What do you do - - when something GOOD happens to you? Can you IMAGINE something good - - right now an event - or an encounter - or a gift - -

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1 1 When Good Things Happen Acts 3:12-19; 1 John 3:1-7 Rev. David Hutchinson Sunday, April 19, 2015 What do you do - - when something GOOD happens to you? Can you IMAGINE something good - - right now just an extremely good thing an event - or an encounter - or a gift can you imagine it? Some people might call it fortunate or others would say - a blessing. Something good - - How do you REACT? Do you jump up and down walking - and leaping - and praising God? - like the man in the book of Acts - who was once healed - Do you thank your lucky stars? Do you MARVEL - - and wonder HOW it could happen to YOU? Do you - in fact - in some way NOT believe it could happen to you? Do you pinch your self. Or - - wait for the other shoe to drop - - so to speak. How about THIS: Do you repent? Repent!? What?! Something good happens - - and I repent?

2 2 What am I talking about - - you might ask? Well: this morning s Scripture readings report JUST such an unlikely thing: In the book of Acts - chapter 3 - a man is HEALED at the door of the temple. / A door at which he had sat - - and waited - - and sat. / For a long time. / Begging for coins. And one day - - instead of some spare change - - he was healed. Peter came by - - this gate called beautiful - - and RAISED him up! And THEN he leaped around - - and finally went THROUGH that door and into the temple. And just then - - Peter preached his SECOND sermon. And what - was it about? It was about - - repentance. The lame man stood there - - holding on to Peter - - as a crowd gathered in amazement - - at this GOOD thing. / A crowd which recognized the man - leaping - as the man who had been lame. Peter said - - don t marvel at this good thing. It s not ME - - who did it. It was done in - - Jesus NAME. Through faith in the name - - of the one who was crucified. The one you killed. The one your rulers killed. And - though he doesn t say it - - Peter could say - - the one I killed. For surely he remembered - - his denial. That BAD thing - - that happened - - to the GOOD man - - Jesus.

3 3 Peter says to those gathered - - not only did Jesus RAISE up from the dead - - and not only did this crippled man RAISE up and walk - - but you can raise up - - from your sins. Peter says: an extremely good thing - - has happened to us: We have been offered - - forgiveness. And so he asks - - will we - - repent? How could we not!? It s quite a sermon that Peter preaches He has had some time to get it together - - and has been thinking about WHAT to preach for a while. / Remember back when Jesus FIRST appeared to the disciples? / It s in the reading from Luke. Jesus physically - bodily - appeared. And after the cross - - and the tomb - - and the resurrection standing there in the presence of amazed disciples he asks, Hey - have you got anything to eat? At first it might seem like - - a trivial request. But in the Roman Catholic - Apocryphal book of Tobit - - we are told that ANGELS - - can t eat fish. / Angels can t eat. / Ghosts - - spirits - - can t eat. And so - - the POINT is - - this IS really Jesus. Who REALLY lived in a BODY. And who REALLY died - - that terrible death. And - - who REALLY - - rose. And who is NOT an angel or a ghost Which means - the offer of forgiveness - to raise US up - - IS really real!

4 4 For the disciples - - it s almost too much of a good thing. They couldn t believe - - for joy - - it says in Luke. It was SO GOOD - - they couldn t believe! Too good to be true And in response to that ULTIMATELY good thing of the resurrection - - Jesus tells them to preach - - repentance - - and forgiveness. In both of these cases - - in the Bible - - the response to a GOOD thing - - is repentance. So what does that mean for us today? What does it mean for people trying to be faithful? What does it mean - - that the RESPONSE - - is repentance. A good thing happens - - and we repent hmmm Rabbi Harold Kushner - - wrote that well known book, When BAD things happen - to GOOD people. / The book explores that - - truth about our existence - - that bad things happen in this life. / Undeserved evil happens. Its power is strong. And - - although God s love and power - are stronger that - is not always clearly evident in this world. / And though God does NOT want - or will - EVIL it DOES exist. Bad things happen to good people. I think it is fitting - - that a Rabbi would write this book after the Holocaust. Some bad - - is un-deny-able. That s the BAD in life But what about - GOOD? / /

5 5 When good things happen That s the Gospel question this morning. When Good things happen then what? The resurrection. Then what - - -? Do we acknowledge - - the BAD - - that is within us? And - - CLAIM the GOOD that we are all BELOVED children of a God - - who is SO good and who LOVES us so much John - - when talking about Jesus - - says: We WILL become like him - - AND We WILL see him as he IS. Do you hear what a GOOD thing has happened to us? We can become LIKE Jesus and see him - - as he WAS - - then. Which means: we can - - really know - - the PRESENCE of God. Really present - - in our lives. Not ever alone - - in whatever BAD happens. That s the call - - from our Scripture readings - - this morning: To repent INTO - this GOODNESS and not let any of the bad in our lives win. Not to thank our LUCKY stars - as if we GOT AWAY with something. - - but rather - - to change our lives - because of the goodness. / /

6 6 It means WE can CHANGE - - for the good - - and the WORLD can too. It means - - the world is not - - a hopeless place. But SO often when we think about REPENTENCE we RUN from it - - because we IMMEDIATELY feel BAD - - and accused - and IRredeemable because - - it is in response to something BAD something we feel bad about. / / - - but this - - is the opposite. / / This is changing our lives around - in response to a GOOD thing. After all - - why does a wake up call have to be a bad occurrence? Why can t an incredibly GOOD thing be just as much a wake up call? Think of how you react to: - an unexpected windfall or - some good publicity you didn t count on? - to your rediscovery of what fabulous kids or spouse you have - or feeling blessed - by your church community in some way. Rather than feeling lucky - and like you gotten away with something how about changing your ways - - based on your REdiscovery? There is a CUSTOM in some villages some NON-European - - NON-United-States - - villages - that I read about - - and the custom is: When a person has done something inappropriate - - when they ve done some BAD thing that person s FATE - - is - - to sit in a circle and listen to the villagers recount all the positive - and GOOD things about that person. / Over and over - - sitting in the circle - - to be told the good things.

7 7 How could you ever be bad again - after that!? Well - - I guess that s the question. WILL - the GOOD news change us? Will the good news - - change our world? And if NOT - - what WILL change us? There is a story told - - about a woman who went shopping with her daughter. / The crowds were awful. / She had to skip lunch - because of a tight schedule. / She was in an irritable mood. As they left the store - - and got into the car - - the woman asked her daughter, Did you see that NASTY look - the salesman GAVE me? Her daughter answered, He didn t GIVE it to you mom - - you HAD it - - when you went in! If anything - - you gave it to HIM. Well folks - - I ve got some good news - - and some bad news: The bad news is some BAD things ARE going to happen to you. In this life - - it s almost certain but the GOOD news is one really amazingly GOOD thing - - already happened: Jesus - - ROSE up and offers to RAISE you up too. It s not something anyone expected - or counted on - - It is simply the GOOD news. It s the GOOD NEWS - - even - - on GOOD FRIDAY. Did you ever wonder where the name Good Friday came from? Good Friday - - which just happened a few weeks ago - -?

8 8 Good Friday is the Friday before Easter when we RElive the Crucifixion and yet BEFORE we celebrate the resurrection. In some ways - - it s the saddest day of the Christian year. What s so GOOD about it? Good Friday - got its NAME - - from the word God : It was ORIGINALLY called: God s Friday. As in when you say, Good-Bye you are really saying a CONTRACTION for God be with you God be with you: Means Good - Bye God s Friday - - became Good Friday. Even on that Friday - - the Friday of the TOMB God was in control. Good things - - do happen. God happens. Let us repent - - and believe. Amen.