April 12- Easter Sunday<\/h2>\nJeremiah 31:1-6<\/strong><\/h3>\nShould you decide not to preach on Matthew\u2019s resurrection account, my suggestion would be to choose the Jeremiah offering (the alternative option) rather than the reading from Acts as the basis for the sermon. And the choice is purely contextual, if I\u2019m honest with you, because fine Easter sermons can be crafted from either text.<\/p>\n
But the Jeremiah reading has this wonderful cadence that dances a bit on this day of celebration, and the![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Trees-in-a-Desert-300x199.jpg\")
<\/a> wonderful theme of \u201cAgain\u201d used in the text can be played with to craft a sermon of resurrection hope that might be most impactful in this strange time of wilderness.<\/p>\n\u201cAgain, I will build you\u2026\u201d says the Lord. \u201cAgain, you shall take your tambourines\u2026\u201d says the Divine.\u00a0 \u201cAgain, you shall plant\u2026\u201d says the Holy Gardener.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain\u201d might just be the message your people need. For though it is Easter, it is also \u201cThe 5th<\/sup> Sunday of the Pandemic\u201d for most of us, and perhaps the third or fourth Sunday of \u201cshelter-in-place.\u201d\u00a0 These realities must be spoken of, too.<\/p>\nIn fact, I dare say that every year, Easter speaks to these kinds of realities; we just fail to recognize that fact most years from the comfort of our new dresses and freshly pressed suits with floral print ties.<\/p>\n
Your people will gather together, in person, again.\u00a0 Your people will be able to embrace one another, again. Families separated by quarantine will be able to kiss one another, again.<\/p>\n
It will happen again! There will be a time after this pandemic. If there\u2019s one thing Easter makes ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Green-Leafy-Plant-Starting-to-Grow-on-Beige-Racks-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>abundantly clear, again and again, every year, it\u2019s that there is always an “again.”<\/p>\nNeither life, nor pandemic, nor crucifixion nor death can stop that. On this Sunday above all others (but also, all the others!) this is the Gospel message.<\/p>\n
A final lovely nugget hidden in this prophetic text is the heavy but heartening truth that the people of Israel didn\u2019t just find grace after<\/em> they were through the wilderness period, but rather, as Jeremiah says, they found \u201cgrace in<\/em> the wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\nThere is grace in the wilderness. And I\u2019m not talking about silver linings or optimism or \u201cglass-half-full\u201d sort of grace, but rather the kind of grace that knocks you off your feet and helps you survive another day sort of graces.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking about Easter-sized sort of graces.<\/p>\n
Reminding people that though shopping is suspended, and socializing in person is suspended, and yes, ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Close-up-Photography-of-White-Amaryllis-Flowers-300x169.jpg\")
<\/a>Easter sunrise service is suspended in these days, grace is not suspended<\/em>.\u00a0 God\u2019s grace is never suspended.<\/p>\nGrace is found again and again, even now, even in these days.\u00a0 Which is worth celebrating and shouting \u201cAlleluia\u201d for this morning.<\/p>\n
Again we will hold hands. Again we will join together. Again there is grace to be found, even today.<\/p>\n
Again and again and again — and no quarantine, no shelter-in-place, no tomb will ever cause that not to be true.<\/p>\n
Matthew 28:1-10<\/strong><\/h3>\nOn this Easter, many churches around the world are empty, just like that tomb was empty in ancient Palestine on that \u201cfirst day of the week.\u201d![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Warning-Sign-in-Church-2-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn this pandemic, the most honest sign of love that the Christian world can give to the greater world, and to one another (and by extension, to the God seen in the risen Christ), is an empty church building. I\u2019m serious.<\/p>\n
There may be a few places in the world where the pandemic has not yet reached levels where churches are empty; places that may be far from you geographically but, through the faith that connects us, not so far at all. If there are, they will gather together in body for the rest of us as we all gather together in spirit on this Sunday.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this is a good Sunday, the Feast of the Resurrection as it is formally called, to remember that our church gatherings are both local and<\/em> universal, every time we gather. Our communion liturgy connects us both with one another, but it also connects us across continents and cultures, and with the distant past and with the future, as we join the \u201csaints of every time and place.\u201d That \u201cevery\u201d there really does mean every<\/em>, Beloved.<\/p>\nThis is what our theology tells us.<\/p>\n
Notice how Matthew\u2019s resurrection account opens a very poignant and timely door for us today, a door upon which the sermon can hinge. The angels, when greeting the women, tell them the resurrection news and instruct them to go tell the disciples to meet Jesus back in Galilee.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-null-1-300x147.jpg\")
<\/a>And then, the text says, they go \u201cwith fear and great joy.\u201d<\/p>\nWe often, I think, assume that great joy and fear are mutually exclusive, but this text reminds us that they need not be. We can be both fearful and joyful, which is probably where a lot of your parishioners are at in these days, right?<\/p>\n
Yes, we may be quarantined, and there is some fear around the future, but on this Easter Sunday we are also filled with great joy because we remember the promise that the love of God cannot be stopped by anything, not even death.<\/p>\n
Yes, we may have to shelter-in-place, and there is some fear about what that is doing to the economy, but on this Easter Sunday we are also filled with great joy because we remember the promise that God resurrects bodies, and they are paramount, and we are saving people\u2019s lives in these days, just as all of us will one day dance bodily with the risen Christ.<\/p>\n
Yes, we may be separated from one another, and there is some fear and anxiety about when we can be ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Grey-Concrete-Road-Covered-by-Fogs-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>back together, but there is also great joy on this Easter Sunday because we remember that every Sunday leading up to this, we\u2019ve been practicing in our souls and hearts for the day when we truly, truly need the Easter story, and by God, it\u2019s today.<\/p>\nOn this Easter Sunday, do not take the easy way out and present a rosy picture; Easter isn\u2019t meant for rosy days.<\/p>\n
Easter is meant, necessary even, for days of fear and tombs and women gathering in the darkness unsure of what they\u2019ll find.<\/p>\n
Easter is meant for today, by God.\u00a0 Alleluia!<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s Message<\/strong><\/h3>\nOnline Children\u2019s Messages can\u2019t reliably lean on congregational participation, especially if the kids aren\u2019t old enough to type in a chat box or if you\u2019re incapable of hearing them.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to continue assuming that you\u2019re recording this for them to experience online.<\/em><\/p>\nHave a huge Alleluia banner, or even a sheet of paper with an individual letter spelling out the word Alleluia, on it.<\/em><\/p>\n
Should you decide not to preach on Matthew\u2019s resurrection account, my suggestion would be to choose the Jeremiah offering (the alternative option) rather than the reading from Acts as the basis for the sermon. And the choice is purely contextual, if I\u2019m honest with you, because fine Easter sermons can be crafted from either text.<\/p>\n
But the Jeremiah reading has this wonderful cadence that dances a bit on this day of celebration, and the \u201cAgain, I will build you\u2026\u201d says the Lord. \u201cAgain, you shall take your tambourines\u2026\u201d says the Divine.\u00a0 \u201cAgain, you shall plant\u2026\u201d says the Holy Gardener.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain\u201d might just be the message your people need. For though it is Easter, it is also \u201cThe 5th<\/sup> Sunday of the Pandemic\u201d for most of us, and perhaps the third or fourth Sunday of \u201cshelter-in-place.\u201d\u00a0 These realities must be spoken of, too.<\/p>\n In fact, I dare say that every year, Easter speaks to these kinds of realities; we just fail to recognize that fact most years from the comfort of our new dresses and freshly pressed suits with floral print ties.<\/p>\n Your people will gather together, in person, again.\u00a0 Your people will be able to embrace one another, again. Families separated by quarantine will be able to kiss one another, again.<\/p>\n It will happen again! There will be a time after this pandemic. If there\u2019s one thing Easter makes Neither life, nor pandemic, nor crucifixion nor death can stop that. On this Sunday above all others (but also, all the others!) this is the Gospel message.<\/p>\n A final lovely nugget hidden in this prophetic text is the heavy but heartening truth that the people of Israel didn\u2019t just find grace after<\/em> they were through the wilderness period, but rather, as Jeremiah says, they found \u201cgrace in<\/em> the wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\n There is grace in the wilderness. And I\u2019m not talking about silver linings or optimism or \u201cglass-half-full\u201d sort of grace, but rather the kind of grace that knocks you off your feet and helps you survive another day sort of graces.<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking about Easter-sized sort of graces.<\/p>\n Reminding people that though shopping is suspended, and socializing in person is suspended, and yes, Grace is found again and again, even now, even in these days.\u00a0 Which is worth celebrating and shouting \u201cAlleluia\u201d for this morning.<\/p>\n Again we will hold hands. Again we will join together. Again there is grace to be found, even today.<\/p>\n Again and again and again — and no quarantine, no shelter-in-place, no tomb will ever cause that not to be true.<\/p>\n On this Easter, many churches around the world are empty, just like that tomb was empty in ancient Palestine on that \u201cfirst day of the week.\u201d In this pandemic, the most honest sign of love that the Christian world can give to the greater world, and to one another (and by extension, to the God seen in the risen Christ), is an empty church building. I\u2019m serious.<\/p>\n There may be a few places in the world where the pandemic has not yet reached levels where churches are empty; places that may be far from you geographically but, through the faith that connects us, not so far at all. If there are, they will gather together in body for the rest of us as we all gather together in spirit on this Sunday.<\/p>\n Perhaps this is a good Sunday, the Feast of the Resurrection as it is formally called, to remember that our church gatherings are both local and<\/em> universal, every time we gather. Our communion liturgy connects us both with one another, but it also connects us across continents and cultures, and with the distant past and with the future, as we join the \u201csaints of every time and place.\u201d That \u201cevery\u201d there really does mean every<\/em>, Beloved.<\/p>\n This is what our theology tells us.<\/p>\n Notice how Matthew\u2019s resurrection account opens a very poignant and timely door for us today, a door upon which the sermon can hinge. The angels, when greeting the women, tell them the resurrection news and instruct them to go tell the disciples to meet Jesus back in Galilee.<\/p>\n We often, I think, assume that great joy and fear are mutually exclusive, but this text reminds us that they need not be. We can be both fearful and joyful, which is probably where a lot of your parishioners are at in these days, right?<\/p>\n Yes, we may be quarantined, and there is some fear around the future, but on this Easter Sunday we are also filled with great joy because we remember the promise that the love of God cannot be stopped by anything, not even death.<\/p>\n Yes, we may have to shelter-in-place, and there is some fear about what that is doing to the economy, but on this Easter Sunday we are also filled with great joy because we remember the promise that God resurrects bodies, and they are paramount, and we are saving people\u2019s lives in these days, just as all of us will one day dance bodily with the risen Christ.<\/p>\n Yes, we may be separated from one another, and there is some fear and anxiety about when we can be On this Easter Sunday, do not take the easy way out and present a rosy picture; Easter isn\u2019t meant for rosy days.<\/p>\n Easter is meant, necessary even, for days of fear and tombs and women gathering in the darkness unsure of what they\u2019ll find.<\/p>\n Easter is meant for today, by God.\u00a0 Alleluia!<\/p>\n Online Children\u2019s Messages can\u2019t reliably lean on congregational participation, especially if the kids aren\u2019t old enough to type in a chat box or if you\u2019re incapable of hearing them.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to continue assuming that you\u2019re recording this for them to experience online.<\/em><\/p>\n Have a huge Alleluia banner, or even a sheet of paper with an individual letter spelling out the word Alleluia, on it.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a> wonderful theme of \u201cAgain\u201d used in the text can be played with to craft a sermon of resurrection hope that might be most impactful in this strange time of wilderness.<\/p>\n<\/a>abundantly clear, again and again, every year, it\u2019s that there is always an “again.”<\/p>\n<\/a>Easter sunrise service is suspended in these days, grace is not suspended<\/em>.\u00a0 God\u2019s grace is never suspended.<\/p>\nMatthew 28:1-10<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>And then, the text says, they go \u201cwith fear and great joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>back together, but there is also great joy on this Easter Sunday because we remember that every Sunday leading up to this, we\u2019ve been practicing in our souls and hearts for the day when we truly, truly need the Easter story, and by God, it\u2019s today.<\/p>\nChildren\u2019s Message<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Girl-Wearing-Pink-Tutu-Dress-199x300.jpg\")
<\/a>elcome, everyone!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/Canva-Little-Boy-with-Yellow-Bow-Tie-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n