Resurrection & New Life: A Good Friday Homily

image found at:  http://poeticmindstate.com/tag/poems/

Rev. Mike Rayson, a United Methodist pastor here in Illinois is giving this homily today at Westminster Abbey in London as a guest preacher.  He has agreed to share his message here as part of my guest blog series on Resurrection and New Life!  (Thanks Mike!)  You can find out more about Mike, his wife, and their ministry by clicking here:  http://stpaulumcbrighton.blogspot.com/

A Good Friday Homily by Rev. Mike Rayson

Grace and peace from the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, our Bishop Gregory Palmer, and from the good people of St Paul’s congregation  in Brighton Illinois, where I am currently appointed to serve together with my wife, the Reverend Amy Rayson, and our children Laura and Oliver.

Since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, it has become for us the bearer of good news and of bad.  Serving a vibrant and growing congregation means that the phone in my home rings several times each day.  A church member who wants a friendly chat… A troubled soul seeking guidance… A local needing assistance with food… and sometimes news of illness, hospital admission, and even death.

It was the ringing of a phone one Monday morning in May 2007 that brought such news to my family.  I’m sorry… your son, 11 year old Samuel, has been tragically killed.  It was the beginning of a lifelong journey of pain for me, a truly Psalm 23 experience of moving through the valley of the shadow of death. 

They say a clergyperson shouldn’t officiate at the funeral of a family member… but for me, as Sam’s dad, I knew I must.  He was my son, and as I had served him in his life, so to I would serve him in his death. 

The most harrowing and traumatic moment of my whole life happened that day.  Not when I gave the eulogy… led the gathered faithful in prayer… or read from Matthew’s gospel of the one sheep who wandered away… but when I, as pastor and as daddy placed my hands upon the body of my child and recited the words…

Almighty God, into your hands we commend your son, my son, Samuel Thomas William Rayson.  Born March 28th 1996 in Port Lincoln South Australia, died May 14th 2007 in Geneseo, Illinois.  This body we commit to the flames.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust 

Nothing ever prepares a parent to bear the death of their child.  We use the word widow for one who loses a partner… orphan for those who have lost their parents… yet our English language does not provide a word for a parent who must live and grieve for their child.

Nothing could have prepared Mary, the Mother of Jesus, for this.  No broad shouldered support she received from the disciple John at the foot of the cross could have made the events of that terrible day in Jerusalem any easier to bear, as she watched her son put to death at the hands of a blind regime who wanted to hold fast to their religious power and authority.

In the heat of the afternoon on a hill of shame, a mother watched.  Whilst the world cursed and crucified the babe she had nursed at her breast, a mother grieved.  As the boy who had played at the feet of his mom was tortured and terrorized, scorned and shamed, despised and denied - the light that shone in a mothers proud eyes was extinguished, leaving in its place a wounded and suffering woman.

In the death of Christ, God Almighty embraced everything Mary experienced - the worst that we could ever experience; throwing his arms around our lost-ness, our shame, our sin, our alienation, and our pain… all the while whispering a simple word…

No… No… NO…

For this son of man, sent by God, truly God, came to seek and to save the lost, to embrace the darkness with the light of life… to redeem the tears of a woman whose heart had shattered at the vision of her son’s death.  ‘No’ cried God – this was not how it was meant to be for her, or for us.

In the words of theologian Dr. C Baxter Kruger, “there on the cross, he penetrated the last stronghold of darkness.  There he walked into the utter depths of our alienation.  There the intolerable No!, shouted by God the Father at the Fall of Adam, found its true fulfillment in Jesus' Yes!  "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit," as he took his final step into Adam's disaster.  Jesus died–and the Fall of Adam died with him”.

As a Dad, grieving for a little boy, my tears have truly fallen… leaning on the arms of her son’s beloved disciple, the tears of Mary, the mother of God must have fallen… and I know your tears too have fallen in the presence of death as you have encountered it.

For it is the thief says Jesus, who comes only to steal and kill and destroy;yet it is in the cross, underscored by what C.S Lewis’ referred to as ‘the deeper magic’, that Jesus has gathered back the tears the thief has stolen from us, and proclaimed that we are made for something beyond than the cold hands of death.  Something more than mere extinction or annihilation.  Something above the hands of time.  We are made for life and life more abundantly.

And so it is we wait… silently, painfully, expectantly… for that Sunday bloom of sheer grace and liberating life to rain again upon our broken and weary souls.  For as sure as the sun will rise on the dawn of tomorrow and as certain as the daffodils bloom each February and March, so death will NOT have the last word. 

Not for Mary, not for me, and most assuredly not for anyone who trusts in the one who died for us all.

Resurrection & New Life: Christ At Your Feet

image found at:  http://www.fwb21.com/2011/04/20/ministry-wednesday-feet-washing/

Scripture:  John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Let's focus on just one piece of this scripture:
  “No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!”
   Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.”
  Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”
  Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.”

Peter has an interesting reaction to Jesus, in this scripture, doesn't he?  He first refutes Jesus, right?  Jesus goes to wash Peter's feet and Peter says, "No way!"  Then Jesus tells that he must wash Peter's feet and Peter wants more than Jesus offers.

It seems to me that a follower is pretty full of himself if he orders his leader around like Peter seems to do.  I wonder how we respond when we see Christ at work in this world.  Do we act like Peter or do we participate with Christ in the work He plans to do???   I mean, when we see the chaos of a soup kitchen do we accept that Christ is doing that work?  When we watch children at play do we really believe that Christ is shaping those lives?

First Peter denied Christ his chosen activity and then asked for more than Christ was offering.  Do we do this today?  Do we ignore Christ when it suits us (yes, the homeless man invisibly sleeping in a drainage ditch across town) and yet ask why God isn't doing more to fix our world?

If we learn nothing else from Jesus' teachings, we should at least know that Christ placed a high value on humanity.  Jesus came to life, did ministry, and died on the cross not because of how little God valued humanity, but because of how very much God valued our earthly life.  Here in this scripture, Christ is kneeling down to care for His friends and followers.  Today, still, Christ kneels down to wash our feet and his tears fall upon our flesh because fail to take part in His Holy mission.

As we journey with Christ towards the cross and Easter Sunday I ask that we keep our eyes open.  I beg that we, as people of faith, would keep our eyes open to the injustice that plagues this world and to take part in the work Christ is trying to do.  As a person of faith I beg you:  be the hands and feet of Christ so that we can take part in washing the feet of this world.  That we would participate in giving the world the gift of Christ.

Peter didn't need to be washed.  Peter needed to have an experience of Christ.  There are so many people of this world who need to feel Christ at their feet, will it be you or I who will help them feel Christ in their lives this Holy Week?

Resurrection & New Life: Betrayed

image found at:  http://mikefriesen05.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/dealing-with-lifes-great-wounds-betrayal/

Scripture:  John 13:21-32

In the scripture today Jesus is said to know that one of his disciples will betray him.  I want you to take a moment to consider this.  How many of us would ever knowingly keep someone who will betray us in our group?  I mean, if I know someone is talking behind my back or acting jealously (etc.) you had better believe that I will stop confiding in them.  If I know that a friend does not have my best interest at heart, you'd better believe that I no longer consider them friend.  My interests have to be important to my friends, right?  My needs have to be a concern for a true friend.

Christ does not define life or friendship as you or I do.  As Jesus approached the cross, he began to make it very clear that Life is far more than what we can see or experience.  In those last days of life, Christ showed us that there is more to experience than this lone world.  When Judas is invited to continue at the meal, in fact, invited to 'do what he must do' but quickly...Judas is shown that he is still cared for.  Jesus remained committed to Judas even when Judas was clearly not committed to Jesus.

There will be many times when we will betray our God.  It is part of being human, by the way.  Our God will be hurt and saddened by the decisions that we make and the things that we choose to do, yet God does not send us away from the table.  Jesus not only continues to eat with Judas, he actually dips bread and feeds Judas.  Jesus feeds the one who will betray him!?  I want to suggest that this is what happens for us at communion.  Communion is the act when we come forward in church and feed upon bread and juice as a sign of being fed by Christ....when it comes to that act, we are much like Judas.  We are imperfect human beings, yet God sees beyond us and our limitations.  We will mess up and betray God, yet God will still love us, feed us, commune with us.

During Holy Week consider what it means for us to still be at God's table after all of these millennia.  What does it mean that Christ still communes with us?  What does it mean that Christ offers body and blood for us to partake in?  What does it mean that God does this knowing that we will commit betrayals?

Christ invites all of us, even though we will mess up, to walk with Him to the cross.  Christ invites all of us to journey the Easter  experience and to know his love.  Will you journey with Christ this Easter?  Are you prepared to be loved in a new way this Easter?

Resurrection & New Life: Approaching New Life

Image found at:  http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/st-edwards-stained-glass-window-recalls-resurrection-1428418.html

Starting today I want to focus on the Easter experience.  For those who might not be sure what that means...I want to focus on what it means to have new life.  Do you have a story or reflection on what it means to have new life in Christ?  Please email or comment below so that I can publish your reflections during the season of Eastertide (Apr. 8 - May 26)

Scripture today:  John 12:20-36 (CEB)

I want to focus, especially upon this part of the scripture:

Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One^[a] to be glorified. ²⁴ I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me. ²⁷ “Now I am deeply troubled.^[b] What should I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, for this is the reason I have come to this time. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!” 

As most of my readers probably know, by now, I have been re-appointed to First United Methodist Church in Normal.  In case you aren't familiar with the United Methodist Church, it works like this:  Each year I am told whether I will be staying at the church where I am appointed or whether I will move.


Finding out that I was moving was a strange situation because everyone at my current church is naturally curious about where I am going (and when) and people naturally expect for me to be excited, but on the other hand I am leaving behind a community of people who I care about.  I think about Christ, in this regard.  I think about how mixed up Jesus and those who believed must have felt as they approached the cross.  It must have been exciting for Him to go on to God's glory and yet heading toward one's own death and suffering just simply isn't!  As Christ moves toward the Easter experience, toward being killed, he admits that there is real trouble upon his soul.  He says, "What Am I supposed to do,"  "Should I want this or not?"  When you read this passage you can feel Jesus' mixed emotions about what lay before.


We will come to many moments like this in our lives.  We will all have times where we wonder about the road ahead.  For me, I must worry about how I will work with a new church and if you think I look forward to packing boxes, then, think again!  Yet, I face the packing because it is what I must endure in order to experience a new life.  I must let go of relationships and people who I hold dear in this Pontiac-life, so that I can experience the new life (the Normal-life?).  God seldom calls us to turn away or to turn back, you see.  God calls us to walk forward and step out in new ministry.  As we prepare for Easter we must ask ourselves, "What is God calling me to do," or maybe:  "Is God calling me to a new life this Easter (to do something new)?"

Resurrection & New Life: A New Blog Series

Image found at:  http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/st-edwards-stained-glass-window-recalls-resurrection-1428418.html

A new Easter series from April 8 (Easter Day) - May 27 (Pentecost).  I have invited a number of friends, scholars, pastors, lay people, and even some bishops to share devotions about Resurrection and Eternal Life.  Over the next few weeks you will hear from me and many guest bloggers as they share about Easter from a variety of places, ages, and world views.  Be sure to come back often.  I'm already giddy with anticipation about some of the people I've lined up for you all!!!

If you would like the opportunity to contribute, simply send me a devotional (1/2-2/3 of a page maximum) and I will be glad to consider it:  scotteugene79@mac.com

Creation, Part 1

Hey, It was exciting that I got to go lead Bible study this week at Evenglow after all these weeks of medical leave.  We studied Genesis 1:1-2:4 (the first of two Creation Stories).


Before I get into the scripture.  I need to explain how the ancient Hebrew people understood the order and structure of the cosmos:

Image found at:  http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/103/aristotle.htm

They believed there was a God which separated the waters above and the waters below with a firmament.  Now, before you dismiss it as something "primitive," keep in mind these early people were trying to explain the world as they experienced it.  The heavens sometimes broke forth with rain (The waters above came down), for instance.  So keep the image (above) of how the ancient Hebrew people saw the cosmos.


This image of the world brings up some problems.  Look at the picture again.  What does this mean for the Ancient Near Eastern people?

1. What happens if the firmament breaks?
2. How do the people see the shape of the earth?
3. What do the sides of the dome mean for the people living on the earth?
4. What dangers do you see in this world?
5. Are there any advantages to looking at the world in this way???

Image found at:  http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/103/aristotle.htm

Now as we prepare to read the scripture, imagine that you are in the ancient Hebrew world and living in a tribal society.  This fragmented people must have felt alone and vulnerable.  I mean, they lived in a world where an angry God could just let the firmament fail and leave them drowned and dead.  They live in a world where earthquakes can swallow up cities.  but the Hebrew people had a God that was faithful and steadfast and kept them safe in a crazy world of hurricanes, floods, and roving dangerous bands.


Okay, so let's take a look at the scripture, Genesis 1:1-2:4.  It was meant to be performed for others, so we'll be reading a paraphrase from "The Message" by Eugene Peterson and I hope that you will read it out loud and, perhaps even, dramatically:

Genesis Chapter 1 

1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. 

3-5 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day,God named the dark Night.It was evening, it was morning—Day One. 

6-8 God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!" God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was:God named sky the Heavens; It was evening, it was morning—Day Two. 

9-10 God spoke: "Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!" And there it was. God named the land Earth.God named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good. 

11-13 God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree."And there it was.Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Three. 

14-15 God spoke: "Lights! Come out!
Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night.
Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth.”And there it was. 

16-19 God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day,The smaller to be in charge of Night; and God made the stars. God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth And oversee Day and Night,
to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Four.  

20-23 God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!"God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!" It was evening, it was morning— Day Five. 

24-25 God spoke: "Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds." And there it was: wild animals of every kind, Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good.  

26-28 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; God created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them:"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth." 

29-30 Then God said, "I've given you
every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food."And there it was.31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six. 

Genesis Chapter 2 

Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail. 

2-4 By the seventh day God had finished the work. On the seventh day God rested from work. God blessed the seventh day and made it a Holy Day.Because on that day he rested from work:
all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Did you read it aloud and with enthusiasm?  Were you able to pay attention to what was happening in the story?  Here are a few questions for you to consider about this text before I talk with you:

1. When people heard this account of creation, what did they get from it?
2. What is it important that the writer talked about day and night and light and dark?
3. What is the role of God in this account?
4. What is the role of human beings?

This week you'll notice a new trend with my video.  I'm trying to keep it very short :-)

Beginnings.

During these first few weeks of Lent, the season as we approach Easter, our Hebrew Scripture readings will be from Genesis.  Last week it was Genesis 9:8-17 and this week it will be Genesis 17:1-7 & 15-16.  For Lent Genesis is a great place to start, but then, Genesis being a great place to start isn't exactly a new idea is it?  When the Hebrew Scriptures and, later, the Christian Canon was being put together where did they put Genesis, but at the beginning, right?

There is the obvious reason that Genesis is at the beginning of scripture.  It's about beginnings.  I mean, literally, right at the start, Genesis says, "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth..."   There is no other single phrase of scripture that would be more apt for the beginning of the Bible, right?  Certainly, Genesis is about beginnings.  Genesis is about the beginnings of the universe, the ordering of the things and people of the universe, and, as we progress through the book, it is about the beginnings of the Hebrew people.

But Genesis isn't just at the beginning of scripture because it talks about beginnings.  Gosh, John starts off talking about beginnings, right?  If Christians were looking for a first book of the Bible they could have started there, if they were just looking for a landmark text about how things began.  What Genesis does better than any other scripture is to remind us that things began not only with God but that God's redemptive work didn't happen in a void.  God's redemptive and creative work happened in relationship.  No, let me correct myself.  God's redemptive and creative work happened in relationships.  Do you see the "s" on the end of that word?  God is in relationship with all of the things that were created.  Not just humans, not just butterflies or daffodils.  God creation and more importantly God's love is universal for all of creation.  By the time we get to the scriptures for this Lent (chs 9 & 17) a shift has occurred. Oh, don't worry, Genesis never lets go of 'beginnings' and 'creation' as its theme, but God begins making covenants, that is to say, promises.  So Genesis is about how God  put the universe into motion and created (and ordered) it, but also Genesis is about God's promises to that creation and God's faithfulness and love for all of that creation.

So why is Genesis at the beginning of our scriptures?  Why is it perfect for the beginning of Lent?  Why is it where I start when I teach confirmation?  Because God's life-giving relationship to creation is the foundation of everything else that comes to us in scripture.  Genesis isn't just at the beginning of the Bible because the fist words are "in the beginning."  I think Genesis is placed at the beginning of our Biblical Canon because it is foundational to every other scripture in our Bible.  When we hear about a baby in the manger we should be reminded of God's creation, redemption, and God's promises.  When we read about Christ upon the cross?  Yup.  We should have in mind that God was at the beginning creating, in the end redeeming, and throughout all of our trials, God's promises are secure.  When Paul writes his frustrations and successes in his letters?  We can keep in mind that God is at the foundation of his work and God stands with Paul and those churches, and, today, we can keep Genesis at the center of our theology and keep creation and promise at the center of how we respond to the people, things, and world around us.