Category Archives: Recent Sermons

April 3, 2018

“Christ is Risen!” 2018 Easter Sermon 04.01.2018

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

Easter 2018 * John 20:1-18 * April 1, 2018Easter 2018 * John 20:1-18 * April 1, 2018

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the RISEN Christ. Amen.

So this year, Easter falls on April’s Fools Day. The last time this happened was in 1956 and there will only be two more occurrences of Easter falling on April Fool’s Day this century. In case you didn’t know this, the actual date for Easter changes each year. It’s not a set date like Christmas. If you were paying attention as we received the gospel readings over the past four days of Holy Week worship, you’ll note that scripture doesn’t tell us that Maundy Thursday or any of the other days have a specific calendar date – only a specific day of the week. After all, God’s time is not the same thing as human time. It may surprise some, but God, in fact, does not have an Apple Watch.

I’ve never explored this too far but…the date for Easter is determined as the first Sunday, after the first full moon, on or before the Spring equinox.

OK – before I keep chasing after that squirrel, let’s move on.

Since the very earliest days of the Christian movement, there’s been a very significant, and somewhat foolish I might add, greeting used to signify Easter and the resurrection. Someone will say “Christ is risen!” And someone else will say “He is risen indeed!”

Let’s try it.
Awesome! You guys are great.

BUT – wait a minute. Weren’t you listening? Why are we shouting for joy?

In our gospel reading on this Easter Day, Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved have been to the empty tomb, don’t seem to understand what is going on so they decide to head for home in order to continue their Xbox video game tournament. Or something like that.

And Mary, one of Jesus’ closest friends and someone whom I believe we should see as one of the first disciples, is weeping.

So why are you and I, followers of Jesus nearly 2,000 years later, shouting for joy?

Here’s something about the resurrection that has rested on my heart this year. Peter, the other disciple, and Mary Magdalene don’t know what’s going on – they don’t know the end of the story. At this point, all they know is that Jesus – this friend of their’s whom they thought was the Messiah – has been brutally killed just a few days earlier. They don’t see any reason why there is going to be anything more to this story than the horrific, bloody death of their friend on a cross. They have to be thinking – this is the end. Nothing more to see here. Let’s move on with our lives.

Early on this first day of the week, they come to the grave where they thought Jesus was to be buried, and he’s not there. Is that all there is to their story? Is the story of Jesus, God’s son, our Savior, over?

You and I know that death on a Friday we dare call Good, is not the end of the story. The first disciples to witness the resurrection didn’t know that, at least not yet.

As Mary is weeping, she doesn’t recognize Jesus, but Jesus recognizes her. Not because of anything she does, but because of what God does for her through Jesus.

We began worship today by giving thanks for and affirming our own baptism. In the sacred and holy waters and words of promise from God that is the sacrament of Holy Baptism, God claims us. A sacrament when we see Jesus recognizes us. Not because of anything we do, but because of what God does for us through Jesus.

Peter and the other disciple have no idea what is going on at the tomb “for as yet they did not understand the scripture.” Over the next few weeks in our worship life together, we’ll discover that they will begin to understand the scripture as they experience the resurrected Jesus first hand. Again, not because of anything they do, but what God does for them through Jesus.

After all of the Easter candy has been consumed – or hidden by wise parents – and the Easter dinner is over, and family and friends have returned to their homes and busy lifestyles; what does any of this mean? What does it mean to be a follower of this Jesus?

This Jesus who couldn’t even be stopped by death. This Jesus who recognizes and calls each of us by name as precious children of God – loved and claimed and freed – in spite of all of the ways that we try to turn and run from God. All of the ways that we try and put God to death expecting that we, somehow, can keep God dead.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the resurrection of Jesus is not simply a historical event that we remember each year like a national holiday or birthday. And the resurrection of Jesus is not only about some future hope that we have for ourselves and our loved ones after our earthly death.

I’m sorry, but if we focus all of our attention on a past or future event, we are completely missing the resurrection promise that’s right in front of us today. The resurrection promise of Jesus that calls us to live with a hope that we can experience and witness each and every day of our life together as part of the body of Christ. Hope that is only possible because of what God has already done, and is continuing to do for us, through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.

So don’t worry about Easter falling on April Fool’s day this year. You don’t need to ignore it. It actually might be helpful.

One ELCA pastor, Paul Lutter said – “Through his death and resurrection for us, Jesus Christ is God’s foolish power on the loose among us. Our strength is toppled by his weakness. Our wisdom is toppled by his foolishness. And we are never the same again. We are made new. We are turned upside down for the sake of Christ, who dies and is raised from death for us. We are given new identities. Marked with the cross of this foolish Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism, we are made fools for Christ.” [“Foolish Power,” Living Lutheran, April 1, 2011]

So for today, let’s greet one another as fools for Christ with foolish joy and proclaim “Christ is Risen!” “He is risen indeed!”

And just like Peter, the other disciple, Mary Magdalene and every follower of Jesus since that first resurrection day, let’s not be afraid or stand around weeping. Let’s proclaim truth every day.

The truth that God has, is, and will always be a God of resurrection. A God of resurrection that conquers every death we will ever experience. A God of resurrection that sounds foolish to some. A God of resurrection that brings forth new life, always and in all ways.

And so tomorrow, on Easter Monday, let’s continue being fools for Christ as we greet one another with joy and proclaim “Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”

And next weekend we will greet one another with joy and proclaim “Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”

And later this year, we will greet one another with joy and proclaim “Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”

Thanks be to God! Amen.

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March 12, 2018

“Our Journey with Nicodmus” 03.11.2018 Sermon

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

 

John 3:14-20 • March 11, 2018 • 4th Sunday in Lent

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ. Amen.

One of the things that our confirmation students are asked to do each year as they prepare for the Rite of Confirmation is to select a scripture verse that is meaningful to them or has spoken to them during their time in confirmation. Without a doubt, the three most popular verses of scripture that I have heard over the years are Jeremiah 29:11 – “For surely I know the plans I have for you…”, Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”, and one verse from the gospel of John that we just heard.

If I give you just two numbers, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about. What’s the first thing that you think of when I say the numbers 3:16.

Theologian Len Sweet believes that followers of Jesus are often plagued with an awful disease. He calls this disease “versitis.” Let me show you what he means. John 3:16 – “For God so loved……” Good. Who can tell me what John 3:15 is? Or how about 3:17? Or the context in which this text appears?

You and I, and really anyone who has ever heard or read Holy Scripture, will have “versitis” from time to time. No child of God today with a bible in their hands is immune to it.

Len Sweet says that, “knowing individual Bible verses, as helpful, hopeful, and healing as they might be, does not mean that you know the Bible, the story of the scriptures. The whole story. The big story. The back story. Both the huge moments and the hidden aside. All of the components of God’s story are necessary in order to comprehend the whole, unfolding drama of the divine words and work that are found in scripture.”

Image result for john 3:16 athleteSo, what might be the bigger story behind one of the world’s most famous verses of scripture – John 3:16? Because there’s a lot more to it than simply seeing it painted on an athlete’s faces or posted on a billboard advertisement.

John 3:16 comes during a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee known as Nicodemus. A prominent leader of the Jewish community and a character who only appears in John’s gospel. And his appearances are significant to how John reveals who Jesus is – especially who Jesus is for an outsider like Nicodemus. Or like you. Or me.
Nicodemus’ relationship with Jesus begins in this late night conversation early in John’s gospel. I don’t think Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night has a lot to do with the time of day. As if Nicodemus couldn’t get an appointment with Jesus until he got off work in the evening. Although I know many will argue with me about that. Image result for nicodemus

Throughout John’s gospel, their relationship develops. In chapter 7 Nicodemus defends Jesus at a time when the chief priests are trying to arrest this Jesus who is starting to become quite a pest and beginning to get in the way of their power and control on society and the Temple.
At the end of John’s gospel, a story that we’ll hear in a few weeks, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea – two people not connected to Jesus’ inner circle of disciples – ask Pontius Pilate for Jesus’ dead body. They want to prepare the body with spices and linen cloth in order to give it a proper burial. After a lengthy journey that we see unfold throughout John’s gospel, Nicodemus finally embraces discipleship.

In so many ways, I’m a lot like Nicodemus. Nicodemus and I like darkness more than light. Darkness that involves control and authority, right sacrifice according to the chief priests and religious leaders. Life that is built on certainty that I’ve created according to my own plans and ideas, not God’s.

For me, that darkness often looks like an endless need to work harder and more. Another common disease – being a workaholic. If I just put a few more hours in at work today, then I’ll be more successful. Then God will pay attention to me for being the amazing child of God that I am and I’ll finally be the pastor that God wants me to be.

Or the darkness involves beating myself up thinking that I’m not praying enough or in the right way, so I add new spiritual practices to my life that promise to make me a better pastor to the people I serve or father to my daughters or husband to my wife.

In Nicodemus’ first encounter with Jesus, he thinks that Jesus will give him a simple, magic answer to becoming his disciple. What he discovers is that following Jesus will take him to the cross on a day that we now call good.

Image result for tv evangelist collageYou and I are bombarded by Christian teachers telling us that if we just say a simple, magic prayer to invite Jesus into our hearts, then we will become Jesus’ disciple and our lives will be whole.

As Nicodemus’ relationship with Jesus grows, it doesn’t result in riches and fame or happen because of anything Nicodemus does. And it takes him to the deepest pits of death and despair, where he finally discovers that Jesus has been with him all along.

What darkness are you holding on to today that is getting in the way of your relationship with Jesus? That’s getting in the way of you being able to see that Jesus is right there with you already?

For the writers of the bible, faithfulness and belief didn’t refer to “intellectual surrender to a factual truth. They were writing about fidelity, trust, and confidence. As they saw it,” Christian author Debie Thomas writes, “to believe in God was to place their full confidence in him. To throw their whole hearts, minds, and bodies into God’s hands.” [blog post http://www.journeywithjesus.et/essays/1687-in-a-nutshell, but Debie Thomas]

Or as I read from another author this week “The light of God’s love shining down from the cross demonstrates the totality of God’s love and proclaims God’s desire to transform the dark places in this world into places of light, healing, and salvation.”
[www.sundaysandseasons.com reflection]

The Apostle Paul reminded us of what this might look like today in his letter to the church in Ephesus, which is also a letter to the church in Bismarck by the way, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” [Eph. 2:9-10] By the time Nicodemus goes with Joseph of Arimathea to prepare Jesus’ dead body for burial, I think he understands what God has made him to be.

As you and I continue our journey through Lent, which will takes us to the cross of Good Friday, may our walk be reflective of what God has already made us to be. God has made us to be his children, called to bring healing and hope and light into a world too often filled with darkness.

Image result for compassion mandala

Compassion Mandala

May the words from Jesus that rang true in the ear of our brother Nicodemus, also ring true in our ear today…“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Nicodemus’ long conversion throughout the gospel of John invites us to trust in the slow, steady, eternal work that has already begun. Work that we are called to do with our whole hearts, minds and bodies. Work made possible because God sent Jesus into the world to save the world and not to condemn the world. What are we waiting for? Let’s get to work. Amen.

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