Sermon from April 22, 2012

New Life and Resurrection obviously fit with Easter!    The theme totally works!   We can do New Life!   We like to do New Life!     This works for us mostly.   In movies and stories in our culture, there are many happy endings.   “All’s well that ends well”.   And the favorite… I’ll start it, and you finish it… “And they lived…”   all together now…   “happily ever after!”     You know how the “Story” is going to end – We’re Americans!   It ends well!   The question is what will the characters in the story have to go through before they get to the good end.  And how will the happy end play out.       

Last week I talked about how this plays out in our faith.   Sometimes we expect happy endings.   We hope for them.    I mentioned that sometimes we strike an unwritten bargain with God.   God, if you do this for me… I’ll do that for you.”  

A thing called the “Prosperity Gospel” has grown here in the US.  A new take on the Resurrection theme?     The idea here:  your wealth and prosperity, blessings in that way, are in fact blessings from God!   They demonstrate your faithfulness to God, and God’s faithfulness to you.   The more of the material blessings you have, the more you know you are being blessed by God. 

In theory I would agree that all we have is a blessing from God.   Who wouldn’t agree with that, right?   And there is a biblical precedent demonstrating this notion of “be true to God, and God will be true to you” idea.   The people of Israel are called to be faithful to God, and in return God would prosper them.   It was an expression of the covenant made with God.   The idea here is the more faithful you are to God, the more God will bless you with signs of material wealth.   

I get blessings from God!   I get that this “Prosperity Gospel” would be attractive to many Americans.  But this “Gospel” has an insidious side to it; on closer inspection, it looks like an unholy love-child between Christianity and Wall Street.   It’s a Frankenstein monster of faith!    It's American capitalism and greed wrapped in churchy language to make it less obvious.   

Truth is - There is no promise of you being rich if you do what God wants you to do!    And NOT having as much material wealth as your neighbor, or as much as you had before, is NOT a sign of God's removing blessings from you!   And if you’re following God ultimately for the promise of wealth… then your real god is the love of stuff.  

   

 Contrast that form of New Life with another:  In the movie “Saving Private Ryan” from a decade and a half ago.    In the opening scenes, an old man is walking through row upon row of white grave markers.   We find out he is at the Allied Cemetery in Normandy, France.   He’s there with his family – what look like his wife, his kids, and his grandkids.    As the movie goes on, we find out that a small unit has been sent to find this Private Ryan to get him out of harms way and back home.  But in the process only 2 out of the 8 soldiers tasked to bring him back survive the mission.  

The final words uttered by the Captain, played by Tom Hanks, strike hard at the heart of this young Private – as he is dying from his mortal wounds, the Captain says “Earn it!” and expires.  And we move back to the cemetery where the old man, Ryan, asks his wife, with a deep recognition of the gift he’s been given, and a desire to have it validated, asks his wife if he’s lived a good life. 

I know, it’s just a movie!  But it seems this character, Ryan, lived a life with a profound sense of what New Life might means!   “Earn it!”    You have this new life at a cost… I can only imagine those words, first heard in 1944, would have echoed through his remaining years.    

Peter, in the first reading, is healing and preaching in Jesus’ name… in the name of the Risen Christ.   In the Gospel reading, Jesus sends them out to preach and to heal and forgive sins.   Resurrection comes to them with some sense of responsibility as well it seems.   “You’ve been gifted with this New Life!   Use it well!” 

I wonder what medical staff say when preparing to release an organ transplant patient?  A patient who would perhaps have otherwise died were it not for the transplanted organ.   You have new life… don’t squander it!  Live well! 

Before the Maundy Thursday meal (holy Week), we were all gathered in the back.   I was asked to pray, so I said a few words.   They had to do with being mindful that in order for us to eat so we can nourish our bodies – having the gift of food – I mentioned that we be mindful that something had to die for us to live.   And someone later said to me, “I’ll never be able to look at meatloaf the same way again”.   I think they said it, perhaps partly as a conversation starter, something to talk about.   But I was serious about that prayer – in order for us to have nourishment, something has to be offered for us.  Something has to lose it’s life.   We are SO far removed from the chain of food sources, that we have lost the notion of cost.   I think our sense of gratitude would change if we had to gather, kill, or pick our own food.    Saying Grace might take on a much deeper meaning… and so would Life.    And New Life… and Resurrection! 

I think sometimes we need to hear about not only New Life and Resurrection, not only be reminded about life and what that all means, but the cost.   We do not live for us alone.   Let this idea of cost deepen our sense of faith.   Be open to New Life as it comes.   Recognize the blessings as they come.   Open your heart to the music of the universe as you walk through your day.   Trust in God!    Be hopeful!     Be mindful!  

New Life and Resurrection is a gift!     How often do you remember it as such?