April 8, Easter Sunrise Service, 7:00 am, St. Barnabas Church, Mazomanie

Lessons: Responsorial Psalm: Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; 1st Reading: Acts 10: 34-43; 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 5: 6-8; Gospel Reading: Luke 24.1-12.

Sermon Title: Shock and Awe

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INTRODUCTION

  1. THE WORDS "Shock and Awe forcibly entered our minds and became part of our vocabularies in January, 2003.

    1. 800 missiles to hit Iraq in first 48 hours By Andrew West and agencies (1)

      1. January 26 2003

The US intends to shatter Iraq "physically, emotionally and psychologically" by raining down on its people as many as 800 cruise missiles in two days.

The Pentagon battle plan aims not only to crush Iraqi troops, but also wipe out power and water supplies in the capital, Baghdad.

It is based on a strategy known as "Shock and Awe", conceived at the National Defense University in Washington, in which between 300 and 400 cruise missiles would fall on Iraq each day for two consecutive days. It would be more than twice the number of missiles launched during the entire 40 days of the 1991 Gulf War.

"There will not be a safe place in Baghdad," a Pentagon official told America's CBS News after a briefing on the plan. "The sheer size of this has never been seen before, never been contemplated before."

      1. It certainly was "Shock and Awe."

    1. And it has been, for different reason, ever since.

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MAIN BODY

  1. I have knowledge of 73 Easter days.

    1. It is no longer a shock for me.

    2. It certainly was a shock for the disciples.

  2. Jesus had spoken often of his resurrection.

    1. He had told them at least five times that: "...he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised," (Matthew 16:21, NRSVA).

    2. The resurrection was not in the framework, the mind set or the world view of his closest followers.

    3. Luke records in the Gospel reading, Luke 24:1-12 (NRSVA)

The woman came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.
The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."

Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

    1. But he still did not believe.

    2. Once they got over the shock of the resurrection., they were filled with awe of meeting the resurrected Christ.

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  1. Easter may no longer be a shock, is it still a day filled with wonder and awe?

    1. Is a sense of wonder only the pejorative of the young, or is it also the experience of adults?

      1. A sense of wonder is a complex state.

      2. It involves awe, amazement, delight, and appreciation; also questions.

    2. There are sources of wonder all around us if we recognize them.

      1. Recognition may be lost.

      2. William Wordsworth, "Ode on Imitations of Immortality." wrote:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
              To me did seem
         Appareled in celestial light,
 The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;
        Turn whereso'er I may,
                 By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now see no more.

            The Rainbow comes and goes,
             And lovely is the Rose,
            The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare,
            Waters on a starry night
            Are beautiful and fair;
        The sunshine in a glorious birth;
        But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.

      1. It is not know as it hath been of yore;-

        1. Something has changed.

        2. If it is a contrast between childhood and adulthood, is there a loss of wonder?

        3. Perhaps so- explanations take the place of questions.

      2. Perhaps that is why, "The things I have seen I now see no more."

        1. The objects that were seen are still there to be seen."

        2. They are seen differently

          1. What has happened?

          2. Has the awe-inspiring has become commonplace?

      3. "There hath passed away a glory from the earth."

        1. There is a feeling of deep regret.

        2. Something very profound, which gave deeper meaning to the earth and life, has been lost."

    1. Perhaps, if we take the time to consider what it is that evokes a of wonder, we can recapture it"

      1. The birth of a child evokes wonder.

      2. Visiting places like the Grand Canyon evokes wonder.

      3. The renewing of nature?

James Douglass, Wonderment"

I wonder how a seed as good as dead
Comes forth a flower from out earthy bed.
I wonder how an acorn small
Can change itself into an oak so tall.
I often wonder how the silver moon
Can cause the gentle tide to change so soon.
I wonder how the little violets bloom
With the precincts of the fore gloom.
I never see a bed of crimson clover
But I want to sit and think things over.

      1. Is this to simplistic or naive?

    1. What effect does the empty tomb on Easter morning create in you?

      1. The body was buried.

      2. Jesus arose from the dead.

      3. Isn't that a source of shock and awe and wonder?

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  1. Doesn't this event create awe, amazement, delight, appreciation, and questions?

    1. It did for the disciples and it has done so for many thousands of people who became Christians.

    2. It is a source and a sense of wonder that influences us to continually renew our religious experience.

Richard LeGallienne, "The Religion of a Literary Man."

"The Sense of Wonder is obviously nearest to that spirit of worship which is the first instinct of religion. Wherever we have the sense of wonder, in however gross a form, we have one of the germs of that spiritual insight which sees the world and the most 'everyday' fact in it bathed in that strange light which for some is never gone from sea or land. Anyone with the sense of wonder must be to some extent religious, must be emancipated in some measure from the dull materialism of his fellows."

  1. There is a measure of dull materialism from which we must become emancipated if we are to keep our sense of wonder.

    1. It may be that "dull materialism" robbed Wordsworth of his sense of wonder.

    2. It is a spirit of wonder which arouses a person and allows us to see the earth and life with a perception which defies detachment.

      1. Don't allow yourself to lose that sense of wonder.

      2. A person suffers great loss when that occurs.

      3. Even the things of God can become so commonplace that we are bored.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:

"...Earth's crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."

    1. God can be seen in everything.

      1. It does not take a startling experience, a miracle, to reveal his presence or his oversight of life.

      2. He has given us Easter. This is not some commonplace incident. It is the source of our wonder.

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CONCLUSION

  1. A family was hiking in the mountains out West when Mom saw the stone--a small one, about the size of a half-dollar, with smooth, rounded edges.

    1. This is her rest of the story in the first person: (2)

"Ordinarily I would have passed it by, not being a rock hound. It would have remained there for another thousand years perhaps, a mere pebble among the larger stones on the trail.

"But this one instantly caught my eye. It was special. Glinting in the sunlight, it seemed to reflect all the surrounding colors, as though trying to mirror nature. Into my pocket went the rare find.

"All the way home to the East Coast I thought about where I should display it so its beauty could be most enjoyed. I finally placed it in a curio cabinet, next to some jade and carved ivory. I forgot it for a while.

"Then one day, while dusting, I was surprised to see that the stone had completely lost its luster. It sat on the shelf among the other lovely objects, a hard, gray chunk of nothing, downright ugly. I was shocked. What had happened to the prize I had so carefully brought back with me across the continent? Where were the sparkle and the colors that had attracted me so much?

"Disgusted, I snatched it up and started for the trash can in the backyard.

"Then, just as I opened the kitchen door, a beam of light struck the stone. As though by magic, it began to shimmer, to glow again. In an instant the beautiful jewel tones shone brilliantly.

"Had they returned? Or had they always been there, dormant, waiting to be released?

"Wondering, I glanced up at the sky. Sunlight? That was the answer. The rays from the sun were all my stone needed to come alive.

    1. So the rays of God shine still in the light of an Easter morning.

    2. So once again, we may come alive in our own daily resurrection.

    3. We live in hope of the ultimate resurrection to eternal life.

Amen.

1. This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/25/1042911596206.html

2. Source unknown.

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