Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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This is the Day of Pentecost. A very significant day in the life of God’s people. I suspect however that we may not think about the Day of Pentecost as being of the same significance as Christmas or Easter. But it is just as significant as all of these. And so, our goal this morning is to remind ourselves of the meaning of this Day of Pentecost as its significance for the Christian life. (more…)

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Once again, the setting for the Gospel reading today is the Upper Room on the night when Jesus was betrayed. This is now the 3rd Sunday in a row that we’ve returned to this Upper Room. This may seem like a strange place to keep coming back to during the season of Easter. After all, isn’t the Upper Room all about darkness and dirty feet and last suppers and betrayal and final words? And isn’t Easter all about light and life and tulips and daffodils and God’s wonderful surprise? I thought that once we got to though dark days of Lent and into this joyous Eastertide, we’d finally have put all that yucky stuff about death and dying behind us?

But no, we keep coming back to the Upper Room during Easter, especially during Easter. Because it is only because of Easter that all of that stuff that took place in the Upper Room makes sense. As Jesus was talking to His disciples He said to them, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12). When Jesus tells them things like, “It is good that I go away from you…” and “a little while and you will not see me and again in a little while you will see me…” and “You will weep and lament but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…” there is no way that they can understand what He is trying to tell them. Easter must happen before the things that He has said and done in the Upper Room make any sense to them.

Easter solves the mystery. (more…)

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If you didn’t know better, you’d swear that evil has overcome this world. It appears that evil forces are gaining the upper hand and getting the best of what is good. We see it in the Middle East. We also see it in our own country where evil seems to be overcoming this world through the increase of drugs and gambling, the erosion of marriage and the family, the acceptance that self and self survival is all that matters in this world overcome by evil.

To all of this, Jesus has a whole different word. “Take heart,” He says, “I have overcome the world.” Here is the understanding of the world from faith’s perspective. And because our faith is based on the Word of Jesus, we know that it is the way, the truth and the life. (more…)

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Have you ever wondered what life in a perfect world would be like? What would this world look like if everything was as environmentally and ecologically perfect? And what would it be like to live in a world where all of the natural elements worked together in perfect harmony?

And, what would it be like if everyone in the world were perfectly good and honest and sincerely interested in the welfare of others and every decision was processed through the filter of love that asked, ‘how will this decision of mine effect others?’ And not only the others that are close to me, but the others on the other side of the country or the world, and even, those others who are not yet born and who won’t come into this world until long after I’ve died. What would be like to live in a world where people worked together in perfect harmony?

And what would you be like if you were perfect, perfectly and completely free of every speck of pride and greed and selfishness? I know that we have times when were free of these things and we act in a truly loving way, thinking only of the other person, but, you know as well as I do that this is certainly not ‘always.’ What if you ‘always’ held every thought, word and deed, captive to the Word of God and the good of others? What would you be like?

What would it be like to live in a perfect world with perfect people? Where Sunni’s and Shiite’s love one another; where Palestinians and Israeli’s sacrifice whatever was necessary for the peace and welfare of the other; where whites and blacks were color blinded by love for each other; where husbands and wives submitted to one another in pure devotion, one to the other; where children honored their father and their mother and all in authority in thankfulness for the care they received.

All of this sounds so far fetched and utopian that we’re tempted not to sigh and say, “oh, wouldn’t that be nice,” but to sneer and say, “what planet are you from?” (more…)

Ezekiel 37:1-14 / Revelation 21:1-7 / John 16:16-22

As far as the eye could see, all that Ezekiel could see was death. Ezekiel found himself in the middle of a cemetery. A very strange cemetery for sure. You might call it a burial ground, except for the fact that none of the bodies were buried. Death was right out in the open – nothing to cover it up, nothing to hide it from view. Nothing to disguise it either. Nothing to pretty it up and make it look presentable. No embalming. None of the skillful treatment of the body to make suitable for a viewing. No caskets, cushions or flowers.
Just skeletons. And very dry ones at that.

The point is, there was absolutely no sign of life, either real or imagined. As far as the eye could see, all that Ezekiel could see was the absolute absence of life.

The question we are tempted to ask in the face of death is “why?” “Why did this happen?” “Why did she die?” “Why didn’t the treatment work the way we hoped it would?” “Why didn’t we try different treatments than we did?” And then there’s the big question – “Why didn’t God make it turn out differently?”

I’m not exactly sure why we want to know why, but I suspect it’s because we think that if we knew why, then we’d feel better about death. If we knew why, then, maybe somehow it’d be less painful.

The truth of the matter however is, (more…)