SPECIAL DAYS: Easter Sunrise Service

April 20, 2003 Lesson: John 20:11-18, NRSVA

SERMON TITLE: Because He Lives!

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READING OF A PSALM, Psalm 118:14-29 (NRSVA) [selected]

14The LORD is my strength and my might;
    he has become my salvation.

15There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
    "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly;
16the right hand of the LORD is exalted;
    the right hand of the LORD does valiantly."
17I shall not die, but I shall live,
    and recount the deeds of the LORD.

19Open to me the gates of righteousness,
    that I may enter through them
    and give thanks to the LORD.

20This is the gate of the LORD;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
21I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
24This is the day that the LORD has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25Save us, we beseech you, O LORD!
    O LORD, we beseech you, give us success!

26Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD.
    We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27The LORD is God,
    and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
    up to the horns of the altar.

28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
    you are my God, I will extol you.

29O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

SONG, Morning Has Broken

PRAYER

READING OF SCRIPTURE, John 20:11-18, NRSVA

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 around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" 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.

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HOMILY, Because He Lives

  1. Columnist Jim Shahin asked readers to send him a list of their "favorite things," which he defined as "those things that make life worth living." (1)

    1. The response was incredible. People thanked him for helping them regain perspective and to remember the little things about life that have such big payoffs.

    2. When Leonard Sweet tried this, certain things keep cropping up: sunsets, sunrises, clean sheets, naps, the smell of a campfire, the Sunday paper, snowcapped mountains, falling in love, surprise phone calls from old friends.

  2. Some responses Shahin received were fascinating.

    1. One person from Albuquerque, New Mexico, wrote back; "Old cement sidewalks buckled with tree roots."

    2. Some others included -- "reading garden catalogs with a highlighter"; "James Dickey's poems"; "robins singing early in the morning when you're still half-asleep"; "a first kiss"; "Manhattan, seen from the air by the light of the rising sun"; "waltzing with grandpa"; "dipping sourdough bread in balsamic vinegar"; "having my grown-up daughters as friends"; "company not coming"; "my children saying, 'You know, Dad, you were right after all!'"; "the smell of bacon frying, wood being sawed, fresh-cut grass, coffee being ground, baby powder"; "lemon meringue pie"; "barbecued ribs"; "Mexican green chile"; "killing mosquitoes while they suck my blood"; "having it snow on Christmas day"; "new underwear"; "getting the person I'm calling on the phone instead of voice mail or a secretary"

  3. The next "favorite" for us to consider is "What are our favorite things about our church?"

    1. Be specific and name names.

    2. A true favorite deserves to be singled out and held up for recognition.

  4. Next, we are to expand our favorite things beyond the four walls of our local church.

    1. What our "favorite thing" is about God, about the Holy Spirit, about the Church (with a capital "C").

  5. Finally, let us get to the heart of all this "favoritism" and ask what is our favorite thing about being a Christian.

    1. If you were allowed to stand on your rooftop and shout out just one message about your Christian faith, what would it be?

    2. Theologian Albert Outler was asked near the end of his life what he had learned over time.

      1. He responded, "Early in my life, I would tell people 'You've got to love. You've got to love.'

      2. Now I have grown to realize that 'You get to love. You get to love'" (2)

  6. If you can do this you will never be confused.

    1. Donald Miller, the well-known minister and seminary president, tells about a woman who phoned him one Saturday night. (3)

      "Dr. Miller, what do I believe?" she asked him.

      "What do you mean?" Miller was not sure he had heard her correctly.

      "I mean," she said, "what do I believe? You see, I've just come from a party where several people got into a discussion about their various beliefs. One woman was Jewish, and she told us what she believes as a Jew. Another was Roman Catholic, and she told us what Catholics believe. Somebody was a Christian Scientist, and he talked about what they believe. I was the only Protestant in the group and frankly, I didn't know what to say. What do I believe?"

      "That woman," said Miller, "must have come into the church on the confusion of faith, not the confession of faith."

CLOSING SONG, Easter People, Raise Your Voices

BENEDICTION William And Gloria Gaither

Because he lives I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives all fear is gone.
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because he lives.

1. American Way, September 1995, 38-41.

2. Thanks to Fred E. Loder, Nebraska UM Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska.

3. John Killinger, You Are What You Believe: The Apostles' Creed for Today (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), 11, told by Hal Brady, Dallas, Tex., 18 July 1993

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