A Feast of Rich Food - a sermon for the Holy Pascha (commonly known as Easter)

A Sermon for the Holy Pascha / Resurrection Sunday (RCL B) 4-8-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 188:1-2, 12-24; Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18

Title:               A Feast of Rich Food

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

And so we have finally come to this festival day of joy and light and hope. Our long Lenten season of discipline is over, and now the season of celebration begins!

Last night, at our wonderful and interesting Vigil liturgy which marked the turning point and the beginning of our festival, we baptized our newest sister in Christ – Chelsea Ann Baumiller. And immediately after this, just as the Church prays for every newly baptized Christian, so I offered a prayer over Chelsea which ends with this petition:

“Give her an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”

My dear friends: if we are willing to receive them, these are the gifts that are offered to every one of us once again on this blessed morning:

·        An inquiring and discerning heart

·        The courage to will and to persevere

·        A spirit to know and to love God

·        The gift of joy and wonder in all the works of God!

For it is truly a gift to be able to find joy and to feel wonder at all the amazing things in creation.

Have you ever seen people running through a parking lot when it begins to rain?

They’re trying to get under cover as soon as possible, so that they can stay dry, right?

This feast, this celebration which we will carry with us now, this is all about stopping in the midst of the rainstorm and letting yourself become soaked!

Here is your challenge, here is your call: my friends, let yourself become soaked with God!

Do not run through life so quickly that you are dodging all of the raindrops!

Stop, and let the love and beauty and grace and majesty of God to soak you down to the bone.

No, even deeper than that. All the way down to the core of your being.

Then you will understand about the gift of joy and wonder in all the works of God!

Do you know someone like that? Someone who has that gift of joy and wonder?

There is a famous story told about St. Francis of Assisi, the little Povorello.

It is said that one night he was walking through the streets of his home city, the city of Assisi up in the hills of Umbria in Italy, when he noticed that the full moon was shining down with incredible brightness.

But what amazed St. Francis even more was that no one else in the city seemed to notice this at all! Everyone was going about their late-night chores or whatever activities demanded their attention. But no one paid any notice to this amazing moon!

So do you know what he did? It is said that St. Francis then climbed up the steeple of the large church there on the central square in Assisi. He grabbed the ropes – think of the hunchback of Notre Dame! – and he began to ring all the church bells. That got everyone’s attention!

The bells were run only to announce the start of mass or if there was a news-worthy event that needed to be announced, such as the start of a war or the death of a Pope. So the people ran out into the square, eager to hear the important news. And there was the little St. Francis, small in stature but giant in soul and bright in face, leaning out a window high up on the steeple, pointing up at the moon and saying to the people: “Look, look! The moon is incredibly brilliant tonight!”   

Lots of people thought he was mad. Crazy. But was he mad, a little bit loony? Or were they?

Let me suggest to you that we are all a bit mad and a bit loony! Every single one of us.

But, we are crazy for different things!

Some are crazy about money, and they are convinced that wealth will make them happy – even though all of the evidence shows this to be patently false.

Some are crazy about health, and they will do everything they can to stay and look young for as long as possible – even though we all know that old age and illness and death are inevitable.

Some are crazy about success, and they will spend every waking moment ensuring that they – or their children – outperform their competition – even though we know that there is always someone better or stronger or smarter than you.

Some are crazy about their country, and they live and breathe with patriotic fervor – even though we all know that no nation lasts forever, and that human societies come and go with the passing of time.

But there are some who are crazy about God, and these ones are soaked through and through with joy and wonder at the goodness of God and the beauty of God’s world.

There are some, like St. Francis, who are not blinded by the silly notions of human society.

These are the ones who notice the brilliance of the moonlight, who join with the singing of the birds, who give thanks for a simple meal with friends, who find joy in the laughter of children.

There is an ancient story from the deserts of Egypt that goes like this.

A man came to visit a wise elder named Joseph in order to ask for some advice in his relationship with God. The man said to Joseph: “Father, as much as I can I say my daily prayers, I fast a little bit, I meditate a little, I live in peace with others, and as far as I can, I try to keep my thoughts clean. What else can I do?”

Do you see? This visitor had a nice little religious life – a little bit of prayer, a little meditation, a peaceful place to live, some effort to think good thoughts.  But it wasn’t enough.

Is there any more than this?  That was his question to Joseph. Is this all there is?

The wise elder, Joseph, stood up then and stretched out his hands toward the heavens.

And his fingers became 10 flames of shooting fire.

And he said to his visitor: “If you want, you can become all flame!”

(The Sayings of the Desert Fathers by Benedicta Ward, P.103).  

There is more, my friends! There is much more. There is resurrection power.

And if you want it, then you can become a living flame!

If you want, you can become soaked with God.  

Not by doubling-down and working at it as hard as you can.

That is not the way to have your heart transformed by grace. The soul needs quiet to grow.

You become soaked with God, we become completely on fire with the love of God, only when we slow down, stop the noise around us and within us, and open ourselves to that grace.

Like the opening of a tulip flower in the warmth of the early morning sunshine.

Let your soul be like that flower as you soak up the love and mercy and grace of God that pours upon us through our Lord who lives today.

You are here this morning, and we have been invited to this feast of God.

So take a deep breath and celebrate!

If you have anything in your hands, please put it down. Stretch out those fingers. Open your palms up.

Do you know that God is good? Then let’s give God a round of applause. (Clap your hands, for real!)

Praise God, because our Lord Jesus is alive, and that same power which raised him from the dead can transform your heart and your life! If you want it.  Amen.  

Paschal Sermon: Who Ate and Drank With Him

Sermon for Pascha Morning 4/4/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18

Title: Who Ate and Drank with Him

My brothers and sisters, it is so good to hear that I want us to say it again: Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This is our feast, this is your feast. All of you are welcome to feast with the Lord today. Whether you have joined in all our services and acts of preparation during Lent and Holy Week, or whether you only enter into this house of prayer on this day and at Christmas, none of that matters today. Whether you have fasted during Lent or have lived life as normal, forget about that today. For this is your feast! Let us all celebrate and rejoice.

For this is the day when the entire creation is made new. When the true Passover lamb, sacrificed on behalf of all humanity, has himself passed over from death into new and everlasting life.

And so we sing, Alleluia!

My dear friends: Jesus is alive! God is at work today in this world, in our lives!

But, however, …it’s not always easy to see this. Often it can be quite difficult to sing Alleluia. I can understand why the cynics doubt the reality of God at work in the world today. There are so many horrible, discouraging, painful things that happen every day.

But, at the same time, like small seeds that are springing up out of the dark soil, there are so many signs of this new life and hope even in the midst of this world of suffering.

Just last week, I read about a remarkable little incident that occurred at St. Paul’s Church just up the road a bit in Camden. As heavy snow was falling back on Saturday, February 6th (do you remember all that snow, by the way?!), Father Martin received a phone call from the Vicar of St. Stephen’s Church in Mullica Hill. Her parish was scheduled to come up to St. Paul’s the next day to supply and to serve their weekly Sunday night supper for the homeless and all who wish to attend. But, due to the 28 inches of snow that was falling over the weekend, she was sorry to say that her parish would not be able to assemble for this task. So Father Martin began thinking of a back-up plan. Snow or no snow, the hungry need to be fed! However, in less than a half-hour, before he had even put down his reading and gotten out of his chair, he received another phone call. This one was from the wife of the rector at Holy Trinity Church in Collingswood. It seems that they had a funeral at Holy Trinity Church that same Saturday morning, and since the snow was falling so strongly, very few people had attended. The family of the deceased had pre-ordered a catered meal for about 90 people and now they did not know what to do with all this food! So, on Sunday afternoon, the catered food from Collingswood was brought over and it fed all 96 people who showed that night for St. Paul’s Sunday night supper.

Was this a miracle? Not exactly. It is simply the way that God has always worked, and the way that God continues to work. God is simply full of surprises.

Of course, this entire story of Jesus’ resurrection was a complete surprise! Even those closest to Jesus did not expect it: Mary Magdalene, Peter, the other beloved disciple.

What is it that Peter preaches after the resurrection?

“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day.”

They meant it for evil; but God was able to bring good out of it. It looked like a horrible tragedy; but God turned it into the most beautiful and glorious good!

This is good news. But here is another surprise. Peter continues his preaching and says: “We are the ones who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Think about that statement: after he rose from the dead, we got together and ate dinner and drank some wine together! What?! That doesn’t sound like some kind of ghost, at all, does it? It sounds like a real-live flesh and blood person, a real man.

And now I’ll let you in on a secret: we’re still doing this! Here is the greatest surprise yet: we continue to eat and drink with this very same living Jesus all the time. He is risen, and through the Holy Spirit, he lives in our midst today. In fact, he is the meal himself!

No one in their right mind could have ever predicted this course of history. The Word made flesh broken on the cross, but raised again and given to us so that you and I might be transformed and made new. So that we might live as his body in the world, continuing to go about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil. So that we might continue his ministry in this world. This God is certainly full of surprises!

In your bulletin, it states that in just a few minutes we will say together the Nicene Creed. But that is a mistake. There will be a small change in the program. On this morning, all the entire Church throughout the world celebrates together the precious gift of our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. And so together, we too will renew our baptismal vows (and we will bless water for the font as a tangible sign of our baptism.)

When we enter into this house of prayer (St. Luke’s - When we come forward to this Altar), many among us will touch the water and will cross ourselves. Why do we do this? It is simply one way to remind ourselves of our true identity, to remember who we are.

Once, each one of us was baptized with water and chrismated with oil in order to mark us forever as members of Christ. Adopted forever, and unless we choose to walk away, never to be thrown out or rejected. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This good news is meant for the entire world, but as Peter says, we are ones chosen by God to be witnesses to the truth. We are ones blessed to eat and drink with Christ now. We are ones who are so privileged to know him, to trust him, to love him, to live in his constant presence.

Praise be to God for the awesome power revealed on this day in the resurrection of Christ. On this day the Lord has acted; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.