FBC Cornelia State of the Church 2016

To all the saints in Christ Jesus known as First Baptist Church, Cornelia, Georgia.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  The words of the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi come to my mind as I write this letter.  

“ I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from our first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”

I am honored to be your pastor and to share in the Gospel story of this church.  One of the greatest days in my life was the Sunday in May 2010 when you called me to serve you.  Over these last 6 years, I have celebrated with you the beauty of life and joys of our church together.  We have laughed often together.  At the same time, we have walked together through the pain of death and hurt. We have cried together too many times. 

Together, we love this big, messy family of Christians called First Baptist Cornelia.  Out of love, I want to spend our moments together this morning, speaking to you about the state of our church.  There are several ways we can measure the state of our church.  

• We measure First Baptist Cornelia in relation to the rapidly changing religious culture of our day.  Church researchers tell us that 8,000 to 10,000 churches in America will close their doors this year and 35% of the millennial generation (35 and below) are unaffiliated with any kind of Christian church compared to 11% of us over 70.  Compared to what is happening in culture – our very survival and our thriving children’s ministry is a sign of the dynamic work of God among us.  

• We can also measure the state of First Baptist Cornelia in relation to the Global Church.  The fact is that while we don’t see it - God’s Global church is growing faster today than it has in decades.  The Jesus movement is exploding in places like Africa, Latin America, and Asia.  Compared to this radical explosion of the Holy Spirit, our faithful obedience in the same direction looks subdued.  Yet, our partnerships in Santa Emilia, Nicaragua connect us to the energy of the Global Church. 

• Finally, we can measure the state of our church through statistics.  Statistics draw the outline of the picture God is painting of First Baptist Cornelia, but they can never provide the color.  For example, we can record the number of people who attend Sunday School each week, but we have to hear the testimonies of individuals to see the true spiritual growth in their lives.  

The greatest change in our traditional church metrics over the last 5 years has to do with church attendance.  15 years ago church attendance numbers gave us an accurate picture of the number of engaged members in a congregation.  This is no longer the case.  

Over the last five years, all churches - new, old, traditional, and contemporary - including ours – have seen the regular attendance in worship drop significantly.  This attendance drop is not due primarily to less members – instead, it has to do with the attendance patterns of our members.  15 year ago, regular worship attenders came to worship 3-4 times/month.  Today, the average engaged, active member of a church attends worship 1-2/month.  This means that in order to maintain the same worship attendance numbers as we had even 15 years ago we must double the actively attending members – just to keep the same worship attendance.  

For example, last year, First Baptist Cornelia had 398 active members and we averaged 175 in attendance on Sunday mornings.  No one is more aware of this trend than I am as I preach each Sunday.  Our staff has been aware of this trend for a couple of years and have worked to engage our membership in new ways to help us get to church.  

So, while the changing culture, global church, and statistics give us an outline of the state of First Baptist Cornelia at the end of 2016, they do not tell us the whole story of God’s movement among us.  

To get a more complete picture of the state of our church, we need to hear the stories of God’s work among us. 

1. Story of Survivors:  
When I look around the sanctuary today looking for stories of God’s work among us, I see a church filled with survivor stories.  The first decade of this century was difficult.  The building of our Family Ministry Center challenged us in ways we often want to forget.  Conflict made it difficult to trust and without trust nothing could be accomplished.  

Yet, in spite of these challenges, you did not give up on God’s future.  Your bravery at calling David Turner to be an intentional interim for four years cannot be overlooked.  Your wisdom in giving your pastor search committee freedom to follow God’s leading and do things differently should be applauded.  And your trust in God to allow a young pastor to lead you into new and uncharted waters is one of your strengths.  

God has been at work among us over the last 10 years rebuilding trust among our fellowship, growing a competent, experienced and faithful staff, and showing us there is nothing we cannot do when we depend on Jesus.  

2. Story of Visionaries
Besides stories of survival, the state of our church story also includes the story of our visionaries.  Beginning in 2012, First Baptist Cornelia began to dream about our future through our Walking by Faith Process.  For over 2.5 years, we sat together in small groups and town halls, in work teams and initiative groups casting a vision for our future.  Vision work is hard work because it invites us to look beyond our present to see a future that is yet here.  Often in those sessions, we used the year 2017 as our target future year.  

As we sit just a few weeks away from 2017, it thrills me to see that our vision for our Unified Mission Offering and Fund has arrived and is already guiding our mission life.  It thrills me to see the new focused ministry of our deacons which we only dream about, but could never imagine 2 years ago.  
First Baptist Cornelia does not wait for the future to arrive.  Instead, we pray and prepare and work for God’s vision to materialize. This story of visionaries is happening right now!  

3. Story of Workers
The state of our church also includes the story of our workers.  I tell prospective members of our church to be prepared to work in God’s Kingdom.  My mom who has been in lots of different Baptist churches throughout her life and always tells people with just a little pride about our church:  “This church works harder than any church I’ve ever been in.”  

It’s true!  From our dishwashers on Wednesday nights to our children’s ministry volunteers today – we are a strong church because of the many ways each of you serve God through First Baptist.  The part I love about this – this is not useless work.  You are working out of your strengths and abilities in places where your efforts matters. 

4. Story of Missionaries
The state of our church would not be complete without the story of our missionaries.  Not the people we support through SBC or CBF channels – but all of you.  Through your hard work, God is transforming Cornelia, Georgia and the world.  I have to hold back my pride when I tell friends about Camp Agape, Camp Mosaic, the Cornelia Soup Kitchen, the Cold Weather Shelter, and our children’s and youth ministries.  

You have heard God’s Great Commission and responded. At First Baptist Cornelia – missions is not something that we do, it is who we are.  This statement is now more reality than dream.   

5. Story of Disciples
Finally, we can’t forget the story of the disciples among us.  FBC is a community of faithful followers of Jesus who have decided to walk a long obedience in the same direction together.  A couple of weeks ago, I had a Sunday School teacher tell me excitedly about his class. The class had struggled together over a certain topic one Sunday.  As they struggled the class gave permission for each person to have their own opinions and ideas.  Rather than the teacher giving all the answers, God worked through the spiritual walks of each man and woman there.  This class is evidence to spiritual growth we see happening in our church.

Our love for one another and the world grows as our love for Jesus grows.  Simply, we are loving God and loving other more today than we have before.  

When view the whole picture:  The state of First Baptist Cornelia is strong, dynamic, and forward focused.  

Still, we have challenges ahead.  Here are our two most immediate challenges:

1. Facilities Usage
Through the vision, hard work, and sacrifices of many of us, God has blessed this congregation with a beautiful, functional and well maintained church campus.  AND … We are debt free.  

Our next task remains configuring these buildings for our ministry for the next decade.  Our facility, like our church, must be an evolving organism shifting to meet the needs of the next 5 years of ministry rather than the last 5 years.  

At the moment, several committees are meeting together to evaluate some short term solutions to meet the facility needs of children’s ministry.  Our Media Center Ministry team is working to transform our library into a multi-functional space for study and fellowship for individuals and groups.  

Soon, we will begin discussing longer term shifts in our facilities.  While all of this change creates some anxiety – let me assure us - this is a good thing.  We are not rearranging chairs on a sinking ship, we are building a ship to carry us to the future.  First Baptist Cornelia is healthy enough and forward thinking enough to be preparing for the future God has in store for us.  

2. Congregational Systems
The second challenge ahead of us will be building and strengthening our congregational systems – the things we do on a regular basis to communicate, reach out to, and care for one another.  Our new deacon focuses which were outlined in this month’s newsletter is one step in this direction.  Yet, we still have farther to go.

• We need a stronger system for active and engaged prayer as a foundation of all we do.  
• We need a stronger system for congregational inreach and outreach – letting people know they are loved.  
• We need to get better at assimilating new people into our fellowship – helping people find their place.
• We need a more defined discipleship process that invites everyone to participate.

Over the next year, we will be working on these systems as we strengthen our programs as a church to help us achieve our vision.  

The state of First Baptist Cornelia is strong, dynamic, and forward focused.  

We are working on the challenges that face us.  Yet – I think there is one more key ingredient for us to reach our full Kingdom potential:  Absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit.  

In the second chapter of Acts, a small remnant of Jesus followers waited and prayed in a cramped house in Jerusalem.  They were hopeful, yet uncertain, of what would happen next.  

When they least expected it, the power of the Holy Spirit rushed into this cramped space like a violent wind.  The spirit filled the entire house and each one of them empowering them to change the world.  When the spirit was done – they left the room empowered by the Holy Spirit preaching about Jesus in multiple languages.  The impossible occurred because they allowed themselves to be empowered for the ministry in front of them.  

This is the Good News for us today:  First Baptist Cornelia will accomplish God’s purposes because we are empowered for ministry.  

God is already doing great things among us through the work of the Holy Spirit.  How much more can God accomplish through us when completely depend on the Holy Spirit.  

I am certain God has even greater things in store for us.  So - let’s keep praying and preparing so that as God moves, we will be empowered for the new ministries set before us.

With much love and gratitude, I am your pastor – 

Eric

Thanks be to God.  Amen  

Who Do you Say I am? MESSIAH

Third Sunday of Lent

March 8, 2015

John 4

EXPECTATIONS!

      

      When couples come to me preparing for marriage – the first thing I ask them to consider are their expectations.  What do you expect from your husband? What do you expect from your wife? 

Our experiences in our homes growing up have created in us expectations for marriage.  Our experiences of watching other married couples have created expectations of what married people do.  TV Shows.  Movies.  Books.  Bridal magazines create expectations for romance, our wedding and marriage itself. 

Expectations create high conflict when our expectations do not hold water to our reality. 

   

         Historian Daniel Boorstin suggests that Americans suffer from all-too-extravagant expectations for our lives. In his much-quoted book The Image, Boorstin makes this observation of Americans:

“We expect anything and everything. We expect the contradictory and the impossible. We expect compact cars which are spacious; luxurious cars which are economical. We expect to be rich and charitable, powerful and merciful, active and reflective, kind and competitive …. We expect to eat and stay thin, to be constantly on the move and ever more neighborly, to go to a "church of our choice" and yet feel its guiding power over us, to revere God and to be God. Never have people been more the masters of their environment. Yet never has a people felt more deceived and disappointed. For never has a people expected so much more than the world could offer.”

           When we come to today’s title of Jesus – Messiah – we are confronted with expectations. Our expectations of Jesus get exposed along with the many expectations for the Messiah during Jesus time.

     

       Far too often, I am afraid – we also carry extravagant of expectations for Jesus.  We expect Jesus to be everything that we want him to be – to fit within our mold and model of who the MESSSIAH should be. 

        

    A funny story has famously be told of the young preacher telling one of his first children’s sermons.  On this Sunday, he was using squirrels for an object lesson on industry and preparation. He started out by saying, "I'm going to describe something, and I want you to raise your hand when you know what it is." The children nodded eagerly.

"This thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)..." No hands went up. "And it is gray (pause) and has a long bushy tail (pause)..." The children were looking at each other, but still no hands raised. "And it jumps from branch to branch (pause) and chatters and flips its tail when it's excited (pause)..."

Finally one little boy tentatively raised his hand. The pastor breathed a sigh of relief and called on him. "Well," said the boy, "I *know* the answer must be Jesus ... but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!"

What do we expect from Jesus?

•          Do we expect Jesus to be a social conservative, a moral bastion like us fighting against the sinful ways of the world?  What happens when we find him eating meals and laughing with prostitutes, thieves, and heretics like these people matter? 

•          Do we expect him to be a liberal, open minded accepter of anyone willing to following him? What happens when we find him highly demanding, equating lust in our heart with actual adultery? 

•          Do we expect him to answer all of our questions?  What happens when he leaves us with more questions than answers?

•          Do we expect him to reflect our ideas of faith?  What happens when he demands our lives reflect his?

•          Do we expect the Christian life to be a simple proposition in which we receive Jesus into our hearts and go to heaven when we die?  What happens when Jesus invites us into a life of discipleship – of following him here on earth?

•          Do we expect the Christian life to be difficult and confusing in the face of so many other religions and challenges?  What happens when Jesus simplifies it and welcomes a young child by his side and asks us to model our lives after theirs?

If you find this tendency of the biblical Jesus blowing up our human expectations about him to be frustrating – let me invite you into the today’s scripture. 

The title Messiah carried extravagant, over the top expectations for everyone in the time and place of Jesus.  Everyone carried an opinion and a hope for this person.  

            After hearing Jesus teach and reveal intimate details of her life, the Samaritan woman here in John 4 responds by mentioning the Messiah:  “I know the Messiah is coming,” the Woman proclaims to Jesus at the well.  “He is the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Jesus responds to her boldly - “I AM the Messiah!” I AM – the title God uses with Moses at the burning bush.  Jesus now puts himself squarely into the expectations the entire community had for the coming Messiah. 

1.         The woman is still not sure about Jesus, though, so she hedges her bets.  She knows something is special about Jesus.  She leaves the well to tell everyone in her village in v. 24:  ““Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 

Using the actual title of Messiah had political and social ramifications.  The woman could have been thrown into prison if she had announced to everyone that Jesus was the Messiah.  Proclaiming Jesus as Messiah challenged the political and social orders – it was revolutionary. 

The English Title Messiah comes from Hebrew/Aramaic words which literally mean Anointed one.   This Hebrew word in Greek is Christ.  Contrary to  what I thought growing up - Christ is not Jesus’ last name!  It is title that has been added to his proper - Jesus of Nazareth - name.  When we call him Jesus Christ – we proclaim Jesus the Messiah. 

The concept of Messiah was born during King David’s reign.  Remember how Samuel sought David at his father’s home and anointed his head with oil.  This was kingly act. David was the Anointed One.  Savior.  Each king after David carried the same title – they were God’s anointed king/leader of his people. 

After the fall of Judah and exile into Babylon – there were no more anointed leaders or kings.  Israel lived within the occupation of other major powers.  The title Messiah evolved to be the expected person who would be the visible inbreaking of God’s power into history in the same way God had done during the exodus.  Talk about expectations!

The People of Jesus’ time had some very specific Messianic Expectations:

•          Descends from King David.  This is why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke both connect Jesus through Mary and Joseph to King David. 

•          Restores Nation of Israel – For over 400 years the nation of Israel had only enjoyed a few years of self-rule through the priest kings called the Maccabees.  The Messiah would restore the nation – physically and literally as a nation.  .  

•          Frees Jews from occupation – The Roman Empire occupied Palestine with cruel power – forcing families into poverty and creating uncertainty of life.  The Messiah would throw off the oppressors and free the people in the same way Moses brought the people out of Egypt. 

•          Establishes God’s rule in Jerusalem – Jerusalem and its temple were and remain the holiest sites in all of Judaism.  The Messiah would retake the city David that established. 

The Samaritan woman, the disciples, Peter, Nicodemus, religious leaders, and the crowds from Galilee and Jerusalem all carried these kinds of expectation for the Title of Messiah. 

Jesus destroys these expectations.  By destroying these expectations Jesus offers his original followers and those of us today a new way of understanding the Messiah.

2.         In v. 42 we begin to see a glimpse of this new life.  For 2 days Jesus stays in the Samaritan village teaching.  For 2 days he teaches about the Kingdom of God and his role as Messiah.  When he prepares the leave, the villagers no longer hesitate about Jesus.  They make this confession of faith:  “Now we believe, not just because of what you [the woman at the well] told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” 

When Jesus destroys the expectations for the first century Messiah, his followers are forced to rethink his life, their experience, the Hebrew Scriptures and their understanding of Messiah. 

Raymond Brown, a 20th century NT scholar in An Introduction to New Testament Christology, says it like this:  “It took time after Jesus’ death for the Jewish presuppositions (expectations) about the Messiah to be modified and tailored to suit Jesus’s career, so that believers could recognize him without reservation as the Messiah in all the phases of his life.” 

The largest dissonance about the Messiah these early followers had to overcome was the death of Jesus.  There were many things they expected from the Messiah – but his death on a cross as a revolutionary was never one of them.  All the dreams and expectations for Jesus as the Messiah die with him. 

How do we make sense of an inbreaking of the presence of God who dies on a common cross?

NT. Wright, Simply Jesus:  A New Vision of Who He was, What He did, and Why it Matters says it this way:  “Jesus’s vocation to be Israel’s Messiah and this vocation to suffer and die belong intimately together.” 

Jesus takes those Messianic expectations that preceded him and launches a new kingdom on earth as well as in heaven. 

Jesus takes our expectations of a Messiah and his kingdom onto the cross and destroys them.  The disciples wanted a kingdom without a cross.  Today - Some of us who claim to be orthodox or Conservative Christians want a cross without kingdom.  This abstract atonement which escapes earth makes us heavenly minded, but no earthly good.  Others today want a divine Jesus, a kind of superhero figure, who comes to rescue them, but not to act as Israel’s Messiah, establishing God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus as Messiah on the cross shockingly combines these scriptural models of the Messiah into a single vocation and title. 

When Jesus dies on the cross, he meets death in the same way that King David met Goliath on the field.  In one sweeping great act of Love, Jesus destroys death once and for by taking death upon his shoulders. 

There are many ways Christian have understood the death of Jesus on the cross.  In some ways his death is beautiful model of love for the world.  In another Jesus serves our representative on the cross.  He dies so that we do not have to.  In another, Jesus deaths is seen as punishment – receiving the great judgment of God.

Jesus as the Messiah who dies brings all of these theologies of the cross together.  We realize that when Jesus Christ – the anointed One – the Messiah dies on the cross – his followers and those who wrote his story down saw this act as the ultimate means by which his Kingdom was established.  It was the ultimate exodus so that the ultimate tyrant – death itself – could be defeated. 

Through his death we are set free to live our lives in new way.  Our expectations of what we deserve or who we are destroyed and replaced by the grace and love of Jesus who died for us.  We are free to live – not through the law – but through grace.  God is now in charge. 

           The Gospel Story is the extraordinary story of Israel’s Messiah taking upon himself the Accusers sharpest arrow and dying under its force, robbing the Accuser of any real power in our lives – all through his love.  There is no greater love than this. 

Jesus the Messiah destroys our expectations and establishes a new kingdom – not one made of our expectations and our wants – but with his. 

After Jesus spends two days with the Samaritan villagers, he transforms their expectations of the Messiah.  This transformation calls for a commitment.  They no longer depend on the words of others – they know for themselves that Jesus is more than just a Jewish Messiah or a Samaritan Messiah – Jesus is the Savior of the World! 

Jesus as the Messiah invites each of us to make the same confession and commitment.  We cannot depend on what others tell us about the Messiah.  We have to encounter Jesus for ourselves.  We cannot depend on our parent’s faith.  Or our youth ministers faith.  Or our spouses faith.  We have to look past what the world says about Jesus Christ and get to know Jesus ourselves. 

When we do – we realize that Jesus offers us the gift of new life through his death and resurrection.  Jesus the Messiah died so that you may have new life – everlasting life.  Abundant life.  He died so that you may participate in his kingdom – on earth as it is in heaven.  He died so that your sins would be forgiven. 

Some of us here have never fully commitment to Jesus our lives.  You have been holding back.  You want just the parts of Jesus that meet your expectations.  That don’t cost you too much.  That make you happy.  That fit your lifestyle.  You get afraid of Jesus as Messiah.   Of what he may ask of you!

Today – I invite you to commit your life to Jesus fully and completely.  Receive the gift of Jesus.  Release your life and receive his.  Take his hand and let him heal you, challenge you, and save you. 

Jesus is the savior of the world!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.  

Linen Cloth

Easter Sunday 2014

Matthew 26:14-16, 47-56

Garden Tomb, Jerusalem, 2014

Before a resurrected Jesus appeared … his disciples encountered an empty tomb. 

            On a Friday afternoon with the light quickly fading marking the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus work quickly.  Soon after the execution order had been authorized they had begun securing a tomb for Jesus.  Now, they have a new tomb in a Jewish garden, just around the corner from the quarry called the place of the Skull.  Risking exposure as a disciple of Jesus, Joseph goes to Pilate, the Roman governor who just commissioned this execution and asks for the body.  Once again, time is of the essence.  Jesus must be buried before sundown – the start of Sabbath. 

Now, Nicodemus and Joseph start working.  Proper burial for the body of Jesus is a sacred and holy responsibility and they are only disciples able to do it.  They gently take Jesus off the cross.  They carry him around the corner, through the garden and into the tomb.  Carved out of a wall of limestone, the tomb has a preparation chamber and two burial tables.  Nicodemus mixes the expensive burial spices he has brought and covers Jesus’ body to mask the smell of death.  Then, with layer upon layer of linen cloth he wraps the body and mixes the spices.  They use enough spice for a king.  Special care is taken with his head – which is wrapped with a separate piece of linen.  Finally, with their work done and the darkness almost complete –Joseph and Nicodemus place the body of Jesus on one of the burial tables, roll the stone over the entrance to the cave and walk back into the city. 

            The 20^th chapter of John tells the story of how 3 of Jesus’ disciples arrive at this same tomb a day and a half later in the early morning hours of Sunday.  When they arrive, they discover the body of Jesus missing.  Before they experience a resurrected Jesus, they encounter an empty tomb.  Each of these disciples seeks something different from the empty tomb.     

Peter comes to the tomb seeking a second chance

            The last time we see Peter in the Gospel story he is outside the home of the high priest Caiaphas’ house on Friday morning as the rooster crows.  He hangs his head, realizing Jesus was right.  He has just denied his association with him for the third time to one of the slaves of the high priest.  Of all the disciples, Peter has the strongest personality.  He is self-confident, strong, rash, and eager to see the future arrive.           

He is the first of the disciples to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.  He is the one who leaps out of the boat among the high waves and blowing wind when Jesus invites him to walk on the water.  And he does for just a moment.  And Peter is the one - just this night – who pulls the sword and slices off the ear of a servant as the temple guards arrested Jesus. 

            Yet, in the night time moments of Jesus’ trial – surrounded by the authority and power of the Jewish leadership and the Roman military – Peter falters.  He has followed Jesus from the Garden up to the Upper city of Jerusalem to keep an eye on him.  And he fails.  Peter disappears into the night and from the story. 

            Until now.  Peter has hidden in Jerusalem for two days.  No one knows what will happen to all of the disciples.  Will the Romans come searching for them?  Will the Sanhedren Council mark each of his followers as zealots against the Roman government and attempt to crucify them as well as soon as the Passover celebrations have ended? 

Mary Magdalene breaks the silence on his pity and fear in the early Sunday morning with her banging.  “Peter, come quickly, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  There is an urgency and fear in her voice.  Something has happened. 

Peter jumps up and bolts out of the room.  We don’t know if Peter and John are in the same house of if she has to find both – but soon, they are both running through the narrow, steep streets of Jerusalem in the pitch darkness of the early morning.  John, who is most likely younger, takes the lead in this race to the empty tomb. 

            Peter won’t quit, though.  The denials, the fear and the self- loathing push him harder and harder to the tomb.  When he exits the gate of the city, the remnants of the carnage from Friday’s execution still litter the ground beside the road.  Blood and nails darken the dirt and three posts missing their cross beams and victims stand as silent messengers.  Peter pushes harder, past Good Friday to the tomb.  As he gets there, he sees John sucking wind at the entrance to the tomb.  The stone lies to the side, the tomb open, just as Mary said. 

            Peter wastes no time, he ducks his head into the cave and discovers … an empty tomb.  No angels.  No body.  Just the linen cloths lying on the ground beside the burial table.  On the table he sees the special linen cloths that covered the head of Jesus neatly folded and placed at the head. 

            Peter has come to the empty tomb looking for a second chance.  His desire to be restored makes him the first to see the evidence that something has happened to Jesus. 

            The author tells us Peter didn’t know quite what to make of this event:  “as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

            Peter could have allowed his failures, denials, self-loathing and fear to cripple him.  He could have ended up in the same field as Judas.   Yet – Peter in his darkest moments – never gives up on Jesus and Jesus never gives up on Peter. 

            The rest of the chapter details how the resurrected Jesus reveals himself to the disciples – even to doubting Thomas.  Yet, we never hear Peter’s name.  He stands behind and in the shadows of the narrative until chapter 21 when Jesus greets him again soaking wet on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  In the most famous breakfast scene of scripture, Jesus restores Peter and gifts him with a new task as leader of the new movement that is about to begin.   Jesus gives him his second chance!

            Many of us can relate to Peter – we know what is like to put our feet in our mouth, to say something we don’t really mean, to forget our true loyalties, to mis-prioritize our lives and faith. We know the desperation of wanting a second chance – with our parents, our children, our friend, our boss, our grandchildren and even with God.  We know how lonely it gets when our failures break relationships.  Like Peter we rush to the tomb and the resurrected Lord seeking a second chance in life and know that it will only come through the power of the Resurrected Lord. 

            The empty tomb is hope for those needing a second chance.  Will you come?

Unlike Peter, John comes to the tomb hoping to believe

            When Mary Magdalene finds John he has not been hiding and wrestling with his own guilt like Peter.  In the Gospel which he eventually writes, John never uses his own name.  Instead, John describes himself as “the one whom Jesus loved.”  John didn’t scatter like the rest of the disciples at the point of arrest.  He loved Jesus too much. 

            We last see John at the crucifixion standing with the Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and other women followers at the foot of the cross.  As pilgrims and traders come in and out of the gate of the city, these faithful followers stood guard below the cross being the presence of God even for Jesus.  At one point on the cross Jesus sees these faithful friends.  Lifting himself up to have breath to speak he says these words found in John 19:26-27:  When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

            From the very first moment that John met Jesus on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, he believed in Jesus.  So much so, he and his brother James leave a successful fishing business to their father Zebedee.  John believed that Jesus would do what he said.  He even had his mother speak up for him – asking Jesus for a special place for her sons James and John when Jesus finally sat upon his throne. 

            John eventually accompanies Peter, James and Jesus to the top of Mount Tabor.  On top of this mountain he witnesses Jesus in his glory and the voice of God proclaiming Jesus as “This is my son, the beloved.”  John recognizes Jesus as more than just a man – he is God’s son, God’s Messiah – and there is nothing he can’t believe.

            When Mary Magdalene knocks on John’s door, she finds him hiding and afraid as well – but also wondering if there is still hope.  All seems to be over – but could something still happen? 

            So - when Mary knocks, John takes off for the tomb as well as Peter.  In fact, he outruns Peter and finds himself the first to the tomb.  Rather than running for a second chance, John finds himself running with the hope to believe.

            At the tomb, he also finds the stone rolled away – the same as Mary – but he can’t make himself look in.  Maybe he’s afraid his hopes will be dashed.  Maybe he’s afraid, he will find a body.  Maybe he’s afraid, his belief is in vain. 

            Either way – it’s not until Peter runs past him and looks into the tomb that John peeks his head into the cave. He’s sees evidence too – no body, only linen cloths on the ground and linen folded neatly on the table.  When John sees these things – the scripture says – “he believes.”    Without ever seeing the risen lord, without an angel to tell him the news, John believes.  Empty linen cloths are all John needs to believe God’s power over death.  John was hoping to believe – he just needed a little evidence. 

            Many of us also come to empty tomb hoping to believe this year?  Maybe we are facing death and lose and need to believe there is a power greater than death in the world?  Maybe we are lost and afraid in the world walking in circles needing to believe that God really does have a purpose and mission for your life?  Maybe we are facing a difficult and scary future – and need to believe that we are not alone.  Maybe we have lost the faith of our childhood, and even wonder if there is any truth to any of these stories – we need to believe again. 

            John invites all of us to come to the empty grave and believe.  The signs are all around us of God’s presence if we take time to pay attention.  The empty tomb is hope for those of us needing to believe again.  Will you come?

Finally, unlike Peter and John, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb looking for Jesus. 

            Mary comes to the tomb early Sunday morning to finish dressing the body of Jesus after the hasty burial on Friday by Nicademus and Joseph.  When she finds the stone to the tomb rolled away, she quickly determines the Romans or the Jewish leaders have done something with his body.

            Mary runs also.  Through the dark and narrow streets she runs to Peter and John.  As they bolt past her, she quietly makes her way back to the tomb.  Peter and John have already left the tomb and gone back into the city buy the time she arrives again.  She desperately wants to find Jesus.  She doesn’t care about believing or in second chances – she just wants Jesus. 

            When she returns to the tomb, this time she cautiously bends over and goes inside.  She doesn’t notice the empty linen cloths – instead, there two angels startled her – one at the foot of burial table and one at the head.  “Woman, why are you weeping?” they ask.  She doesn’t hear them – she only wants Jesus.  “They have taken away my Lord,” she says, “and I do not know where they have laid him.”

            Then Jesus comes to her and in her grief she takes as the gardener.  “Sir,” she says, “if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

            Then – Jesus quietly and simply calls her name.  “Mary.”  And know she knows – he is alive. 

            Peter came to the tomb looking for second chances and found an empty tomb and hope for restoration.

            John came to the tomb looking to believe and found empty linens and believed in God’s power over death.

            Mary – the woman whose life was chaos and turmoil – out of order and out of control before Jesus cast 7 spirits from her – Mary Magdalene came looking for Jesus. And she found him.  He called her by name and invited her to be his messenger to the world. 

            “I have seen the Lord” she says as he bursts into the room holding them all.  “He called me by name.”

            Have you come to the empty tomb today looking for Jesus?  Has your life gotten so out of focus that you can’t find him anymore?  Have you become so religious that the person of Jesus has gotten lost from all of the things that once drew you to him?  Does your life seem dead and bottomed out – full of death and dying?  Do you come today looking for a risen Jesus to call you by name and welcome you into a new relationship?

            The empty tomb is hope for those of us needing to find Jesus. 

Conclusion

            Easter living means that we all come to the empty tomb with needs and hopes and desires for our lives and the lives of our family.  These hopes and desires are so big and scary that only resurrection can meet them.  Jesus meets you at the empty tomb.  He calls you by name and he welcomes you home.   Then – like Mary, he sends us back into the world as his messengers.  Where is God sending you today>

            No matter why we come to the grave:  as Peter looking for a second chance or as John looking to believe or as Mary looking for Jesus – Jesus meets us at the point of our greatest needs.  He calls us by name and restores, greets and sends us.  The Easter story is not complete until we find what we are looking for at the empty tomb.  Amen!

The Gratitude Curse

      The story below is an Advent Lesson in Gratitude (the week after Thanksgiving). This is an abbreviated adaption from the original by Rabbi Mitch Chefitz (His website is here).  The story first appeared in Chefitz's book The Seventh Telling and most recently in the book The Curse of Blessings.  I'm grateful to my friend, Dr. Stephen Porter, missionary, for introducing this story to me and to my church while on mission in Overtown, Miami.  I am continually challenged by the Gratitude Curse.

Once, in Victorian England, there lived an officer of the law.  He was young and arrogant.

            One day he heard a commotion in an alley.  He ventured into the darkness and saw a man in rags.  “Come forward!” 

The man in rags did not move.  Instead, he said, “I don’t know what to do with you.”

            “Do with me?”  The officer mocked.  “You don’t do with me!  I do with you!  I am an officer.”

            “Now I know what to do,” the man said.  As he spoke, he drew his sword.  Without further word he drew his sword and attacked the officer.  The officer fought back.   When it seemed the man in rags would prevail, he lowered his guard.  The officer’s sword ran through the man in rags.  Scared, he said, “Why did you attack me?”

            The man waved the words away.  “I am leaving you,” he said, “and as I do, I put upon you the Curse of Gratitude:  Every day you must say a word of thanks, a blessing, one that you have never said before.  On the day you do not say a new blessing you will die.”  The man in rags disappeared. 

            The officer thought this was dreaming that evening when he felt his body growing cold leaving him.  In a panic, he uttered a word of gratitude:  “Thank you, Lord, for creating such a beautiful sunset.”  At once, life flowed back into him.  The curse had been real.

The next morning, the officer did not delay.  He awoke with words of true thanks.  “Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to wake up this morning.”  His life felt secure the entire day.  The next morning he thanked God for his ability to rise from bed, the following day that he could tie his shoes.  Day after day he found abilities he could bless.  Then, he began to bless relationships and he realized his words had power. 

            This life of gratitude went on for decades until he considered he had lived long enough.  Vowing not to speak a new gratitude, he recited old ones, reviewing the blessings of his life. 

            As the sun was setting, a chill began.  He did not resist it.  Then, a figure appeared, the man in rags.  “You!” he exclaimed, “I never meant to harm you.”

            “I am God’s angel sent to draw you to God.  When I saw you – so pompous and proud – you were too full of yourself to hear God’s message.  So I put upon you the Curse of Gratitude, and now look what you’ve become!”

            The officer of the law grasped in an instant all that had happened and why.  “Thank you, O God for you have kept me alive so I could attain this moment.”

            “Now look what you’ve done!” the man in rags said in frustration, “a new blessing!”

            Life flowed back into the officer.

            What blessings will we discover when we live with the curse of gratitude?  Maybe it is worth finding out.  

I Remember: A Reflection on my 9/11 Experience

 I remember -

The quiet morning drive through the South Carolina LowCountry to the Savannah River Baptist Association’s building which housed my missionary office.

I remember -

Being aware of the alone-ness of my isolated office with its fake pine paneling and slowly growing library in the remote, moss covered Southern town of Ridgeland.

I remember –

My disbelief and disregard at the news of the first plane into a building in New York City when my wife called to alarm me – I immediately thought the least because I could not fathom the worst. 

I remember –

The painful crawl of dial up internet service which served as my only outlet to the world as I tried my hand at the new verb called “Googling” to catch a peek at the news.

I remember –

The slow growing anxiety like the wisteria vines outside my office which spread with each click of my refresh button in Microsoft Explorer.

I remember -

Reflecting longingly at the hope and anticipation we shared with gathered friends on the previous Saturday night for my wife’s birthday.  Intuitively, I knew life would never be the same. 

I remember -

Stepping out of my isolation and dread into the downtown Radio Shack to see my first images of the billowing smoke of the New York skyline and the crumbling of massive skyscrapers on a wall of television screens.

I remember

Not knowing what to do or how to respond or who to reach out to or how to love.

I remember –

Wanting, needing, and longing to be home with my wife and two young daughters.

I remember –

The tears which would not come, flooding my face and wracking my body when I finally stepped foot in my once secure home on Marsh Drive.

It’s been 12 years – and, Yes, I still remember:    The growth of faith and trust and love in a life hardened and changed. 

I still remember:  The source of true security is the presence of Jesus in a life filled with fear. 

I still remember:  The true investments of our lives are deposited in a land not touched by derivatives, bank failures or real estate. 

I still remember:  These three remain:  faith, hope and love.  And the greatest of these is love.