Easter Sunday

Transcripts are computer-generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Hallelujah. Christ has risen. Happy Easter everyone. My name is Debbie Manning and I'm one of the pastors here at the table. And um, this past week I, I follow like a lot of you do different writers and I follow some pastors and there's a pastor who's recently retired and I was reading his blog this week and he was talking about um, the fact that this is the first Easter since 1981 that he hasn't preached an Easter message. And he was talking about how odd that felt that this year he'd be sitting in the pews and the words that he used in his blog were so comforting to me. And here's why: 

This Easter marks the first Easter in about 20 years of ministry that I've preached an Easter sermon. Um, and it's funny because back I worked at Christ Presbyterian Church, I was one of eight pastors. I was on the pastoral care team. That was my thing. Pastoral care. I spoke a handful of times a year. 

And then when Matt and I launched uh, the table out of CPC about seven years ago now, we sort of established a really good rhythm. That's the beauty of partnering and co-pastor in the communities. We kind of both leaned into our sweet spots. He mostly preached. I preached once a month and I mostly do all the community and, and all the um, care and things. A little bit of the running of the church and it worked really good. But with Matt on sabbatical, here I am. You got me tonight for Easter Sunday. 

But here's what I appreciated about this retired pastor and what he said. He said that preaching Easter can be really hard. There's sort of a lot of weight to it. There is this idea that you really gotta bring it on Easter Sunday. But he said over the years what he learned is he grew and maybe with a little wisdom is that actually there's not a lot that you can do. And these are his words to “jazz it up.” There are no clever like new ways to look at this passage that actually the Easter story can stand on its own. 

And here's what I'm gonna say tonight. I think the Easter story is absolutely an amazing story. 'cause think about it, every year for 2000 years we've been telling the same story. Every Easter Sunday we told the same story last year and the year before and it never changes. And here's what I love about that. Here's why I need to hear the Easter story is although the Easter story doesn't change, I change, our lives change, our world changes. And I think we need not just on Easter, but we need to remember the Easter story, the resurrection story. 

And that's what I love about Easter. It's trustworthy. And no matter who you are or what you've done or who you've lost loved or who you've lost, no matter where you've been or where you've stayed, this story is true for you today. And the more life that I've lived in my 64 years, the more I realize that I want the same old story. I need the same old story. I need that thing. He's not here, he's been raised. I need to remember that Easter is still true and it's still happening. And I wanna hear the story again this year. And not because the story's changed and some years are harder than other years. And in those years we really, really need this story. 

So here we are. And Jesus has been betrayed. He's been arrested, he's been tried, he's been denied, he's been mocked, he's been crucified. He's been buried and he's laid in a tomb and they put the stone in front of the tomb and they seal it just to be sure. And they have a guard in front of it. 

And here we are in Matthew 28:1-10: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb and suddenly there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord. Descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning in his clothing, white as snow for fear of him. The guards shook and became like dead men. 

But the angels said to the women, “Do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified and he's not here. For he's been raised as he said, come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples he has been raised from the dead. And indeed he's going ahead of you to Galilee. And there you'll see him. This is my message for you.” 

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. And they ran to tell his disciples. And suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings.” And they came to him and they took hold of his feet and they worshiped him. And then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee because there they will see me.” 

This is a story for all of us. And no matter what you believe or don't believe, this is a story for all of us because Easter is neither a documentable historical event nor a poetic motive or metaphor for renewal. It is a great mystery of faith. 

It happened as the first day of the week was dawning. A new day was beginning. Light and warmth were returning. And if you have ever been someone who's needed light and needed warmth to return to your life, if you've ever ever needed a second chance, if you've ever needed a do over to start over with a new day, this story is for you.

And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. They were there when Jesus died. They watched him suffer. They saw him tortured, they watched him die and they helped lay him in a tomb. And if you've ever had your heart broken by loss, by a debilitating disease, by a broken relationship, and you've had to lay something or somebody in a tomb, this story is for you. 

Now, Mary–the Marys–when they arrived, they saw this tomb exactly as they left it on Good Friday. You know, this story's told in all four of the gospel stories, but all the other gospel stories, the tomb's already gone but not as Matthew tells it. So when they show up, nothing's changed, nothing's happened. And if sometimes your life looks like that, like nothing's changed, that you feel stuck. If you've ever wondered whether God is doing anything at all in your life, this story's for you. 

Suddenly there's a great earthquake and an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone from the to tomb. And said “Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who has, who was crucified. He's not here, he's been raised.” And if you're, if you're someone who's needed a miracle, if you've needed some earth shattering good news, if you needed something to happen that you could never imagine or even think you could hope for, if you've ever lived as your life as though death has the final word, this story is for you. 

“He has been raised from the dead. And indeed he's going ahead of you to Galilee. It's there that you will see Jesus.” That's the angel's message for the women. And Galilee is where Jesus and all of his disciples were from. It's their home. And if you're someone who's ever struggled to find Jesus, to find that sweet spot where you feel like you've come home, if you've wondered where he is, if you've ever thought that Easter is nothing to do with you or your everyday life, this story is for you. 

This is a story for us. I think it's interesting that the reason the angel rolled back the stone isn't so that Jesus could get out. It was so the women could see in, they could see that he had been raised and he was not there anymore. And that means that resurrection was already happening behind that stone, behind the stone of their life. It means that new life is always and already taking place even when we don't see it, even when we can't imagine that it could actually happen even when we don't expect it. 

And I've been thinking so much about the people in my life. I often think on this Easter Sunday, the hope we have in the resurrected Christ. I think a lot about my sister who died seven years ago. I think about Chase Johnson, I think about Lynnie, I think about Chris Nielsen. I think about Jim. There's so many people I think about on this Easter Sunday. And whether in the depths of some of the deepest darkness or a debilitating disease or a crazy life or maybe a monotonous life, we get an invitation to look into the empty to into the empty tomb. We are invited to a glimpse of the resurrection. 

You know, my sister died seven years ago this summer. Wow, that's hard to believe. And about a year after she died, there was someone—Patti, can you throw that up there?—um, who wrote this book called Glimpsing Resurrection. She's a, actually a religion professor at Hamline. She's a theologian, uh, involved in therapy. But she wrote this book And an acquaintance, someone I knew just a little bit contacted me and gave me this book 'cause my sister was mentioned in it. And here's what's so beautiful about it. I'm gonna read what she wrote because she's talking about in the midst of devastating illness of cancer, of trauma. In the midst of all of that, the gift of glimpsing resurrection, of how that gives you a sense of peace and joy in your life. And in her book, my sister's name is Leslie and she says this: 

What might it look like to frame one's death due to illness in a way that holds hope and grief together? Rather than using a framework of winning and losing. A recent obituary for a woman in my community, Leslie Nelson Tengwall, carves off, carves out a different path: one that makes space not just for the awfulness of cancer, but also for the more that our lives always are. And the obituary opens by saying that Tengwall ended in an 11 year journey through the muck that is cancer. And it also acknowledges the the ways in which cancer diminished tengwall's ability and what she could do. But the writers of the obituary refuse to let cancer have the last word on her life. And to the very end, Leslie taught us what it means to live and die with grace and courage. 

And the reason Leslie could do that, the reason she could live and die, the reason she could teach the rest of us what it looked like to live and die with grace and courage. 'cause she had glimpsed resurrection. She had the peace, the joy, the knowing of the love of God. And she understood, she held hope in a God who creates and also recreates. She trusted that this God is the one who will bring life outta death. That's what glimpsing resurrection looks like. 

Every single person here has something on their heart or brings something into this room. And whether that's joy or sorrow or questions or unbelief or belief, we all bring questions into this room. But the empty tomb is not an answer to the questions or circumstances that we bring in here. It's a response. It's an opening to a new beginning, a fresh start, an unimagined possibility. He has been raised, he is not here. The very large stone that has been rolled back, not so Jesus could get out, but so that we could see in. And maybe that's the question for all of us today. Are we seeing? Are we paying attention? Are we experiencing those resurrection moments? The hope, the joy, the awe that we get through God? I was thinking about when you're paying attention, how that happens right in front of you in the most ordinary and extraordinary moments. 

Um, as Jae alluded to we you just came back from vacation and a couple nights ago and it's simple stuff, but it's holy stuff and it's beautiful stuff and it's hopeful stuff. But it was bedtime. And we were sharing a place with my daughter Annie and her husband Jake. And it was bedtime and their little ones were going to bed and their little daughter, Sammy, who's four, ran out 'cause she wasn't ready for bed. And my daughter picked her up and we were listening to some music and Sammy was falling asleep on her. And my daughter Annie's in the third year residency. And she's not home very much actually. She's working nights tonight. So she's not even here. She's not home a lot. So this vacation was a gift of time. And as we sat there and listened to the music and I looked over and Sammy's sleeping on her and I see tears streaming down her face because she's in awe of this beautiful child. She's grateful for the moment she has. She's glimpsing that hope that we hold in new life and in resurrection. It's as simple as that. 

And then yesterday I was um, got off the plane and ran over to the hospital to visit one of our Table family members who was over at the hospital. And as I sat with he and his beautiful wife and her lovely son, um, one of his good friends walked in the door. And so Andrea's son and George's dear, dear friend who are Muslim, we got a chance to sit in this circle like talk about unexpected glimpses of resurrection. We sat in this circle and we talked about how we actually have much more in common than we don't. And we talked about how the image of God is in every single person. And this beautiful man, Sammy was his name. He looked up at the end and he said, you're a pastor. He was about to leave for his Ramadan dinner that they were having. He said, “Could you pray for us?” Unexpected! It was one of the holiest moments that I had experienced in so long man. And I didn't plan it. That was like God's hand in it. But that to me was a glimpse of resurrection. That hope that's right in front of us in the moments of our days. 

So whatever the circumstances of your life are, whatever has you've done or is left undone, whatever has happened or not happened to you. The empty tomb, promises, the possibility of something new and a chance to be different, to live differently. 

I never needed to be nervous about preaching tonight. 'cause it really is true: there's not much I can say about this story that changes the story at all. It's a beautiful story. It's an amazing story. And whether we believe it or not, no matter what I said or not tonight, it is still Easter. He is still risen. He doesn't need our validation, our permission, our acceptance. Easter is God's great yes to every no that the darkness brings and that changes everything for all of us. 

I said in the beginning that this is a pretty amazing story. And I'm talking about the kind of amazement that deepens your life and gives it meaning that leaves you weeping and gratitude that surprises you and takes your breath away. That awe, the kind of amazement that leaves you speechless and makes you glad that you're alive. The kind of amazement that opens your heart, opens your eyes, opens your mind to more than you could ever hope or imagine. The possibilities are limitless. 

On this day we sing, we celebrate, there's flowers we might dress up a bit. There's special food, special gatherings, but that's not what sets this day apart from everything else, that just points to and reveals that the resurrection is already and always happening in all the places, in all the days. This is not the day of resurrection. This is another day of resurrection. Hallelujah. Christ is risen. And that's our story. And I think it's a story we're saying one more time. He is not here. He is risen. And guess what? He's waiting for you. He's waiting for you down the road. Alleluia, Christ has risen.