title: Arise, Shine: The Light of Epiphany and the Grafting In of the Gentiles

themes: light-and-darkness gentile-inclusion anti-supersessionism wesleyan-covenant-renewal wesleyan-covenant-prayer the-magi

text:
**Scripture:** Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12; Romans 11:17-24

> An Epiphany sermon on Isaiah 60 and Matthew 2 that uses light imagery (the preacher's matinee-pupil experience and Grosseteste's Optics) to frame Christ as the true light made bright by the world's darkness. It corrects popular distortions of the Magi (pagan, not Jewish wise men, number unknown) to argue that Epiphany celebrates the inclusion of the Gentiles in the promise of Abraham. Rejecting supersessionism and its antisemitic history, the preacher uses the grafting of French vines onto Texan rootstock (T.V. Munson) to picture Gentiles grafted in without replacing Israel. The sermon closes by tying Epiphany's gift to Wesley's New Year Covenant Service, warning against domesticating the faith, and leading the congregation in the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer.

**Illustrations:** matinee-pupils-dilated, grosseteste-optics, pogroms-jews-poland, munson-grafting-french-wine, wesley-covenant-service, domesticated-faith-shelf

---

# January 7
## Isaiah 60:1-6
## Matthew 2:1-12

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth
    and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
    and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
    they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
    and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
    all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
    and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
	Isaiah 60:1-6

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. - Matthew 2:1-12

When I was in my twenties, I went to a lot of movies by myself. Part of the reason was that it was convenient. Another reason is that I like to sit at the very front of the movie theater so that all of my peripheral vision is occupied by the screen.
The third reason was that I'd like to go during matinee. I had flexible hours because of school, so I was able to go in the middle of the day. It was also cheaper.

One of the striking aspects of going to a matinée is the sense of walking back outside into a sunny place, having our pupils contract so much and so quickly that it can give you a headache. They were fully dilated inside the theater in order to absorb as much light as possible, but there wasn't a lot of light, and then you step out and it's overwhelming.

Light language covers all of the scriptures from the very beginning, God created light.
We see in John that Jesus is the light which shines out the darkness.
The early Christians did not see light as a simple metaphor, but as a conceptual understanding of who God is. The first scientific text in the West on light was by a medieval monk named Robert Grosseteste called Optics. Grosseteste made a major breakthrough in empirical science because of the centrality of light and the scriptural understanding of who God is around light. He wished to take light seriously.

All of that gets us to this day of epiphany. Now, epiphany is one of those Christian holy days that used to be a giant deal before the Reformation. It later drifted away for Protestant churches and cultures. With the rise of the corporatization of Christmas, there became this conflation between the Magi from the East and the Nativity.
When we're talking scripturally, the term we need to use is Magi. There are no wise men. There are no three. There could have been two or ten or twenty. The number three comes from later traditions. Magi is plural for Magus, or magic user, they could have had a number of different meanings. The most important of which though is that they were Pagan. They were not Jews. The Magi are not Jews, which is what makes their appearance so striking.
Epiphany marks this celebration where Christ's salvific action is opened up for all peoples, not just the tribe of Abraham. I honestly think one of the ways and reasons why many Protestants do not place much importance on epiphany is that there was often a conflation between Israel and the church.
This almost one-to-one comparison made it that the church is the new Israel, and so the promise of Israel is now the promise of the church. One of the ways this is described is called Supersessionism, that is, the church supersedes Israel.
This has led to many dreadful actions by Christians against Jews throughout history. Protestants by no means were the worst culprits in antisemitism. Throughout history, there were pograms against the Jews for centuries. often functioned as there would be a plague in a region and people wanted to blame somebody, so they blamed the Jews.
The reason why there were so many Jews in Poland before the Holocaust was because they had already been kicked out of Germany in the 13 hundreds.

But Epiphany offers us an opportunity to look not at super sessionism, but at inclusion. Not a patronizing inclusion which says that Jews are okay for the Christian God, but an inclusion that says that the Gentiles are included in the promise of Abraham. This is because the Magi see in Christ the fulfillment of something spectacular. Paul will talk about this in Romans 12; the reason why he has missions to the Gentiles that they have been grafted on to the tribe of Israel. An agricultural metaphor that our non-agricultural society often misses. My favorite example of grafting is when the Vineyards of France and much of Europe were decimated by phylloxera in the late 19th century, and there was a Texan agronomist, T.V. Munson, who found a wild grape varietal that was resistant to the pest.
He brought it over to Europe and started grafting on the old world vines to this Texan grape and the the vineyards survived. French wine was saved. The this Texan earned the Ordre du Mérite agricole, the second highest award in France.
French wines were grafted onto the roots that could save them. The wines stayed themselves. They stayed unique. The Pinot noir grown in the Burgundy Valley did not replace the stalk from Bell County, Texas.
The stalk did not replace the Pinot noir. Yet together they were healthy.

The light of Epiphany is about this expansion and opening of the promise of Abraham to the world.
The word epiphany means appearance or manifestation.
The light was so bright for the magi to see because the darkness was so dark in the world. The light was so easy to follow because the darkness was so dark.
Their pupils had been so dilated that they were ready to see a glimpse of the true light, no matter how far away or how strange it first seemed.
Isaiah sings, arise, shine. For your light has come. There's been an appearance of hope, of peace, of love. This hope, this love, this peace is not ours to possess. It is a gift offered.
Part of the gift is a way of seeing the world as a promise fulfilled.
We don't need to see in the darkness anymore. As well, even when it is dark, we know where the true light comes from.
The light that guides us to our eternal home is in the world thanks to the coming of Jesus Christ. We need to be consistently reminded of this. New years is a great time for this reminder.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, would have a special worship surface on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day called a Covenant Service. He would have the people who gathered together make a covenant for the New Year with God.
A covenant is deeper than a promise. A covenant goes both ways. You can't have a one-sided covenant like you can't have a one-sided marriage. The marriage ceremony doesn’t ask only one partner if they wish to be married. It isn’t valid unless both agree. You both have to say yes to accept the covenant God offers. We see an epiphany of opening up the promise of Abraham to all peoples. We should accept it. We should embrace it to its fullest, and the promise of Jesus Christ is the redemption of our sins, life abundant; salvation. There's nothing greater. Yet, even still, how great it is. It's so easy for humans to try and domesticate it this gift of God in Jesus Christ that shines light in the world so bright that the magi see it from miles away. Domesticate the faith, domesticate the church, make it comfortable and palatable. Turn it into three simple rules, or a comforting daily devotion, or a message that affirms everything about us without asking anything of us. We can set it on our shelf next to the picture of the Longhorns or our kids or the chochki we got in Canton or Round Top, but it's about the transformation of our whole selves. This is what Christ asks of us. This is the light offered to all people. The covenant prayer which John Wesley used helps us to remember that.
In a few moments, we are going say a summary of it together.
Like anything we say in church, if you don't feel comfortable with the words, you don't have to say them. These are not words to mindlessly repeat. They are words to aspire to. We say them together so that we can aspire as the body of Christ to be the kind of people who follow God in this way. Let us pray.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.


site: sermons

title: Ascension Sunday / Mother's Day: Where Did Jesus Go?

author: Wilson Pruitt

church: covenant-umc

series: Easter

themes: ascension letting-go-of-control sanctification holy-spirit-as-advocate self-giving-love humility christology

text:
**Scripture:** John 17:15-19; Psalm 1:1-6; John 16:7; Judges 5:1-2; Proverbs 9:10; Matthew 19:12
**Series:** Easter

> Preached on Ascension Sunday coinciding with Mother's Day, this sermon asks 'Where did Jesus go?' and answers that Christ ascended to the Father so the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, could come and sanctify believers in truth. Wilson links the self-giving of the ascension to motherhood as always referring to others, drawing on Anna Jarvis's Methodist founding of Mother's Day and Deborah's song of peace in Judges. He argues that truth is not a set of rules or a political position but a person, Jesus the crucified carpenter, and that being sanctified in truth means receiving a love (per Herbert McCabe) that may lead to a death like Christ's yet conquers death. The sermon closes with the call to let go in faith, to remember one's mother whether the relationship was good or hard, and to receive the grace and Spirit Christ sent.

**Illustrations:** anna-jarvis-mothers-day, deborah-song-long-hair, dostoevsky-idiot-myshkin, father-damien-lepers, pascal-seek-and-found, mccabe-crucifixion-love, easter-equinox-full-moon

---

# May 12
## Mother’s Day
## Ascension Sunday
### Psalm 1
### John 17:15-19

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.
 - Psalm 1

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. - John 17:15-19

Jesus walked among us in a different way after the resurrection than he did before the resurrection. After the resurrection, he was hard to recognize. As we know in the story of the walk to Emmaus, the people who had followed him during his ministry on earth did not recognize him after the resurrection. He had wounds in his side and his hand that someone could put their hand inside of, but it did not hurt. As well, after the resurrection, Jesus could eat. He wasn’t a ghost. Jesus saw the disciples in Jerusalem, and then he went up north to Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee. Jesus didn’t teach in the same way he had before; he saved that for his disciples, as we will get to next week.
These resurrection days of Jesus Christ are important for us. These Easter days point to a different way of seeing life. They point to the fullest kind of life. A superlative life.
The superlative life looks different from this life. The superlative life looks different than the one that Jesus had while he walked before the resurrection.
Today is Ascension Sunday. Ascension Sunday happens the Sunday before Pentecost every year. It is the last Sunday of the Easter Season. It is when Jesus says goodbye to his disciples for the last time.
When he first appeared to them after Easter, they probably thought that life would just continue as it had been. They were ecstatic. They were thrilled.
In the gospel of John, which I read from you earlier, Jesus describes elegantly why he must go, so that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Paraclete can come and be with the people.
Jesus describes how he must go away so that we can be more than we were, so that we can be more than we could be without the Spirit.

But that leaves us with a compelling question: where did Jesus go?

Usually, Ascension Sunday is later in the month of May, just as Pentecost is usually later in the month of May, just as Easter is usually later than March 30th, but it is one of those years when Easter is early. So Ascension Sunday is early. Remember, Easter isn't just randomly chosen. It is the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the spring Equinox. If the first full moon after March 21st takes place pretty early in March, we have an early Easter, and thus we have an early Ascension Sunday.
This Ascension Sunday also falls on Mother's Day.
Mother's Day is a secular holiday that came about honestly because of the Methodist Church. It came about because a Methodist lay woman in West Virginia, Anna Jarvis, wanted to honor her mother who had cared for her and her siblings after her husband had died during the Civil War. Mother’s Day took place in a worship service even before Hallmark got wind of it.
The thing about Mother's Day that is always important to remember, is that it's never about an individual. It is never about you. It always refers to another.
The woman who started Mother's Day and campaigned around the country for it to be adopted, she did not want to be appreciated. She did not feel overlooked. She wanted to appreciate her own mother. She wanted to defer and car. Mother's Day, we must say, is not a church Holiday. It is not on the church calendar. Ascension Sunday supersedes it,
But it is fitting for us to think about the way that in Jesus giving of himself and going away, we can reflect on motherhood. It is always referring to others. And in that way, I think Mother's Day is one of the closest holidays to Christianity that we have. It is always about another person.

Earlier, the choir sang Deborah's song. It's the start of passage in Judges six that sounds strange when you first hear it. When hair is long in Israel, when people offer themselves to God, praise the Lord.
Deborah was a judge, a figure of significant importance to the people of Israel in the earliest times of their home in the Promised Land. Deborah was a voice of God, a voice of reason, a voice of authority. Deborah saw Barack as a chosen of God and told him to go and fight for God. And Barack said, “I can't do that. I am not ready to do that. Come with me, Deborah.”And Deborah said, “if I come, you're going to get less honor. I'm trying to have you be honored by the people,” but he refused. And so they went together and the people won a great victory that day. And Deborah sang a song that starts with this surprising phrase, when hair is long in Israel.
Now, when I was growing up, when many of you were growing up, or especially when my grandmother was growing up, this was not a text often preached on Sunday morning, praising the day when hair is long. My grandmother would think that this hair is long for me let alone when hair is long in Israel.
Deborah isn’t longing for a time when Hippies rule the land. She isn’t predicting the musical Hair. She is referring the reality that when your hair is long, it is difficult to fit your hair into a helmet. We're talking about men here. She's talking about men here, not just women. Long hair is harder to fit it into a helmet for battle. So you grow hair in times of peace. You grow your hair out when you didn't have to think about war and violence; when you can rest in the peace of God. When people honor God, praise the Lord.
Deborah was singing and praising and longing for a time of peace and protection for her children and all the children of Israel. Deborah did not seek to be a judge. Deborah did not seek to receive honor for her position of authority. She deferred and yet was still honored. As Christians, we read Judges and believe that Deborah was longing for the peace of Christ. The peace that finally came not with the birth or death of Jesus, but with his ascension.

Jesus had to go so that we could receive something greater.
Every mother at some point has to let go. Children are not puppets or robots. And our greatest flourishing is found in our own agency, not in repeating the choices of our parents. It is an act of faith to let go of the ones you love. It is an act of faith to let go, knowing that they could fall right back down. It is an act of faith to let go knowing they could die, because you believe more in God’s promise of life and the truth of Christ’s resurrection than in the physical manifestations of death.

But when Jesus let go of his disciples to be with the Father, he did not leave them alone. Jesus has not left us alone. He left an advocate with us, the Holy Spirit, who is sent to us by Jesus to sanctify us in truth to make us holy in truth, to set us apart in truth, a deep truth.

Where did Jesus Go?

Jesus went to the side of the Father so that we would have a deeper faith. As Jesus says in John 16:7

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:7 ESV

Some of us may be tempted from time to time, to wish that Jesus still walked the earth. Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot, is premised on this very idea. Prince Myshkin is innocent crushed by Russian society. But we don’t want Jesus to walk for his innocence. Nor for his example of holiness. There are others who have shown the true holiness of Jesus. Father Damien, the Belgian missionary who ministered to the Lepers in Hawaii.

No, I think we want Jesus to walk with us to give us certainty. To answer the critics of the faith and say, “See! See!” He is true. You are wrong.” At its worst, the desire to have Jesus walk is to tell other people that they are wrong. It wouldn’t make us better. It would only make us worse.

Jesus knew that, which is why he went away.

The challenge of faith is that it is always beyond our physical grasp. We believe in something we do not see. But that belief is more powerful because it pulls us towards the place we need to be. It shapes us into the people we need to be. In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus tells us to let our light shine, it is for others, not for ourself. The light is not for us. The Spirit in us is not for us. By the fact that it is not for us can we truly receive it and be who we were made to be for others.
Faith offers us this space to expand because the Holy Spirit is with us. And Jesus gives the Holy Spirit this command: Sanctify them in truth. A lot of this turns on what we think truth is, how we understand truth. In philosophy, the study of what is true is called epistemology. How we understand things, how we know things, what is knowledge.
In Proverbs chapter 9, Solomon writes that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. I think a better translation is the reverence of the Lord. Yirah is the Hebrew word used here. It’s used 41 times in the Old Testament, each of them connected to God. Yirah is not fear in the Greek sense of fear fright running from battle, fear of the enemy, fear of the unknown. Instead, it is the posture we take to God.
That posture is the beginning of wisdom. To be sanctified in truth is to receive from God the posture we must have in order to continually receive from God. As Pascal wrote, Console yourselves: you would not seek me if you had not already found me. The Spirit is the consolation we receive that inspires us to seek and seek again.

The truth in which we are sanctified is not a book or a set of rules. The truth is not what your parents taught you or what you learned at college. The truth is not conservative or progressive. The truth is not democrat or republican. The truth is not what we like or don’t like. The truth is not an idea but a person. The truth is who Jesus is. The second person of the trinity, the word made flesh. He is neither a nice idea nor a notion but a crucified carpenter who loved us and died for it. He was crucified, as we say in the creed. The truth is not an easy pill to swallow. It is impossible apart from faith. It is not a scam someone can email you. The love of Jesus is not a surface idea that can fit on a hallmark card. As Herbert McCabe said,

> the kind of love that Jesus offers inevitably results in his being crucified, the same kind of thing is going to be true of those who receive his love and are liberated in their turn and able to pass it on to others. Crucifixion in some way is the destiny of every Christian. It does not have to be public execution. That only occurs when the love of Christ takes forms that are recognized as immediately dangerous by the ruling class. But for every Christian his or her death is to be a death that expresses the love of Christ, the Holy Spirit. There are just two kinds of death, the death that, like Christ’s death, is the operation of the Spirit, or the death that simply means the organism has ceased to function. To die as Christ did filled with the Holy Spirit is to conquer death”

 As McCabe also says, the Gospels show us if you don’t love, you won’t truly be alive. And if you do, they’ll kill you for it. We see this in Jesus.
This is the truth in which we must remain. Because when we remain in him, he remains in us. Even if it leads us to a death like is. Sanctify us to be made holy, to be set apart, to be made holy in this truth that God is for us. This is the gift we receive at the Ascension: that God is for us in the midst of the brokenness of this world. We see that in the scriptures. We see that in witnesses to the faith in our own lives. Reminders that God is for us. Physical manifestations of the spiritual reality of the Holy Spirit that God is for us. That we are not alone. For me, a reminder of this has been Father Damien, who left Belgium as a young man, to minister in Hawaii. There, he did not turn back from serving lepers. He loved them and died of lepracy. He lived for a time beyond the brokenness and he did not fear death because he was sanctified in truth.

This is what Deborah was singing for.
When hair is long in Israel, when people offer their praises, thank the Lord. When peace has spread, when hearts have turned to God, thank the Lord. This is what Jesus call us to do. This is who Jesus is calling us to be.

We can give thanks for great mothers like Deborah today.

And not everybody has had a great mother. When not that I have any experience, but when you become a mother, you don't suddenly become a good person. There's not this magical flip that happens after giving birth. No. The point that Anna Jarvis was trying to make is not that every woman who is a mother is good and every woman who is not a mother is is bad. This is the opposite.
Jesus is fairly clear in the gospels that we are not saved by marriage. The parable of the seven husbands tells us that. We are not saved by procreation. The Great Commission tells us this. Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful. Jesus tells us to make disciples. Eunuchs are even praised by Jesus in Matthew 19 as examples to follow. Motherhood is not the only state called for.
But what Anna Jarvis pointed to is something that Jesus does as well. We can look back to where we have come from and see God's presence, and we should give thanks for that. We should give thanks that Jesus ascended to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could be with us.
The Advocate, the Comforter could comfort us in truth through the holy people in our lives.

And today, we especially remember that through our mothers. If you're a mother, I want you to remember your mother. If you are not a mother, I want you to remember your mother. This is how it can be a holistic practice. Everyone is included.
If you have a hard relationship with your mother, give space for grace to enter between you and her. Mercy is not about justifying abuse, but about believing more in God than in the abuser. Receive the Spirit that Christ sent that day. Receive that mercy. Receive that grace. Be sanctified in truth. The truth of Jesus Christ and his love for you. Be set apart by the Spirit for a deep love that could result in your death, but will result in your life.

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, On this Ascension Sunday, may be grateful for your Son, Jesus, who ascended so that the Spirit could descend and be with us to our corps. Help us in those times we feel far from Jesus, from the Spirit, from it all. Help us to remember in our loneliness that Christ is the for us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

method: authored, not translated

license_apparatus: CC BY-NC 4.0


title: Ash Wednesday

series: Lent

themes: repentance fasting reconciliation hidden-piety freedom-from-sin patience-as-faith bearing-fruit

scripture: Matthew 6:1-21; Matthew 13:1-9

text:
**Scripture:** Matthew 6:1-21; Matthew 13:1-9
**Series:** Lent

> An Ash Wednesday sermon on Matthew 6, reframing repentance as a reorientation—recognizing we are already going the wrong way and turning to go rightly. Drawing heavily on Schmemann, the preacher argues Lent is not a marketable season of sadder songs but a liberation from enslavement to sin through fasting and forgiveness. Fasting is not a cleanse diet or self-improvement but participation in Christ's freedom from dependence on the world; it will lead to real struggle and repeated failure, met by the divine virtue of patience. With the parable of the sower, the sermon insists costly tilling by God is what lets us bear fruit, the goal being a softened heart open to communion with God.

**Illustrations:** lent-is-unmarketable, broad-way-narrow-way, idaho-vs-texas-soil, orthodox-graduated-fast

---

# Ash Wednesday

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”Matthew 6

Repentance, above everything else, is a return to the genuine order of things the restoration of the right vision. -20

Repentance is not about turning and going backwards. It is about recognizing that we are already going the wrong direction and that we need to turn in order to be going the right way.

Lent is not a highly marketable season.  You don’t share lententine’s with people or give them Lenten chocolates. You can’t sell a fast. You can’t sell not buying things or not eating things.

It is not easy, indeed, to reject a petty ideal of life made up of daily cares, of search for material good, security, and pleasure, for an ideal of life in which nothing short of perfect is the goal: “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This world through all its “media” says: be happy, take it easy, follow the broad way. Christ in the Gospel says: choose the narrow way, fight, and suffer, for this is the road to the only genuine happiness.

The broad way is broad for a reason.

Sin is not only the transgression of a rule leading to punishment; it is always a mutilation of life given to us by God. (81)

Parable of the sower

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matthew 13:1-9)

It is costly to be tilled by God, but only then can we bear fruit.

Idaho soil vs. Texas soil

Lent offers us tools for repentance and tools for our liberation. Lent is not simply another few weeks of the year when the church sings sadder songs.

Lent is the liberation of our enslavement to sin, the prison of the world. The Gospel lesson from Matthew sets the conditions for that liberation.

1. fasting: the refusal to accept the desires and urges of our fallen nature as normal, the effort to free ourselves from the dictatorship of flesh and matter over the spirit.
2. forgiveness: The triumph of sin, the main sign of its rule over the world, is division, opposition, separation, hatred. Therefore, the first break through this fortress of sin is forgiveness: the return to unity, solidarity, love. To forgive is to put between me and my “enemy” the radiant forgiveness of God Himself.
(28)

Fasting is the refusal to accept the desires and urges of our fallen nature as normal, the effort to free ourselves from the dictatorship of flesh and matter over the spirit.

The point of a fast is not the what but the why. You can fast from candy or beer or like the Eastern Orthodox, give up meat one week, and the dairy the next, and then even oil. “What then is fasting for us Christians? It is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself in which He liberates us from the total dependence on food, matter, and the world. (96)

The lenten fast is not a cleanse diet or an attempt at self-actualization. The goal is not to improve yourself but to grow closer to Christ as Christ's body the church.

We should not ignore the challenges of fasting nor speak glibly of it. And fasts aren't just for some people. We do not fast for God as a sacrifice to him. God gives us the fast for our own benefit. We don't earn our salvation, we experience grace.

After all this is said, one must still remember that however limited our fasting, if it is true fasting it will lead to temptation, weakness, doubt, and irritation. In other terms, it will be a real fight and probably we shall fail many times. But the very discovery of Christian life as fight and effort is the essential aspect of fasting. A faith which has not overcome doubts and temptation is seldom a real faith…Too many people start fasting with enthusiasm and give up after the first failure. I would say that it is at this first failure that the real test comes. If after having failed and surrendered to our appetites and passions we start all over again and do not give up no matter how many times we fail, sooner or later our fasting will bear its spiritual fruit. Between holiness and disenchanted cynicism lies the great and divine virtue of patience—patience, first of all, with ourselves. There is no short-cut to holiness. (98-99)

The purpose of lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to “soften” our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the Spirit, to experience the hidden “thirst and hunger” for communion with God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen.


title: Be Opened

series: After Pentecost

themes: faithfulness-amid-trials admitting-need syrophoenician-woman healing persistence-in-prayer facing-fear evangelistic-welcome

text:
**Scripture:** Mark 7:24-37; Isaiah 35:4-7
**Series:** After Pentecost

> Preached on Mark 7:24-37 (with Isaiah 35:4-7), the sermon frames the Syrophoenician woman (whom Wilson names Arishat) and the deaf man of the Decapolis as people who are 'stuck.' Using personal car-breakdown stories, it contrasts irreparable breakdown with the frustration of being stuck while functional, and argues that American self-reliance fails us when another's intervention is required. The woman's persistent faith — calling Jesus 'Lord' (Kyrie) — and the friends who carried the deaf man both model asking for and seeking help. Jesus' word 'Ephphatha / Be opened' (rooted in Daniel's opened windows and books) becomes the application: we get stuck acting unlike ourselves, stuck not hearing God's truth and love, and stuck not speaking gratitude or love. Fear underlies both silence and deafness. The closing call is to be opened to love, to speak freely, and to invite others — to worship, Ladies Lunch, the food pantry, a work day — into the church's life.

**Illustrations:** ford-ranger-axle-breakdown, dead-engine-mario-kart-night, car-stuck-spinning-in-mud, big-bend-honeymoon-javelina, demon-thrown-out-like-baseball, plugging-ears-la-la-la

---

# September 8
## "Be Opened"
## Isaiah 35:4-7
## Mark 7:24-37

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
    “Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
    He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
    He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool
    and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp;
    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
	- Isaiah 35:4-7

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
- Mark 7:24-37

Thankfully, I've only been stuck in a car a few times in my life. One time, I was driving a Ford Ranger from Austin to College Station and the axle fell. I was stuck. It was pretty clear that I wasn’t going anywhere. Another time in another car, the engine totally died. It was at night and I was with the boys. All they remember is that I said bed time was delayed and screen limits didn’t matter. They could play all the Mario Cart they wanted. We were stuck. It was irreparable. We were not going anywhere so we might as well enjoy what we could.

Those moments of total break down aren't as frustrating as it might seem. When your car entirely breaks down, you know it's dead. You know that there is nothing that you can do. You move on with your life and try to just survive.
I think that some of the most frustrating moments in life are when you get stuck in the mud or the sand. The car is spinning out. It's functional. The car works. You have plenty of gas. Everything's okay, but you can’t move forward. It spins and it spins. Sometimes you think, if only I did this, it would work. If only I had this. If I had a good board, I could put it under it. If I had a winch…if I had cell reception, I could call someone, but I'm stuck. Stuck here.
How do we handle those moments when we feel stuck

## Mark
In the gospel of Mark chapter seven, we have two such moments. One has a woman come to Jesus asking for help about her daughter. Another has friends coming to Jesus, asking about their friend who is deaf and can't speak.

These people are stuck. To say someone is possessed by an evil spirit is to say that they are not themselves. The situation is faulty, and they don't know what else to do. We don’t need to delve into the metaphysical cosmography of the New Testament to understand that something is wrong with the girl.

The woman who comes to Jesus at the beginning of Matthew 7 is not a Jew. She's not a Samaritan. She's a Greek speaking person. Helena.

Mark describes her as Syro-phonecian, from an old people who had been in this area for hundreds of years, almost thousands of years.
The Phoenicians had spread out across the Mediterranean. They had built civilization and traded with other cultures. They weren't an empire. They were a set of city states. The woman comes up to Jesus and asks for help because her daughter is stuck and she doesn’t know what else to do.

Later, Jesus moves on to the Decapolis: a group of cities in the same region and comes up. The people come up to Jesus and say their friend is stuck. He cannot hear. He cannot hear, and he cannot speak.

A lot of us, when we get into points of life when we're stuck, we want to figure it out all by ourselves. We want to solve the situation ourselves. There is an American ideal of self-reliance. Don't look to others for things you can do yourself, but all of us, no matter how self-reliant we are, we get into situations where we are stuck and something else is required, where the intervention of another is required.

Alina and I were once stuck in Big Bend on our honeymoon. Our car was spinning in circles. I had avoided running into a Javelina and had gone off the road. We, then, couldn’t get going again. We needed someone to help us or else we weren't going anywhere. Thankfully, a park ranger came by and pulled us out. We needed that help.

It takes a lot to ask for help. The Syro-Phoenician woman, I'll call her Arishat, which is a Phoenician, Arishat is desperate. She hears about this man, Jesus, who is a Jew, but who has done amazing things. He has healed people who were stuck, and she desperately goes to him. We know she's desperate because she is not discouraged when Jesus first turns her away. He says,

Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.

This is a strange response. We know from other stories, that the ministry of Jesus began with the Jews, the children of Abraham.

Arishat, though, is not discouraged by this response.

She says Kyrie. Lord. In the NRSV, it says, sir, but in the Greek it is Lord. It is the same phrase used at the beginning of the Catholic mass. Kyrie eleison , Lord, have mercy. She says, “Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs from the masters tables.” Jesus's entire disposition changes when he hears her say Lord.

Jesus doesn't really come off that well, but what I think is important for us to understand in the passage is that Jesus is often trying to get people to move to a new place in their life. I think that's what's going on here. If Jesus responded immediately, she would have no need to say, Lord. There is this pause, this timing of God's which offers faith to Arishat. There's a great act of faith to call Jesus, Lord. That's not a slight phrase. It's not like saying, Mister or Sir, it's not mannerly.

It's an act of faith. It is an act of respect and devotion, and her daughter is free. The demon has been thrown out. Like you throw a baseball out of a park, the demon has been thrown out. Her faith made her well. Jesus did not need to be present to throw the spirit out. Arishat spoke up for her daughter.

## Decapolis
The men of the Decapolis spoke up for their friend. They brought him to Jesus. They loved him. In a world before ASL or other modern sign languages, they loved their friend and communicated with him about the importance of Jesus and going to see Jesus without speaking to him. They communicated without words.

Jesus takes the deaf man aside in private. They go into a building or around the corner. The care of this man is not for public display. His healing is not a tool to further a worldly agenda.

Jesus looks up to heaven and speaks in Aramaic: Epphatha, be opened. It comes from the Aramaic word, peth-akh’, which is used twice in the Old Testament, both in the book of Daniel: the windows were opened and the books were opened.

Ephphatha is not a word associated with healing. It is associated with opening things that are shut. Jesus uses this word in a new way.

Jesus sighs, says Ephphatha, and the man’s ears are opened and his tongue is loosened. He can speak plainly. Jesus then quiets them. He doesn’t want to turn the man into an example “See, look how awesome I am.” No, he tells them to speak to no one about the miracle.

We have a chance to look at the different levels of the Bible here. First off, there is the miracle itself. Whatever the medical condition facing the man in the Decapolis, Jesus took care of it. But there is more. The Bible doesn’t simply exist as an ancient document to inform us of the goings on of the ancient world. If we believe that the Bible is the word of God, active, sharper than any two-edged sword, as Hebrews tells us, there is more to the scripture, of both the healing of the deaf man and the demon possessed daughter.

Today, we can be stuck in our lives. We can act in ways in which we are not ourselves. This is a helpful understanding of demon possession. There was an unfamiliar spirit in the girl.

We can also be stuck in not hearing the truth of reality. The truth about God and God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s purpose for us, yes. But also the truth of our own reality. We can plug our ears and sing “La, la, la!” in order to not hear uncomfortable truths.

Our tongues can also be stuck. We don’t say what we should. We get a feeling about someone and we don’t tell them. We are grateful for someone and we don’t thank them. We don’t say “I love you” enough to the people we love.

Fear is the cause of not speaking. Fear is the cause of not listening. And the Prophet Isaiah has words about that.

>Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
    “Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
    He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
    He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

The power of Jesus is not about selling something but giving something. Giving new life. Giving a new way of life that is not stuck in the mud of old fears, old habits, old desires.

Be opened. You don’t have to live unlike yourself, as if a wicked spirit haunts you.
Be opened. Hear that you are loved and forgiven. Don’t be afraid of what people say because it cannot separate you from God’s love.
Be opened.  You can speak truthfully. You are free.

You are not alone and don’t act alone. If you are new to Covenant, you are welcome and a part of us. If you have been here a while, you are still needed for this church to be the place God wants us to be. The deaf man was healed because his friends brought him to Jesus. Is there someone you could invite who needs to be opened. Maybe to worship. Maybe to the Ladies Lunch. Maybe to the food pantry or to a work day. Be opened. You can invite.

Be opened. You are free in Christ so live freely and gratefully, honoring God by loving your neighbor.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.


title: Be Still

themes: fear-of-the-lord courage divine-providence logos-christology faithfulness-amid-trials sanctification

text:
**Scripture:** Mark 4:35-41; 1 Samuel 17:41-46; Isaiah 9:1; John 14:1; Job 38:1; Matthew 5:45
**Series:** After Pentecost

> Preached in ordinary time on the stilling of the storm (Mark 4) read alongside David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), this sermon argues that storms come even to those whose lives are usually calm, and the question is whether we have greater faith in the storm or in Jesus. Wilson distinguishes courage (fearing the right fears) from foolhardiness, and defines biblical fear as respect: David feared God more than Goliath, just as the disciples first believed the storm more than Christ. Jesus stills the sea not as a pagan storm-god or X-Men mutant but as the Logos and second person of the Triune God who actively sustains creation today. A key distinction is drawn between God's power (what God can do) and God's providence (what God chooses to do), the tension we feel when one friend is healed and another suffers. Faith is lived not on mountaintops but in ordinary, storm-prone daily life, growing through sanctification, closing with Cyprian on doing the will of the Father.

**Illustrations:** west-texas-roads-runoff, galilee-vs-lake-travis, who-male-drowning-rate, thor-zeus-storm-xmen, mountain-climber-courage, boy-who-cried-wolf, job-god-enters-the-chat, very-ordinary-child, transfiguration-vs-bleeding-woman, cyprian-will-of-father

---

# June 24
## Be Still
## 1 Samuel 17:41-46
## Mark 4:35-41

The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. - 1 Samuel 17:41-46

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” - Mark 4:35-41

My family and I love going out to West Texas. We love the desert, the openness, the brutality of survival and how nature finds a way. When you're driving out west, it doesn’t rain very much. Sometimes in the mountains it'll rain, but only a few times a year does it rain on the main roads throughout far west Texas. Nevertheless, the highways and major roadways are designed around rainfall that only happens a few times a year. Even if it only takes place 3 or 4 times a year, The rain and runoff are the guiding principles of road construction. Because, if there's not a place for runoff, those roads are destroyed.
Storms happen fast. Water happens fast. If a storm hits a road that hasn’t been designed around the rain, the roads are gone. Haphazard dirt and stone washes away like the house made upon the sand that did listen to the word of God and do it.
Some of us have lived lives filled with storms. Others have been blessed to only experience a few storms in their life. Even when storms don't happen very often in our life, they happen. It's important to be ready for them.

The early disciples of Jesus Christ were fishermen. They fished on a large body of water, the Sea of Galilee. The region of Israel is historically called Galilee, coming from Isaiah 9:1 to describe the gentiles who lived in the area. Galilee was a heterogeneous society then and now. The sea is called Kinneret in Hebrew. It is a fresh water lake fed by the Jordan river.

It is 8 miles wide at its longest and 13 miles long. Its surface area is more than twice the size of Lake Travis. It is large enough that it's hard to see to the other side. It's large enough that there can be a storm in on one side that doesn't affect the other side. These aren't the kind of fishermen who sit on the creek, pass the line all day. They work for Volume, and they know that if a storm comes, that that is going to affect their bottom line. It is going to be a lot harder to fish. Fish also don't like storms. The waters are often calmer deeper below, but there's still turmoil in the waters, and fish are hunkered down as well. Even if the storms don't happen all the time, we know they're outside of our control.

Men are especially at risk for drowning. The World Health Organization says that the mortality rate of males is twice as high as females for drowning,
“Studies suggest that the higher drowning rates among males are due to increased exposure to water and riskier behaviour such as swimming alone, drinking alcohol before swimming alone and boating.”[^1] But I don’t think the disciples were as reckless around storms as people are today.

The fishermen knew that storms could not be controlled. Many pagan religions have gods specifically connected to the weather. Thor, the god of thunder, Zeus, god of lightning, Storm, the X Men from the Marvel Comics religion.

Hurricanes are scary. Storms are scary. Even when you've been in them before. The ancient Greeks had a difference between the words for courage and foolhardy. A foolhardy person is someone who has no fear. A courageous person is someone who fears the right fears.
If you're climbing a mountain, a courageous person knows where the riskiest spots are to be extra careful there. A foolhardy person climbs every spot the exact same way and then slips and falls to their doom.

But the disciples that day were not really being courageous. They were troubled. They were terrified. Either word works. The same word is used in John 14, where Jesus says, do not let your hearts be troubled. The disciples were troubled. I think it's a better understanding here. Terrified, gives us connotations of whimpering, covering our eyes for troubles. The disciples were concerned.
When Goliath saw the young David, he was not afraid. He was not troubled. He was not terrified. David, though, should have been afraid. Someone who's never seen combat going against the man whom the entire army is scared of. You would think David should have been afraid of Goliath, but he was not. Fear is another term for respect. Not in modern languages, but in ancient languages it was. You feared the ones you respected; the people that you knew would follow through with threats. Aesop’s Fable about the boy who cried wolf. The story is about this idea of respect and losing it because of saying a wrong thing so often that people can't hear you when you say the right thing.

David didn't have a fear of Goliath, he had a fear of the Lord. Not fear in the sense of being scared of God. No, David respected God more than he respected Goliath. He had courage. Because he was more afraid of failing God than he was of being defeated like Goliath. It's based on the reality that God was with him. David had a greater faith in the power of God and in the power of Goliath. He wanted to enact the will of the Father.

That really does get us to the storm in Galilee again. For those disciples on the boat, at first, they had a greater faith in the storm than in Jesus. They believed in the storm. They had seen the storm do powerful things before. And then Jesus says to the storm, be silent. Be still. Jesus questions the disciples after the storm had been stilled and said, “why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” They had trembled. They had been in great fear.

Power over storms was often the special position of a pagan god. To have power over storms with a sign. Now the source of Christ's power over the storms is important. It is not because he has a mutant ability like the X-Men, Storm. Nor is God a watchmaker god who created the earth and then walked away. Nor is God a pagan rationalization for the existence of these frightening things. That is, we don’t know where storms comes from so we will call it God.
No. Jesus has power over the storms because Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is the logos of God, as the word of God, the very language God spoke through which all creation came into being. Jesus is the second person of the Triune God of all creation, who made everything from nothing. The god of all creation is not a watchmaker god who built everything and then walked away to left. His creation continued now. Our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is an active God, a present God, actively sustaining creation. This is a concept we often lose today.
Creation is not just about what happened a long time ago. Creation is about today and tomorrow. God is sustaining the world today. Without God, all of reality would cease to exist.
This is the power revealed on that stormy day by Jesus Christ. This power over even the wind and the seas. The power of Jesus displayed that day, it recalls us back to the end of the book of Job, where, after long conversations with his friends, God enters the chat and speaks from the whirlwind.
Jesus doesn't speak from the whirlwind here in Mark. Jesus has become human and flesh. Momentarily contained in the finite flesh of person. Jesus doesn't speak from the whirlwind, but Jesus does speak to the whirlwind. And the whirlwind will listen. It becomes silent. The whirlwind knows who to fear.

Goliath and the Philistine army come across into Israel like a storm. They seem unstoppable, like a tsunami. Nothing could stand in their way. David, the youngest son, volunteers. At first, he tries to wear the the armor of the king, but it doesn’t fit.

He doesn’t need it. He has more faith in the gods of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the power of the storm in front of them, personified in Goliath. He believes in a god who had power over the storms. David believed that even if he died, he would live with God.

Do you believe in a God who has power over the storms? I think it's important here to distinguish the difference between God's power and God's providence.
God's power is what God is able to do. God's providence is what God chooses to do. Sometimes we struggle in this difference between God's power and God's providence. We see a friend healed and we see another friend who is still suffering. We see one friend to get a job and then another getting laid off.
We see the harshness of the reality as Jesus describes this, where the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust.

We are frustrated at God’s providence and we want to be the judge. We want to mete out justice

Our hope, though, is found not in our own justice, but in God's. Even if we live in the desert where storms are rare, they still come, and they can be devastating.

We're in a season of the church here that is sometimes called ordinary time.
Ordinary is a word that can be diminished and dismissed by a lot of people. It's not a huge compliment if your parents talk about you and say, oh, you know, Wilson, he's very ordinary. But ordinary is not a bad thing. It's not a pejorative term on its own. Ordinary is necessary. If everything was extraordinary, then the extraordinary would become ordinary. And then we would just have a new ordinary. We are often exhorted to have mountaintop experiences. Those experiences shape us, but they're not constant. Most of life does not take place on the mountain top. It is reality where storms can come. It is the day to day where the life of faith is born out. The faith of Peter in John on the mountain during the transfiguration was small. They didn’t need a lot of faith to believe inJesus’s power when he was displayed in heavenly light.
The faith of the mother who touches the tunic of Jesus is great. She believed when it wasn’t easy or obvious.

The point is not that we should all be like David and ignore the storms around us. God doesn't want us to be foolhardy but to believe, to grow and believe. This is what we call sanctification, becoming more holy. Holiness is not in the sense of holier than thou, but in the sense of being set apart for God, fulfilling the purpose God has for us. This is what it means to follow Jesus. Not just be changed, but to follow

Or as Saint Cyprian wrote:

All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God. Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversation, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name, manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession and under torture confidence for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned—this is what it means to wish to be a coheir with Christ, to keep God’s command; this is what it means to do the will of the Father.

In the name of the Father and the Som and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[^1]: [https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning](https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning)


title: Being Sheep

themes: good-shepherd god-seeks-the-lost freedom-in-christ transformed-desire consumerism vulnerability resurrection

text:
**Scripture:** John 10:11-18; Luke 15:1-32
**Series:** Easter

> A Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter season) sermon on John 10:11-18. Wilson begins with the unflattering realism of the sheep metaphor (sheep are unintelligent and vulnerable), then reads John 10 alongside Luke 15's three parables to show a shepherd who relentlessly seeks even the undeserving lost. He argues John 10 is not an evangelistic passage but addresses those already in the fold, who oscillate between following the Good Shepherd and the self-serving hired hand. The heart of the sermon contrasts two freedoms: worldly 'grocery-store' freedom of endless consumer choice (the hired hand) versus the Good Shepherd's freedom of transformed, satisfied desire. Using Niebuhr's critique of a toothless church, he calls hearers to hear the shepherd's voice through shared worship, study, and service, trusting that the risen Christ comes to rescue us and sends us to rescue others from the brambles.

**Illustrations:** sheep-stupid-and-vulnerable, schadenfreude-lost-sheep, lost-sheep-as-scoundrel, grocery-store-fifty-pastas, niebuhr-god-without-wrath, pestering-lapsed-about-god

---

# April 21
## Being Sheep
## John 10:11-18
”“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”“
John 10:11-18 NRSV

The first thing to remember about sheep is that they are unintelligent. They are not smart. The second thing to remember about sheep is that they are very vulnerable. They're vulnerable to nature. They're vulnerable to storms. They're vulnerable to drowning. Sheep go to a pond, to the water and end up drowning when they forget to turn back around.
Sheep are vulnerable to predators. Wolves, lions, and coyotes see these plump, stupid, vulnerable creatures in giant packs with no defense mechanism. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It is not really a compliment to think of ourselves as sheep and Jesus as a shepherd. Calling humans sheep is not about the betterment of humanity. The virtues of sheep are obedience and hairiness (vulnerability is not a virtue) and there are many times when sheep are neither obedient nor hairy. Jesus is being a realist in talking about sheep here.

In the gospel of Luke, in the 15th chapter, we have the three great parables, the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal Son. We see that the kingdom of heaven is like a shepherd who has a hundred sheep, but one gets lost. The shepherd has a decision to make. The shepherd does not see a lost sheep as a sunk cost. The shepherd does not see a lost sheep as a tax write off, even though the sheep is stupid and got caught because of being stupid. Even though the sheep may deserve to be lost, may have willfully lost itself. The sheep is not lost to the shepherd. This parable is so helpful for us to remember when we look out and see someone fall on hard times and have some schadenfreude, that great German word which describes delight in the misfortune of others. Schadenfreude is not purely wicked. It comes about because of a desire for justice. Often in life, we see people cheat and steal and win. When they get their comeuppance, it can be a relief.
The sheep that got lost deserved to be lost. Some of the other sheep probably had some schadenfreude for the lost sheep. They thought that I deserved to be lost and it was just that it was lost.

Jesus looked at the situation differently. Jesus doesn’t save only the deserving sheep. Even when there's 99 back at home, who did everything they were supposed to, who followed through with the two virtues of being a sheep: obedience and hairiness, the good shepherd goes out all night long to look for the lost sheep. Maybe the lost sheep was a drug addict, and alcoholic, an abuser, a scoundrel. Maybe the lost sheep pissed off every other sheep. The shepherd still goes to find him.
The good Shepherd would've gone the next night too, and the next night and the next night. It wasn't just a 24 hour thing.

The same with the woman with the coin. The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who had ten coins, lost one, and spent the whole night looking for it, and then celebrated once she found it. It wasn't just a one day thing. The kingdom of heaven would have spent a few more nights looking for the coin.

The same with the prodigal son and the father who welcomes the son home. If the father had been on his deathbed, he would've thrown a party for his son's return. The prodigal son definately didn’t deserve it. He had squandered his money. He had spit in his father’s face. Even still, he was welcomed and celebrated.
God seeks the lost sheep. God welcomes them home. I think there's a reason why in the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd goes and tries to find the sheep while in the parable of the Prodigal son, the Father waits for the son to come home, because, as it says in John 10,  the sheep will listen to the father's voice, to the shepherd's voice. When the Son wanders off, he will not. He shuts it off. If the father had gone after his son, I don't think it would've helped the situation. Just like if you know somebody who's turned their back on God, pestering them about God does not make them want to believe anymore. No. We must wait and attend to God and show God's love, show God's power and purpose. The prodigal son is ready to come home when he is fully humble. He comes home not thinking it is his home. He comes home thinking that he is undeserving of any kindness or generosity. When he finally comes home as a stranger, he is welcomed home as a son. When he lets go of entitlement, he receives blessings.
Returning the Gospel of John, Jesus is clear here. Jesus is a good shepherd. Jesus lays down his life sheep. We see this in the season of resurrection, the season of Easter. We see that Jesus has been good to his word. He has laid down his life for his sheep. I don't know if the disciples understood what it was about, but we do today.
Jesus will lay down his life. He will pick it up again and his sheep will hear his voice, and as he says, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd.

I think the immediate context and meaning of this is the Jews. He's speaking to his Jewish disciples, and the Gentiles are the other flock who are going to hear Jesus's voice. I think today we should remember that here Jesus is not speaking to people outside of the church and outside of faith.
John 10 is not a missionary passage. It's not an evangelistic passage. It is not about going out and evangelizing. Jesus isn't telling the sheep to go convince other sheep. I think there's a reason for this. As we go back to the very beginning, the sheep are very unintelligent creatures. They have the two virtues. Remember? obedience and hairiness. Obedience and hairiness are not helpful in convincing someone of the existence of the shepherd or of the need for a shepherd. They may believe the shepherd exists, but they just don't think they need him. They don't see the point. They're fine, right? They're getting around. They’ve got plenty to eat. There's plenty of grass. There's plenty of ewes and rams in the sea, but then the wolves come, the hired hand goes away.
The shepherd that they thought would protect them even if they didn’t need him, disappears, and they hear the voice of the good shepherd. John 10 is about other people. John 10 is also about you. Wherever you are in your faith journey. I think all of us, when we're honest with ourselves, when we're real with ourselves, realize that there are moments when we're following the Good Shepherd and moments when we're following the hired hand. The one whom it may feel good to follow, but who does not love us? The hired hand who tells us that doing what you want and getting what you want is what a good life is. This is what our purpose is. This is what we have to do. You don't have to think about these other people. You don't have to care about this other part of the world. You don't have to do so many things. You don't have to give anything away. You don't have to make any sacrifices
Within the church. I think the hired hand is a lot like what H. Richard Niebuhr describes: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” Church, in this sense, is a social club. When you’re a member, you get to feel good about yourself, but you don’t have to really do anything or believe anything. You get to show up when you want and do what you want.

Now, I think the Good shepherd is good because he also gives us what we want, but he transforms our desires from what is destructive and self-serving to what is constructive and redeeming. The question of obedience is the question of freedom.

This is the heart of the matter? What is freedom? There are a number of versions of freedom offered today. Worldly freedom tells us that we are free when we can make choices. It is the freedom of the grocery store, where I can pick between fifty different kinds of pasta. We feel constricted when we don’t have that level of options. The market decides what we want and the market wants us always to desire more and more and more. The choice view of freedom is unquenchable. this the freedom of the hired hand.

Next to that is the freedom of the Good Shepherd which is the freedom to desire what is good. The freedom to have our desires transformed from destructive to constructive. The freedom to be satisfied and no longer seek the thrill or the next big thing.

If we go back to the supermarket, the freedom to realize that seemingly limitless choices are constrained by a constant need for consumption.

Hearing the shepherd’s voice means being known by God. Being loved by God. Being loved as you are as well as being loved into a new person of transformed desires. Who no longer seeks the hired hand. Who no longer seeks the excitement of the brambles and losing yourself in the moment.

The good shepherd shows us to no longer be afraid of ourself or of spending time with ourself because we know the father, because we are loved.

In all this, it is important to remember that sheep is a metaphor. Shepherd is a metaphor. We have more potential than the virtues of obedience and hairiness. There are also more than one hired hand who vie for our attention. There are more dangers than wolves and more pitfalls than brambles.

In order to hear the voice of the shepherd we have to shut out the cacophony of other voices in this world that fill up our ears. We do that together. We do that by serving together. We do that by worshiping together. We do that by studying the bible together. We do that by consistently worshipping together.

And even then, even when we get stuck in a different sort of brambles, we know our God is a good shepherd and will come to us. Even when those whom we love are stuck in the brambles, we know that the good shepherd will come to them. And sometimes God sends others to us to help us out of the brambles. And sometimes God sends us to other people to bring them back home. In the season of resurrection, be open to God’s call on you. Listen for the voice of the good Shepherd, who already loves you, who has already died for you, who offers you new life this day. Listen to the voice and follow into the freedom of the Lord, where we are not trapped by choices that lead to destruction, but offered the path which leads to life.

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus; the good shepherd, who seeks us before we know him, finds us in our weakness and brokenness, and lifts us up for purpose and love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.


title: Binding the Strongman

themes: spiritual-warfare letter-versus-spirit salvation holy-spirit the-gospel kinship-redefined powers-and-principalities

text:
**Scripture:** Mark 3:20-35; Psalm 138; Isaiah 49:24; Mark 1:24
**Series:** After Pentecost

> Preaching on Mark 3:20-35, this sermon centers on Jesus binding the strong man. Using Lincoln's 'house divided' speech, it argues that the powers of evil are united in purpose while the church often fights itself, and that evil cannot be opposed with half-measures. Salvation is reframed as concrete rescue (a transitive verb) from the powers and principalities, accomplished through forgiveness that challenges structures of debt and authority. Drawing on Ched Myers, the sin against the Holy Spirit is refusing to recognize God's concrete liberation. Jesus redefines kinship around doing God's will rather than blood. The sermon names the many competing authorities (scribal establishment, devils, family, modern voices of insecurity) and asks who the strong men are that need binding in each listener's life, distinguishing genuinely transformative good news from comfortable feel-good news.

**Illustrations:** lincoln-house-divided, gettysburg-address, transitive-intransitive-saves, ice-cream-sinking-ship

---

# June 9
## Binding the Strongman
## Psalm 138
## Mark 3:20-35

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
    for you have exalted your name and your word
    above everything.
On the day I called, you answered me;
    you increased my strength of soul.
All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
    but the haughty he perceives from far away.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
    and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands. - Psalm 138

Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” - Mark 3:20-35

I deeply appreciate the speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln. They offer amazing examples of the power of the English language to communicate thoughts clearly and succinctly. The Gettysburg Address begins with the famous words many of us had to learn as kids.

>Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

In 1858, after accepting the Republican nomination to the presidency.

He said

>If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed -"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

Lincoln’s speeches are always filled with biblical allusions. Here, Lincoln quotes from Mark’s gospel that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
There's an irony in this quotation. It's one of those lines from the King James Bible that has kind of become common discourse. Yet when we read this passage itself, the house that Jesus is talking about is the house of Satan. He's not talking about the Jews. He's not talking about the church.
He's talking about the devil. The devil is not divided in the temptations, the treacheries of this world. Satan cannot cast out Satan. It's a super dense passage in Mark. Mark is definitely the gospel writer most akin to Lincoln in his prose style. Mark's writing is dense. It gets to the point quickly and then moves on to the next topic.

Here, Jesus is trying to defend himself from the accusations of scribes and pharisees that he works for the devil. And he says, “if I cast out a demon, I literally cannot work for the devil.” Then he gives his house divided line.
And what I think we should understand from this is that the powers of evil are not divided against themselves in this world. They are not the ones bickering and fighting. They're not the ones having arguments for 50 years. What does it mean for the church that even the devils are united?

I don’t think Lincoln was being biblically illiterate in quoting the house divided line. The argument he was making at the 1858 convention had to do with the end-goal: what were they working towards? What is the purpose? What is the telos? Slave states were united on their purpose and goal. Their purpose was clear: the perpetuation of slavery. Lincoln’s point was that the people opposed to slavery could not oppose it with half measures. They had to either unite around ending slavery, or they would lose.

When we come back to the Gospels, this is also what Jesus is getting at. We cannot oppose evil with half-measures, just as we can’t accuse every practice that confuses us of being evil.

The accusers themselves become the issue. Jesus flips the situation on his accusers by talking about how you must bind the strong man. Ched Meyers helps me to understand who the strong man is. He writes:

>Jesus a.k.a. the stronger one heralded by John, Mark 1:8 intends to overthrow the reign of the strong man a.k.a. the scribal establishment represented by the demon of Mark 1:24. In this parable the oracle of second Isaiah lives again is making good on the promise liberate the pray of the strong and rescue the captives of the tyrants Isaiah 49:24.[^1].

The captives of the powers and principalities of this world shall be rescued.

Jesus has turned the tables completely upon his opponents: it is they who are outlined against God’s purposes. To be captive to the way things are, to resist criticism and change, to brutally suppress efforts at humanization – is to be bypassed by the grace of God. [^2]

I have been thinking about this language of rescue a lot recently. The biblical language of salvation could often be translated better as rescue. Jesus Saves has been changed from a transitive verb to an intransitive one. This is not the kind of pedantic detail for just english majors or seminary grads.

A transitive verb needs a direct object. An intransitive verb does not. A sentence, Jesus brings, would not be coherent. Brings is a transitive verb: it needs an object. Jesus brings good news works as a sentence. Jesus arrives is coherent. Arrives is intransitive.

If the sentence “Jesus saves” is coherent on its own, we have misread the Gospel. Throughout the New Testament, saves is never an intransitive verb. We are saved from something and for something. There is no general salvation

We are saved from the powers and principalities of this world. This takes place through forgiveness. Forgiveness challenges structures of debt and authority.

Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin

He now deals the final blow to the debt code: blanket, pardon, but there’s one exception: mistaking the work of the Holy Spirit for that of Satan… What is notable is using theology to turn real human liberation into something odious. The real sin against the Holy Spirit is refusing to recognize, with theological joy, some concrete liberation that is taking place before one’s very eyes. [^3]

The sin against the Holy Spirit is not suicide or any other discrete action like that, but the denial of God’s action in the world. The denial of God’s action through the world and denying God’s transformation and liberation in others.

Jesus then strikes out against kinship societies based on blood and family. After his knock down fight with the pharisees and scribes, Mark writes:

>Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

There is not a special place for the parent or sibling of Jesus. Relationships in the kingdom of heaven are based on something other than the circumstances of birth.

It isn’t as flashy a line but it is just as important. The scribes challenge Jesus after his family does. People are talking and the family of Jesus think that he should know that he doesn’t have to be so radical. He doesn’t have to ruffle as many feathers.

It is not out of the blue that Jesus challenges the authority of the family at the end of this passage. In the ancient world, the family was the most important authority to people.

The deep question throughout this passage is one of authority. The scribes offer one sort of authority. The devils offer another. The family can offer another. Jesus posits that there is still another, deeper authority than all of the above.

We are confronted by a tidal wave of competing authorities every day in the modern world. There is no shortage of people who are willing to tell you what is wrong with the world, what is wrong with your life, what is wrong with your body, what is wrong with your family, what is wrong with your kids. Every position of judgement comes with a claim to authority, and there is no shortage of judgment. There is not a safe space apart from the mercy of Jesus. Even our families can serve the strong man. With the best of intentions, our families can keep us from living in to who God has created us to be. Jesus isn’t saying here that family is bad but that it can’t save us.

The strong man in the time of Jesus was the scribal establishment. Mark even connects this authority directly to demon possession in Mark 1:24. There are other strong men who make claims of authority over us today.

And they are united. This the key to the passage. The strong men of the world know what they want. They want you. They want you to feel so insecure you must purchase happiness. They want you to feel so insecure that you give them power and attention.

The point is not for me to name names this day, but for us to look into our hearts in order to discern who the strong men are who are seeking to control us. Who does Jesus need to bind in your life?

The salvation offered by Jesus Christ is a concrete thing. We are rescued from something. We are rescued from self-destruction. We are rescued from the lie that we must save ourselves. We are rescued from the sin which claims us. We are rescued by someone. We do not rescue ourselves. Our leaders don’t rescue us. Our family cannot rescue us. Our family cannot save us. Only Jesus, the son of God, who offered himself fully for us.

Part of the way the strong man works in the world is by teaching us to focus on what we lack. Teaching us to say “if only I had this…if only I made this…if only they did this…”

This focus on lack builds division. Energy is split between the well-intentioned and the good-hearted. We can only confront this lack of focus with something new.

The word Gospel. It comes from the Greek word for Good News or good message. It is a message that is good.

We get lots of news today. Some of us actively seek out nice news. Pleasing news. We get plenty of bad news, can’t we get something that makes us feel good.

Jesus doesn’t give us feel-good news but good news. Feel-good news means we stay in the same place. Feel-good news never ruffles feathers. Feel-good news lets the strong man still rule. Feel-good news tells us not to worry about it. Feel-good news isn’t focused because focus takes energy and time and conversation.

Good news is different. Good news is focused on something truly good and truly new which transforms us, it doesn’t just make us feel good.

What if you were stuck in the middle of the ocean on a sinking ship that was full of Ice Cream. You could eat all the ice cream you want. It would feel good to stuff yourself as the boat went down. But it wouldn’t be good.

The Gospel of Mark cuts to the chase of our reality. There are strong men in this world that need to be bound. There is not a safe place to stand save under the blood of Jesus Christ. Even locations of comfort can be distorted to give us feel-good news and not good news. We need to be rescued, and the only one who can do that is Jesus Christ. Even if you like all the ice cream, you need to get of the boat or you will be destroyed.

Let us step joyfully into the freedom of Christ. Let us call on Jesus to bind the strong man, because Jesus is stronger, his love is purer, is purpose for us is greater.

Who needs to be bound in your life? You don’t need to listen to those voices of destruction anymore.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the freedom you give us in Jesus. Bind for us those strong men that keep us from love. In the name of the father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[^1]: Meyers, 167.
[^2]: Meyers, 167.
[^3]: Meyers, 167.


title: Easter Sunrise Service (Chrysostom Sermon)

themes: resurrection victory-over-death harrowing-of-hell holy-communion grace-not-merit empty-tomb

text:
**Scripture:** Luke 24:1-12; Isaiah 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:55; 1 Corinthians 15:20
**Series:** Easter

> An Easter Sunrise service liturgy centered on the empty-tomb account of Luke 24:1-12 and built around the ancient Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom. The service moves from the new fire and Wesley's hymn 'Christ the Lord Is Risen Today' through the Gospel reading to the Easter Proclamation, which celebrates Christ's victory over death and his harrowing of hell, the welcome of all who come at any hour, and the resurrection as first-fruits of those who have died. It closes with a sending in the power of Christ's resurrection.

**Illustrations:** chrysostom-paschal-homily, workers-of-every-hour, hell-swallows-and-is-overcome, first-fruits-of-the-dead

---

# Easter Sunrise Service
## Full Service
## Crysostom Sermon

Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ our Lord.
My brothers and sisters in Christ:
On this most holy morning
	in which Jesus Christ passed over from death to life,
We gather as the Church to watch and pray.
This is the Passover of Christ,
	in which we share in Christ’s victory over death.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!
	All:  The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia!  Christ is risen!
	All:  The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
	All:  The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Let us Pray
God of life, Through Jesus Christ, You have bestowed upon the world the light of life. Sanctify this new fire, and grant that our hearts and minds may also be kindled with holy desire to shine forth with the brightness of Christ’s rising, that we may attain to the feast of the everlasting light; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

HYMN		Christ the Lord is Risen Today verses 1-3

1 Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

2 Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

3 Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

GOSPEL					 Luke 24:1-12

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the Human One must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words. When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened.

EASTER PROCLAMATION

Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!

Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages!

If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward; If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude join in the Feast! And he that arrived after the sixth hour, let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss. And if any delayed until the ninth hour, let him not hesitate; but let him come too. And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first.

To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows. He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor. The deed He honors and the intention He commends. Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!

First and last alike receive your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together! Sober and slothful, celebrate the day! You that have kept the fast, and you that have not, rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!

Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith. Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it. He destroyed Hell when He descended into it. He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.

Isaiah foretold this when he said, “You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below." Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with. It was in an uproar because it is mocked. It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed. It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated. It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.

Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!

Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ having risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

TIME OF REFLECTION

HYMN verses 4-6

4 Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

5 Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

6 King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

SENDING

We are sent forth in the power of Christ’s resurrection. Alleluia!
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.  Amen.