Even Better News

The following is a sermon I gave for a class at Wesley Theological Seminary on Friday, April 21, 2006.

Do you remember where you were when Martin Luther King was assassinated? Or when the Challenger exploded? Or when you heard about the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers on 9-11?

Do you remember what you did? Who you called? How you felt?

Maybe it wasn’t one of these events, but another experience that has forced you into a situation like the one in which we find the Disciples.

Even though Mary Magdalene announced the Resurrection, we find that “the doors of the house in which the Disciples had met were locked.”

Locked! They knew the Good News – and they knew the Even Better News. Christ is Risen! And yet the doors were locked.

The Disciples didn’t recognize Jesus until after he showed them his wounds. Wasn’t this the same thing they harassed Thomas about? Thomas claimed, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

But yet if we read our text carefully, we find that the other Disciples didn’t even make such an if-then statement. They didn’t even make a statement at all. And in fact, they didn’t recognize him until he spoke to them and showed them his hands and his side.

A week later, Jesus was made known to the Disciples once again. This time Thomas was with them, but the door was still locked. Why, one week after Mary Magdalene had announced the Resurrection, were the Disciples still hiding?

Scripture tells us they were hiding out of fear of the Jewish authorities who had supported Jesus’ trial in front of Pontius Pilate. Even though the Resurrection had been announced, they were still living in a state of fear!

This past Sunday, the resurrection was announced to us:

Christ is Risen!

We know the Good News – and we know the Even Better News.

Christ is Risen!

And yet, like the Disciples, we retreat to our own Upper Room’s. We lock the doors.

When we turn our eyes from the beggar on the street, we lock the doors.

When we are silent in the face of human rights violations across the world, we lock the doors.

When we act as if issues of hunger, immigration, education, and unemployment are issues that don’t affect the Church, we lock the doors.

When we celebrate what God has done for us without recognizing that God is in the journey of the last and the least, we lock the doors.

The Disciples existed in a locked room out of fear. We try and exist in these locked rooms, too. In doing so we’re living out of fear; we are not living in the Resurrection.

Fortunately, the Disciples didn’t have the last word in this situation. And neither do we. Jesus appears in the midst of the locked room. Already gripped in fear, the Disciples are truly perplexed. Recognizing their fear, Jesus announces, “Peace be with you.”

“Peace be with you.” This is the heart of the Good News – and the Even Better News – that in the midst of our locked rooms, our locked minds, our locked hearts, our locked public policies, and our locked denominational practices, Jesus Christ, God-with-us, breaks in.

And when God breaks in, it’s not always the way we expect it. It’s not with flamboyant signs announcing, “Here I am – Look at Me!” It’s not with grand explosions or acts of terror. It’s not even with the great displays of power we often associate with God. It’s small. It’s simple. It’s four little words: “Peace Be With You.”

A week ago yesterday, one of my housemates knocked on my bedroom door and said four little words: “Bill Coffin passed away.” For those of you who don’t know who William Sloane Coffin is, you’ve missed knowing one of God’s prophetic voices. Former Chaplain at Yale University and retired Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City, Coffin was a voice for the voiceless, even as he ministered to the privileged and the powerful. He was arrested as a Freedom Rider, he was a vocal and compelling critic of the war in Vietnam, he visited the Tehran hostages, and he was a champion for nuclear disarmament. Bill Coffin knew that his life could be filled with fear

- of governmental and religious authorities who found him too radical
- of what might happen if war and nuclear proliferation continued to control our lives
- of what the world would be like if the powerful and prestigious turned their heads away from the plight of the poor and powerless.

Instead, he chose to live in the Resurrection: to live a life of hope. A few years ago I was privileged to hear Bill Coffin preach. I was sitting back there where Cannon Sutton is, and Bill Coffin was in this very pulpit. Even then a number of strokes had caused his speech to be slurred – and yet his heart was filled with a passion for what the kingdom of God could become.

When I heard the words, “Bill Coffin passed away,” I couldn’t help to think – “what a great way to start the Easter Weekend” and then “where do we go from here?” Like the Disciples, I wanted to lock the doors. I called a few friends to ask if they had heard the news – but I really didn’t want to share the news – I wanted them to join me in the locked room I had created. And yet, somehow, those words were liberating. As if Jesus had come into my life yet again, and said those four little words: “Peace be with you.”

Such a peace is liberating – it unlocks the doors we have locked. And it allows us to see Jesus Christ as the one who liberates. In today’s world, it’s often difficult to explain how Jesus liberates us. We live in a world wracked with a “show-me” mentality – maybe that’s why it might be easy for us to find common ground with Thomas and the other Disciples. It’s easy to learn to live out of fear; learning to live out of love is tougher.

The Psalmist reminds us of “how good it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity.” And the German author Thomas Mann suggests that “It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death.”

It is love that unlocks doors.

It is love that opens hearts and minds.

It is love that brings calm out of chaos.

It is love that shines light in the midst of darkness.

It is love that creates exuberant hope out of deep fears.

This is the Good News – and the Even Better News. For when the doors are unlocked, and the “Peace be with you!” is proclaimed, we can’t help but share the message again and again and again:

Christ is Risen!

From Sunday's Palms to Friday's Cross

This Holy Week has been one of amazing depth. A lot of people asking me, "How are you doing?" - and the way in which I want to respond goes something like this: "It's not about HOW I'm doing, it's about WHAT God is doing." In Sunday's Palm-Passion service, our preacher of the day moved us past the fun parade with palms, cloaks, and donkey into the beginning of the week when Jesus cleanses the temple. This is a story we "think" we know. Jesus Christ Superstar made it perfectly clear: Jesus was upset at all the commerce and moneychangers. Wrong!

It's not WHAT was happening, but WHERE it was happening. With everyone gathered in Jerusalem for Passover, there had to be a place for commerce to occur. So, the religious authorities make a space for the commerce: the Court of the Gentiles, a place for those on the fringe of mainline religion. THIS is why Jesus is angered. THIS is consistent with Jesus' gospel message. And yet, THIS is exactly what we encounter in contemporary religious experiences.

How often have we heard pleas for more donations? I get them every time I open my mailbox.
How often have we been asked to give more time or to add one more thing to our to-do lists?
How often are we asked to stop what we're doing so that the oppressed and marginalized are able to praise, pray, and worship?

Resurrecting the Blog

It's been almost a month since my last blog entry - does that reflect my inability to create time to do this, even though my Lenten discipline has been to create time in my day for prayer, reflection, study, and fellowship? While I haven't miserably failed at this discipline, it hasn't seemed to help me create that space in my life for time with God and God's people. I guess my human nature just expects too much.

At any rate, I'm back blogging. The past month has held good meetings, amazing teaching experiences, busy days filled with work, and busy nights filled with basketball.

My roommates have introduced me to the world of women's basketball. Growing up, I never really liked to watch women play basketball. Even though many of my friends were on our high school team and I occassionally ran the score clock, I always thought there was something weird about the way they played.

I repent.

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's NCAA Women's Tournament - and not just because my roommates controlled the television remote. I learned that men and women do play the game differently. Women focus on teamwork and the fundamentals of the game. Candace Parker proved that a dunk is a dunk regardless of the gender of the person hanging on the rim. It is my hope that the Church might learn something from this March Madness. Teamwork. Fundamentals. Dunking. Think about it.