IT HAPPENED - AND HAPPENS ALL THE TIME a sermon preached in Duke University Chapel by Reverend Dr. Robert T. Young Dean of the Chapel Duke University

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Ariel Burns
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1 IT HAPPENED - AND HAPPENS ALL THE TIME a sermon preached in Duke University Chapel by Reverend Dr. Robert T. Young Dean of the Chapel Duke University Chapel April 3, 1983 Grace, mercy and peace be with you from our rfsen Lord on this Holy Day. Let Us Pray! And now, 0 Lord, send your risen, holy, loving Presence among us just now. May we feel You, know You, and may your Presence become real to each one of us. We pray in your holy name. Amen. A friend wrote recently. "There is no one who, at one time or another, has not been raised from the dead. The only problem," he said, "is that most of us do not recognize resurrection when ft comes to us." "There ts no one who, at one tfme or another, has not been raised from the dead." I believe that. I know that. I read that in the scripture. That is the message of lffe all around us, as we see it, know it, and experience tt. That is the story of the Old Testament and the New Testament. And, particularly, that is the story of Easter Day. Resurrection, life - new holy, and good - happens to us. It happened to Jesus. It happens to us. It happens all the time. Mary said, "I have seen the Lord." Paul wrote, "Christ appeared also to me." On Easter mo~ntng, this glorious, beautiful Easter morning which we celebrate, what seems to be true, really is true. What fs too good to be true, in fact fs true. What our Lord promised as true. has become true. What Jesus assures us is true, is true. That truth is: You and I, and all of God's children. can know life. Because, resurrection happens and it happens still, all the time. One problem that we have in looking at the life of Jesus, and in looking at our own lives, is that we tend to think that crucifixion/resurrection experiences come only at the end of Jesus life. And some of us even think that cruciffxton/resurrectton experiences come only at the end of our lives, when we die and when we are resurrected after death. But the real truth is

-2-! that crucifixion and resurrection experiences happen to us as they did to Jesus--. --They happen to us all along the way of life. They did to Jesus. They do to us.

2 -2-! that crucifixion and resurrection experiences happen to us as they did to Jesus--. --They happen to us all along the way of life. They did to Jesus. They do to us. Our task, then, is to see the life of Jesus whole. And, to see- those crucifixion/resurrection experiences as they happen along the way. And to see our own lives whole. And to see those crucifixion/resurrection experiences, which happen to us - all along the way- as a part of the whole of life. ~1ary said, "I have seen the Lord." Paul writes, "Christ, last of all, appeared even unto me." If you think about it, these are rather audacious, presumpt1ous. perhaps even arrogant boasts for Maty and Paul to make. For there were probably lots of others who were going around Jerusalem in that day, claiming that Jesus had also appeared to them. I have tried; I have tried very hard. as - a matter of fact,,to imagine what it really would have been like to have been among the women and men to whom Jesu~ ~ppeared after he was dead, in the grave, and was raised. Perhaps you have tried to do that. Perhaps -you have even tried to imagine yourself ~~ong those, and imagine yourself as one of those to : whom Jesus appeared. If you have, then perhaps. you are 1 ike - me because I cannot fathom the impact it must have had on them, as Jesus appeared to them one by one anq in _groups.. r I read recently, however, some lines from the movie, "The Last ~1cture Show," that helped me - ~ee the mean1ng that Jesus. ~ has for us today. These same words helped me to see why Jesus had such a tremendous impact on the peop 1 e to whom he appea.red. lobert Raines 1n writing about "The Last Picture Show: says. "Christ also appe-a,red to me in the movie, 'The- Last Picture -Show... -A poignant view of 11fe in _a small Texas town. :".The town is boring. : p~ople feel as though their options are clos1nt off for them. They yearn for something or someone more. There 1t much human unfulfillment in the movie. But there also are 11ttle oases of human warmth and understanding. For example, a middle-aged woman talks to a you~g man abdut a man they both had loved. A man called Sa~ the Lton. Sam had died. He was a.generous, compassionate, and courageous man. The woman had been married to someone else. but she loved Sam in a very, very. spec1al way. She said.to this young man, about Sam -the Lion, "You know. 1t is a shame to meet only one man 1n your whole life who knows what you are really worth." Mary, Thomas, John, Peter, many, many others. They all met Someone who knew exactly what each of them was worth! Paul's claim, "Last of all, Christ appeared also to me," sounds bo astful and arrogant. It even sounds absurd. Yes,. I.guess that really is the word. "Absurd!" Some lines from Camus,. the ex1~tentialist playwright, came back to me. Camus wrote, "At the center of life, dominating the great moments of our lives, th~re is an essential absurdity." At the qreat moments of our lives, what w~ experience really is an essential absurdity. Sure resur-

-3- rect1on is absurd! Absolutely absurd! But it is an essential absurdity. Then I remembered some words from the great early - church writer, Tertulli~n, who professed, "I believe.

3 -3- rect1on is absurd! Absolutely absurd! But it is an essential absurdity. Then I remembered some words from the great early - church writer, Tertulli~n, who professed, "I believe. I believe because it is absurd." It really is. It is absurd for the risen Christ to have appeared to Paul. It fs absurd for the risen Christ to appear to you, or me, or any of God's children through history! It just does not make any sense! There is no way to understand or make sense out of the living presence of Christ. Except, that maybe, God in_ Christ really does know how much each one of us fs worth! And so, it is absurd. I choose to believe that ft is more than that. It fs absurdity transformed. Transformed into experience. Transformed into reality which we can know. Transformed fnto a living, on-going, sustaining experience with God-in-Christ. If I were to ask you this morning, "Ho~ many of you have ever had a resurrection e.xperience? 11 what would be your response? Have you ever had a resurrrection e.xperience? If you have, how would you describe 1t? What has it been like? Would you want to experience the presence of the risen Christ? If you want that, if you expect that, what do you think it would be like? I want to tell you that I bel4eve resurrection experiences of Christ happen and they happen today_ onward.. :r_hey happen in d-ifferent ways to different people; in. different :circumstances; for different reasons; with different expectations; and, with different results; and, they happen all the tfme. Such resurrection experiences of Jesus were different as. he was raised from the dead and appeared to those 1nthe early church. Some of those appearances are described for us 1n the New Testament. There are two men walking down the road to Emmaus. Two strangers. They don't know Jesus. Jesus doesn't know them. They stop to eat bread. In the breaking of the bread and the sharing of that meal, Jesus becomes known to them. Thomas in the upper room, Thomas the doubter. The one who would not believe. The only way he would believe would be to put his finger in the side of Jesus, and so he d1d. There they were, just some friends gathered together to talk, to reminisce, to reflect. and to share. And Jesus appeared to them. Mary, going to a grave. A grave of a friend, a loved one, one who had cared for her. One who had given her a sense of worth and value and meaning. He ftad done all fn his physical life that he could for her. But she _had some things more that she was going to do for h1m. Saul, on the road to Damascus, just walking along, going from one town to another, to. persecute the Christians. Certainly not to preach Christ but to persecute Christ and the early Christians. Just walk1ng along and Jesus appeared to him. Looking at these e.xperfences of the~e six different people, experiences that they had with the risen Christ, te'jls me unequi. vocally and unquestionably that there is no one place, _ no one way, no one time, no predictable occasion for us to experience the

-4- power and presenc e of the risen Christ. You may be up or down; happy or sad; believing or doubting; critic or enemy; friend or stranger; ready or not ready.

4 -4- power and presenc e of the risen Christ. You may be up or down; happy or sad; believing or doubting; critic or enemy; friend or stranger; ready or not ready. But the power and presence of Christ, the risen Christ, can and does appear to us~fn those serendipity, unexpected holy moments of lffe. Three things about these experiences. are worth notfng:. one, all of these experiences happen when people.are dotng very routine, ordinary kinds of things. Eating a meal~ walking down the road, gathering with friends in a room, going to a grave. The presence of Christ ts there. Ordinary, simple things that you and I do everyday. The second thing fs that none of th~se people expected Ch~ist to app~ar to them. It was unexpected for each of them and it may be unexpected for you and me. The third thing fs that these appearances of Christ were not spectacular, or overwhelming. Ala matter of fact, Jesus trfed to downplay them~ He simply laid, "Peace be with you Peace be with you." t think 1't is unfortunate thi1.t we have romantfcfzed. a n<i gl.amorfzed the resurrection appearancesi of.. Christ. When w~. do," or if we do, it is to our loss. And a gr~at loss it is. How many of us think that, in order to know and experience the presence of Christ, something, dramatic or mfr..a.culous or overpowering must occur? That is not the truth. The real miracle of the coming of Jesus, in his birth, life, death, resurrrection, and risen experiences, is tha t He came to live with us, in us, am.ong us, right where we are, just as we are. Not fn some idealized- or glorified or romanticized -time and space and plaee. To be with us in the simple beauty and ~ the hard rea 1 i t,y of 1 t.fe as each of us knows it.. ' Many a~e the times that I have wished we could recognize, and thus experience resurrection where God intended: In the common - place, the rea}, the every day. George Bernard Shaw warned u~ when he said, "Beware of anyone whose God is in heaven." -God may ~e in heaven, but the cross and resurrection tell us that, ff God is :;,n heaven, then God is a 1 so r~ghl here wf th ~ and me in the here and now! And that fs the as erlmessage TOr toaayt Resurrection appearances happen and they happen all the time. H~ve some happened to you? My bet is that they have. ~ The. first time that you loved. When you were sixteen and asserted. your independente and began to get some sense of what 1t was to be a person in your own right. When you went away to college or when you went away to work a~d people did not know about your background or ~he gra.~ es or your accomplishments, ' and they accepted you and loved you ' and cared for you just as you were without any credentials. Perhaps resurrection happened to you when you were first married, or. when your first child was born. When you and your mate had a hard 1 tfme and, in the midst of that struggle., love came. back again "and br~ught new lffe to you. Resurrection may. have hap-

5 5 pened when you were divorced and then were able to start life over again. Perhaps resurrection happened to you, or happens to any of us, when we confront the inevitab11fty of our individual death and then find reassurance from God adm1dst that confrontation. I wish we had not over-dramatized the experiences of Christ as he appeared to the early church. We have glorified and have made resurrec~ion so~ thing romanticand 1dea11st1c. Thus, we have taken Christ out of the everyday world tn which you and I live. Jesus really did come to be with us, very common ordinary people, plain folk, you and me, in our routine, everyday way of life. Oh~ if we could only read again the stories of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, and clear away all the dramatics and all that we have added to those stories, we could know, be ready for, anticipate, and then experience resurrection in the here and now. While I was in the hospital, I had a telephone call from a Black Pastor in Chicago. A man who has a friend who worships regularly here in the Chapel. And a man whom I had met when he had worshipped here with us some time ago. He called me on Wednesday evening just before prayer meettng in h1s church. He satd, "Brother Young, " and I said, "Yes sir... He said, "I am sorry to hear that you are 111 but I just wanted to call to read a passage of Scripture with you and to pray and to let you know that our entire congre9ation fs going to be praying for you in a few minutes.u He read ~me verses from Psalms 119 and pryae d for- me:, and r~s1.1~r_r_e ction happened! So, my friends, I tell you this morning that resurrection experiences not only happened to Jesus or to those in the early church. Resurrection experiences happen to us all the time. It may be somebody's touch. It may be the look that someone gives you that tells you that you really are worth something and that you do count. It may be somebody giving you an issuring word that helps you to hold on just a little longer. It may be that hungry child, in the middle of Africa, who is being fed. It may be that some walls of hatred are being broken down or some walls of racism are coming down. It may be the sounds of war growing silent. It may be somebody who simply puts his or her arm around you. Resurrection experiences do happen and they happen all the time! To you - to me! This past week many of us spent alot of time, probably a lot more than we should have, watching the television movie, "Thorn Birds." You remember the movie and the book tell the Legend of the Thorn Bird. Legend says that there is this one part1cular kind of bird that has only one song to sing, only one in its whole life. It looks for a bush, a thorn bush, before it sings that song. And once it has found the bush, the thorn bird sings such a glorious beautiful song that all the earth stands still to listen and God in heaven smiles as the bird sings. Then the thornbird impales itself on the longest of all the thorns on that thorn bush. My dear friends, that story makes good reading in a novel and makes good watching in a movie, but that is not the Gospel! The gospel says you and I have not just one song to sing. We have songs to sing, over and over and over and over again - as resurrection happens and happens all the time. Yes, I want to tell you this morning that there is Someone who knows how very much you are worth. God knows. God knows. And, God wants you to sing resurrection songs a 11 your 1i fe. Amen

Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead?

"Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead?" a sermon preached in Duke University Chapel by The Reverend Robert T. Young Minister to the University Apr i 1 6, 1980 Sermon Text: Luke 24:1 11!".. --------------~----------------------------------------~--------