Comments
for Linda
Other sermons.
Easter Sunday,
April 15,
2001
REV.
LINDA CARDER
THE GOOD NEWS FROM THE EPISTLE
Then Peter began to speak.
He spoke to a diverse crowd
To ones much like those who had gathered around Jesus
To unacceptable ones who had none the less
Been welcomed to the table by Jesus.
No surprise I suppose
That when Peter looked around
At the post Easter crowd,
The current picture before his eyes
Was very much like pictures in his mind
From times gone by
And should be today.
And so his first words
Were to claim the truth
Of the nature of those gathered
And proclaim God’s love and acceptance.
Then Peter began to speak
Of the one who was the reason for their gathering.
Of the one who came to preach
Welcome and Peace
The one who was
Anointed by God
The one who was sent
With Spirit and power
To serve and heal and
To break oppression.
His fame spread throughout the land
Then,
Then he
Was hung on a cross and died.
Then Peter began to speak
As so many have for 2000 years
Of a love that could not be conquered
Even by death.
He began to speak
Of how God’s love
Had been victorious over death
And some had experienced that
Personally
Powerfully
Undeniably.
Then Peter began to speak
Commanding those in his audience
To speak
Commanding those in his audience
Even now
To speak
To speak of this story
So that all may be welcomed
Into this amazing story of love.
Other sermons.
Comments for Jim
"THE RESURRECTION
EPISTLE"
Rev. James A. Todhunter
I CORINTHIANS 15:12-27
Here’s how to understand these challenging words about resurrection from the Apostle Paul: Start with your experience. Start with your experience of the presence of God in your life. Don’t start with the "doctrine of the resurrection." You will be going at it backwards. There is a profound difference between believing in a doctrine and trusting an experience. Please don’t start by fretting about whether Jesus was physically raised from the grave, or whether his body was stolen, or eaten by dogs, or whether this was an inward psychological phenomenon that his disciples experienced, or it was a Passover plot, or where our souls go when we die, or any of that. Start with your experience of the presence of God. Your experience of God’s presence is an undeniable fact. It is authentic. And you are a trustworthy eyewitness to your own heart.
Start there. And as you do, honestly admit, that you haven’t a clue as to how God met you. How do you account for this experience? God came to you; you didn’t come to God. You didn’t do anything. In fact, on your own, you’ve made quite a muddle of your life, haven’t you? And yet God has come to you and brought love and light right into your heart. How do you explain this? How did you come to feel such amazement and gratitude? Who would have thought? What happened? Something happened. Something amazing happened.
Paul’s Christian journey began with an experience, one that led him to say, "I have met Jesus and I am changed!" He was transformed by an experience. When you come down to it, all the doctrine of the resurrection amounts to is people talking about their transforming experiences: a collection of endearing, sometimes goofy, stories told by people who were in a confused state of grief, shock, sorrow, amazement and joy. Their eyewitness accounts are contradictory and inconsistent, except on one point. And that is that these people knew they had met God. And they knew that the God they had met bore a striking resemblance to Jesus of Nazareth, the very one who had walked the dusty roads of Galilee.
For me the resurrection of Christ is whatever it is that happened that made it possible for me to meet God. Resurrection was whatever it was God needed to do to get through to me. Resurrection is whatever happened that cleared away what was in the way. And God did it. And I can’t explain that. Perhaps all I can ever say is what it is like. It is as if this good man who was dead is now suddenly with me, and everything that he was and said and did and stood for is with me, too. It is as if with my back to the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army bearing down on me, the waters parted and I walked through on dry land to freedom. It is as if I struggled all night long in my dark night of the soul, and all the forces of evil and all the devils of creation hurled rain and thunderbolts and rocks and even huge mountains on my head, and all I could do was hold on until, suddenly those flying mountains were transformed into fragrant palaces made of flowers. It’s like all of those and more. Who would have thought? How can you and I explain it? I don’t know what more to say, but something really did happen, because we are changed. AMEN.
Back to Table of Contents.