Rev. Paul Wrightman, Pastor

Independent and United Church of Christ

April 12, 2020

Dear Friends,

It​​ feels sad and strange not being able to celebrate Easter​​ together​​ this year. ​​ Easter, like Christmas, calls out to be celebrated communally, and this year that just isn’t possible. ​​ I was just about to go into lamentation mode (!) when I suddenly remembered a saying that I first heard in my 20’s: ​​ “Bloom where you are planted now.”​​ ​​ This ​​​​ brought to mind many wonderful wildflowers that I’ve seen growing in impossibly rocky places while hiking in the Sierra. ​​ They seemed to know how to make the best out of a difficult situation! ​​ Taking​​ our cue from them, perhaps we can​​ find some hidden blessings in this Sheltering-In-Place-Easter. ​​ Perhaps ​​ we ​​ can complement the exuberant, joyful Easters of our past with a quieter, more contemplative, introspective Easter this year. ​​ After all, the truth remains the truth even in difficult circumstances. ​​ The proclamation of the earliest church: ​​ “Christ Is Risen! ​​ Christ Is Risen Indeed!” remains true in all times and all circumstances. ​​ Like Mary Magdalene in today’s Scripture reading, may Christ startle us by calling each of us by name. ​​ After all, he knows us better than​​ we know ourselves. ​​ He knows exactly the words we need to hear and wants to speak them to us. ​​ 

WORSHIP SERVICE FOR EASTER 2020

OPENING READING  ​​​​ (e.e. cummings, 1894-1962)

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

great happenings illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any – lifted from the no

of all nothing – human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

SUGGESTED MUSIC ​​ ​​ ​​ Christ the Lord Is Risen Today/Charles Wesley  ​​ ​​ ​​​​  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ You Tube

PASTORAL PRAYER  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ (From​​ To Bless the Space Between Us​​ by John O’Donohue)

Light cannot see inside things.

That is what the dark is for:

Minding the interior,

Nurturing the draw of growth

Through places where death

In its own way turns into life.

In the glare of neon times,

Let our eyes not be worn

By surfaces that shine

With hunger made attractive.

That our thoughts may be true light,

Finding their way into words

Which have the weight of shadow

To hold the layers of truth.

That we never place our trust

In minds claimed by empty light,

Where one-sided certainties

Are driven by false desire.

When we look into the heart,

May our eyes have the kindness

And reverence of candlelight.

That the searching of our minds

Be equal to the oblique

Crevices and corners where

The mystery continues to dwell,

Glimmering in fugitive light.

When we are confined inside

The dark house of suffering

That moonlight might find a window.

When we become false and lost

That the severe noon-light

Would cast our shadow clear.

When we love, that dawn-light

Would lighten our feet

Upon the waters.

As we grow old, that twilight

Would illuminate treasure

In the fields of memory.

And when we come to search for God,

Let us first be robed in night,

Put on the mind of morning

To feel the rush of light

Spread slowly inside

The color and stillness

Of a found world.

SCRIPTURE  ​​ ​​ ​​​​ John 20:1-18, NRSV

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed. ​​ So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ​​ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ​​ The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ​​ He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but did not go in. ​​ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. ​​ He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ​​ Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ​​ Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. ​​ As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ​​ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” ​​ She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord,​​ and I do not know where they have laid him.” ​​ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ​​ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? ​​ Who are you looking for?” ​​ 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.” ​​ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” ​​ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ​​ Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. ​​ But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ​​ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Copyright 2020: ​​ Rev. Paul Wrightman

APPROACHING THE HOLY GROUND OF EASTER

John​​ 20:1-18  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ 

4/12/2020

Let’s take a look at some​​ specifics in today’s magnificent Easter text. ​​ Let’s step​​ into​​ the text ourselves as​​ witnesses​​ of what happened on that first Easter morning. ​​ 

In verse 1, the translation “early” refers to the technical Greek word for the last of the four watches into which the night was divided, from 3am to 6am. ​​ Mary Magdalene’s devotion to Jesus was so intense that she simply could not stay away, but had to get up before the break of dawn to be mournfully present at his tomb.

She is stunned by what she sees. ​​ The large stone blocking the entrance to the tomb has been moved. ​​ Mary is so shocked that she doesn’t even look into the tomb. ​​ She assumes that the body of Jesus has been removed and runs off to tell Peter and John.

See Peter and John running to the tomb, John, probably in his late teens, outpacing the middle-aged Peter.

John hesitates at the entrance. ​​ Peter, true to character, rushes in. ​​ They both see the linen wrappings lying where the body of Jesus had been. ​​ 

BUT – if someone had removed the body of Jesus, if tomb-robbers had been at work, why would they leave the grave-clothes?

John was quick to put the pieces together, quicker than Peter, and quicker than most of us would care to be.

He saw that the grave-clothes were not disheveled and disarranged. ​​ They were lying there​​ still​​ in​​ their​​ folds​​ – which is what the Greek means – the clothes for the body where his body had been; the head-wrappings where his head had been.

The whole point of this description is that the grave-clothes did not look as if they had been put off or taken off; they were lying there in their regular folds as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them.

The meaning of the sight suddenly penetrates John’s heart and mind; he senses what has happened – and​​ believes. ​​ What he sees with his own eyes convinces him.

It’s important to note at this point that there are several words in Greek for “seeing,” including a word for seeing in terms of an interior vision that was not connected to an outside reality. ​​ This is NOT the word that the writers of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – use, or for that matter, St. Paul. ​​ They consistently use the word for “seeing” which means to see something outside oneself, not merely in the realm of visions.

So the claim of the Gospels and of St. Paul is that the Resurrection is something that actually happened, that it was an actual historical occurrence, and not simply wishful thinking on the part of the disciples of Jesus.

Peter and John go back home, Peter probably deeply puzzled and disturbed, John quietly rejoicing that something truly wonderful has happened.

Verse 11 tells us that Mary has returned and stands​​ weeping outside the tomb. ​​ Between her eyes being clouded with tears and the twilight dimness, she doesn’t recognize Jesus at first – not until he calls her​​ by name.

This is a verse of significance for all of us, because Jesus calls each of us by name.

In verse 17 we can see Mary flinging herself on Jesus, holding on to him as if she will never let him go. ​​ This verse is often mistranslated by having Jesus say “Don’t touch me;” the actual Greek reads “Stop holding on to me.”

Jesus commissions Mary​​ to share the Good News with the male disciples, but we know from Luke’s Gospel that they wrote off her testimony as that of an hysterical woman.

Even when Jesus physically appeared to them that first Easter evening, they were scared witless, thinking him a ghost, and could not believe he was real until he has eaten some fish.

This brings us to the​​ common phenomenon of​​ cognitive​​ dissonance, which means that we do not perceive certain facts because we have no categories in our thinking processes in which to place them.

What are we to make of the Resurrection?

One theoretical physicist has said that those who are not shocked and upset by quantum mechanics do not understand it.

In a similar way, unless the Resurrection shakes us, confuses, and upsets us, we have not truly confronted it.

The Resurrection does not fit into our ordinary perceptions of human importance and value.

We have a tendency to believe what is most​​ comfortable​​ for us to believe, as Thomas S. Kuhn has shown with great clarity in his book​​ The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

What we do not​​ expect​​ to see, we simply do not perceive; what we don’t expect to see and don’t​​ want​​ to see has two strikes against our perceiving it.

The Resurrection of Jesus overturned many of the prevailing assumptions about life and reality current in his time – and our time.

This event is God’s affirmation of the person who taught and lived unconditional love. ​​ It was the strongest statement possible that at the heart and center of reality, in the inmost core of God, is unquenchable​​ love​​ and unquenchable​​ life.

Let me get personal. ​​ I’m more like doubting Thomas than trusting John by nature. ​​ Being a person who needs some pretty strong​​ evidence​​ to believe something as wildly improbable as the actual bodily resurrection of Jesus, it took me some time to make the transition from belief in the resurrection as something limited to the hearts and psychological needs of the disciples to belief in the Resurrection as a unique event that actually happened in history.

Let me share with you some of the reasons that pushed me to the conclusion that the weight of the evidence is strongly on the side of belief rather than skepticism.

Jesus stands out as a singularity in life. ​​ I’m no longer surprised that God transformed his death into a singularity as well.

The rawness and eyewitness details of the Resurrection accounts stand out as something unique in ancient literature.

To be sure, there are plenty of other resurrection stories in the ancient world. ​​ But all the rest of them are very vague and very general, and take place in the significant, but non-historical world of myth.

As you can see for yourself, our Scripture reading is not the language of myth, but language stretched to its limits in its attempt to describe an inexplicable sight (the grave-clothes still in their folds, like a mummy, but no body within) and a numinous encounter between Mary and the risen Jesus.

In other Gospel accounts, we are told about the wounds of Jesus still being visible, his ability to pass through locked doors, and the stunning fusion of the material and the spiritual in his Resurrection body.

There is nothing like this in all of ancient literature.

Remember that science fiction was not invented as a form of literature until the 1800’s.

I find it impossible to account for the oddity of these details unless they were raw, unadorned accounts of what people actually saw and heard.

Writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis understand the multitude of resurrection myths in the ancient world in a​​ positive​​ way as expressions of our deepest human longings, longings which are​​ fulfilled​​ in the actual Resurrection of Jesus.

The fact that women are the first and foremost witnesses to the reality of the Resurrection is fantastical beyond belief if the story is a made-up one. ​​ Given women’s third-rate status in that culture at that time, the fact that they were considered too inferior to serve as witnesses in court, and the fact that many males of that day began their morning prayers with the statement, “Holy One, King of the Universe, I thank you that I was not born a woman,” the fact that all four Gospels unabashedly place the women witnesses in first place strongly testifies to the historical reality of their testimony.

There were plenty of other martyred prophets both before and during the time of Jesus. ​​ The normal, standard procedure would be for the followers of a martyred prophet to build a memorial of some kind and get on with their lives – not to drop everything and carry the message of their leader to the ends of the earth.

These are some of the reasons why I personally affirm the empty tomb and bodily Resurrection of Jesus.

But I don’t think any or even all of them together is enough to convince anyone else of the reality of this event.

And I don’t think that our salvation – our own participation in eternal life – depends on our buying any of this. ​​ We are given life beyond death because of God’s unconditional love, not because we happened to stumble upon the one and only correct system of belief.

Ultimately,​​ by far the most significant reason that I can personally affirm the reality of the Resurrection is that I have personally​​ experienced​​ the reality of the risen Jesus. ​​ Unlike Mary in today’s Scripture reading, I haven’t actually seen him, but I have heard him in heart and mind on more than several occasions. ​​ How do I know that it was him speaking? ​​ --Mostly because the thoughts, feelings, and actions inspired in me were so far beyond my own at the time that I knew they had to be coming from a Source outside myself.

Several times I’ve been caught up in an overwhelming sense of being in his presence, with very tangible sensations of awe, connectedness, and wholeness. ​​ Again, my normal, everyday state of being is not particularly awesome or connected or whole, so when this happens I assume it’s coming from a Source outside myself.

This Source happens to be personal and happens to have a name, and that name is Jesus.

And I believe that this same Jesus, the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, the healings, the Jesus who embodies God’s relentless compassion and love, will connect with anyone who sincerely invites him into their life.

The simple words of one of those crucified next to Jesus are enough: ​​ “Lord,​​ remember​​ me.” ​​ We don’t have to rattle off a Billy Graham-like sinner’s prayer or recite​​ a certain creed or even have a​​ certain set of beliefs.

Don’t get all hung up on what the various denominations – all 37,000 of them (!) – tell you about what you have to believe​​ about​​ Jesus.

Just invite him into your life and your own relationship with him will take care of all the rest.

Do you​​ have​​ to do this – have your own personal relationship with Jesus – in order to be “saved” or “born again” or whatever? ​​ The Gospels make it quite clear that what we call “salvation” or eternal life is God’s free gift to​​ all, given by God’s​​ love​​ for all.

Our participation in eternal life is already a done deal because of who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and who Jesus continues to be.

But since he tells us that he is standing at the door of each of our hearts seeking entrance – merely asking for​​ our​​ hospitality – wouldn’t​​ the gracious response be to invite him in?

AMEN.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• ​​ If the Resurrection is real, what does this tell us about God?

• ​​ Imagine that Jesus and you are sharing a meal together. ​​ Knowing that he already knows you deeply, and that he is ALWAYS unconditionally loving, what does he have to say to you?

SUGGESTED MUSIC:  ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Mahalia Jackson, I Come to the Garden Alone  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ You Tube

CLOSING PRAYER  ​​ ​​​​ (St. Augustine, 354-430)

All shall be Amen and Alleluia.

We shall rest and we shall see.

We shall see and we shall know.

We shall know and we shall love.

We shall love and we shall praise.

Behold our end which is no end.

BENEDICTION

Patiently and persistently, God loves.

Relentlessly and unconditionally, God loves.

Now and forever, God loves.

Amen.