Easter Service, Resurrecting Faith

We started off powerfully.  The group sat there as the prelude finished, 
people were talking quietly. 
Normally, I would walk to the pulpit, if not there already and give the
welcome.  However, I stayed seated.  From a distance two rooms over,
Mark Walls began singing "prepare ye the way of the lord."  It was fun to
watch people's faces.  At first they thought they were hearing some
noise outside church (which would not be good.)  as in what's that,
then they realized it was singing, then he marched in singing, and
Stephanie joined in and then I joined in and a 3rd and a 4th, then Mark
asked everyone to join in

Then he read the scripture (Isaiah 40:3-9 "prepare ye the way") and
finished with a couple more refrains of the song.

Later MaryGrace Ketner, told a very abridged version of Luke.  She tied 
it together in a wonderful way, talking about Jesus prophecy, his clarity 
of purpose, and "God/love is in the details."  It was incredible to hear the 
gospel shared by our resident storyteller MaryGrace.  Hearing this gospel 
story as another story told by her  gave it more power, not less.  Her 
storytelling often makes me teary.  
Her caring comes through her voice so clearly.  It's like having a close 
family member sitting you down to tell you something important. 

After the sermon, Stephanie led us to sing "Do when the spirit says do" 
It was a real mover, and for the postlude, we had John B.
playing when the saints go marching in on his trombone.
  
Yeah, it was a great day!
and now the sermon:

"Ressurecting Faith"

Phil singing: Long live God. Long live God. Long live God. Long live
God. Long live God. Long live God.

Prepare Ye the way of the Lord. Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord...


These sung lyrics come from the Musical Godspell written by Stephen
Schwartz and John Michael Tebelak. In the last scene Jesus is put upon
an electric fence. He cries, "Oh God, I'm dying," and the community
answers, "Oh God, You're dying." Jesus dies.  After a pause of silence,
 one woman sings "Long Live God," joined on each phrase by another
female voice. The men join in with "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" as
they remove Jesus from the fence and carry him away.  I was coming of
age when “Godspell” was first produced, and my sense of the Easter
story was greatly influenced by it. I will come back to this scene
later.


I announced that we would celebrate Easter in a religiously liberal
way. By religious liberalism, I mean that we do not require a literal
interpretation of scripture in order to glean from it that which is
sacred and transformative for us.  We celebrate today in the spirit
of Unitarian Francis David who 400 yrs ago said “we do not have to
think alike in order for us to love alike.” Our community consists of
people with diverse beliefs and orientations, and we like it that way.


Many of us have great distrust of the religious movements that were
built upon the story of Jesus. Some of us might be tempted to become
cynical and believe that the entire thing is a scheme designed by
people to amass wealth and power. Certainly people have told and used
the story of Jesus for that purpose.  I hope that the hypocrisy of
religion will not keep us from the treasure carried within it.  Easter
is the story of miracles  that led people to dramatically alter the
course of their lives.


Considering history, we might wonder if the world would have been
better if it never heard of Easter.  History is filled with stories of
people who have claimed to worship Jesus, but whose lives have
demonstrated their egotistical worship of greed and power.  So we might
be tempted to judge as worthless Jesus and the story of his life, death
and resurrection.   

I hope that we will remember that Unitarianism, Universalism and
therefore Unitarian Universalism all formed because of people who have
been telling the story of Jesus, and following him. I hope we will find
something that will inspire and challenge us to spiritual growth. 


I pray that we will open our minds and hearts, and that we will
experience a resurrection of faith today!  Easter can be to us a
testament to love, the power that issues and transforms life. We can
celebrate Easter in a way that uses our intelligence and our attention
to help us become aware of the holy, the sacred and the eternal. 
Easter can show us divinity springing forth into the world we look
upon.  Seeing this we will move from a view of mortality to a view of
the kingdom of heaven.  It's my prayer that the kingdom will break
through the crusty attitudes we have formed and allow for new life to
come to us today.


Perhaps we will find the divine in this story.  Perhaps we will
discover the beauty here.  Perhaps this Easter, we will sense the
presence of the sacred.  Perhaps we will connect with the power of this
story. 
I don't think it sufficient to summarize Easter as the story of
a man who treated people well.  Such humanist interpretations or any
interpretation that attempts to boil down Jesus or Easter into a simple
explanation or formula is bound to miss something.  If Easter is a
truly religious story, then it points to something awesome,
transformative and partially beyond the grasp of our understanding.
This doesn't mean we must abandon reason. It means that with a little
humility and effort we may find something new and true in a story we
have heard one hundred times already.


The Easter story tells us that Jesus brought something to this world
that the cruel, callous and torturous death sentence could destroy.  I
know of two ways to miss the gifts of this story.  The first is to
assume that we are fundamentally different from Jesus, so that what he
did doesn't apply to us.  The second is to call the whole thing
irrational and in that way to close our ears to the language of its
poetry.  Perhaps to receive the gift, we must be open to miracle not
necessarily as supernatural occurrence, but as transformative power
that changes everything we know and understand.


Please keep in mind that transformative power, as we once more review
the story.  Here is my two paragraph synopsis.

Jesus traveled around Israel preaching the good news of the kingdom of
heaven. He instructed people to love their enemies. He went about the
countryside healing the sick, and in one instance is said to have
brought a man back from death.  Jesus gave much of his attention (word
and deed) to the sick, and to those rejected and oppressed by society. 
He asked people to live in such a way as to care for everyone. He
invited people into a new relationship with the source of life. He
challenge the rules of society and therefore the powers that be. Word
of him spread, and he developed a following. He was captured by Roman
soldiers and crucified; his body put on display for all to see.

His body was placed in a tomb. But when Mary Magdalene went to the
tomb, she found that the rock sealing it had been rolled away. Jesus
appeared to her, and later to his disciples. He told them that a holy
spirit would remain with them and enable them to do great things. He
asked them to continue his ministry. He then ascended into heaven.


The Easter story is filled with miracles. If we define a miracle as a
supernatural event, an interruption into the time-space continuum by
the outside force of an all-powerful and supernatural deity, then many
of us do not believe in miracles. I would like to suggest another
definition. I consider it a miracle when something occurs that is
beyond our ability to make sense of or understand, and it makes us
aware that we have been clinging to illusion. A miracle completely
changing the way we understand ourselves, others and life.

In order to begin to understand the miracle of Easter,  I invite you to
remember someone who has profoundly affected your life for the better. 
First remember their name, but persist until you remember them. 
Remember the way you felt because of what they did for you or what they
showed you.  This can be difficult but can be done.  We may need to
admit the way that we have steeled ourselves.  We might need to admit
that we are in the habit of telling ourselves that we have it all under
control. ... we reassure ourselves that we can take care of ourselves.

The was a time when we expected others to be there for us.  There was a
time, perhaps when we were very young, that we trusted that others
would help us to meet our needs. And Perhaps there was a time that
someone treated us with a kindness so sweet that it melted our
defenses.  Can you remember a time that a friend or a family member was
really there for you? that there presence helped you to feel safe,
happy and hopeful?

I imagine that Jesus had this kind of affect upon his followers or at
least his disciples.  It may be hard for us to imagine letting one
person have that kind of influence. After all, think for ourselves.  We
don't need no stinkin gurus.


But Jesus lived two thousand years ago.  before cell phones, before TV,
before newspaper or radio.  It was a small world. If you were lucky you
were part of a family, and you had a trade or a job.  There was your
village. Or maybe you lived in the big city, but there were no cars so
things moved more slowly.  There was a hierarchy and you knew your
place.  The Romans were citizens, and you were something less. 
Soldiers who could by law get you to carry their bag for one mile. 
There were the Priests and leaders in the community.  Perhaps you were
poor.  In any event your options seemed pretty limited.

Then along comes this man.  He speaks in a way like you have never heard
or imagined.  He speaks with an authority as if he is a rich and
powerful man, but he is clearly not of that status.  He treats
strangers with a kindness generally known only to children.  He tells
stories that make you question the way you think, and not in a little
way, but in a way that grabs your heart with fear and hope.  The effect
he has on people amazes you.  The world he speaks of and demonstrates
causes you to realize that more is possible than you ever imagined. 
You want to follow him. 


Are you now considering the gospel story in a slightly different way?
The words, deeds and teachings of Jesus had a powerful impact. 
However, Easter isn't all about beliefs.   The most important part is
not who you say he was.  It's not even about what beliefs he espoused
although these are important.  It is about the powerful spirit that
Jesus brought to this planet.  Was it because he was superhuman? Was it
because he was kind or compassionate?  I imagine that his consciousness
and his love were extraordinary; that the vibrational frequency
emanating from him sent out waves that have profoundly affected many
people around him. 


  Can you begin to imagine how traumatic and heartbreaking it must have
been for his disciples to have their Lord crucified?  For some time to
come, they must have been in shock, and only after a time did they
begin to take steps that were to become the continuation of his
ministry. 


(Sung:)  Long live God. Long live God.  Long live God.  (etc). 
 I like that Schwartz and Tebelek had his disciples sing this after the
crucifixion.  In English tradition, upon a king's death, the new king
would be pronounced “the king is dead, long live the king.”  But how
could God be dead? Who would follow King Jesus?  The singing continues:
“Prepare ye the way of the lord.  Prepare ye the way of the lord.”


This was the message at the beginning of Jesus ministry.  It was as if
his followers chose to respond to the crucifixion, to the crushing and
brutal power of the Roman empire and their collaborators, by saying;
“you have taken his body, but you can not take away the life that he
has given us!”  The crucifixion was meant to set an example and put
down any hopes of resistance or rebellion to Roman order.  His
followers responded by declaring that they now belonged to a new
order. 

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven had been declared, an had
begun to unfold through Jesus.  It existed now in the hearts and minds
of his followers.

The kingdom of God is not pie in the sky for those who believe
correctly.  Neither is it simply the establishment of an external order
here on Earth.  The kingdom of god is a consciousness, an existence on
a different vibrational frequency. 

In the beginning, his followers might have sung “prepare ye the way of the lord”
thinking that they were  announcing an earthly reign of their Lord
Jesus.  Singing this after his death refers to another meaning.   How
could they now prepare the way for the Lord?  How would Jesus'
announced kingdom come to pass?  It was by Jesus' words and deeds, by
the soul of his being that people came to learn of a new way of being. 
And in the same way did his followers carry it forward. 


Although Jesus name has been used to justify inquisitions, wars,
slavery and the like, this is not the spirit of Jesus.  This is not the
ushering in of his kingdom.  The carrying forward of his kingdom, his
teaching, his spirit has continued by a faithful following.  Some have
remained faithful not just to his name, or a particular set of beliefs,
but by truly following him.  This was what his disciples did and how
they conquered death. 


Yes you heard me right.  I said that they conquered death.  You have
 heard that the resurrection of Jesus conquered
death.  One explanation is that Jesus atoned for our sins, thereby
opening the gates of heaven for us.  I am saying that miracles occur
not when a superhuman god breaks the laws of nature, but when humans
extend themselves and move from fear to love.  When humans move past
the nature that would have them look out for #1, in order to realize
the kingdom of heaven.


And this was what Jesus taught and demonstrated.  Jesus did not come to
replace one set of beliefs with another set.  Jesus taught that when we
put all our focus on saving our own life, we lose it in the sense that
we never live it.  Jesus showed the way to put your faith in love and
how to enter the kindgom of God.  He pointed the way to know and
experience divinity, the truth, the light and the way that exists
inside each of us. 


Happy Easter CUUCies.  May we have the courage to conquer death.  May
we have the strength to live our lives, live our values, live what's
important to us.  May we live in the kingdom of heaven, and by our very
being, show this kingdom to others.

Amen.