Sermon Tone Analysis

/“Why do you //Look for the Living among the Dead?” /Luke 24:1-12

 

*A story is told by Frederick Nietzsche, the German existentialist philosopher, writing of a madman who charges into the marketplace of a medieval village, leaps onto the steps of the cathedral, and shouts to the crowd, /"I want a requiem mass!

I want a requiem mass!

I want a requiem mass!" / *Now, for those of you who grew up in less liturgical tradition, a requiem mass is a funeral service.

As the madman shouts his demand for a requiem mass, the crowd answers back.

“/Why have a requiem?

Who has died?" / /"God has died," /cries the madman.

/ "God is dead!" /*When the crowd mocks his seemingly absurd announcement of the death/ /of God, the madman retorts, /"Well, if God is not dead, then why have the churches become mortuaries?/*/"/

(from Tony Campolo, Carpe Diem, p.29)

 

*That reminds me of the old story about the 911 call reporting that someone had a heart attack and died in a church service.

*The EMTs arrived just minutes after the call came in and hurried into the sanctuary with their stretcher and their monitors.

They had to carry out two-dozen people before they found the dead person.

* *

*Well, friends, Nietzsche's belief that God is dead is not all that uncommon in the world today.

*Nor is the impression that churches are deadly.

So I’m going to start out this Easter Sunday morning by asking you some yes or no questions!

And I want you ALL to answer…

/Do we believe that God is dead?

/ (*People respond :NO)*

/Is this a church filled with death or with life?

/ (*LIFE)*

/Is God alive?

(/*YES*/)/

/Does the living God make a difference in your life?

Is Christ risen?(/*

YES*/)/

/ /

/Is there pain in the world?

/ (*YES*)

/But does pain have the last word?

/ (*NO*)

/Is there suffering in the world?

/ (*YES*)

/Does suffering have the last word?

/ (*NO*) 

/Is there death in the world?

/(*YES*)

/Does death have the last word?

/ (*NO*)

/Is Christ risen?/* (YES*/)/

 

(OK…now we better settle down before all of our Easter visitors questions what denomination of a church we are!!)

 

*It is true that the world is a hard place and that sometimes all of that hardness can just sap the strength of life right out of a soul.*

One of the my favorite Lenten movies is * Chocolat*.

In case you haven’t seen it, in the movie, a young woman comes to a small French town, mystically arriving ala Mary Poppins accompanied by a strong wind.

She opens a small chocolate shop   She arrives at the beginning of Lent and opens her shop against the advice of the town's mayor, who rigidly and righteously enforces the traditional rules of the church regarding abstinence from sweets during this season of penitence.

But we soon learn that the rules are about more than chocolate.

*The rules repress the life of the village, the freedom to be joyful, to give and receive love, to be creative, to embrace change.

*But the young woman, named Vianne, persists and slowly her chocolates work magic in the village, bringing courage to the timid, love to the unloved, hope to the despairing, and even faith to the young priest.

*  *

* *

*Finally the mayor decides to destroy the chocolate shop.

*So* *on Easter Eve he sneaks into the shop intent on destruction, but the chocolates…the chocolates look so good, smell so good, and one taste won't matter…but one taste leads to another, and soon the mayor is rolling in the chocolate and weeping as he realizes that over the years he has allowed his soul to die, and there in the chocolate-induced stupor of his binge, he experiences resurrection.

*He falls asleep in the window of the chocolate shop, covered in chocolate… *and as the sun rises on Easter morning, the bells ring out their joyful song…/"Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed!"/

* *

*The moral of the movie Chocolat is that life is for living, not dying, and that despite the best efforts of a hard and cold world, life always triumphs over death.

*Chocolat is an Easter story.

It pronounces a harsh judgment on any faith that would kill the spirit of life that God has placed in people.

Rejoice in the goodness of life!

Christ is risen!

*A few years ago in February a terrible earthquake struck India, in a town called Gujarat.

* Of course, many destructive natural events have happened since then but in regard to this particular one there is a story to tell.

At the time, I have no doubt saw pictures of the destruction and devastation on TV – of the buildings that collapsed, trapping people inside and maybe more.

It was reported that more than 20,000 people died in that earthquake.

*For the first few hours and days… those* who were able helped the military, the police, and the foreign emergency response teams to dig through the rubble…searching….searching

for any sign of life….listening

for a cry or a moan… but the hours of searching for survivors turned into days, and soon fewer and fewer survivors were being pulled from the wreckage.

*After a week had passed… *many were giving up the search for survivors.

*But two weeks after the earthquake…*the news showed a poignant image…a young woman, exhausted and weak, was relentlessly picking up pieces of rubble from what once was a school.

/"Why do you do this?"/ she was asked.

"/Because I have hope of finding someone alive,"/ she answered.

/"You still have hope after two weeks?"

"Without hope,"/ she said, /"we are nothing."

/*She believed she might discover a miracle.

She thought she might find the/ /living among the dead.*

*When the women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with their spices, they went looking for the dead among the dead.

* But the body, we’re told, wasn't there.

It was gone.

In its place was a message from God.  / “Why do you look for the Living Among the Dead?” / That was the question the messengers/ /of God asked the terrified women that morning so long ago outside of the/ /tomb.

The women weren't expecting to find the living among the dead.

Jesus/ /was crucified and dead and all that awaited him was the burial of the body./

/The women didn't come to the tomb expecting to find a living Christ.

The/y /sought only a dead prophet.

They were looking for the dead among the dead.

*/And what do you look for in your life?  /*Are you looking for a dead prophet or for* *a living Christ?

The Christian faith must be a faith that seeks a living Lord and not a dead prophet.

If it fails to celebrate and seek a living Christ, a God present and active in the world, then we have completely missed the message of this day…this Easter day!

 

Someone once said something very odd to me.

He said that he enjoyed coming to memorial services here at the church I was serving at the time.

I said, /"You're weird…who enjoys memorial services."

/But he replied./

"No.

Really.

You put fun into funerals!"

/ At first that sort of took me back, but after I thought about that a bit… this thought came into my mind… */ “Why not?”  /*After all, we don't come to memorial services expecting to find the dead.

We come expecting to find the living!

/And/ /Hallelujah to that!/ 

 

*But we can come with such incredible expectation because of Easter*

*day! * /"Because I live,"/ Jesus says, /"you shall live also!" / That promise is the very heart of the Easter message and the Christian faith.

We believe in *life*.

We believe in *hope*.

*We believe we will find the living among the dead.*

And if we can experience life in the midst of death, then surely we can find triumph in the midst of defeat, strength in the midst of weakness, justice in the midst of injustice, riches in the midst of poverty, joy in the midst    of despair.

Skeptics will say, /"No, you can't, because none of that makes any sense at all.

Your religion is simply a weak attempt to make sense of the absurdness of life.