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It’s Easter Sunday. My
friend Uli from Berlin and I have come
from the site of All Angels’ Church
in Central Park. Where the foundation stones have risen from the buried Seneca
Village. On a chilly morning, Uli played his violin, first a traditional German Easter hymn. And then Jesu
joy of man’s desiring. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6OgZCCoXWc).
We stop for coffee along the way.
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| Uli plays violin in Central Park |
At the church, Stephen S
at work. Pat K and Larry are decorating the place for Easter. Lilies will line
the steps. Jed (http://www.jeddistler.com/) is preparing the musicians for the service. Andre is back and
Olivia is here with her cello and Jeremy M has a new Easter suite.
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| Easter musicians with Pastor Bob: Jed, Olivia, Jeremy and Andre |
The congregation is
arriving. Regulars. Friends we haven’t seen in awhile. Neighbors. Visitors from
Texas. It feels good.
We open with Alleuia, alleluia, alleluia! Sung to the
tune of Will the circle be unbroken…and
the traditional Easter greeting:
One: Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed!
Our OPENING HYMN is the traditional Jesus Christ Is Risen Today. Andre does his free jazz
interpretation of Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24.
The Epistle lesson is in 1 Corinthians 15:
1-11 which contains one of my favorite verses: By the grace of God I am what I am and God’s grace to me has not been
in vain..which I’ve set in a doo-wop
style.
And
then the Easter story from John 20: 1-18.
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from
the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord
out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then
Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The
two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the
tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen
wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter
came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying
there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying
with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then
the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture,
that he must rise from the dead.10Then the disciples returned to
their homes.
11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent
over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white,
sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other
at the feet.13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She
said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have
laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw
Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus
said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” Supposing
him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus
said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which
means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me,
because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to
them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I
have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
-1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still
dark……early in the morning…while it was still dark…
What it’s like…early in the morning…sometimes I wake…I
hear the birds…their first stirrings…and I know the day is about to
begin….again…If you’re in Central Park, you look across, the sun is rising out
there, in the east, above the 5th Avenue apartments..before the
first runners arrive..….something peaceful and quiet…can you bring to mind a
sunrise you remember?
I remember that
morning, on the steps of St. Paul’s Chapel…a few weeks after 9/11 . We (our West-Park team) had been serving food to first responders, rescue workers, soldiers,
police, sanitation workers….all night long…the pit of Ground Zero still smoldering behind us, ash falling from the
sky….and yet ….there was something about the certainty of dawn rising again….
That’s when Easter comes to us….while it’s still dark…my
friend Uli and I went on a Good Friday march…a stations of the cross…commemorating innocent black and brown lives
lost to police violence …stopping at symbolic places of the mass incarceration movement…like
the courts…and the TOMBS…finishing at 1 Police Plaza…in the month of March
alone more people were killed by police than in the last eleven years in the
United Kingdom….let’s be clear….it’s
still dark out there…
We want to come to this resurrection morning and have it
all be ok…but each of our lives are still unfinished in some way…maybe some of
us have experienced the fullness of new life, of new beginning….but for most of us, we can just now hear the
birds….but it’s still early in the morning…
Let’s follow our witnesses…
Who do we have?
First Mary, remember, she doesn’t know what has
happened…for all she knows, all she will find is a body…it is love that has brought her..everyone
else., all those brave men, turned and ran when it looked like once again
everything they had put their faith in had come to nothing…once again hopes
raised and then…clearly this one was
NOT the one…but he had loved
her….helped her reclaim herself…and that love brought her back…she didn’t need
a conquering victorious hero...she would honor the one who had loved her.
Remember…the Bible is not
a history book…this is
not a news report…Imagine them telling their
stories…Imagine social media…Facebook..checking
in, Simon’s tomb…
Or imagine , if you will, tweets…
@marymag
Hey…stone’s
rolled away tomb’s empty…#wtf
She goes to tell Peter and John…they MUST go to see for
themselves…they find the stone rolled away and note this detail…
the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with
the linen wrappings but rolled up in a
place by itself…..what is this telling us? (One of my colleagues said,
Jesus cleaned up the place before he
left…) and they just returned to their homes.
This story is
mainly about Mary…
1.
She assumes it’s a grave robbery or political plot
2.
She doesn’t recognize Jesus…no
halos, no flowing robes, flashing lights, glowing robes.. he looks like a
gardener…( a friend says..because he was a gardener..) a simple working
man…like you or me..
3.
She only recognizes him when she hears her name, her own name said in that
intimate way only he could say
it…then she knows…love drew her there…love showed her the truth…
Can you feel the intimacy of this?
Listen…whose voice do you
hear?
Can you hear the voice of Jesus that close, that
intimate?
So how are we
supposed to know? We who weren’t able to be there?
The earliest witness in the Bible is not the
gospels…but Paul…writing only decades later…he never saw the risen Lord
in the flesh…but he heard his name
too…His experience of the appearance is the same
as theirs even though he never sees Jesus in the flesh…and the key factor for Paul…as
for me…is experienced GRACE….
50 years ago this weekend, Martin Luther King, Jr was
assassinated….yet he is still very much with us…Archbishop Romero said They can
kill a bishop but I will rise again in
the Salvadoran people.
Story of woman’s witness…on the subway…At the Good Friday
stations march, an African-American woman described being groped on the subway.
When she got off at the next stop, she saw two police. Then hesitated. What
would they do to the black man who had
groped her? It’s complicated
she said. I give up my body for you….
This afternoon, people will march in Harlem…the people rise…is the rallying cry…
Then there is this… I remember my grandmother warm and
soft wrapping me in her arms. Her last few years were stolen by Alzheimer's. She
would curse at the nurses. Not know me. It was unpleasant to go there. That was
all I could see. And then, while doing her funeral, I felt her warm arms around
me again. She had been returned to me.
So…how do we know?...We know because we are here ….today..because
we believe…or want to believe…and will
believe or live our way towards believing…
As we celebrate our Eucharist today, let us remember, it
is we who are the risen Christ…we
together the risen body….Amen.
We prepare for prayer by singing
Be not afraid, sing out for joy! Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Be not afraid, sing out for joy! Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Hugo asks for prayers for
his daughter Anna, going in to the hospital for tests tomorrow. Later I will
have special prayer with him and
Arcadia. And I will feel his strong hug.
For our offertory, Andre
sings the haunting Now the green blade riseth as an art song.
For our Eucharist
reflection, Jeremy plays his Easter suite accompanied by Olivia. A steady stream of people come forward to receive.
And we conclude with
Beethoven’s Joyful , Joyful We adore Thee.
As we gather in a circle, I almost feel tears. As she does every year, Leila has Easter eggs for the congregation.
I feel the grace of the
people accepting and trusting me as pastor. I could stop right here. Feeling
this beauty.
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| Receiving the eucharist from Deacon James and Elder Nirka |
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| One of Leila's eggs |
And all say: Alleluia,
Amen!
****
Easter will continue…as the Koreans are coming in, I skype with
Micah and Dan in Berlin. Later I will go to the Riverside rehab facility with a
lily and communion for Deacon Ruby and Elder Philip.
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| Serving Easter dinner |
Stall later, we will gather at the women’s homeless shelter at
SPSA to share Easter dinner with the guests. Kate provides not only ham but
lamb as well.
It was a beautiful Easter. Easter as it should be.
Alleluia, Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia.
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