11.06.2022 - A Life Lived Well - Resurrection (All Saints Day)

11.06.2022

Scripture: Luke 20:27-38

Luke 20:27–38 NRSV

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

All Saint's Day: Resurrection📷

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The Life Yet to Come

I think people are better at endings than they are at beginnings. For example, scientists and philosophers have been debating for thousands of years which came first: the chicken or the egg. There is no debate that fried chicken is the end of that chicken, though.

We are filled with mystery when we try to describe life in reverse, always looking for the root cause of whatever we are dealing with but never fully satisfied. We can always go back a step further, wondering what came before. Even within our own lives, our memory only goes back so far. There are days, months, and even years that we have lived that we do not remember. Those mysterious times beyond our memory are part of the story of our lives.

We mark those beginnings with celebrations like birthdays. Even the celebrations, which seem to be about endings, like graduations, are filled with pictures of the first day of school and sharing other stories of the past. We almost always look backward when we celebrate because the future is less certain, but we yearn for our tomorrows. There is a hesitation in that yearning because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and we are sure that death lurks behind one of the doors we will pass through in this life. So we stand with all of life, digging up the roots of our past life and somewhat fearful of that life coming to an end down the road soon.

In between that mystery of birth and the touch of death, Christ calls us to find life and to live in Him. Indeed, we are all made alive in Christ.

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The Debates

How we measure and where we find both life and death are foremost in all of our concerns. Whether it is politics, theology, economics, relationships, or any other decision in life, we measure it by this question:

“Is it a matter of life and death?”

That was the question that split the Jewish people in the centuries before Jesus was born. God had been silent for 500 years. That is longer than most of our nations have existed. It no longer mattered to some of them whether their nation had been founded on God because they were pretty sure He left if He ever existed in the first place. They questioned their own history because they were no longer connected to it and to the God who led it.

The Sadducees kept only the Law and used it as a moral guideline for civilization. They used religion to become wealthy and used their power as the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem to gain favor with the Roman government, taking the role of puppet leaders for the emperor, not unlike the tax collectors in the area. They claimed to be Jewish but worked for Rome and lived a comfortable life in the best of both worlds.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were holding out hope for what the prophets had promised - that God would return. The Messiah would come to set them free. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment for everyone. They weren’t counting up birthdays. They were waiting for Christmas and living with a hope for an Easter resurrection themselves.

The Sadducees mocked the Pharisees for their naive hope and came to Jesus with a problem they thought would confound anyone who believed in life after death.

Seven brothers married the same woman, one at a time, and each died childless before the next married her. Jesus, tell us when she gets to heaven, who will she belong to?

Little did they know that Jesus had met such a woman already, outside a well in Samaria. She had not been married to brothers, but she had multiple husbands and no children that we know about. Whether through divorce or death, the question remained the same. Who did she belong to?

I know people who have pondered that question themselves, perhaps in different words, but there is a sense of foolishness or at least one-sidedness to it. Jesus could have given them the question back, switching the roles of the men and women. (One man, with seven wives, which would he belong to?) They probably would have gone away offended that a man might belong to a woman. Instead, he gave them a gentle answer. Men and women do not marry after this lifetime. Our existence is not based on worldly needs because we are transformed and are living a life that will never be touched by death again. Who do we belong to?

We belong to God.

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The Valley of the Shadow of Death

God is the source of our life and strength, and Jesus explained that beautifully. He told the Pharisees that everyone, not just them, not just those alive today, but even their forefathers in the faith, going back thousands of years, are made alive in God. It was a beautiful explanation, but it was confusing, especially for people who had heard nothing from God for 500 years. How could God make the dead alive? And if He could, why didn’t He? What was God waiting for? How many nations would He allow to conquer, enslave, and destroy his people before He got off His throne in heaven and came down to do what He promised and make things right?

They were part of generations of Jewish leaders who were trying to keep the flame of faith alive while living in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Dealing with things like COVID would have been a walk in the park for them, and the terrors that faced Ukraine were part of what they had dealt with daily for generations.

I was visiting some of our homebound this week, and one of them told me that everything seemed to be in turmoil. She asked me to tell her some good news. I struggled because it has not been a week of good news. She and I both yearned for something real. We didn’t need to hear platitudes and positive Christian sayings. We needed to see that the God of the living was indeed still among us. We needed to see the light that shines in the darkness and leads us through to the other side. That is right where those Jewish leaders were as well.

I wonder how they might have changed their words if they knew where they stood when they asked those questions. It is easy to complain and question and doubt when we are stuck and lost in the valley of the Shadow of Death ourselves. Would they have questioned God that way, though, if they knew they were standing face-to-face with Him? Do we realize that God hears our questions and doubts when we express them out loud and even when we keep them buried in our minds and hearts? It doesn’t matter how dark the valley is where we find ourselves; God is there with us.

And He will lead us through. He will become our light when we cannot see any other light. He will lead us through to the other side because we belong to Him.

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Eggshells and Empty Tombs

There is a kinship between many birds and the first thing they see outside of the egg. I have a stepbrother whose farm dog imprinted on a nest of ducklings, and one of those ducks stayed with the dog, living in its doghouse, for its whole life. God wants that kind of relationship with us.

Life here on earth is valuable and important, fragile and fleeting, and many other things. But it is not all of life. There will be a day when God calls us out of our tombs and into the light of His resurrection power and life. Our bodies will be transformed into something that death can no longer touch, and we will have the power to live free from sin. That is good news. But there is better news still!

We are not meant to wait until we die to start living that new life. You can come out of your shell, come out of your tomb, and into the light of Christ to live today. It is what Jesus called being born again. We get very comfortable in our shells, living for ourselves and perhaps those closest to us. We don’t venture into the bigger world because it makes us feel small and insignificant. But we will not become the people God has called us to be while we are still buried within ourselves. You cannot love God and others fully and freely until you are willing to step out of the comfort of living in the past and step into the hope and light and life found only in Christ.

We learn by example how to take those steps and how to live that new life in Christ.

As you continue to remember those who have gone before us, those we have named, and those who have moved into eternal life in years past, who have you seen model that eternal life for you?

Where have you caught glimpses of Jesus, who showed us by His life that we can live life now in the power of His Spirit that prepares us for our ultimate resurrection and eternal life with God?

What is one thing you can do to imitate Jesus through the examples of those who have gone before you and then model that life for those who are following you?

Julie will give us a short time of meditation at the end of our communion liturgy, and we invite you to pray at the altar or in your seat during that time.

Communion – The Great Thanksgiving II

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Glory to God. Amen.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

And so,

With your people on earth

And all the company of heaven

We praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death, And made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

On the night to which he gave himself up for us

he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to his disciples, and said;

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

“Drink from this, all of you

this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it,

in remembrance of me.”

And so,

In remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving,

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.”

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other,

and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory,

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is your, almighty Father,

now and for ever.

Amen

The body of Christ, given for you. Amen.

The blood of Christ, given for you. Amen.

Sunday school starts in just a few minutes and come back and join us for our Sunday evening service at 6 pm. Richard Mick will be sharing at that service.