Pr. Joseph Crippen

You’re afraid, we all are, but the women show us we can bravely share our lives – still afraid, but filled with joy in God’s risen life in us.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Resurrection of Our Lord, year A
Text: Matthew 28:1-10

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

They were so scared, they looked dead.

These tough guards at the tomb, armor-clad, carrying weapons, were terrified. They shook and fell to the ground. Like dead men.

Give the benefit of the doubt. Earthquakes are scary. And an angel of God showed up in the middle of it. That dropped them like trees. This being from heaven sits on the stone that used to cover the tomb. The tomb they were supposed to be guarding instead of being frozen, curled up on the ground, like dead men.

We know something about being frozen in fear.

These times are so overwhelming, and not just because we had a couple months of violent federal occupation of our cities, our homes, our schools, that’s lessened visually but still is ongoing. It’s the disastrous war in the Middle East, the relentless assault on the lives of vulnerable people, the fear of wondering which of our democratic processes and systems and even allies will remain after a couple more years of this.

We’re not frozen by fear of seeing an angel or an earthquake. We’re frozen by fear of what we can’t control, things that overwhelm and threaten. Sometimes in our immobility we might even look dead.

But something else freezes us, too.

We’ve just walked with Jesus through these Three Days and have seen him demonstrate with his own body and blood what the path of God’s love, will mean. It means sacrificing ourselves in love for others. Even Jesus struggled with this when he prayed in Gethsemane.

There’s a reason so many Christians in every generation reduce the faith to simply believing the right things, having correct theology. It’s fear of the alternative: that Jesus meant Christian faith to be a life fully engaged in costly relationships of love, vulnerability, and self-giving, with God and with neighbor.

We might have to face our own prejudice and privilege and lose some comfort to follow Christ. We might have to dare to allow ourselves to live on less so others can live. We might have to have our dearest opinions and convictions and biases challenged and broken open. We might have to risk being hurt.

It’s much easier to act as if faith is thinking things right, and not being someone new. When we do this, we look dead.

But there were others experiencing that earthquake, seeing that angel.

There were some women there. Disciples, followers of Jesus. Unlike the other disciples, they came out of hiding to go to the tomb and be near Jesus’ body, early. Before dawn.

And they’re terrified, too. But they don’t fall to the ground like they’re dead. They keep their eyes open. They stay standing.

And so they hear this frightening angel tell them news they never could have hoped to hear: Jesus is alive. And the angel sends them out to tell the others.

They keep their eyes open still. They start walking. And they meet Jesus on the way! They get to hold him. Love him.

These women were just as afraid as the guards, just as afraid as you and I can be. But they held it together long enough to see the joy of what God was doing in this frightening moment.

And they don’t freeze in this moment of joy.

Both the angel and Jesus send them to go and tell others. They can’t go home and live with this news alone, with warmth in their hearts. This faith in the risen Jesus isn’t something you keep inside.

No, they are sent out to be vulnerable, just as Jesus always said. They’ll risk being disbelieved. They’re women, so they’ll also risk being discounted and ignored. They’re sent to witness with their vulnerable, self-giving lives that servanthood and sacrificial love, even to death, always ends in resurrection and abundant life. That this path they’ve all been called to walk looks scary and filled with loss, but ends in the earthquake of God restoring life that has been freely given for others.

And of course you and I are also sent. If you want to follow Jesus, it means taking this joy of God’s Easter life and letting it break your immobility. It means going into the world to be Christ. To be self-giving love.

But are you still afraid? Do you fear this sending Jesus gives you?

That’s OK. Take one more look at Matthew’s Gospel. Do you see how the women left the tomb to witness? They went, Matthew says, “quickly, with fear and great joy.”

They were still afraid. But they were filled with joy. They didn’t know what the future would be for them, and that still frightened them. But now they knew this path was filled with God’s abundant life and love, a life that can’t be stopped by death, a love too strong to stay in a grave. And that gave them great joy.

It’s the joy of God’s Easter life that swings the balance for you, gives you just enough courage – it doesn’t take much – enough courage to outweigh the fear you have of being out there, vulnerable, as Christ, in the world.

If you want to follow the risen Christ, just follow these women. They’ve got the right idea. Fear and great joy, with enough resurrection courage to get moving. And Christ will meet you on the way and help you with all the rest.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

You belong to a God who made all things, brings amazing healing and life to the world and still is doing it in you and all people; trust this God for your life.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Great Vigil of Easter
Texts: The Vigil stories, including the resurrection

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

There’s a lot to process here tonight.

These massive stories we heard make astonishing claims. There is a God who created all that is out of chaos, made all this beauty, and called it good, again and again. This same God acted in anger at the wickedness on this planet and flooded it all higher than mountaintops, saving a family and a bunch of animals, then repented of that destruction and promised never to do it again.

This same God rescued a particular beloved group of people from slavery and dramatically parted a sea in two. And rescued three faithful servants from a horrible death by protecting them in the heart of a flaming furnace.

And we’re asked to believe all this, outlandish as the stories might seem, stories that anyone who isn’t a believer would scoff at.

And then there’s this last one: this same God became a human being like us, lived, loved, taught, and was executed. But then rose from the dead, was seen by beloved friends and disciples. Now we’re talking about dead people not staying dead.

How do we understand these stories when all around us people will say they couldn’t be true?

Well, you’ve already done the hardest part of faith: believing in God’s existence at all.

And once God’s in the picture, there’s no keeping God out. Author Morris West wrote, “Once you accept the existence of God – however you define God, however you explain your relationship to God –you are caught forever with God’s presence in the center of all things.”[1]

Once we accept God’s existence, no matter our theology, God is potentially involved in everything. If you believe in God at all, miracles like these stories are always possible. If you don’t believe in God, nothing can prove such miracles to you.

So tonight to believers like us, these stories promise that God can do anything, therefore God can do these things.

And if God can do these things, God can do anything.

In the catacombs of Priscilla underneath Rome, there’s a tomb of a Christian woman from the late third century. And painted on the wall of her tomb is a picture of a long sea serpent with a person sticking out of its mouth, and one of three men standing in the middle of flames.

These were the pictures this faithful woman’s family wanted to see at her tomb. A God who can pull Jonah out of the mouth of a beast, who can save three people cast into a fire. Any God who can do that can be trusted to raise their beloved from the dead, too.

So for us tonight, if God can rescue a whole people from slavery, God can break oppression and injustice today, and free people from their bondage.

If God can be with people in a great flood or a fiery furnace and keep them safe, God can be with you in your trials and afflictions and hold you.

If God can raise someone from the dead, God can give you life right now.

And since God’s promised in Christ to do just that, that’s your hope tonight.

You belong to a God who is alive and active in this world and capable of bringing amazing life and healing. Far beyond reason and rational thought.

You belong to a crucified and risen God who is in the center of all things and who promises to bring life to you and to all, now and forever. To a Triune God who can create a universe, save a whole people, protect in the midst of crisis, and raise the dead, bringing life and healing to you and your neighbors and the world is pretty basic.

You’ve already done the hard thing, believing and trusting in the God Jesus reveals to you and the world. So live in the trust that such a God is love for you and for all as Jesus said, and nothing will stop this God from bringing life and healing to you and to all things.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

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[1] Morris West, The Clowns of God, prologue (alt.), © 1981 Hodder and Stoughton/William Morrow.

Christ Jesus on his knees isn’t just an example, a model. It’s an offer of shared servanthood with you for the sake of the world.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Maundy Thursday
Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

“Do you know what I have done?” Jesus asked.

Obviously, he’d shockingly acted like a slave and knelt and washed the disciples’ feet. What more was there to know?

But Jesus asked, “do you know what I did? Why I did it?” He then went on, “I’ve set you an example. You call me Teacher and Lord, and yet I’ve just served you. Do you get it?”

Maybe we understand all too well what Jesus has done.

See, all images of the faithful path we see this week involve loss.

Jesus on his knees, washing the feet of his disciples and saying, “do this.” Let go of protecting your dignity and pride, get on your knees and serve each other.

Jesus giving bread and wine and calling it his body and blood, joining the meal to his death. Every Eucharist tells this sacrifice, is shaped by this death.

Jesus in the garden tonight, setting aside what he wants and willingly choosing his Father’s way. Refusing to call down angelic armies, rejecting the use of violence.

And Jesus tomorrow on the humiliating cross of Rome, enduring suffering and death to love all.

And each of these losses was a chosen loss, an intentional path.

So tonight Jesus looks at you, at me, and asks, “do you get it? Do you know what I have done? Do you see what lies before you?

If you wish to follow Jesus, your calling is to take the same path of loss, every time. Not necessarily being asked to literally die for another person. That may never be a choice before us. But Jesus says kneeling before his friends is his example. Yes, Jesus died on a cross, the ultimate end of the path he chose. But before then, he was on his knees, washing filthy feet. He considers them the same sacrifice. And asks, “Do you get it?

But that question is far deeper than you think.

It’s not just about following an example. See, this is God-with-us, the face of the Triune God, kneeling at your feet as a servant. You think you look up to see God, and it turns out God is kneeling at your feet, washing them, offering God’s own life to you in love.

That’s the thing to understand tonight. You’re not asked to follow as a servant as if it were a job to do. God-with-us, kneeling at your feet, asks, what if you joined me here?

God-with-us, dying on a cross, asks, what if you joined me here?

Jesus is still doing sacrificial love now, and invites you to join in it. To live your life, starting in your closest relationships, losing yourself for the sake of the other. Dying, even. Dying to getting your own way. Dying to “being yourself” and acting however you feel like acting. Dying to being centered on yourself that you might focus on others.

You could be a part of God’s transforming love, too, Jesus says.

When you get what Jesus is doing. Jesus, God-with-us, on his knees saying, “trust me – this is how we’ll make the world new together.” This is only working plan God has for the healing of all things. The ending of oppression and hunger and homelessness. The stopping of war and violence.

And this is the risen Christ’s job even now. Even if you don’t join Christ on the floor in self-giving love, Christ is still on his knees. Even if I refuse, Christ will still be loving this way, transforming hearts, serving through someone else. Through many others. And this servant way will bring about God’s new creation, one kneeling servant at a time.

Now do you know what Jesus has done? And what will you do now?

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen