Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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Forty-six days, we’ve walked together in prayer, searching the Scriptures, and reaching out to a world in great need.  We’ve been reminded one more time why it was that God came in human form and gave himself to death on a cross…

We reaffirmed the reality of temptation --- and that it’s a very slippery slope!  We saw how commercialism exploits our vulnerability to temptation.  And so, just as Wall Street computers are programmed to limit a market crash, we agreed that we too need to be reprogrammed … to halt the crash that comes of fear and greed! 

We heard Jesus tell us that this new programming comes from being born again … by water and the Spirit --- stepping from the way of fear and greed, into the kingdom of God.  And, we saw that the world thirsts for this new way of life!  A woman lost in adultery, her sins brought into the light by one who cared about her … found new life and shared openly about it with others!

New sight … we agreed we need it!  We need to see things in a new light --- the way that God sees them.  We need to look on the heart.  And, we need to realize that others are looking to our hearts too!  Others thirst to see genuine Christian hearts --- Christians who share the heart of Christ … and who seek to bring out the heart of Christ in others!  …We acknowledged that we are called to live with a God-heart … not with a world-heart --- that has a little religion sprinkled in when it’s convenient!

Life, true life, we came to realize, is life lived in constant connection with the Source Of Life.  God … LOVE itself … is the source of life!  God breathed the soul into every living creature.  That soul naturally seeks to stay connected to its Source.  The joy of life is to live true to that God-given-soul, to the person God created you to be … and moves your heart to be.

Yes, God came to earth, in human form --- to reprogram us … to pluck the God-cord in us again … that we might return to life as LOVE desires it! --- life that is just and right for every living soul – black, white … rich, poor … educated, ignorant … Jew, Muslim, Christian, atheist … caring, uncaring … all restored to The Source of life!

~The all-powerful God put on sandals and had only one set of clothes.  The ruler of the world, road into his capital city on a donkey!  The master, teacher washed his students’ feet.  The divine, the perfect lamb of God, gave himself over to the sin and chaos of the world … to expose it all … to vividly contrast the difference between what it means to love one another … and to simply try to be good, within the limits of the chaos, the ways of the world, and our unlimited fears and desires…

Jesus said to his students, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet.” 

Now that’s certainly turning things upside down!  …There can be nothing too low, no call too humbling, that we are not willing to do it out of reverence to God and love of one another.

“Love one another,” Jesus gave as his final command.  “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this, all people will know that you are my disciples … if you love one another.”

---The way of life as God designed it.  …Unfortunately though, not the way of life as we live it … especially when situations are at their most challenging!  But, God in Jesus Christ, gave all that there was to give so that we might see the way … believe it, trust it, and live it!

It was a brutal, agonizing, torturous, death by slow suffocation --- nailed with outstretched arms on a couple of timbers fastened together in the shape of a cross!  …And God freely gave His only begotten Son to it --- that whoever would believe - would give their hearts, their souls, their very lives back to God - would not perish … would not be separated from the Source of life … but have eternal life!

Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God, one with nothing but the purest of love for God and neighbor, took on the sin that results in the chaos --- took on the abusive power, the cowardly fear, and the heartless complacency of the world.  …And it killed him!  It not only took his life, but it took the very Spirit out of him!  He died!  There was no doubt about it.  It was finished!  Jesus said so!

But, on the third day, just as also foretold by Jesus, he was resurrected!  Mary Magdalene saw him!  Many others saw him too! 

Yet, it was strange, almost incomprehensible!  Jesus didn’t look exactly as he had!  Mary didn’t recognize him!  He could be touched, he ate food, but he suddenly appeared in a room that had locked doors!  He was resurrected … but in a glorified body! 

God really can do it!  It wasn’t in their normal experience!  They hadn’t seen it before!  And yet … it happened!  How else can you explain the impact it’s had on the history of the world?! 

It’s not in our normal experience.  I doubt any of us here today has seen it first-hand!  …And yet, we believe in it, because we have, in our hearts and in our lives, experienced the reality of the living Christ!  We feel the tugging of a living Savior in the depths of our hearts!
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And that brings us to that morning with Mary.  Jesus, resurrected from the dead in a glorified body, said to her, “Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.  Go, instead, and tell my brothers, ‘I am ascending to my Father … your Father, to my God … & your God!”

Jesus was resurrected that day!  This is great news!  God can and will resurrect all who mortally die!  It’s reason to celebrate today!

And yet, it wasn’t the end…  Jesus had said, “It is finished.”  But, it was not the end!  It was only the beginning!  Jesus still needed to ascend back to his Father, back to God.  …But he couldn’t do it if Mary held onto him! 

Wow, that’s not intuitive, is it!?  Jesus couldn’t ascend if Mary held onto him!  The reason it’s not intuitive is … because we think of it too much in human, mortal terms --- just as Mary was doing! 
God is spirit.  And that spirit came to earth in human form to reconnect with us --- that God might be in us as God was in the human, Jesus!  (Recall how the Spirit of God came down from heaven and lit on Jesus like a dove!)  Jesus’ mission was to bring us back to the Father … not himself!  Jesus’ mission, in concert with the work of the Holy Spirit, is to ascend in us, with us, back to the source of life.  The glorified Christ, the Spirit of Christ, doesn’t ascend unless we ascend with him!  …That was his sole (soul) purpose!!
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So, it’s an Easter choice!  Now that our eyes have been opened over the past 46 days; now that we have seen the heart of God and how much God cried for the chaos of a lost world on Maundy Thursday thru Good Friday; and now that we know God’s power … that God is real and that God really does have power over sin and death --- we, like Mary, are called to a choice: 

Hold onto what seems comfortable, secure --- but results in a short-lived life of sin and chaos … and winds up in eternal separation from the very Source of life!

Or,

Let go!  Let go of the fear and the greed … of the temptations that corrupt life --- and ascend with the glorified Christ … the very love of God … to eternal life with the Father, with our God!
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A man finds himself hanging from a limb growing out from the side of a cliff.  The cliff rises straight up some thousand feet from the valley below.  It’s sheer, there are no places to grab onto to climb up or down.  The man hangs there hollering, “Is anyone up there?  Help!  Is anyone up there?!”

Suddenly, he hears a voice, “Who’s up there?” he asks.

“Dave, it’s me, God!  I’m here to save you!”

“Wow!” cries out Dave, “I need you so badly!”

“Don’t worry, Dave; I’m here for you!  …Now, here’s what I need you to do.  Let go of the limb with your left hand.”

Dave hangs there and thinks a minute.  “Let go with my left hand?!  I don’t know about this!  Well, but I am right-handed; that’s where my strength really is!  I guess I can do it.  …Okay, I let go with my left hand!  Now what?”

“Now, Dave,” God said, “let go with your right hand!”  [Pause]

“Is anyone else up there?!” Dave cried out…
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Christ is resurrected!  He’s out there on the edge of the cliff with us and wants to take us to the top!  But, it means that we have to let go … let go of the limb of sin and death --- of fear and greed --- and put our trust and faith in him! 

Christ is resurrected.  But, he didn’t just leave us hanging here!  He doesn’t intend to ascend without us.  This is the good news of Easter!  This is the living God we have! 

So, let go!! … and fall into the outstretched arms of the living Christ! 

May it be so!

Let us take a moment to rest here in God’s arms…

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And it is so today!  Right here in our midst, there are persons who desire to let go and give their lives, their hearts to God … in faithful response to all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ!

Baptism, confirmation, and joining the church are the ways we let go and give ourselves to the arms of our living Savior.  Seven persons today desire to respond to God’s call from the top of the cliff!  How exciting!  How appropriate!  How it shows the presence of a living Savior!

All come up.  All answer questions.  All join in the baptism of Stacy.  Each gives their heart to Christ and is prayed over.  (Sam and Keston lay on hands with Linda, Dick, me and all the youth there.)  Finally, welcome Sam and Keston as new members of the body of Christ at Oak Chapel. 

Let us give thanks that God has reached out His hand in Jesus that we might take hold, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and ascend with him to the right hand of God, into the kingdom of God that has many, many rooms!  A room for each person, regardless of gender, race, economic stature, education … or past sins!  This is the culmination of the work of God in Jesus.  This is how we know Christ is risen!  We feel it and we see it!  And we respond without hesitation.

Now, Jesus says, “Follow me.  And go … go make disciples of all nations … show them my love … wash their feet … live for God … and be infinitely blessed!”

Christ is risen!  He is not only resurrected, but he is ascending.  We know, because we are ascending with him!  Thanks be to God! 

Amen!