Dr. Dale Miller

Easter, April 8, 2007

Disciples, Start Your Engines!

Luke 24:1-12

Throughout the Season of Lent we have been following in the footsteps of Jesus: "Walking in the Wilderness of Our Lives," "Hiking to the Heart of our Home," "Shortcut Stepping and Soul Quenching Sipping," "Tip-Toeing Through the Darkness," and "Marching in the Parade of Sacrifice." All of the footsteps led us to Jerusalem.

Last Sunday we began Holy Week, entering Jerusalem with a marvelous celebration of Palm Sunday. The music, the service, the palms and the incredible enthusiasm that filled this sanctuary contributed to a phenomenal worship experience.

On Maundy Thursday we gathered in the sanctuary around tables that were formed in the shape of a cross, a capital "T" cross, bedecked with fresh loaves of bread and cups of juice, basked in the soft glow of candlelight. In the darkness we sang songs of faith and participated in the remembrance of the Last Supper in the Upper Room.

On Good Friday we gathered again in the sanctuary, sitting in the shadows, listening to the dramatic words of the Passion of Jesus Christ, and hearing the pounding of the nails into the hands of our Savior, Jesus Christ, as he was placed on the cross to die.

Today we celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the joyful sound of brass and the uplifting hymn and anthems declaring the victory of life over death. There is electricity in the air as we claim the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the resurrection of our own lives! Alleluia! We like being here on Easter morning. Wouldn't it be great if every day could be an Easter day? Yet each day holds the potential of our living as an Easter people.

The reality of our lives, however, is that too often we feel that we are living in a Good Friday world, living out our Good Friday lives. Come tomorrow morning, and we will stare at the reality of starting another week with a sense of survival rather than victory. We long to break out of our mundane lives into lives that shout out a declaration of love, joy and hope.

The apostle Paul wrote, "If any person be in Christ, they are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!" It would be great if we could start all over again - wipe the slate clean, get rid of everything on the hard drive, and start all over again. All of us want a second chance, a new opportunity, a new lease on life.

Robert Donald Spector wrote a poem entitled "Inferiority Complex:

If I had Solomon's wisdom,
Possessed all the power of Atlas,
And moved with Mercury's swiftness,
I'd find a way to mess things up,
Because I'd still be me.

The resurrection is God's invitation to us to start over. We just have to be alert enough to recognize in which day of the week we have chosen to live. Let us look again at the significant difference between Friday and Sunday so long, so long ago that it could be today.

It was Friday and our Jesus is dead on the tree. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming! On Friday, Mary is crying her eyes out and the disciples are running in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming! On Friday, people are looking at the world and saying that things can never change; we can't change anything in this world. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming! On Friday, the forces that oppressed the poor and kept people down, the forces that destroy people, the forces are in control and they are going to rule. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming! On Friday, people are saying darkness is going to rule the world and sadness is going to be everywhere. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!

In our lives and in our community, even on Easter Sunday it seems like it's always Friday, but Sunday is coming. By the grace of God we will change the way things are to the way they ought to be. We will work to create a society that cares, that has compassion, that knows there is no future for any of us unless there is a future for all of us.

This morning I want to divide the congregation into a left and right side. When I point to the left side, I would like you to say, "It's Friday." When I point to the right side, I would like you to say, "But Sunday is coming!" Let's practice. 

It's Friday. The unloved of the earth have no way of dealing with their hurt other than by hurting others.
But Sunday is coming! Here and now the lion shall lie down with the lamb and loving and caring and listening shall never be in short supply. No one will have to harm his or her sister or brother ever again.

It's Friday. All that we have tried, all that we have lived our lives for, seems doomed to futility. Our husbands and wives no longer love us and we can't talk to our children anymore. But Sunday is coming! God makes all things new. We stumble, we fall, but God picks us up again. We confess our shortcomings and ask our loved ones to allow us to love them and they love us in return.

It's Friday. The environment is battered and bruised and bleeding. Mother Earth is dying and no one seems to care. We are spending our substance for things of no value, and using up in one generation the endowment of centuries. But Sunday is coming! We are learning our lessons and, one by one, beginning to do something about it. Earth shall endure and we shall be reborn, regenerated with her.

It's Friday. Life is not fair and economic uncertainty clings to us like a heavy, wet coat. We see nothing at the end of the tunnel but more tunnel. If we are able to see a light at the end of the tunnel, it turns out to be another train coming at us! No one seems to care. But Sunday is coming! God shall fill our souls with gladness, our hearts with laughter. God shall turn our sorrow into dancing. Darkness shall fade and the light of God's presence breaks through - not in the "sweet by and by," but now! In this time, in this place, God shall give us sisters and brothers who love us with a faithful and constant love, with God's own love.

It's Friday. We are one step closer to the grave, to the end, to futility, to nothingness. Terror surrounds us like a mean and ugly pit bull. But Sunday is coming! We are one step closer to the Kingdom of God. We are filled with the wonder and awe that God shares God's own life with us and that this life can never be extinguished. For God is among us, filling us with hope.

(Are you Friday people getting tired of being Friday? Let's switch sides.)

It's Friday. We don't know who we are or what we are supposed to do with our lives. But Sunday is coming! We shall know even as we are known by God. Our lives will have purpose, meaning, and fulfillment.

It's Friday. Our poems don't rhyme. We can't find the right words to express ourselves or the right notes for the melody, the colors and shapes and proportions of our paintings are all wrong. Our architecture collapses. When we try to ask for help, the words stick in our throats. But Sunday is coming! God shall be all and all. The crooked shall be made straight. The desert shall bloom. We shall be unstuck and released and redeemed and creative and our expressiveness shall know no limitation. We shall make a difference.

It's Friday. The elderly are tucked away in nursing and homes and the mentally challenged sleep in parking lots and women make half as much as men but often have twice the responsibility. But Sunday is coming! The wisdom of the old shall save the young from folly and the sick shall be made whole and all shall receive what they need and give what they can. There shall be honor and respect for caregivers and all shall carry the burden of work and family together.

It's Friday. Looks count and stature means height. Who you know counts for more than what you know. My life would be perfect if only somebody loved me. But Sunday is coming! The only beauty is inner beauty and a human being worth knowing and loving is one's true self.

It's Friday. People close off the outside world with their garage door openers and shut off the global news with their TV remote controls. They seal themselves off, hoping they are protected from the perils of life. But Sunday is coming! Jesus will ask us what we are doing in his name. We shall get the point and realize that nothing will change unless we change it, and change ourselves in the process.

It may seem like Friday, but wherever the Good News is proclaimed and lived, wherever men and woman have the courage to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution, Sunday is coming!

When Jesus is raised from the dead it is always morning, always daytime, always the new day, the fresh page on the calendar, the new moment on the horizon. Whatever was yesterday is past and done; and not only is the day new, but we are renewed by it.

The theme of Easter is that you and I are become something new. We are given a second chance to get it right, a second bite of the apple. Over and over and over again the Bible is the story of one chance after another, one extension after another, one new opportunity after another, until it comes to its climax in the story of the resurrection morning.

Easter is the opportunity for change, to get rid of our Friday way of living. Easter is the invitation to change. That is why we are here today. We believe that if God can raise Jesus Christ from the dead, in the most astonishing reality the world can claim, then maybe, just maybe, something new and good can happen to us.

A contemporary Christian writer in England noted, "There is little good in filling churches with people who go out exactly the same as they came in." It will be a waste of our time, not to mention God's time, if we leave this church exactly as we were when we arrived.

• Easter is not just about Jesus; it is about us. Jesus has already claimed his new life; now is our chance to claim our new life.

• Easter is not just about death; it is about life, and not just life after death - that's the easy part - but real life before death, right now. We do not have to die to live.

• Easter is not just about the past, way back then and long ago; it is all about the present and the future. Our best days are ahead of us. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Following in the footsteps of Jesus brought us to Jerusalem, to participate in his suffering and death. But when we also participate in his resurrection, we claim our own resurrection. The proof of the resurrection is literally in our lives.

We know there are more footsteps to follow. We know that Jesus leads us into the future. We know that the future is in the hands of God. So, disciples, start your engines! The race is on!

The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Sunday is coming! Sunday is here! Amen!