Fear Not: Beyond Scared to Death

from my message on Easter, from Matthew 28:1-10

Death.  We in the church are supposed to be experts at death.  The culture looks to us Christians for a word about death.

How many times has it happened in my ministry that the first time I ever met someone, even church members, was at their funeral.  This is not pleasant for me.  When I first started in ministry, there was an older, maybe more hardened staff member, who called such members of the church, FBO.  "What does FBO mean," I asked.  She said, "For Burial Only."

One of the first funerals I ever did was for a man who lived in the Allandale neighborhood when I was the associate pastor here at St. John's UMC.  I asked the family to describe the man.  "He loved the ranch in Llano, the wildflowers, all of nature.  He was at best, an agnostic."  "Why did you call me?"  "Well, you are in the church.  You are a pastor.  You are supposed to know about death."  So I did a funeral for a man who was at best, an agnostic.  I remember that I had a crick in my neck that day.  Something about tension I think.

I know a lot about death.  I bet you do too.  Some deaths are easy.  Some people have lived a long life, a full life, a whole life, a holy life.  Their passing can be so easy, it is like a crossing over.  In their last days, they can sometimes seem to be in between, already visiting with loved ones, and in the company of angels.  Some deaths are hard.  Too young, too soon, too harsh.  You can find some names on the blue prayer sheet with situations that just break your heart.

May I share something with you?  I hope it doesn't surprise you.  You all are going to die.  May I share some good news with you.  Jesus died.  The gospel story is that the Lord of all life came to live among us.  He died, and he was raised again from the dead.  God's chosen one, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, died like we do.  It is this Jesus who says to us, "Don't be afraid."

We all will die.  But for what would you die?  For some of you on this Easter Sunday, you may need to die to the script that you have been following, the one that says, "I am not worthy of God's love.  I am not good enough for salvation."  This is exactly the reason Jesus came to live and die and be raised again for us.  He saves us by his grace, his great love for us, and not anything we have done or not done.

For some of you on this Easter Sunday, you may need to die to some old hurt. You have nurtured this resentment in the hothouse of your soul, you have watered it and fertilized it and watched it grow.  You may need to let it die, so that you may live.

The church is dying.  The Roman Catholic Church is dying.  I appreciate what the new pope, Francis, is doing.  He is dying to power and privilege and place.  On Thursday this past week, what we call Maunday Thursday, he washed feet like Jesus did with his disciples.  But Pope Francis didn't wash the feet of cardinals.  He washed the feet of convicts, even women, even a Muslim.  We need to become good at dying in order to live.

This church is dying.  We at Westlake UMC are learning to leave our comfortable places in the pew and in the parking lot to make room for others, especially on a day like today when it is so crowded.  We are giving up our favorite hymns in order to accommodate others' tastes.  These are small things.  What is bigger is we are laying down our lives for the poor and the outcasts.  We even lay down our lives for those who are rich in things and poor in soul. 

Two ways we are laying down our lives are coming up in 4 weeks.  One is ReThink Church.  This is a day we call off worship here and go out into the world to be the church that stands with the vulnerable.  This will be our 4th year to do this.  It only bothers me a little bit that people cheer when I call off worship.  Please sign up at our website how you want to ReThink Church on April 28.  That same weekend we are having the Gospel Accordin' to Texas, a musical production that we hope speak in  native Texan the good news we have in Jesus.

We want to hold onto the old Jesus.  Did you notice how the women disciples worshiped at Jesus' feet and held onto him?  But Jesus is always going on.  Jesus really died, but as a child told me, "HE didn't stay dead too long."  Jesus is always going on.  One of our younger clergy said this, "And Jesus came back in a better version....Jesus 2.0."  We will be raised to better things also.  We die to the past and are going on to live with Jesus.

I saw an example of this on Friday, a day the church calls Good Friday.  Imagine that....the day that Jesus dies we call Good Friday.  I didn't have much to do at this service.  I had delegated it out to Diana and the choir.  There were reflection stations in our labrynth, the library, prayer garden, playground, and courtyard, many different ways for people to pray.  "What can I do?"  I asked Diana.  She gave me a cup of nails.  "Hand one to people as they reenter the worship center."  So people would come in.  I would hand them a nail.  They said something very surprising, "Thank you."  Nail.  Thank you.  Nail.  Thank you.  One women when I handed her a nail said, "Yes."

We are not afraid of death.  Jesus says, "Fear not."  When he hands us a nail, we say, "Thank you." When he hands us a nail, we say, "Yes."  The good news is that we can die to being scared to death.