Calvary United Methodist Church Easter Sunday April 5, 2015 I HAVE SEEN THE LORD 8:00 and 11:00 AM Worship Services Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks Children s Sermon: John 20:1-10 If we call ourselves Easter people, then those we welcome to the front of the sanctuary at this time are Easter peeps. Let the children come, for Christ has invited them. Happy Easter to everybody! This place all week, actually for several weeks, has been a very eggciting place. Let me tell you why. Last Saturday we had our annual Easter egg hunt and there were literally hundreds of kids crawling all over this place looking for Easter eggs. They were downstairs. They were in fellowship hall. They were in the chapel. They were in the sanctuary. They were everywhere.
And we want to thank those who are part of the Fellowship Committee who sponsored the event and who put it all together. Another way that we see a lot of eggs around here, Easter egg candy. You can see mine right here. Right? All the Easter eggs that were made to support our missions projects. These are the four ladies that are in charge of that particular effort. These are some of the great workers who were here day after day after day dipping and trimming and bagging and doing all kinds of cool stuff. I found a picture, however, of Mr. Hank Lockard, whose face in the photograph symbolizes the joy of Easter. This is the face of Easter joy. Take a look. Right!
And, just to give you a little idea of what this Easter thing is all about, the Easter candy project, by the numbers: 43 volunteers working over 28 different work sessions made 22,079 eggs, 15,006 lollipops, 1978 miscellaneous items for a total of 25,663 things which were sold and the amount of money generated to date: $20,522.63. (applause) All of which goes to missions, to help people not necessarily ourselves, but people in our neighborhood, people in our community, people in our country and people around the world. But there has been another egg-citing going on around here. Fender s Easter basket was out in the square. Jhan was holding it and more than likely you are holding an Easter egg in your hand, just hold it up. See, I thought so, I thought there were a few of those out there. Do you want to know that you can tell the entire story of Easter with
this egg? And here s how that works: I want you take the egg apart, can you do that? Just take the egg apart, put the two things inside down on the ground. You see this right here? This is empty, right? And if you put it together, think of it as the empty tomb of Jesus. The mystery of Easter is all about the empty tomb, because on Easter morning, those who went to see him and to find him and to prepare his body did not find him. The mystery is described in John 20. Here s the first part of the story: Early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to Jesus s tomb. The stone covering the entrance, which was this shape, had been rolled away. Isn t this amazing? She ran and told Peter and John. They followed her back to the tomb. Why didn t they believe her? Go ahead. Because they didn t know the message yet. They only knew the mystery, so they followed her back to the tomb because they wanted to see for themselves. What she had said was amazing. Hey, the tomb is empty. No wonder. It s a huge mystery how that happened. It was empty, they discovered, just as she said it was. The linens were just laying there. These were the linen clothes that wrapped Jesus s body. Now, the disciples, Peter and John, they just left. They went back home. But Mary stayed at the tomb and she cried. Why do you think she cried? Go ahead. Because Jesus was gone and she had gone to prepare the body, a ritual cleansing that she had prepared. And here s the thing. None of them understood what had happened. Not one of them, not Mary, not Peter, not John, none of them. It truly was to them a mystery and the empty tomb is like the eggshell that you are holding in your hand.
Now, inside the eggshell is a piece of paper that has on it some writing. The message of Easter is found in the miracle of Easter, because once the empty tomb was found, that wasn t the end of the story. There is a message to share and the message can be summarized in three simple words: He is risen. Here s the rest of the story from John as well: Mary looked into the tomb once again. She saw two angels standing there in white. They sat on the table where Jesus body was. Why are you crying? they asked. They have taken my Lord and I don t know where he is. She turned around just then and saw someone standing at the entrance. It was Jesus, but she didn t recognize him. Why are you crying, he asked. Who are you looking for? Mary said, Sir, if you moved his body, please tell me where he is. Jesus spoke her name, Mary. And in hearing her own name in the Master s voice, she suddenly recognized who he was and she said Teacher which was the title that she often called him by. You see, the miracle of Easter can be very simply explained. And it is explained on this piece of paper; you can follow along if you d like:
Red: The Savior s gift of love Blue: God reigns in heaven above Black: The darkness of our sin Brown: The tomb that could not win Orange: The beauty in the springtime flower Green: Grace like grass grows every hour Purple: The King who knew our sorrow
Yellow: Christ will bring a new tomorrow White: Our hearts are clean and pure, because Jesus lives for evermore. That s the message of Easter. He is risen! Now, this last piece is all about how to proclaim this great message. The message of Easter has to get the attention of the world, so you need something that s big enough, that s bold enough, to get everybody s attention. This thing found inside the egg is an Easter horn. Now, don t do anything with it just yet because I am going to call you up at the end of the worship service and I m going to show you how to use it and you are going to be able for the very first time blow your Easter horn, ok? But here s why we have such a great message to
share, hear why it is so important to get everybody s attention: Jesus then told Mary, Tell my friends that they will see me very soon. So Mary went and told the disciples everything and this is what she said, and everybody else said it. I have seen the Lord. And because Jesus said he was going to see them later, she told them You will see him too. The message of Easter is very simple: I have seen the Lord. I have seen him in people like these people right here to love and care, who pray, who lift up, who hold me when I m hurting and broken. That s how we experience the presence of the risen Christ, in the people around us who share his love. And that s why we are so egg-cited today. Now, there are nine different colors of these horns to match the nine different colors described on that little piece of paper. So, collect your air horn, the piece of paper and the eggshell, put it all back together and at the end of the worship service, when the choir s piece is finished and right before we begin the last hymns, I ll stand up here and I ll call you all back up and all you need to bring back with you is this little thing right here, the Easter horn and I ll very quickly show you how to use it and then we ll use it to close the service. Does that make sense? Ok. Thanks for sharing in our time this morning. Take all that stuff with you and at the end of the service, when I call you, bring this back up, alright?
Happy Easter! Great to see you here this morning! Thanks for sharing in our time. EASTER CANTATA I HAVE SEEN THE RISEN LORD From the first Easter to our gathering this morning, believers have greeted one another with the first profession of our faith: Christ is Risen! ALL: He is risen indeed. God s new creation, begun in Christ, continues in us. In the resurrection of Jesus, the power and promise of a loving God is revealed to all. Song and Scripture, teaching and tradition, worship and witnessing; all these resources tell of what our Heavenly Father has done. But our new life isn t rooted in hearsay. Rebirth and renewal isn t a secondhand experience. The joy of resurrection comes from our encounter with the Risen Christ in the journey of faith. Mary s startling announcement, I have seen the Lord. becomes the tie that binds us together. Open your eyes and see. Open your heart and know. Jesus is risen. He is alive. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Sorrow and suffering, pain and grief will be no more. For the one who sits on the throne of grace will rule in every heart and reign in every soul. I have seen the Lord in the comfort of those who embrace me when I am hurting. I have felt his healing in the fellowship that prays for me when I am broken. I have sensed his presence in quiet moments of meditation and in the grace he reveals to me in the simplest of gifts. No one else can calm my heart or soothe my soul. In his humility is hidden his majesty. Beneath the crown of thorns, there lies a crown of unfailing glory. He is Lord of all. Let every throne before him fall. Everywhere I look, the goodness of God is obvious and evident. I have seen this Lord in the rising of the sun as it brightens the heavens and turns darkness into day. In the gift of family, I belong to others who accept me for who I am. Through the blessing of friends and
companions, I experience in the redemptive power of caring relationships. In the fellowship of faith called church, I see the Lord in the work of those who are committed to becoming new creatures in a new creation. Christ is here. Therefore, God has given him the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Alleluia! Manna. When the people of God had been delivered from their captivity in Egypt, the Lord promised to sustain them with a simple provision: manna. The bread of heaven. They gathered it every morning, instructed to harvest only what was needed to get them through the day. It was a test of obedience and trust. When the disciples of Jesus gathered to celebrate the Passover, he shared bread with them and affirmed God s commitment to always provide for their needs. He offered them the bread of life. I have seen the Lord in the breaking of bread and in the generosity of those who choose to give themselves in love and mercy to help another. As we hold this symbol of God s provision, let our humble souls give thanks as our hearts are fed. May we recall His command to feed his sheep; in remembrance of our Lord. I have seen the Lord here in this place. He is here in this sanctuary as God s children come to worship and celebrate. He is in the classroom as the Word is taught and open minds are nourished with the bread of life. He is in Fellowship Hall as old friends are embraced and new acquaintances are welcomed. I see his beauty in colors of stained glass and in tones of flesh. I hear his voice in jubilant song and in prayerful silence. I share his heart in the love I experience. I conform to his will as I follow his way. The Risen Christ is here. I see him in you. The bread of life is God s gift to us: Take and eat. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. I have seen the Lord in the sharing of the cup of the new covenant. Raised in gratitude to God and passed in fellowship with his friends, Jesus offers this cup to us as a means of calling us home. As you receive and hold this symbol, listen for his voice. It s an invitation to be forgiven. It s an assurance and comfort. It s a challenge to greater faithfulness. Take the cup.......
and listen. Even though I have seen the Lord all my life, I know that I have not seen the fullness of his glory and the splendor of his house. There is a place he has prepared for us. It is a place of limitless love and everlasting life. It is a place of joy and release. It is where my soul shall be restored and hope becomes reality. Like the Lamb of God who has gone before me, I shall awaken when he calls my name. I shall be lifted on eagle's wings. I shall hear the voice of angels sing his praise. I shall rise. You shall rise. And together, we will see the glory of the Lord. We raise the cup of celebration and share it anew in gratitude for what God has done for us, what he is doing within us, and what shall be accomplished through us. Take and drink and rejoice. Glory to God. Hallelujah to the Risen Christ. May our lives and these gifts be an offering that reflects our desire to serve and share in his sacrifice. FEARLESS 9:30 AM Worship Service Rev. R. Jeffrey Fisher Message: Mark 16:1-8 Our scripture lesson this day, each season they give us a different prospective, and this year instead of men going to the tomb first it is the story of the women who had gone to the tomb early. Invite you to hear these words and imagine what it must have been like to have seen the events of the past week, to know the suffering the one you have loved has gone through, to understand the ordeal, to know how the military was guarding it and to wonder what kind of frightful experience they might see as they encountered the tomb, so from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 16: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went out to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, Who will roll back the stone
from the tomb for us? Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back it was a huge stone and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished. He said, Don t be afraid. I know you re looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the One they nailed on the cross. He has been raised up; he is here no longer. You can see for yourself that the place is empty. Now go on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You ll see him there exactly as he said. They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, with heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone. Heads spinning, swirling, whatever it might be, would be the understatement. I have been to many a cemetery, I ve been to many wakes, and as much as I m a believer in the resurrection, at that moment when I am standing there, I really don t expect the person to sit right up or raise up from the grave. I expect that there will be a day when Christ will come again. But this early experience was the first resurrection, the first fruit of the earth that has been raised again to remind all of us that we too will have hope one day and in their own minds they had to be wondering, Who has stolen his body? Because other than Lazarus no one else had seen anyone raised anyone from the dead. So they had to be in their own minds thinking I m hoping this is true, but I m also hoping that no one has stolen his body and no one has done terrible things, because they knew the experience they had the week prior. I don t know how many mobs you ve ever been a part of. I have fortunately seen most mobs on television. I ve seen these riots around the world, and you ve seen them at sports stadiums and political events where there are tens and hundreds of thousands of people that mob and they want to crucify or get their hands on someone because of something that has gone wrong and you just know it s going to have a very unhappy ending. This is the ending that these women had experienced. It was the ending and so I m thinking how do you go from that to be trusting enough in God that you re willing to step out into experience this early in the morning even though it is tradition to go and anoint the body of your loved one, to be that fearless.
And oh, that you and I this day who are called to so much less, that are willing to be empowered by God, by the Holy Spirit, to be fearless, to go into the world, to tell our friends, to tell our families, about the resurrection power of God to transform lives. When they went to that tomb they had known this story, they had seen the crosses in the distance. They knew the torment, they knew the torture, they knew the suffering. And not only did the know it, they were connected to him, which meant that they might have also suffered the same fate and yet they were fearless. They were still willing to go to the tomb as a witness because of what? I think it s because of the deep compassion and love they had. When they went there, I m not sure how many times you have seen angels in your life, I indeed have experienced what I would believe are the angelic powers around, but most of us have not seen a lot of angels per se. They went there, and the angel was seated there and they must have surely wondered to themselves, Now, what is going on? Am I dreaming? Am I making these things up? Is someone trying some trickery on me? He then spoke to them and this angel made it clear. It was sort of telling them ahead of time what to expect, that he s not going to be in there, that he has risen as he said and that you have a different responsibility now than anointing him. Your responsibility is to tell good news, to tell good news, but they had to look in and they saw the place. Now, we have all seen a body laying lifeless, someone taking a nap, someone sleeping, and we wondered how do they just get up and disappear. They truly had in their mind to be the convincing where this man who had taught them for so long, who told them that this temple that he was in would have to be destroyed and would be raised up in three days. It was planned. All these pieces of this puzzle that he d been telling them for three years were all coming together, that this man who had told them about God s love, the man who told them about God s power, the one who talked about God s love and grace and mercy, was now the one who would do exactly what he said he would do, because he was going to be raised up unto new life. And I can only imagine not only the fearlessness of those who were believers, but the fear that was in the nonbelievers such as the soldiers who were guarding the tomb, to have that stone rolled away, because of the responsibility that they were guarding. These women took this
responsibility as theirs. They were told that they had to go and tell other people. I m sure they had to collect themselves and understand what would be their responsibilities as this angel said that they should go tell the apostles and the disciples and also Peter, that they might truly understand what was going on. I ve never quite understood what was going on with death, as much as I ve been around it in my life. There are times when my hope is so high and there are times when I cannot wait to actually be with the saints who have gone before because I m getting to the point in life where I have as many people there as I have here that I have known. And I believe in that day of resurrection and what a grand day that will be. But there is a part of us like Mary who had to sit there that day and even though she was told to run, she had to stay. In the studies that I have taken through the years about grief there is a part of us that wants to be near those who have gone even though they are gone. Sometimes we like to touch their hands. We like to be in the physical body s presence. Sometimes we even visit the grave. It s a reminder of how this person has empowered, has touch our lives in so many ways, but we re not ready to let go. And it s in this story the angel saying You don t have to let go. He s going to be with you. And it is that way for me yet today when I think of those who have gone before. Physically they are not here, but my grandparents and the parents and my loved ones and my friends and other acquaintances through the years who I have met, they are still with me. They are with me in spirit. Sometimes you can be in a certain situation where you know what they would say. You know what they would do. You know how they would affirm because their spirit is with you. This wasn t just some teacher that came along the road. Jesus was more than God upon earth. Jesus was their friend. When you come into a relationship it is much more than just overpowering you. It is a relationship where you re so connected, you don t want to let go in anyway, to the point where even when they went back and told the disciples, you can only imagine the amazement. They too had all denied Christ. They all too were worried. And now they were exclaiming Is it really true? I can almost see their eyes as big as big could be. Is it true? The One who has told us that he would rise again, has given us
new life, as promised not just for him, but promised for all who would be believers throughout all of time. You can imagine seeing these disciples rushing not only to the grave, but to tell their friends. And it says they went not only first to the disciples, but then to other groups and then to 500 and then even more. You ve seen how that chain of stories goes around. When the good news begins to travel, it is saying this stone that was rolled away is forever changing the way that men and women upon this earth will visualize death. The stone has been rolled away. The things that have kept us down, that have been a burden to us; they will be lifted away just like that stone was lifted away. The disciples came together eager and found new life. They found that those who were lost were found. That s probably all of us, right? We ve been lost in our pains, lost in our brokenness, lost in our disappointments, lost in the frustrations, whether it be in relationships, whether it be in finances, whether it be in the things that we have looked out for in life, whether it just be our journey from God and coming back home. We have all been lost. The disciples were very lost. From Good Friday until Easter morning, they were lost without a leader. They thought it could have been over. They knew they had denied him, they saw the events; they had seen others in the resurrection of Jesus did with Lazarus, other people come to life. Was this while three years they invested, was all these stories about God among us, was it all just speaking? But the lost were found. They were empowered. On that day they were told basically to go make disciples of all nations. They had go-power. That is the gopower we have today. We have the power to move the stones in our life, whatever the problems are, whatever the struggles, whatever the disappointments; we have the go-power from Almighty God. It is the resurrection power that said I can overcome all things through Christ who strengthens me because what Christ did was to prove the promises that he made. Jesus is who he claimed to be, the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God. He was no ordinary man. He was the one who called his people not by his power, but the power of God within him, and this gave them strength, this gave them hope. Jesus had the power he claimed to have had, when he said to them he claimed to not only, they saw the healing, they saw the miracles, they saw the feedings. But when he said I have the power to restore life, they now believed
it and they found it for their own lives. The people who were hidden behind walls were empowered to come out in the public to the point that all of the disciples were willing to risk now their own life. The belief that made them hide themselves during Christ s crucifixion gave them the power to stand boldly as we ought to have that power today. And Jesus did what he promised to do. He came back to lead the way that all of us, including those of us who have assembled yet today will have life in heaven abundantly. Last year, I believe it was, on Easter Sunday sunrise, I took this photo at Woodlawn cemetery at the service and there are so many times when we look at cemeteries, especially this time of year, they are dark, they are gloomy, and they are reminders of what was and we sometimes wonder what can be. The resurrection is truly the story of what can be. Those who have gone before are not with us. Their spirit is. We take a new path. Anyone who has gone before us and who has ever loved us is like Christ. He did not want life to end for us; he wants it to begin anew. To be anew. So when those who have gone before us set out on this new path, it is not the same as we don t have our spouse, our partner, our companion, our child, our parent, our friend with us anymore. But they would want us to find abundant life. That s why Christ came that we might put the past behind, come out of the tomb and find new life away. And here it is in spring, if you walk up our sidewalk, you ll see some of our crocus coming up as a sign of new life, that the brokenness in our lives can be healed. It is never gone, it is there, it is wound, it is a deep, it s scars, but God says I will bind it up. And the key to that binding up is Jesus Christ. He said to us, I am the key to life abundant and life eternal if you ll only come to me. Those ladies that went that day to the tomb found life. They found the affirmation of what they wanted to believe all along, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, he was truly the One who could give life and give it to them eternally. And we the church have a lot to celebrate and we need to be people who can stand with all the praises in our hearts and said I know what the depths of my soul that my redeemer lives, even in my loss, even in my sorrow, even in my grief, I know and I believe what I have seen in the resurrection, that God is with me, that no mat-
ter what the stone has put in front of me, God has the power to overcome. We praise our Lord this day for that resurrection power. May he grant it to all of us. As we leave the sanctuary this day, that we would have that go-power, that wherever we find others who are down and out and stumbling and broken, we will remind them that we have a redeemer who lives and reigns with us, Christ Jesus Almighty God.