Easter Sunday Year C
Luke 24:1-12
Jerry Cappel
Practice Resurrection
I meet with some fellow priests each Wednesday morning over coffee. It is called a “sermon preparation” group. And we are that, from time to time when we do not get distracted by other church business. Anyway, we met last week and actually did discuss sermons, partly because, I think, of the fact that this upcoming Sunday was Easter. It seemed to be the consensus at the table that Easter was one of the toughest Sundays to preach – not just because it was the “big Sunday” and had all the big expectations around it, but because resurrection itself was hard to preach. It is certainly true that resurrection is hard to grasp. Crosses we can pick up. But resurrections are a whole other matter. Those are kind of hard to control or measure. We can turn it into song, we can encounter it in ritual and worship, but it is kind of hard to do anything about it. It is fun for Easter and its good stuff for funerals. It makes for great music and gives confidence and hope after death. But what about after church? What about at home and at work? How do I take it with me?
Then I ran across this from a sign in an Irish pub:
“St. Patrick’s Day: One day a year; 364 days to practice.”
Now that’s useful – and its really not so far off to apply that to Easter. Easter for the church (like St. Patrick’s day for an Irish pub) is the central event of our faith and the center of our church calendar. All other events in the church year are built upon Easter. Each Sunday is a “little Easter.” And then I thought of a poem written by Wendell Berry (the farmer/poet/author/activist/curmudgeon) who used the phrase, “practice resurrection.” And I thought – that’s it! Easter Sunday: One day a year, 364 days to practice. We don’t need to wait till we die for resurrection to happen. We don’t need to wait for funerals to talk about resurrection. It is something we can practice. Let me read some of the poem to you:
Luke 24:1-12
Jerry Cappel
Practice Resurrection
I meet with some fellow priests each Wednesday morning over coffee. It is called a “sermon preparation” group. And we are that, from time to time when we do not get distracted by other church business. Anyway, we met last week and actually did discuss sermons, partly because, I think, of the fact that this upcoming Sunday was Easter. It seemed to be the consensus at the table that Easter was one of the toughest Sundays to preach – not just because it was the “big Sunday” and had all the big expectations around it, but because resurrection itself was hard to preach. It is certainly true that resurrection is hard to grasp. Crosses we can pick up. But resurrections are a whole other matter. Those are kind of hard to control or measure. We can turn it into song, we can encounter it in ritual and worship, but it is kind of hard to do anything about it. It is fun for Easter and its good stuff for funerals. It makes for great music and gives confidence and hope after death. But what about after church? What about at home and at work? How do I take it with me?
Then I ran across this from a sign in an Irish pub:
“St. Patrick’s Day: One day a year; 364 days to practice.”
Now that’s useful – and its really not so far off to apply that to Easter. Easter for the church (like St. Patrick’s day for an Irish pub) is the central event of our faith and the center of our church calendar. All other events in the church year are built upon Easter. Each Sunday is a “little Easter.” And then I thought of a poem written by Wendell Berry (the farmer/poet/author/activist/curmudgeon) who used the phrase, “practice resurrection.” And I thought – that’s it! Easter Sunday: One day a year, 364 days to practice. We don’t need to wait till we die for resurrection to happen. We don’t need to wait for funerals to talk about resurrection. It is something we can practice. Let me read some of the poem to you:
An excerpt from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry. . . . . . . . .
So, friends, every day do somethingthat won't compute.
Love the Lord.Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.Love someone who does not deserve it.
Give your approval to all you cannotunderstand.
Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit.
Prophesy such returns. Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. . .. . . .
As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it.
Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Do that which does not compute. Now there is a description of the life of Jesus.
Resurrection Economics
Jesus spent his days doing things that just did not compute (in an earthly sense). And when all those actions that did not add up led to a cross – God put his seal of approval on all those choices with the stamp of an empty tomb. Jesus was already practicing resurrection when he aligned himself with simple fishermen, and made them the stewards of his gospel. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he chose to hang out with the poor and the outcasts, the sick and the sinners. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he forcefully spoke the truth, even when it offended people of power and influence. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he when told a rich young ruler to sell all he had, when he defended the adulteress and condemned the self-righteous. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he touched the lepers, touched the dead, and touched the bleeding woman. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he called on his disciples to put away their swords and take up their crosses.
We practice resurrection when we say no to those like Pontius Pilate who was sure that real power lay in the power of the state and sword. We practice resurrection when we say no to Judas, who cared more about money than about the message of Jesus. You practice resurrection when you step away from the crowds who want to keep you in your place, who want to keep you in line, and want to keep you earthbound to bread and their social expectations.
Do that which does not compute. Now there is a description of the life of Jesus.
Resurrection Economics
Jesus spent his days doing things that just did not compute (in an earthly sense). And when all those actions that did not add up led to a cross – God put his seal of approval on all those choices with the stamp of an empty tomb. Jesus was already practicing resurrection when he aligned himself with simple fishermen, and made them the stewards of his gospel. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he chose to hang out with the poor and the outcasts, the sick and the sinners. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he forcefully spoke the truth, even when it offended people of power and influence. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he when told a rich young ruler to sell all he had, when he defended the adulteress and condemned the self-righteous. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he touched the lepers, touched the dead, and touched the bleeding woman. Jesus was practicing resurrection when he called on his disciples to put away their swords and take up their crosses.
We practice resurrection when we say no to those like Pontius Pilate who was sure that real power lay in the power of the state and sword. We practice resurrection when we say no to Judas, who cared more about money than about the message of Jesus. You practice resurrection when you step away from the crowds who want to keep you in your place, who want to keep you in line, and want to keep you earthbound to bread and their social expectations.
Practicing resurrection is to avoid the trap of the religious leaders for whom their religious heritage was paramount, even if it meant sacrificing one of their own. It is to anoint the feet of Jesus with oil that cost a year’s worth of wages (as Mary did). It is to climb a tree as an adult and then give half your money away (as Zacheaus did). It is to defy the crowds and reach out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment (as the bleeding woman did), or to defy the crowds and keep yelling out to Jesus for mercy (as the blind man did), or to defy the crowds and sit on Jesus’ lap (as the children did). It is to turn the other cheek when everyone is telling you to strike back. It is to go a second mile when everyone already thinks you are acting like a doormat. It is to sell all you have to buy a field with a pearl in it that no one else sees. It is to believe in small things like mustard seeds and to believe that the poor and the mournful are blessed. It is to let yourself be forgiven even though you have just ruined much of your family’s life. It is to forgive the one who has so deeply wronged you. That was the path to that empty tomb with the rolled away stone.
The Rolled Away Stone
Let me share with you one more nugget from our Wednesday coffee. The story this morning tells of the stone rolled away from the tomb. Do you know why that stone was rolled away? The Dean (Mark Bourlakakas) said– you know, the stone was not rolled to let Jesus out of the tomb. He did not need that stone rolled away. With his resurrected body he just appeared and disappeared right through the walls. It was rolled away to let us in. It was rolled away so that we could see. That is why the tomb is open. So we might get in there and encounter resurrection. To get us past the mundane and the earthbound. To get us past valuing only that which we can see and measure and control. To help get us past the lies that the world tells us. To help us get past our fear of being alone and our fear of death. To point us to a path – the path of resurrection that Jesus pioneered for us. To give us the hope we need to enable us to practice resurrection.
Community of Practice
There are what are called “communities of practice.” Most professions have them. You cannot practice medicine outside of the medical community. The medical community creates the schools, does the research, writes the journals and controls the training of practitioners. You cannot practice medicine without peer review, keeping up with the journals, and submitting yourself to the oversite of the medical community. The same is true in law, or engineering and a number of other fields of practice. In the case of our church, we practice resurrection. But to practice resurrection means we have to encounter it in worship and in the lives of others. It means we work at it over time with the help of good teachers, fellow saints, committed relationships and good council. When we do the things Jesus did and we keep at it day after day, and we keep doing those things- prayer, worship, feeding the hungry, forgiving and receiving forgiveness, loving the least of these, etc. - and we do these things under the tutelage of the saints, teachers, writers, and pastors from across time and around the globe, then we will become competent in seeing the Risen Lord and following him. It is in the practices that we will see him and know him.”
So, Happy Easter! One Sunday a year – 364 to practice.
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!
The Rolled Away Stone
Let me share with you one more nugget from our Wednesday coffee. The story this morning tells of the stone rolled away from the tomb. Do you know why that stone was rolled away? The Dean (Mark Bourlakakas) said– you know, the stone was not rolled to let Jesus out of the tomb. He did not need that stone rolled away. With his resurrected body he just appeared and disappeared right through the walls. It was rolled away to let us in. It was rolled away so that we could see. That is why the tomb is open. So we might get in there and encounter resurrection. To get us past the mundane and the earthbound. To get us past valuing only that which we can see and measure and control. To help get us past the lies that the world tells us. To help us get past our fear of being alone and our fear of death. To point us to a path – the path of resurrection that Jesus pioneered for us. To give us the hope we need to enable us to practice resurrection.
Community of Practice
There are what are called “communities of practice.” Most professions have them. You cannot practice medicine outside of the medical community. The medical community creates the schools, does the research, writes the journals and controls the training of practitioners. You cannot practice medicine without peer review, keeping up with the journals, and submitting yourself to the oversite of the medical community. The same is true in law, or engineering and a number of other fields of practice. In the case of our church, we practice resurrection. But to practice resurrection means we have to encounter it in worship and in the lives of others. It means we work at it over time with the help of good teachers, fellow saints, committed relationships and good council. When we do the things Jesus did and we keep at it day after day, and we keep doing those things- prayer, worship, feeding the hungry, forgiving and receiving forgiveness, loving the least of these, etc. - and we do these things under the tutelage of the saints, teachers, writers, and pastors from across time and around the globe, then we will become competent in seeing the Risen Lord and following him. It is in the practices that we will see him and know him.”
So, Happy Easter! One Sunday a year – 364 to practice.
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!
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