teacher of Zen. Pennington was at a retreat. As part of the retreat, each person met privately with this Zen teacher. Pennington says that at his meeting the Zen teacher sat there before him smiling from ear to ear and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally the teacher said: “I like Christianity. But I would not like Christianity without the resurrection. I want to see your resurrection!” Pennington notes that, “With his directness, the teacher was saying what everyone else implicitly says to Christians: You are a Christian. You are risen with Christ. Show me (what this means for you in your life) and I will believe.” That is how people know if the resurrection is true or not. Does it affect how we live? King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ____________________________________ We Believe You I ran across a beautiful story recently about a woman named Rosemary who works in the Alzheimer’s Unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents of the home together one Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed production Jesus of Nazareth. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort. When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen. At last came the scene where Mary Magdalene comes upon the empty tomb and sees Jesus’ body not there. An unknown man, in reality the risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive.” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back. “You don’t believe me . . . You don’t believe me!” From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients. “WE BELIEVE YOU,” she said, “WE BELIEVE YOU!” Well, Esther, I believe it too. The evidence is overwhelming, and life makes no sense without it. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Rosemary Kadrmas in Jeff Cavins, et.al, Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart (West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, LLC, 2003), pp. 211-212., adapted by King Duncan ___________________________ Famous Because It Is Empty! If Easter says anything at all to us it is that Jesus will always be with us. The pyramids of Egypt are famous because they contained the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptian kings. Westminster Abbey in London is renowned, because in it rests the bodies of English nobles and notables. Mohammed's tomb is noted for the stone coffin and the bones it contains. Arlington cemetery in Washington, D.C., is revered, for it is the honored resting place of many outstanding Americans. The Garden Tomb of Jesus is famous because it is empty! Don Emmitte ____________________

On the Road to Salvation

May 4, 2014 Luke 24:13-35 Third after Easter On the Way to Salvation Year A Emmaus. Scripture says that Emmaus was either 60 stadia or 160 stadia away from Jerusalem. That could be 7 miles of 18 miles away. No one knows where these two people were really going. Today there are dozens of sites which claim to be Emmaus. I think that there is a very important point in that. Because I think, that the real Emmaus could be anywhere in the world. It is not a tourist attraction it is a place in our spirits. It is the place in our lives where Easter becomes real. This story takes place on Easter night. The disciples are traveling home after a very harrowing day. These disciples are walking him 7 miles away, they are recounting the events of the week and are overwhelmed, dejected and sad. Blinded by sadness They just want to go home and climb into bed and feel sorry for themselves. They didn’t notice anything or anybody. Jesus could have been walking right along with them, and they would not have noticed. As a matter of fact, Jesus was walking along with them. They just did not recognize him as the Christ. There are people in the world today, who do not know that Easter has come and gone. They are still living the same life. Sadness, depression, pessimism, disbelief, an unwillingness to see change, all shade our thinking and our seeing. When we are caught up in our feelings, we are not open to Christ’s presence in our lives. We just want to crawl into a dark hole and stay there. In this case, possums are actually smarter then people. Possums and graves Possums like to crawl into holes too. But before they crawl- they look at the foot prints of those who may have crawled in that same hole. If there are only one set of foot prints going into that hole, they don’t go into that hole. If there are only one set of prints in the hole, then that means that whomever crawled into that hole – for some reason is still there. Either they crawled in and did not make it out alive, or they are still in there alive and well and just waiting for someone else to crawl in. You don’t want to crawl into somewhere that you cant crawl out of. If there are two sets of tracks into and out of the hole – them it is safe to go in. there comes a time in our lives when you have to crawl out of the hole and see the light. And live in the light. Jesus is our second set of tracks. Jesus is the source that can give us the power to crawl out of our hole. The resurrection gives us the power to crawl out and live in the light. The resurrection changes everything The world changes all of the time. But sometimes we can get so caught up in our circumstance that we don’t witness the shift. When Jesus was raised from the dead the world shifted, our future shifted. Our salvation shifted. Our circumstance in the world changed in an instant. The resurrection changes everything. It transforms us. It moves us from despair to new possibilities of life. It takes us in our blindness and opens our eyes. It transforms ordinary bread into a holy meal. It takes two sad and lost brothers on the road to Emmaus who had lost the only the world they knew and gives it back to them. Jesus comes to them and says see I am not dead. I am alive. Now tell the world. Brett Blair,www.Sermons.com Luke wants us to know There are many stories of appearances of Jesus told throughout the gospels. But this story is only told in Luke. Luke needs to tell this particular story for two reasons. First, he wants us to realize that this was not a vision, but a real encounter. Something happened on Easter, and after it happened the world was different. This is the story of how the disciples responded to that difference. How do you respond to the news of he resurrection. Secondly, he wants us to realize that what happened on that day is not intended to be a secret. It was something for everyone to witness for themselves. We are still on a 7 mile journey from tragedy to salvation. We can still get so caught up on our sorrows, that we cant even recognize Jesus. Jesus is alive and well and appearing to us in our daily lives. The resurrection is not a belief, it is an encounter. When you encounter Christ, then belief in miracles becomes a moot point. What really matters is if your spirit is prepared for that encounter. The more you believe in miracles, the more you realize when they happen. Last week on facebook, there was a viral story about who family members dressed up as homeless people on the street. And other members walked down the street and did not even see them, they just kept walking. But here is an even better story – of a woman taking a run through the park. She faintly heard a noise, stopped to investigate and realized that it was a newborn baby. She quickly saw that the baby had been abandoned. She had been wanting to have kids forever, so she took the baby home. That night in bed she was talking to her husband about what do to welcome the new baby. Bored with the conversation, he turned over in the bed to go to sleep. She scolded him and told him that is not how you respond to a miracle. He needed to turn back around. How do you respond to a miracle? The two travelers walking with a stranger, invited him to dinner. Abide With Us In the King James Version of the Bible, the invitation of the two travelers reads, "Abide with me; for it is toward evening and the day is far spent,"words which were the inspiration for that beloved hymn, "Abide with me/Fast falls the eventide." The hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte, for 25 years the vicar of the parish at Devonshire, England. He was 54 years old, broken in health and saddened by dissensions in his congregation. On Sunday, September 4, 1847 he preached his farewell sermon and went home to rest. After tea in the afternoon, he retired to his study. In an hour or two, he rejoined his family, holding in his hand the manuscript of his immortal hymn. It was in that abiding, in that fellowship with jesus that they finally came to see him for who he is. Three Table Fellowships "The Scriptures speak of three kinds of table fellowship that Jesus keeps with his own: daily fellowship at table, the table fellowship of the Lord's Supper, and the final table fellowship in the kingdom of God. But in all three, the one thing that counts is that 'their eyes were opened, and they knew him.' "The fellowship of the table teaches Christians that here they still eat the perishable bread of the earthly pilgrimage. But if they share this bread with one another, they shall also one day receive the imperishable bread together in the Father's house." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954), 66. They saw Jesus in the remembering Jesus comes to us in strange ways and in even stranger people. My seven year old nephew tends to have a wisdom way beyond his age. He always says things that make me wonder, where someone so young could get such insight for life. I gave him a card for his birthday, and he said that he would treasure it forever. As he reflected on his mother’s death, he said that he is learning that sometimes that all that we have is our memories. So we have to keep our memories, because they are special. As Jesus spoke with the two travelers, he started to recount some of his lessons, and it was when they remembered what Jesus had taught them, they were able to see who was really with them. Jesus comes to us in the reading of the scriptures and in the breaking of bread. Coming together in communion Our whole understanding of what communion is, comes from the book of Luke. Luke believed that miracles happened when disciples gather together in fellowship and unity. We cant help but to see Christ when we are willing to faithfully come together. When we are spiritually grounded in scripture and united in fellowship we see Christ for ourselves, and we are able to show Christ to others. What difference does the resurrection make to you? How can you see Christ in the world today? How do you look for a miracle? Anticipation: What Is Going to Happen Today? In Winnie the Pooh, Pooh and Piglet take an evening walk. For a long time they walk in silence. Silence like only best friends can share. Finally Piglet breaks the silence and asks, "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" answers Pooh and then asks. "And what do you say, Piglet?" Piglet says, "I say, I wonder what exciting thing is going to happen today?" You and I can't really plan to meet the Risen Christ because we never really know when or where He's going to show up. But you can be sure of this, He will show up. If you believe, He will show up. And the attitude you need to meet him is the attitude of Piglet, "I wonder what exciting thing is going to happen today?" Amen. Children’s Sermon Billy D. Strayhorn, Easter Heart Burn Jesus Makes the Bible Come Alive by Wesley T. Runk Passage: Luke 24:13-35 • Lectionary: Easter 3 Item 2 of 9 | Back to Results They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" Objects: An unsharpened pencil, an unused candle and a radio that is not playing. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls. How would you like to take a walk down a road with Jesus? (Let them answer.) Wouldn't that be great? Just imagine how wonderful it would be to talk with Jesus and spend one day outdoors in the sunshine with him. I can't think of how to have a better time. People did that with Jesus. As a matter of fact, there is a story in the Bible about a couple of men who were walking down a road between towns when they were joined by Jesus. They didn't recognize him then, but they enjoyed him so much that they invited him to spend the evening at their house. Jesus taught them many things about the Scriptures, and they were amazed. They said afterwards that he had opened the Scriptures for them. It was as if they had never seen the Bible before, when really they had studied it often. But Jesus was such a wonderful teacher that he made people feel as these men felt. We should all discover the Bible and the things that it teaches us. I brought along some things that I hope will help you to want to read the Bible and learn all that you can from it. And when you read the Bible you should read it as though you were seeing it through the eyes of Jesus. First of all, I brought a pencil along with me. What's wrong with this pencil? (Let them answer.) That's right, it doesn't have a point. There is no lead. You can't write with a pencil like this. Next, I have a candle. What's wrong with my candle? (Let them answer.) That's right, it isn't burning and it can't give light unless it is burning. I also have a radio with me but there is something wrong with the radio. What's wrong with it? (Let them answer.) Right again, it isn't being played. A pencil without a point, a candle without a flame, and a radio without sound, is like reading the Scriptures without Jesus. Jesus is the one who makes the Scriptures happen. When you read the Scriptures or Bible and you see it or hear it as Jesus would tell it then the Bible comes alive and it is the most wonderful book that was ever written. The next time you sit down to read the Bible, I want you to imagine that Jesus is talking to you and telling you the story. When you hear the voice you will know how the men felt who took the walk with Jesus down a dusty road after his resurrection. THE ONE-HANDED CLOCK, Wesley T. Runk, C.S.S. Publishing Company, 1989, 1-55673 Despite what most think, Lyte's "eventide" has nothing to do with the end of the natural day but rather the end of life. "Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day/Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away." The words are about the faith that face life and death fearlessly and triumphantly in the light of the cross and the empty tomb....East of Easter. Thus Lyte could conclude, "Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee/In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me." Vicar Lyte died three months later. David E. Leininger, East of Easter "On Sunday morning in contemporary America, modern disciples come straggling through the church door weighed down by cynicism, stress, and strife. We are too busy, too suspicious to recognize the risen Christ." Susan Andrews Jesus' Post Resurrection Appearances To Mary Magdalene Jn 20:14-18; Mk 16:9 To the women returning from the tomb Mt 28:8-10 To Peter later in the day Lk 24:34; 1 Cor 15:5 To the disciples going to Emmaus in the evening Lk 24:13-31 To the apostles (except Thomas) Lk 24:36-45; Jn 20-19-24 To the apostles a week later (Thomas present) Jn 20:24-29 In Galilee to the seven by the Lake of Tiberias Jn 21:1-23 In Galilee on a mountain to the apostles and 500 believers 1 Cor 15:6 At Jerusalem and Bethany again to James 1 Cor 15:7 At Olivet and the ascension Acts 1:3-12 To Paul near Damascus Acts 9:3-6; 1 Cor 15:8 To Stephen outside Jerusalem Acts 7:55 To Paul in the temple Acts 22:17-21; 23:11 To John on Patmos Rev 1:10-19 The New Unger's Bible Handbook, Merrill F. Unger, Revised by Gary N. Larson, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984, Page 397-398 When the Circus Comes I am reminded of the story of the little boy whose grandmother regularly took him to her weekly prayer meeting. He was bored silly, but being a good lad he endured it. One day he was invited to attend the circus. He had never been to a circus before. He came away from this experience anxious to share with his dear grandmother what he was feeling. "Grandma," he said, "I went to the circus today, and let me tell you, once you have been to the circus you'll never want to go to another prayer meeting." And so it will be when God opens our minds to understand and experience God's marvelous, incredible risen presence. Something happens that sets us free, which renews and refreshes our sense of God's love, grace, and forgiveness that simply cannot be contained. Greg McDonell, Out of the Ashes POSSUMS AND THE GRAVE I have heard that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid. The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave - we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" This is the message that we need to hear this Easter. Jesus is risen! We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the Resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. Larson, B., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1983). Vol. 26: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 26 : Luke. The Preacher’s Commentary series (349). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc. Do You Know the Way to Emmaus? Do you know the way to Emmaus? It should be relatively easy to find because the text locates the town "seven miles from Jerusalem." But no one has ever been able to identify an "Emmaus" seven miles from Jerusalem. Perhaps there is confusion because two different numbers appear in ancient manuscripts at the point at which Luke gives us the location. Some texts say "60 stadia," and others say "160," which works out roughly to be either 7 miles or 18 miles. Although there are indeed many references to Emmaus in ancient sources, none of them give us any specific directions. Because of this, the unlikely village of Amwas (20 miles from Jerusalem) is currently a popularly recognized site for pilgrimage, even though other towns have stronger claims to be the historical town. Ironically, the seemingly superficial mystery regarding the actual location of Emmaus fits in nicely with the deepest meaning of this passage. Do you know the way to Emmaus? Emmaus may be here, or there, or anywhere. The site of the original episode is irrelevant. Christ will travel wherever his followers are going. Christ will appear wherever they break bread. Even here. Even now. David E. Leininger, Do You Know the Way to Emmaus? -141-8

The Greatest Gift

January 20, 2013 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Year C “The Greatest Gift” Pastor turns water into wine One day a young girl was helping out in service, as a communion steward. The pastor got ready to wash his hands, so he called the young girl over. As he was washing his hands, he saw that the liquid was purple. He whispers to the little girl, I thought I told you bring me water, this is wine. It was water when I bought it to you…replied the little girl. The inaugural event of Jesus Today we can celebrate that this is the official inauguration of the 57th president of the united States. This is a new day for him, a new day for us. We can only anticipate the good things ahead for the next 4 years. This familiar story of Jesus turning water into wine, is in many ways, the inauguration of jesus as the messiah. The first demonstration of his power. What is the meaning of this story? John does not give a whole lot of explanation of why he was at this party, why his mother thought it was so important for him to help out, it does not even tell us how he was able to turn water into wine. Maybe John feels that this story does not need any explanation – the story is a point within itself. From this story, we learn that Jesus likes to party. He likes to have fun and to celebrate. We see that God is a God of joy and of celebration. But we also see that God is also a God of mercy – who will supply our needs and who will help us when we ask. John the Baptist speaks of a God of justice who judged, but he is also a God of mercy who helps. When we give what we have, God gives us more – that is the point of my sermon today. God doesn’t come to us in extraordinary ways, but in the simple ways in our life. Most of the times in places where we are not expecting anything great to happen. Sign vs. miracle If you read the other gospels, there are 35 miracles that Jesus performs during his ministry on earth. But interestingly enough – John is not concerned about miracles. In the book of John there are seven signs of Jesus power – this is the inaugural sign. I am trying to get you all out of here early, so that the district superintendent can come. Every time I say that I am going to give just a short sermon – more and more good things that you need to know come up. I don’t want to give you a list of all seven signs in the book of John – but if you need to know ask me I have them listed. 1. Water into wine – chapter 2 2. Healing of the officer’s son – chapter 4 3. Healing of the cripple – chapter 5 4. Feeding the multitude – chapter 6 5. Walking on water – chapter 6 6. Healing of a man born blind – chapter 9 7. Raising of Lazurus – chapter 11 Sign is God coming into your life in a meaningful way The point for john is that God is not always in the unusual – but the usual. We don’t have to look up in the sky and look for money to fall out of the sky - God does not usually work that way – God works within our lives. Speaking of money falling out of the sky – this is a true story A knowledge of the Bible can be rewarding, as any Bible college professor can attest. Especially Richard McNeely of Biola College in suburban Los Angeles. Somehow he got picked as a contestant on the television game show “50 Grand Slam.” The show is based on the contestants’ knowledge of the given topic of the day. On McNeely’s day, the topic was the Bible. When it was over he had won the top prize of $50,000. God usually works within the confines of our lives. A sign is a act of our everyday lives that brings wonder and meaning to the event. Something that happens in your life, and you know that only God could make that happen. A sign of God’s presence is not a quick fix, not a big thing but a bunch of little things, a sign is not always in the estatic – but in the purposeful. Paul does not want us to be ignorant Speaking of knowing the difference between a sign and a miracle. I thought it was interesting that the first line of the scripture in 1 Corinthians says – now concerning spiritual gifts, I don’t want you to be uninformed. The King James says it better – I don’t want you to be ignorant. Now, let me pause for a moment to point out something interesting . . . Paul used that particular phrase--“I do not want you to be ignorant”—six times in his letters. . . twice in reference to the Jewish people, whose disobedience brought judgment, once in reference to his plans to visit the church at Rome, once regarding the sufferings he and his team had endured throughout Asia, once in reference to the end times and the resurrection of the dead, and here, where he says “I do not want you to be ignorant” about spiritual gifts. Excitement not necessarily a sign of God As I was researching this sermon, many people were saying that in Paul’s time there were a lot of charismatic people. People who believed that their excitement and charisma meant that they were holy. And Paul wanted new Christians to understand that excitement and charisma was not always from God. Sometimes their water is just that – water and not wine. There excitement is not infused with the presence of the holy spirit. Charismata – excitement and meaning That is why he says that no one speaking by the spirit of god ever says Let Jesus be cursed. If their actions don’t demonstrate the love of Jesus – then it is not from God. Then he goes on to talk about spiritual gifts. Or charismata as they are called. Along with excitement, there has to be meaning and understanding – the two have to go hand in hand. Paul goes on to give a list of spiritual gifts – once again this is a sermon within itself. I just want to say that it is not an exhaustive list – it is just a list of sign in your life that the holy spirit is present with you. Gift from the common good Paul says that to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. Gifts are given to you for the good of the community, not just for you. When people say that god gave them a gift, you ask and what are you doing to help others with it? Gift is not a talent A spiritual gift is not a talent. A spiritual gift is not really what you do – it is why you do it. Does what you do glorify God? Scripture says that we all have talent – we don’t all realize where that talent came from or why we were given it. How do you get a spiritual gift? – through prayer and through practice, but most of all honoring the grace of God. Discernment How do you know if your gift is from God, or man or the devil? The community has the gift of discernment. God gives us joy and excitement, but he also gives us knowledge of right and wrong in the scriptures. Remember Paul says I do not want you to be ignorant. – He makes important statement that the most important gift that we can have is to be able to say that Jesus Is Lord. We can only say that if the holy Spirit is present amongst us. True faith – is to be like Jesus mother Mary – to have faith in Jesus to complete the task. Faith produces results Faith calls forth the presence of the holy True faith is from God Whatever we do, whatever our gift (and we all have one) – we have to be faithful in our service to God. Whole town bought water There was a town, who had a tradition that whenever there was a wedding, you were supposed to bring a jug of wine from home, and put in the collective pot – so that there would be enough wine for everyone. Well times have gotten tough for this one particular family – and they decided that instead fo bringing wine to the wedding, that they would bring a jug of water. Their little jug of water would not make a difference in the collective pot of wine – so they thought. It turns out every family felt the same way – everyone bought water instead of wine. In community our gifts matter Paul’s point for us – is that in community all of our gifts really do matter, and that God has given us all a gift or two. But they are only useful when we are faithful to Jesus as the Christ. Jesus is the wine of our celebration! Jesus us the life of our party! Jesus is the source of our faith! This week as we celebrate the contributions of Martin Luther King, as we celebrate the second inauguration of our President. Let us also celebrate our faith in Jesus Christ – be in service to the world, but be in all that you do, be in faithful service to God! Let us pray…… Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant (1 Corinthians 12:1, NIV). Why do we bring Christ into the wedding ceremony? Because if we would only bring Christ into our marriages, we would have better marriages! A few years back psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers was quoted as saying that for about half of all American couples, marriage is a “quiet hell.” Many other marriages have degenerated into a “tired friendship,” as someone put it. I submit to you that this is a tragedy, and in order to prevent such tragedies, we ought to take the traditional marriage ritual seriously and invite Christ to be a guest at our weddings, just as He was invited to the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Above all, in this quaint and lovely little story, John is proclaiming the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Life of every party, that he is the one who livens things up, brings life abundant for all, even anonymous brides and bridegrooms in an out-of-the-way peasant village located somewhere (where, we are not sure) in the Galilee. As William Barclay put it in his commentary on this passage: “...whenever Jesus comes into our lives there enters a quality which is like turning water into wine. The trouble with life is that we get bored with it. Pleasure loses its thrill. There is a vague dissatisfaction about everything. But when Jesus enters our lives there comes a new exhilaration!” Nearly one hundred years ago, there was an American inventor named Louis Enricht who announced that he had discovered a cheap additive that would turn ordinary tap water into automotive fuel. At the time World War I was raging in Europe and gasoline was enormously expensive. Enricht claimed that his new additive would bring the per gallon cost down to a single penny. That certainly got everyone’s attention. Enricht even gave a demonstration to a crowd of reporters. He had the reporters check that his jug was full of ordinary tap water, then poured in a small amount of greenish liquid, stirred it up, and invited everyone to test this miraculous mixture in their own vehicles. They did and it worked! Enricht’s demonstrations were so convincing that even the world famous automaker Henry Ford offered him millions to buy the rights for his additive. And no wonder. We’re still looking for such a cure to our energy ills today. Actually, Enricht had merely discovered that if you add a very cheap chemical called acetone to water it will run an engine for a while. Then it will destroy it. But before anyone found that out, Enricht had managed to convince not only Henry Ford, but several other famous American businessmen who should have known better, to give him millions of dollars for his worthless invention. Enricht was a scam artist. His invention looked convincing, but ultimately it destroyed the engine it was supposed to power. The power of Christ, on the other hand, took that which was inferior ordinary well water and made it rich and full and delightful. Anything Christ touches is going to be improved by that touch. The water was not only going to be transformed to wine. It would be the best wine possible. In this he was but reflecting the nature of God. God is a giving God. The God who has given us a beautiful and a bountiful world does so because that is God’s nature. Andreas Schroeder, Scams, True Stories from the Edge (Buffalo. NY: Annick Press Ltd., 2004), p. 1., adapted by King Duncan,www.Sermons.com A Whole New Era What about the underlying meaning? What did this strange first miracle signify? In a departure from custom, John fails to interpret for us the miraculous "sign," which for him almost always means a symbol, a kind of acted parable. Some commentators see in it a preview of the last Supper, when Jesus transforms not water into wind but wine into blood, his blood shed for all humanity. Maybe. But, I think not. I prefer a more whimsical interpretation. Tellingly, John notes that the wine came from huge thirty-gallon jugs that stood full of water at the front of the house, vessels that were used by observant Jews to fulfill the rules on ceremonial washing. Even a wedding feast had to honor the burdensome rituals of cleansing. Jesus, perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, transformed those jugs, ponderous symbols of the old way, into wineskins, harbingers of the new. From purified water of the Pharisees came the choice new wine of a whole new era. The time for ritual cleansing had passed; the time for celebration had begun. Prophets like John the Baptist preached judgment. Jesus' first miracle, though, was one of tender mercy. The lesson was not lost on the disciples who joined him at the wedding that night in Cana. Don't let it be lost on you! Adapted from Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Grand Rapids: Zondervan 1995, p. 168.

The First of Many Miracles to Come

January 17, 2010 First of many miracles to come Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C John 2:1-11 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 Word Jazz – that is a form of poetry much like the spoken word, this is from Britain – someone’s take on the story of Jesus turning water into wine So in our need for hope for survival It’s time to turn the pages of the Bible To the wedding in Cana in the land near Galilee Where Jesus and his mom enjoyed festivity Noshing on the free eats Eating on the free treats Sipping on the red wine Having quite a swell time “Hey, bartender, can you top off my glass What’s that you say? There’s no wine in the flask? Ran out so soon? That’s so low-class!” Midnight rolled around No more wine was found Tuesday the party popped Wednesday the party flopped Jesus said “Let’s go Come on, Mom, let’s blow.” But Mary told him “No! It isn’t time to go The wine has got to flow The people need to know That – we can! “Okay, okay” She heard him say Beneath his breath He was bored to death But he did her will And went to fill The empty jugs That stank of swill That cheap red wine That wasn’t so fine Show them what it means to be an agent Instead of a victim Change the system Instead of waiting for the system to give you spare change. Did I not sing the Magnificat when you were conceived? Is it not in revolution that we’ve always believed?” Most of the guests went home after the wedding and said, “Jesus performed a miracle and turned the jugs of water into jugs of wine. That proves you should believe in him. When things get bad, just pray to him and ask him for another miracle while you wait on the sofa.” But a few of the guests stayed after the party and asked Jesus how he did it. He told them how he did it and told them they could do it, too. He said to them what his mother said to him. “Change the system. Be an agent. Don’t be a victim. Let go of yesterday. Don’t get uptight about tomorrow. Work with what you’ve got. Be birdlike. Be barnless. I am the vine, you are the wine, don’t whine, take your time, and run with what you’ve begun.” These few are the ones that do, and you can, too. It’s true. So let us make the besta for the lasta… From Cana to Costa Mesa…. Amen! This is a very long poem – I only read parts of it for you. But it captures the point that John was trying to make perfectly. That this was the first miracle of Jesus career – but the whole point for us is that the best is yet to come. The miracles of life are not the huge things or the horrible things – it is in what we are willing to look forward to. Unlike the other gospels where Jesus does up to 30 miracles – John only focuses on 8. Eight turning points in Jesus’ life where he showed others that he could make a difference. In the other stories, Jesus is out on the front lines of help – he is healing the sick, enabling the discouraged, coming back to life. But in this story he , his mother and his first five disciples are at a party- drinking wine and celebrating and having a good time. And his mother becomes concerned that the wine is running out. It’s just something that we as Christians would say – what difference does that make for us. Why should we be concerned about the wine. When we are not supposed to get drunk. But for this culture – wine was a sign of prosperity, a sign that things were going well. Wine overflowing was a sign of the presence of God – it was a preparation for the party to come, when God made everything right in our lives. Jesus says that my time has not come, but his mother tells him that the time is now- Time to show the people the God is not just present in our suffering, but in our celebration. God doesn’t just want to hear our bad news, but our good news. Not only is God happy for us – God guarantees to make the celebration even better than you can imagine. So Jesus uses his power for the first time at a wedding. If the wine had run out – people would have been talking about this family for years. They would have expected them to make it up by giving extra gifts for everyone else who ever got married in the neighborhood. And of course you cant have a wedding without gifts. At another party – the guest were expected to bring the wine. Everyone would bring a jug and poor it all into a community pot – so that everyone could celebrate and have a good time. Times were hard for one family – so that decided that they would fill their pot with water – no one would never know – there was no way their jug would matter, if everyone else bought wine. It turns out that everyone felt that way – and the community had to celebrate with water – no one had filled their jug with wine. The point is – that in community – all of our gifts really do matter. And that no one’s contribution is more important that the other. That is the point that Paul is making to us in the 1Corinthians text. Unlike this couple – people were beginning to think that their gifts were more important than anyone elses. If they gave the better gift, then they also have a right to control everyone else. They had a right to judge the contributions of others. And there were willing to give- but only to those in their church. God gives every church a different set of gifts, given the different set of people in the church. Each person has a unique gift. And yet Paul reminds of that even though the gifts are different- the Spirit that brings them is the same. Jesus is still coming to the party – bringing his special gifts with him. And he gives them freely to us – so that everyone can enjoy. What gifts do we have amongst us – and how do we use them? Show them what it means to be an agent Instead of a victim Change the system Instead of waiting for the system to give you spare change. Did I not sing the Magnificat when you were conceived? Is it not in revolution that we’ve always believed?” Mary said to Jesus, “This poetry is nice But sorry son it just will not suffice – No time to rhyme, son, It’s time to run, son, You gotta work with what you’ve got. And you’ve got a heck of a lot! Enough of yesterday and tomorrow Seize today, son, and run with what you’ve begun…. Mary motivated, Jesus activated. The bride and the groom Came out of their room Emerged from their gloom And shared a glass… And told the guests: “This isn’t normal! It isn’t formal! This big faux pas On Mardi Gras Has changed the rules And made us fools… How did this come to pass? Give us another glass! The wine that’s best Was saved for last!” It was the Merlot of mindfulness It was the Syrah of sincerity It was the Cabernet of kindness It was the Chardonnay of social change It was the Zinfandel of fidelity It was the Rose’ of righteousness It was the Pinot of patience It was Jesus’ Juice of Justice…. In other words – this is epiphany – time for us to see things differently. Time for us to put our gifts into our lives. Time for us to realize the spirit is working in us so that the party that has been going on for generations continues. I am not as poetic as Jim Burklo – who wrote the word jazz – but my point is that the spirit flows freely in us – the gifts are the fruit of the spirit. Let us thank God for the abundance we have been given – and let us look forw