Easter is about transcendence.
It is about creating and choosing new life.
It is about new heavens and a new earth.
It is about a new way of doing religion.
It is about new joy-full living.
Today, along with Christian the world over, we celebrate Easter Sunday –
the single defining event for the faith we hold.
For the fact of the matter is that before Easter there were no Christians!
Before Easter there was no church.
Before Easter there was no Christian theology, no Christian world-view.
Easter is the birthday of a whole new world –
a whole new life –
a whole new way of living –
a whole new way of looking at the world –
a whole new religion!
Easter re-creates our cosmology,
it provides a new perspective on the order of things,
it expands our understanding of things temporal and things eternal.
In Isaiah God announces a re-creation of the
world – new heavens and a new earth,
a new relationship between God and the whole creation,
a new expression of faith,
a new Jerusalem:
a place full of joy and happiness –
"Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create" –
a place where even God will be full of joy.
e.e. cummings has an Easter expression appropriate for each one of us:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of treesand a blue true dream of sky; and for everythingwhich 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 birthday of life and of love and wings: and of the gaygreat happening illimitably earth)how should tasting touching hearing seeingbreathing any -- lifted from the noof all nothing -- human merely beingdoubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake andnow the eyes of my eyes are opened)
I thank you God for this most amazing day!
I who have died am alive again today!
Now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened.
Every
year now for nearly twenty centuries, Christians have been coming
together at this time of year to celebrate the single most important
event of their history!
Since Jesus was a Jew, and lived as a Jew,
and preached as Jew,
and spent his entire ministry among Jews,
it was quite natural for his followers to tie this Easter event with the traditional Passover Celebration.
For
centuries, the Passover had been celebrated each year to remind people
of their unique history and of their unique relationship with their God.
What Passover was to the Jews, Easter became to the followers of Jesus.
For truly, it wasn't until after the Resurrection that the disciple's eyes were opened and they saw for the very first time:
that what they had experienced with this man from Nazareth was indeed a whole new thing.
It wasn't until after the Resurrection that they began to call him the Christ –
and saw him to be the fulfillment of the Passover –
the promise that been made each year over and over again for centuries.
So clear was this to the early Christians, that they began to meet on the first day of each week at dawn to celebrate Easter –
the coming of the new time –
the new creation –
the new week –
remembering the fulfillment of the Passover.
Our
story goes that the women went to the tomb that morning concerned about
how they were going to move the stone that blocked them from doing
their ministerial task with the corpse.
Even though they were
concerned and anxious about it, their faith moved them on down the road
just knowing that somehow the obstacle would be removed, and they could
do what they needed to do.
Of course, we know, when they arrived at the tomb, the obstacle was moved all right,
but they were the first to discover,
and the first to hear,
that something very significant –
something very out of the ordinary –
had happened.
The Jesus they knew so well;
the Jesus they were friends with;
the Jesus they thought they understood;
the Jesus they lived with;
the Jesus they saw defeated and overcome;
the Jesus they watched die;
the Jesus they placed in this tomb --
their friend, Jesus of Nazareth
was much more than they ever thought or understood.
Not only was their religious practice changed significantly;
but now, the known laws of the physical universe were overcome as well.
They came to work on the corpse of Jesus –
and they heard the incredible words:
"Why look for the living here among the dead?"
This made no sense.
They saw him die.
They placed his lifeless body here in this tomb.
And again, the messenger of God spoke:
"Go back where you came from.
Go back to Galilee.
There you will find him.
Alive and well, just as he said you would."
It was the a re-creation of the world –
a new heaven and a new earth –
new definitions of life and religion –
the birthday of a whole new world –
the birthday of life and of love and wings.
Easter announces to all that the presence of Christ cannot be snuffed out.
That God transcends the boundaries of space and time.
New boundaries of our life and faith have been drawn up.
A new heaven and a new earth have been created.
There is a new Jerusalem,
a new religion wherein God and his creation are not so far apart:
Where God no longer dwells above us,
or in ark in the Temple,
or even solely in the confines of a particular person who lived in Galilee some 2000 years ago.
This
is something totally new: "a new heaven and a new earth" wherein God is
constantly present with us where we live our lives –
defining anew what it is to be human,
what it is to be alive,
what it is to die.
This transcendence of space between God and man,
this transcendence of time between birth and death,
this transcendence of God between heaven and earth is what is behind our celebration of Easter today.
It is what is unique about our Christianity.
It is what enables us to live fully and abundantly.
There is tremendous power at work here:
power largely unrecognized and largely untapped;
but power that can give each one of us a new lease on life.
Some of you may be familiar with the work of Bernie Siegel.
Dr. Siegel is a surgeon and works primarily with cancer patients.
For
several years now, an important part of Dr. Siegel's practice and
research is with what he calls "exceptional" cancer patients –
patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses –
most given a very short time to live.
Dr. Siegel sees patients sometimes individually, and most times in groups,
and helps them to choose to really live in the limited time they have left.
Time and time again, Bernie Siegel, and other doctors who are doing this now, observe something that is almost beyond belief.
Given just months or weeks to live,
facing their inevitable death, and coming to terms with their mortality,
patients, more often than not, consciously change their way of living.
Time and time again, these doctors see from that day on, these patients do only what they really want to do.
They don't let something go unsaid, because they know there may not be a tomorrow.
They became quick with hugs,
quick with "I love yous",
quick with "thank yous",
quick to show appreciation and quick with "I am truly sorry."
Once having made that choice,
and, this is the totally unbelievable part,
and until you have been there, it is so hard to understand, but we need to learn from it:
100%
of his patients say that their lives are infinitely better than it was
before they were diagnosed with their terminal illness.
They reported things went better for them.
Relationships with other people were more positive.
Life was more fuller, richer.
Days and time had meaning.
Each day was greeted with thanksgiving.
They had new enthusiasm for living – even though they knew their days were numbered.
And, do you know what?
Truly remarkable things happen among the patients.
Once they choose to live each day to the fullest, they actually stop dying!
Oh, they all do die.
We all do.
But,
these patients all live well past the expected time limits of their
disease, and they live healthier – even with their terminal illness,
and they are freer of pain during their illness.
Through
Dr. Siegel and his faith in what they can do and can be, these
terminally ill patients come to know what Jesus called an abundant life.
Bernie Siegel writes:
We must all confront the reality that no one lives forever.
Illness and death are not signs of failure;
what is a failure is not living.
Our goal is learning to live – joyously and lovingly.
And, you know, that is exactly what we are about here at Christ Church in Drexel Hill!
Helping people connect with these timeless truths of our faith.
Helping people live more fully, more abundantly, like Jesus said.
I have spoken of my interest in some of the findings of recent comprehensive studies of peoples' health.
One of the findings of one of the studies, hidden among many findings, and virtually ignored by the press, was this:
They found that people who go to church regularly were healthier over all than people who did not go to church regularly.
And hidden among the findings of another large study was this:
People who go to church regularly live longer than those who do not go to church regularly.
Do you hear this?
It's a fact:
People who go to church are healthier, and
people who go to church live longer, than those who don't.
Why do you suppose that is?
Because
of some other studies and reading I have done, I found some clues, and I
have compiled several reasons why folks who go to church live longer
and are healthier than those who do not.
Scientific studies from
several fields of inquiry provide evidence that there is real healing
power in many of the things that we practice, and teach, and experience
here in church.
In the past, I have told you about studies that prove that there is healing power in prayer,
that there is healing power in laughter,
that there is healing power in attitude,
that there is healing power in forgiveness,
that there is healing power in ritual,
that there is healing power in coming together as community,
and, today’s message is that there is healing power in transcendence.
Easter is about transcendence.
It is about creating and choosing new life.
It is about new heavens and a new earth.
It is about a new way of doing religion.
It is about new joy-full living.
Indeed, the chief characteristic of this new world ushered in at Easter is joy and happiness.
Our Scripture describes a God full of joy,
and a joy-full people living in thanksgiving for a full and abundant life.
And that's what we are about here at this church.
Christ Presbyterian Church is "A Center of Faith for Living Abundantly."
Jesus said, "I have come that you might have a fuller, more abundant life."
There are people in this room who know exactly what I am saying, and have experiences to prove it.
And the promise is made to each one of us:
You can live a better, fuller, healthier, longer, more abundant life.
God intends this for you.
And we know how.
Join us, or put another way, let us join you.
This Easter Sunday, when facing the choices all of us make every day, choose life.
Choose to live each day to the fullest.
Choose to be a part of the most powerful force in the universe: the presence of Christ in the world today.
I thank you God for this most amazing day!
I who have died am alive again today!
Amen.
The
congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill,
Pennsylvania, heard this sermon during the Easter celebration April 24,
2011.
We are all familiar with the creation stories in Genesis.
The familiar story with its rhythmical structure of seven days occurs in chapter 1.
And chapter 2 of Genesis begins another story of creation.
Now, really, both of these accounts were actually written fairly late in Jewish history –
most
probably at the time of King David, when for the first time people had
the leisure to sit down and write the stories that had been handed down
by word of mouth for centuries.
Verse 7 of the second chapter of
Genesis appears to express one of the earliest, most primitive concepts
of the Jew's relationship to God.
Here, God is pictured as a potter:
Then the Lord God formed (molded) a man from the dust of the ground,
and breathed (a loud breath) into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus man became alive! (Gen2:v7)
It seems that from the beginning,
they understood every person's breath is God-given – life itself –
for the human is critically related to Yahweh,
the God that shared his breath –
the symbol for life itself.
You see, the thing that made the body alive was God.
God was intimately related to your life experience. [Therefore, a life without God was an absurd proposition.]
Actually, by the time these stories were written down (at King David's
court) the understandings of God had changed somewhat.
I’ve talked about this before.
Through the years a concept of God developed that they could put in a box.
At a risk of over-simplifying it:
you may recall that they were a nomadic people, they traveled a lot –
they traveled through lands occupied by people with other religions.
They saw that these religions had their holy places:
they had holy mountains,
there were holy caves,
and there were even holy wells.
Well,
having no geographical references for themselves these wandering Jews
knew that their God could not be confined to geography.
Their God was not to found in a particular place.
Their God was a traveling God –
but they came to feel that their God did need a home –
God needed a place to be,
a place to rest.
So they built God an ark, a throne, so he could be comfortable.
And they carried this ark wherever they went.
It became a symbol of assurance:
that God was with them as long as they had the box for him.
(We have a lot of stories about people stealing the ark.
So history began to be recorded in terms of who has the box – who had God on their side.
God was wherever the ark was.)
This,
then, became a real issue with David as he set out to bring together
two nations of people – each with their own traditions and history.
David thought: The way to unite the country is to unite their religion.
So, let's build a house to put the ark in.
It
will be a temple and will stand in the capital city as a symbol of
God's presence in our new nation and people will always know where they
can come to meet the Lord.
We'll put his box there and everyone will come to know that's where he sits!
And the temple was built, and became the house of God.
His box was placed in one end of the building and a curtain was put in front of it – the reredos.
It was called the “Holy of Holies”.
[The curtain was loaded with symbolism –
it protected the people from perishing should they see the Lord face-to-face.
It served the function of keeping God's presence shielded from the people.]
Now, all of this had become quite institutionalized by the time of Jesus.
The temple with its curtain, and the ark, was an important part of the religion.
For the Jew, there was no question what one had to do in order to be religious, to fulfill the law.
Leaders, Rabbis, spent their entire lives studying the law –
and as new situations and questions came up, they wrote new rules to amplify the old law.
The Rabbis were the authority and it was unquestioned (except maybe for a few splinter groups from time to time.).
Of particular significance is that Jesus came preaching and teaching on his own authority –
far outside the established authority of his tradition.
They would say to him:
you totally disregard our tradition.
How can you go around preaching such
contemporariness?
And he would say:
It
seems to me that I don't come to put an end to your traditional ways,
so much as I come to fulfill the promises of our tradition.
For instance, look at me.
I live in the same relation with my Father (your God) as described in the ancient poem of our tradition.
I live and breath because God lives and breathes in me.
God is in me as long as I'm alive.
As
long as I breathe, God dwells in me and I live in God – so, in this
sense, my body is more of a temple in the traditional sense,
than that building is where you go to worship and hope to find God.
This is what I preach.
And whenever the religious law encourages this understanding – it is valid – and whenever it hinders it, it is invalid.
You think you know how to be religious?
You don't!
Your organization gets in the way of your faith!
The New Testament writers took great pains to point out to us that Jesus came to fulfill the scripture –
he quotes the Old Testament and interprets the tradition anew.
His respect for tradition and history is not questioned.
Neither is his authority,
and his authority is unquestionably contemporary to his time.
Now
today, ironically, most of us Christians have the same concepts and
attitudes about our Church and our religion as the Jews did about
their temple and their religion at the time of Jesus, don’t we?
We have fostered the concept that the church building is God's House –
we should come here hoping to find God –
and we should enter, then, with appropriate reverence
and appreciate the use of music, prayers and ceremony that will uplift our hearts and inspire our souls so our faith may grow.
There are things we expect from our religion, aren’t there? –
and there are things we are comfortable with –
and we identify those things as "traditional" when the tradition may be not really be very old.
In
a real sense, my call as a laborer among God's people is to seriously
come to grips with tradition (religion) that goes back beyond the past
50 or 60 years, even beyond the past 400 years, and beyond the past 2000
years –
attempting to see the contemporary situation our fathers and mothers in the faith faced,
and how they expressed themselves the way they did (and why they did it that way).
And then, facing the situation today, [the world around us in the year 2012],
attempt to react in the same manner and express the same faith –
the same hope for life –
that was expressed in those old situations.
(This manner informs the things we do here in our worship service on Sunday mornings.)
The Easter story is one of encouragement,
of hope,
of enabling dreams and visions of what could be –
if only....
For the story is that Jesus lived as a Son of God – God lived inside the physical confines of the man Jesus of Nazareth.
And that was the message the disciples were finally beginning to understand – until Good Friday.
[Now understand that at this point, Jesus was no different than a dozen other God-men in religious history.]
But, the significant difference comes when Jesus dies.
There, on the cross, we are told, he gives a loud cry –
all that was in his lungs comes out.
He dies.
The presence of God escapes from his body.
Jesus the man, then, is lifeless –
the body is dead
(and later disappears).
God left the confines of this "body temple."
Not only that, but each Gospel writer carefully records the message that,
when this happened the curtain in the temple was torn in two –
from the top to the bottom.
God came out of the stone temple –
through the curtain.
No more to be separated and encapsulated in a box or a house.
No. God is not there any more.
God is no longer in the body of the man from Nazareth.
And God is no longer in that box in the temple!
Where did God go?
The message was – into Galilee –
back into the world where his followers lived and interacted, as Jesus said he would.
And his disciples were to go there.
That's where they would find him.
Where he said they would:
feeding the hungry,
clothing the poor,
healing the sick,
involved in making the life around them more human,
more hopeful,
more enabling.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Because I know the rest of the story . . .
Hear the rest of the story in church Sunday . . .
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church experienced this message Easter Sunday, 2012.
Today, we remember the parade -- the longest running parade in history!
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels.
It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday.
It
is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this
moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
Today we remember Palm Sunday --
the beginning of the week that was –
Jesus' entrance into the city of Jerusalem.
According to Mark and Matthew this was the first time Jesus ever went to the big city.
Up until now, his entire ministry, his entire life,
had been spent out in the hinterlands, in Jabip,
in little rural communities within walking distance of one another in the countryside known as Galilee.
But, now he went to Jerusalem --
the capital city --
the only big city --
the center of commerce for the whole region --
but, more importantly, the sacred city,
the home of the Temple,
the Holy See of the Jewish faith,
the center of all Judaism.
And here comes Jesus – the country-boy,
the itinerant preacher,
a man on a mission –
and a small rag tag band of his followers,
all simple county-folk,
all probably approaching the big city for the first time in their lives.
No doubt there was excitement in the air –
and a lot of fear and apprehension.
They all had heard stories about the city.
How you had to watch yourself at every turn.
They did things differently in the city.
They knew not about city ways, city customs, about city life.
His closest followers tried to talk Jesus out of going:
We've been fairly successful getting the word out around the country-side.
There is still much to be done among our kind of people.
Why rock the boat?
Why move into Jerusalem now?
Why not stay where we are a little longer?
But, Jesus was on a mission.
It was like he was obsessed –
he was drawn to the city –
he had to go.
In spite of the warnings, Jesus approached the city.
Today, we remember the parade.
It is right for us take time each year to remember, and to be reminded of, the parade.
One preacher asserts that it is the longest running parade in history!
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful, than the Mummer’s parade.
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Our
parade is older, and far more meaningful than the St. Patrick’s Day
parade, the Columbus Day parade, and any “other-Day” parade you can
think of.
Our parade could be the original “ticker-tape” parade –
the original million man march –
the original demonstration march.
Parades seem to have a way of stirring up emotions and releasing us from inhibitions, don’t they?
(I believe that is one of the main motivating factors for those who participate in the Mummers Day Parade each year.)
It's what we see in Marti Gras parades.
And it's what we see happening in our scripture reading today.
Contrary to some of the movies you have seen,
not every one in Jerusalem participated in the parade that day.
To be sure, most people didn't know anything was going on – or hadn't a clue what it was about if they did see it happening.
It would have been not unlike a demonstration on Broad Street that ties up traffic during rush hour some times.
Unless you were there, and encountered the crowds, you wouldn't even have known what had happened.
And even if you were there, chances are you wouldn't have had a clue as what they were protesting, or celebrating.
But, the parade into Jerusalem turned into one of the most significant events in the lives of the first century Christians.
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
It is one of very few events all four gospels describe.
In fact, I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels –
all four gospels speak of Jesus entering into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey
and being ushered through the streets by a parade of folks dancing and singing and carrying on.
It was an important event.
It was a significant event.
It was a meaningful event.
It was an event worth remembering for those early Christians.
I believe that it is an event worth remembering for us, as well.
I think it is important for us to remember Palm Sunday for three reasons:
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to recognize the Christ that comes in to our busy lives, (even – and maybe especially – when we are not expecting it);
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to take a public stand and give public witness to our faith;
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to party – to celebrate the presence of Christ.
The city was crowded on that day.
It was the high holy festival of Passover.
In
those days there were no Synagogues in the towns around Galilee – so
everyone had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to for proper observance
of the holy day.
Jerusalem was the largest city for hundreds of
miles – it was a cosmopolitan place populated by people from all corners
of the world –
from all walks of life –
and filled to overflowing with tourists –
visitors – pilgrims –
there for the festival.
The narrow streets were crowded with the hustle and bustle of people going from here to there and back again.
And, every once in a while, someone important would come through.
Horses
and chariots were used to make a hole in the crowd and move VIPs
through the throngs. Oftentimes the VIPs would have entourages moving
through the crowds with them and people would have to stand back and
make a way for them go through.
So, there were many mini-parades like this through the streets of the city every day of the year – and even more so this day.
And, so the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus entered the city that day with his entourage –
in many ways mocking the VIP parades.
Now, when I think about this story, I think if I were writing the script it would be somewhat different.
I would have Jesus coming in riding on a blazing white stallion, (you know?), kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along.
The people he passed would be in awe of such a beautiful animal –
but they would be even more awestruck by the man who was riding it.
As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"
You see, there were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do.
As
he rode into Jerusalem he would quickly size up the situation and form a
plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers:
Diablo, the Evil One.
There would be a short fight, (like at the OK Corral) but the outcome would never be in doubt.
Jesus easily defeats Diablo.
He handcuffs the devil and throws him in jail.
As a large crowd of people gathers to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reins.
His pure white stallion stands on its hind legs, neighing loudly, and pawing the air with its
front legs.
When it stands as tall as it could stand, Jesus leans forward in the saddle.
Holding the reins with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other,
he shouts with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior."
As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music begins to play softly and gets louder and louder.
(The William Tell Overture).
{Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}
Well, you know, it really must have seemed rather comic-like to some, when the long-awaited Messiah entered the city –
even though it was all happening according to what the Hebrew Scriptures had said –
the Messiah would come lowly and humble, on the back of a donkey.
While the image should have brought people's minds to the teachings, which one would expect them to recall,
just like us –
in the midst of things happening around us –
they probably did not make the connection,
at least not immediately.
The disciples of Jesus seem to be somewhat confused in the whole thing themselves.
It was, however, a well thought out, pre-planned event, at least on the part of Jesus.
It was in no way a haphazard plan, was it?
It was meant to be an exact representation, which would convey a precise message to all who would see it – hear about it.
We are reminded, nevertheless, that it really did not make all that much sense,
nor was it understood, until after Easter!
While
the hosannas and hoopla that accompanied Jesus as he made his way into
Jerusalem on the spindly donkey colt may have seemed spontaneous,
today’s text from Matthew suggests that he knew exactly what he was
doing,
and his entourage even knew exactly what was expected of them.
* Jesus set the stage by calling for the scripturally prescribed animal.
* The disciples acted with complete and immediate obedience – a sure sign that they knew something was up.
*
And, apparently, at least some in the City that day seeing Jesus
approach, already accompanied by his own disciples and by those he had
previously healed and taught, knew what they were seeing.
* Observant Jews, pious travelers on their way into Jerusalem for Passover, had also heard stories of this man Jesus.
Now,
as he appeared mounted on the donkey colt, some of the people brought
their long-established traditions, their long-held hopes, to life.
They joyfully joined in the moment,
celebrating the symbolic arrival of a messianic figure,
a prophet as foretold,
with the cries and obeisance deserved by such a dignitary.
They recognized and celebrated the presence of Christ in their midst –
even as they had pressing business at hand to attend to.
As we remember and attempt to recreate the moment Jesus processed into Jerusalem,
we reveal a vital truth about ourselves to our friends and neighbors.
This truth is, we are Christians.
Our faith has feet.
This parade is part of a vital heritage,
a history of sacrifice and service,
of triumph and love.
It
is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this
moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
So, today, we celebrate and remember.
But where does it go from there?
Does our marching have a destination?
If
all we do at the conclusion of Palm Sunday is hunker down and hide our
identity, then like those folks that welcomed him with shouts in
Jerusalem, we too are abandoning Jesus the moment he gets off the
donkey.
How can we justify going back to life as usual when we have just shouted in the arrival of our king,
our messiah, our Savior?
How can we become true participants in the longest running parade in history — the Jesus parade?
It seems to me that the essence of a parade is a party atmosphere and party spirit.
And the faith question for each of us today is:
Can your spirit party even when everything around you is falling down and coming apart?
Can you trust and obey Jesus enough to party through the jeers as well as the cheers?
Can you wave palm branches and sing hosannas in good times – and in bad times,
in the midst of sorrows as well as celebrations,
on Good Friday as well as No-Name Saturday and Easter morning.
Today, we need to remember there really should be one membership requirement for all those who would join the Jesus parade:
Do you promise to party and celebrate the God who became one of us in good times and bad, for better and for worse?
Any
church that parades around its block or its neighborhood singing,
waving tree parts, and carrying on should also require all its
congregation, as part of their membership vows, to sign a party
agreement form: you get kicked out if you can’t/won’t party.
What is making us a hardened-heart, stiff-necked people?
What is making us closed-eared, stone-faced, frostbitten?
What is sapping our joy?
What is shutting down our parade?
What is sending us scuttling home to hide?
I think the message for us is that we need to keep the party going
and to keep the parade moving – in good times and bad.
It’s a matter of faith.
It’s a matter of faith affirmation.
It’s
a matter of affirming in the face of the whole world around us that
Christ is head of our life – come what may, no matter what.
You can’t join the Jesus parade and not celebrate.
When you join the Jesus parade, you party.
You wave your hands and dance for joy –
not just when life is going your way –
but even when that Perfect Storm called Good Friday hits with all its might.
Palm Sunday reminds us to party on people –
in good times and in bad.
Christ is here.
Celebrate!
Hozanna!
Amen!
This
sermon was delivered to the congregation at The Connecting Place:
Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, March 28,
2010
1. It’s good to just celebrate once in a while.
2. It’s good to sing out loud in public!
3. It’s good to join a parade (even if symbolically)!
4. It’s a way to visibly demonstrate your faith.
5. Everyone welcomes you.
6. You will hear a message that could affect your life.
7. You will be among staunch believers – as well as questioners, sceptics, and seekers.
8. We, too, like those of old, will be celebrating the presence of Christ in our midst.
9. Your presence will be noticed by others.
10. You can come as you are – no matter what.
11. You will be welcome.
12. You will be expected.
13. The more the merrier – and we all need more merry, don’t you think?
14. You will bring a smile to someone’s face – guaranteed!
15. Folks banding together can change the world – we see it on TV!
16. Parades are fun!
Easter is about transcendence.
