An Unlike Any Other Rev. Briddell, April 12th, 2020 Easter Sunday at the First United Methodist Church of Eugene ______

SCRIPTURE

Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, , and Mary the mother of James, and bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for of , who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to ; there you will see him, just as he told you.’

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

SERMON

Please pray with me.

God may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be faithful - to who you are, and who you are calling us to be - a people of and life and light. Even in times such as this. It is in your son’s name we pray. Amen.

Mercy, this is an Easter unlike any other.

Now, we are deeply committed to celebrating Easter twice this year. We are celebrating Easter today - which our calendars tell us is a good and right thing to do.

But whenever it is we are able to gather again here at 1376 Olive Street - that first Sunday back - we will have an all-church worship service and celebrate Easter again.

The Easter bunny will probably have visited too.

This pandemic may have tried to take Easter from us - but in response - we are going to celebrate Easter twice, Amen?

Amen, friends.

So thinking about this morning’s Easter worship service, reading through the various accounts of the resurrection, it was the of Mark’s account of the resurrection that I wanted to focus on here this morning.

Mark’s account, is the one with the most uncertainty and mystery. If nothing else, this season we are in feels mighty uncertain and mysterious. I think Mark’s Gospel has a word for us this morning.

It starts in a powerful way - Mary, Mary and Salome - three disciples of Jesus - all faithful members of their Jewish communities and culture - important to remember that Jesus was Jewish, at this point most of Jesus disciples would have been Jewish.

And there were all manner of burial rites and rituals that were demanded by Jewish custom, that the disciples wanted to make sure that Jesus experienced those.

Jesus was crucified on a Friday - the disciples rested through their observance of the Jewish Sabbath - and then first thing Sunday morning, the text tells us… Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, and headed out for the tomb so that they could anoint Jesus’ body.

But Mary, Mary and Salome were savy and logistics minded - they knew that the tomb had been sealed up - and so they were discussing along the way - ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ 1

They get to the tomb, and stop in their tracks. We can imagine that their jaws dropped. They arrived and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. There were a couple of possibilities for what could have been waiting for them - the least likely option was that things would be as they should…

It was possible that in wanting to add to Jesus disgrace, the tomb and/or body could have been desecrated or stolen away.

Mary, Mary and Salome bravely press on they enter the tomb, and they see a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting where Jesus body should have been.

The text says “they’re alarmed.”

Yeah, probably an understatement.

The young man says to them ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

I think of Mary, Mary and Salome running with us right now, in this season when so many people are anxious and afraid.

Matthew, Luke and John of course give us more of the story - we know that Mary, Mary and Salome overcome their fears and share the good news, that is risen - and that is our challenge as well - to rise above fear and anxiety.

But today - in this season - they are running with us - figuring out what to do - taking comfort in their friendship and for each other. Carrying resurrection - carrying Easter - with them away from the tomb and out into the world.

2 How will you take Easter out into the world? How will you take light and life out into the world?

Leaders from across our region have helped us prepare some Easter worship material for us - we will be sharing that periodically all day on our website and various social media platforms. But let’s take a moment now to hear a good word from our Bishop - Rev. Elaine Stanovsky. She offers some insights, based on how of Matthew describes the resurrection…

[video available at www.EugeneFUC.org/worship]

Thank you so much, Bishop Stanovsky.

That was just an excerpt, we will post her full reflections to our website and social media later today.

One observation from that excerpt that really struck me - Bishop Stanovsky shared that “the story of life, passed on from person to person, takes its roots in us.”

That is what Mary, Mary and Salome were doing that morning - when they fled away from the . They started that process, of passing on from generation to generation, person to person, stories of light and life and resurrection.

Their story passed on and passed on, until it reaches us right here and right now.

How will you continue to pass the story along? How will you take Easter out into the world? How will you take light and life and joy out into the world?

The joy of this day is going to take us right into our next sermon series - our theme these next weeks will be “Finding Joy.”

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Finding joy in creation, finding joy in the golden rule, finding joy in true wealth, we are going to be exploring what our faith, scripture and tradition have to teaches us about living well and experiencing real joy.

This seemed like the right season, to spend some work on joy.

Pastor Jessie is going to help us kick off this sermon series next week to plan to tune back in for that. Very timely - next week she will be exploring what it means to find joy in our creation - as we approach Earth Day - I think it is really interesting to consider the significance of Earth Day and our call to care for our creation - in the midst of this season where the world is dealing with this public health crisis.

So please, tune in next week for a good and hopeful word from Pastor Jessie as we get this next worship series started - Finding Joy.

I’ve been finding some joy these past few weeks…. Lots of time with Raymie and our kids of course.

But this season has not been without some pain.

Thank you for sharing your joys and concerns in the video comments this morning - we will be keeping you and yours in prayer.

I would ask that you keep the family and friends of Alahmir Gutierrez in your prayers.

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I worked with Alahmir what feels like a lifetime ago, when I was working in government for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee back in Washington, DC. Alahmir was an intern in our office, and was beloved for his positivity and passion for education and youth mentoring.

He wanted desperately to be a teacher. When I first met Alahmir, he had been competing in StrongMan competitions. He chaperoned me at my first DC United Soccer Game.

He died on March 29th. He had long suffered with seizures and other health complications. He suffered, and the cumulative weight of that suffering and all his body had been through - it couldn’t go through any more.

I am so grateful he isn’t suffering anymore.

But he was young. Younger than me, that’s for sure.

I talked with his mom a bit through this season. Her faith, friends and family are sustaining her.

But it isn’t possible to plan funerals right now.

I’m reminded - that when you open up our Book of Worship, there isn’t a section called “funerals.” There IS a section, called “services of death and resurrection.”

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Without this morning’s story from Mark, or the other stories from Luke, Matthew and John, we might just have to resign to our mourning.

But because of the victory won some two thousand years ago, a victory we celebrate this morning, we are free to celebrate the lives of the people who matter to us.

Because we know death does not get the last word.

God’s love and grace are stronger than death.

God’s love and grace get the last word.

And the proof of God’s love and grace? The empty tomb.

But it is all quite hard. It can all be quite scary.

Thank God we are not alone. Thank God that the worst thing, is never the last thing.

This is a season when we need reminding, that sin and death have lost their power, and cannot hope to stand up to the power and promise of resurrection.

How will you take Easter out into the world? How will you take light and life and joy out into the world?

So many of you are doing that - you are sending cards - you are making phone calls - you are reminding people that though they may be staying home and social distancing - they remain a part of a community - though we are lonely, we are not alone.

We want to keep helping with that work - we want to keep continuing to connect us during this time - we want to continue with our life transforming ministry here in the community.

To do that, we need your support.

Let’s hear another word from our Bishop, Rev. Elaine Stanovsky…

6 [video available at www.EugeneFUC.org/worship]

Thank you Bishop Stanovsky.

You can give to support this church, your church, by making a safe and secure contribution via our website, and we will work to get that website address onto the bottom of our screen here, and we will include the link in the comments in the video.

How will you take Easter out into the world? How will you take light and life and joy out into the world?

There is a temptation right now, to think you are powerless.

You are not powerless. You have power. You have an opportunity. In this season, when so many people are surrounded by fear and anxiety. We all have the power, to help someone else, not feel so alone.

Take the story of Easter out into this world.

Smile and share joy. Stay home, and protect your neighbor. But then give that neighbor a call. Write that neighbor a letter. Wave at that neighbor from across the street or across your driveway.

That is you sharing light. That is you sharing love. That is you sharing Easter. That is you not giving up.

Not giving in to a story that would encourage you to just “get what is yours.” Don’t give in to the story, that there are some people less precious than others. Don’t give in to the story, that profit is more important than kindness; or that war is necessary to achieve peace.

Instead, carry on the Easter story.

That sin and death have exactly as much power as we choose to give them.

7 Pass it on, from generation to generation. That God gets the last word - and that last word is that you are loved. That you are surrounded by grace. That our God is a God of second chances, third chances, fourth chances…

We are no longer slaves to fear, we are children of God, children of resurrection, children of light, children of love.

I give thanks to our musicians, who have helped us prepare this arrangement of “No Longer a Slave” - let’s take a listen together…

Find our complete worship service, at www.EugeneFUMC.org/worship.

8 Sermon Notes

And your church is trying to help with that - we are organizing volunteers to help us make phone calls and send cards - checking in with people.

So if you aren’t sure who to call - well we can really help with that - we have got folk for you to call - we have folk for you to help us send cards to - so please if you want to help be an incredible blessing to someone else, in this anxious and lonely time - let us know in the comments below this video - and when we post this on the website we will include a link for you to indicate your willingness to help us stay connected together as a community.

- Next sermon series - Defense of the resurrection

Liar, mad, or telling the truth Narnia / Thursday morning

- Alahmir - Covid - Bishop’s message - Bishop’s giving invitation

Giving is also easy to do online - I was able to give our family’s monthly pledge this morning, via a secure donation on your church website - just go to www.EugeneFUMC.org and click on ​ ​ the donate button in the upper right corner.

New life, is the promise of discipleship. 9

New life, is the promise waiting for us all.

New life is the promise waiting for you.

We finish the Easter story.

Pain in the world - God gave us free will - our choices matter - that is amazing when we choose well. It can be tragic when we choose poorly. And that is why forgiveness has to be at the center of who we are. Because we all make bad choices.

Easter is a day to ask whether we want to believe in miracles.

I have gotten to have lots of conversations about faith with people in our community, and I often hear sentiments like “well, I don’t believe that.” “Jesus is great, but I don’t believe in a literal resurrection.”

Jesus’ words at the were shocking to those in attendance. His words can seem familiar, even comforting to us because we hear these words every time we have communion. But at the moment of their utterance, they were anything but “usual.”

This week, we enter the scene of that last supper long enough to get a grasp of the shock that would have rippled through Jesus’ friends. Partaking of body and blood? Not kosher! A “Lord” washing feet like a servant? Unbelievable! Breaking bread with the enemy? What?! But Jesus knew his time was up. And it was time for the disciples to get the message, even if it came in a shocking way: love one another as I have loved you— by serving, forgiving, freeing, communing—becoming one with—God.

Liturgical theologian Aidan Kavanagh once wrote, “Symbols, being roomy, allow many different people to put them on, so to speak, in different ways. Signs do not. Signs are unambiguous because they exist to give precise information. Symbols coax one into a swamp of meaning and require one to frolic in it” (pg. 5). The last supper is full of symbols and

10 meaning in which the preacher might frolic. One question the preacher might explore: how does a meal become a symbol? How did this meal become a ritual practice?

Whether this meal was celebrated the night of or the night before, it would have been saturated with tradition and meaning. The commentary points out, “Meals in antiquity were what anthropologists call ‘ceremonies.' Unlike ‘rituals,’ which confirm a change of status, ceremonies are regular, predictable events in which roles and statuses in a community are affirmed or legitimated. In other words, the microcosm of the meal is parallel to the macrocosm of everyday social relations” (Kindle Locations 2248-2250). Seating arrangements and food served would indicate social status and honor. A lot of these rules and traditions would come from Greco-Roman dining culture and they would have been layered with Jewish prayers and washing rituals.

Jesus often shocked his followers by practicing an inclusive table fellowship. In fact, he challenged common meal practice in a lot of ways throughout the . But this night of the last supper, he dines with his closet friends. So what is extraordinary about this supper? What moves us? Jesus adds yet another layer of meaning when he takes the bread and cup saying, “this is my body.” Levine reminds us, “If we take the for granted, if we take Communion as simply a form of dinner, then we miss the shock. Jesus is giving up his life, and he wants that to be remembered. He is allowing his body to be broken, and he wants that to be remembered” (pg. 121).

The bread and cup, like the perfume in the week prior, help us to remember. The taste, texture, and smell help us to connect to the story of our Christian faith. If you’ve been working with Dr. McFee’s materials for a long time or even if you are new, you will notice the worship is sensory-rich. It can be difficult to think about the sermon as anything but words for hearing, and it can be difficult to think of things like bread as “preaching.” Maybe in this sermon, you can help your congregation understand how things like bread and wine proclaim the Gospel. As the says, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim 's death ​ ​ until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

In her book about the Passion, Amy-Jill Levine says this about Jesus’ act of washing the disciples feet: “To be a servant leader, to take on the role of a slave, also means to take on the role of freeing others—not only from sin but also from bondage.” Washing others’ feet may seem shocking to us, but more out of a disdain for feet rather than the real reason it was shocking to those first disciples. Jesus’ stature as the Master Teacher and honored guest made

11 him first in line to be served—certainly not to be the servant. But if the disciples had been paying attention, they would have heard Jesus’ own proclamation of his call—to free those held captive, especially the least among society. In taking the place of a slave, he shows forth the fulfillment of this role, one that will be further fulfilled in dying as a common criminal.

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