1 Corinthians 15 | Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Easter Day April 4, 2021

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8

It is very early. The sun has just begun to rise. We have no idea how we’re going to move that stone. We saw him die. It was horrible. That death is constantly and overwhelmingly in our thoughts.

When we arrive there, the stone is gone! An angel is sitting inside the tomb. He knows everything that has happened. He tells us that Jesus is risen. He is not in the tomb. We look in, and the tomb is empty except for the angel.

The angel tells us to go and tell Peter and the others that Jesus is going ahead of us to Galilee. We look at the angel and at each other. We remember that Jesus had said something about rising from the dead. We run from the tomb, amazed and terrified at the same time. How can this be happening? We have seen so much death lately that it is difficult to believe in life. We tell Peter and the others that Jesus is alive. We head for Galilee. Then we hear stories.

Two people are walking to Emmaus and there he is, opening the scriptures to them. They don’t even realize who he is until he breaks bread with them.

Peter and the others are fishing and there he is on the beach, cooking bread and fish. Making breakfast for them. More and people are seeing him and talking with him. He is alive! The word spreads. There is hope.

We here in 2021 have had a year filled with death and fear. So many people have died of Covid 19. So many people have lost their jobs. So many millions of people are hurting. Every day we watch the news and hear about these tragic deaths. Death is very real to us as it was to the followers of Jesus centuries ago. Maybe we can even imagine how they felt when they got to the tomb and found it empty. The text tells us that “terror and amazement had seized them.” The power of death was so real to them that they wondered whether he could have risen.

Paul tells us that he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus and that encounter transformed him. Our lives have been transformed, too.

In the midst of all the death and darkness of this pandemic, the central truth of our faith rises like a new dawn. He is risen. He is alive. He is here with us right now, bringing hope, healing, faith, and his loving and energizing presence. His presence transforms us and changes everything. Beyond all the death and suffering, there is profound and unwavering hope. There is new life.

Thanks to him. we have known this all along, He has been with us, leading us and guiding us. We have felt his presence in many ways: a word of encouragement, some wise direction, a healing touch. He has been with us, calling us each by name, leading us to the still water where we can sit down, take a break, and drink deeply of the living water which refreshes and renews us. He has led us to the green pastures where we can nourish ourselves with his presence.

We may not like Zoom very much, but, thanks to our tech ministers, Beth and jan, at least we have been able to worship virtually, stay in touch on some level, pray for each other, and support each other. Somehow, in ways that we will never be able to understand, he has been with us there, too, helping us over the times of discouragement, letting us know he is with us, encouraging us to keep the faith, run the race, and hang in there. He has also reminded us that we are not alone, We have him and that great cloud of witnesses, all the saints who have gone before us, are here now, and will be coming after us. God has a big family, and we are all encouraging each other.

Christ is alive! He is alive in us and we in him! Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 10:34-43, Mark 16, Psalm 118 | Leave a comment »

Easter Day April 21, 2019

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Luke 24:1-12

“Jesus Christ is risen today,” the joyous hymn proclaims. For the next fifty days of the Easter season, all our readings will come from the New Testament, the Greek scriptures, proclaiming that we are an Easter people.

It all begins with the women going to the tomb. They have brought the spices so that they can give Jesus a decent burial. They find the stone rolled away from the tomb. Two angels tell them he is risen. These heavenly beings remind the women that Jesus had said this would happen, and, with this prompt they recall what he had said. They go back and tell the other disciples. The others do not believe them. But Peter gets up and runs to the tomb. He sees that it is empty, and he also sees the linen cloths lying there. Jesus’ body had been there, but was there no longer. The text says that Peter went home, amazed at what had happened.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the women go to the tomb. In Mark it is Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. In Matthew, it is Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary.” Here, in Luke, it is Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James and “the other women.” In John’s gospel, of course, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb alone, while it is still dark, and has a dramatic and life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. According to John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene is the first person to meet the risen Lord. According to the other gospels, Mary Magdalene is one of the first witnesses to the resurrection.

To borrow a phrase from Fulton Oursler, this is “The Greatest Story Ever Told,”and at first it was passed on by word of mouth. Different people were struck by different aspects of the story. But always, these women are the first to see that empty tomb, these women from Galilee who followed Jesus every step of the way.

Peter was a fisherman from Galilee, that out of the way and free- thinking area north of the big city. Jesus asked him to follow him and become a fisher of people, and Peter left everything and followed our Lord. Jesus chose Peter to be the leader of the apostles. Peter denied Jesus three times, something he deeply regretted. The Risen Lord met Peter on the beach. Jesus asked him three times, “Peter, do you love me?’ and Peter responded, “Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus said, “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.” That was a forgiveness and a commissioning of Peter to spread the word. Jesus is asking us to do that, too, feed his sheep.

The good news about Jesus spread, and new converts flocked into the new community. Peter had followed the law and thought everybody else should do the same until he had that vision while he was praying on the roof. All kinds of animals came down on a big sheet, and God said, “Kill and eat.” It was no longer necessary to follow the dietary laws. And in our opening reading he is telling a crowd of people gathered at the home of Cornelius, all Gentiles, that everyone is included in God’s family.

Paul, the writer of our second reading, did not have the opportunity to be with Jesus during our Lord’s earthly ministry. Paul was a Roman citizen, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, and a persecutor of the followers of Jesus. After witnessing a crowd stoning Stephen to death, Saul of Tarsus, soon to be Paul, was rushing to Damascus to encourage further persecution when the risen Christ confronted him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul was blinded by the light of Christ. He was transformed. He began planting communities of faith around the Mediterranean Sea.

He founded the church in Corinth, and he is telling his beloved Corinthians and all of us that our Lord has conquered every force of brokenness and darkness and death, He has risen and we will rise with him. He will transform our lives.

On Tuesday, April 30, we will be traveling to the United Church in Newport to meet Shannon, Hilary, and Hillary, three women who, like us, have been to the empty tomb this morning. We will meet these three followers of Jesus who feel called to be our Bishop. The Holy Spirit will guide us in discerning which of these three faithful servants of Christ will serve as Bishop of Vermont.

We all are part of the current generation of folks who have heard this wonderful story, who have met our risen Lord at various times in our lives, and have allowed him to lead us into the light of his love, the joy of new life in Him.

The story goes on. The story of newness of life. The story of his infinite love, The story of his endless and eternal healing.

And he asks, “Will you follow me?” And we say, Yes, Lord, we will.”

Amen. Alleluia.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: "Jesus Christ is Risen Today", 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 10, Fulton Oursler, Luke24, Mary Magdalene, Psalm 118, The Risen Lord | Leave a comment »

Epiphany 6C February 17, 2019

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26

In our first reading, the prophet Jeremiah draws a contrast between people who trust in God and those who trust in their human strength, those “whose hearts turn away from God.” Jeremiah says that those who do not trust in God are like a “shrub in the desert.” On the other hand, those who trust in God, those whose hearts are rooted and grounded in God, are like a tree planted by water, sending out their roots, sending their roots deep to the living water. They do not fear when heat comes; they aren’t even anxious in a time of drought. Their leaves stay green and they bear fruit no matter what challenges are going on.

Thanks be to God for the gift of faith. We are so blessed to be able to trust everything to God, to be like trees living by the stream, bearing the fruit of the Spirit no matter what.

In our reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, some people are saying there is no resurrection of the dead. We don’t know exactly what was going on. We do know that Corinth was a bustling city with many temples dedicated to various deities, people of all kinds of philosophies, some of which did not believe in resurrection. Perhaps some folks with those beliefs came into the congregation in Corinth.

Paul responds to this situation in logical form and then concludes by saying that Jesus was raised from the dead, and he is the first in a long line of people who are following him into new life. He will be expanding on this in our reading next Sunday.

Just before our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus has been up in the hill country praying with his disciples and calling from the larger group twelve apostles who will be his closest followers. They go down from the higher country to a level place near the lake. In contrast to Matthew’s sermon on the mount, Luke’s is the sermon on the plain. Jesus is on the same level with his listeners, who include the twelve just called to be his apostles, the larger company of disciples, and a large crowd of listeners from a wide area, suggesting that Jesus is addressing his message to everyone. in this multitude are people who have already been healed, and there are many others who are trying to touch Jesus. They have come to hear him and to be healed.

Jesus blesses those who are poor, hungry, grieving, and those who are hated and excluded. He tells the poor that theirs is the kingdom of God; the hungry that they will be filled, the grieving that they will laugh; the hated and excluded that the same thing happened to the prophets and that they will be greatly rewarded in heaven.

If we really think about what Jesus is saying, we could conclude that his words are shocking. He is really turning everything upside down. We don’t want to be poor, hungry, grieving, hated, or excluded. What is Jesus saying?

Fred Craddock says, “On the lips of members of the faith community addressing one another, a blessing is a celebration of someone’s pleasant and happy circumstances and a curse or woe is a lament over someone’s plight. However, when spoken by God or one who speaks for God, blessings and woes are more than descriptive: they are pronouncements that declare in effect that those conditions will prevail. On the lips of Jesus Christ, therefore, the blessings and the woes of our Gospel section can be taken as the ‘official’ proclamation of the way life will be among the people of God. …Blessings and woes are to be heard with the assurance that they are God’s word to us, and God will implement them.” (Craddock, Preaching through the Christian Year C, p. 102.)

These blessings on the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are despised and rejected, and the proclamation that they are beloved of God and will receive God’s love and care and help, go far back in Luke’s gospel.

In the very first chapter, they appear in Mary’s song, the Magnificat , in which God exalts the humble, lifts up the lowly, and fills the hungry with good things. A few weeks ago, we read in chapter four of Luke’s gospel of Jesus reading from the scroll of prophet Isaiah, in which Isaiah says God has sent him to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.

After Jesus reads that passage from Isaiah in the synagogue, he rolls up the scroll and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” Craddock writes, “The ‘today’ that Jesus declared in the synagogue in Nazareth still prevails; the messiah who will come has come, and the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the poor, the imprisoned, the diseased, and the oppressed is no longer a hope but is an agenda for the followers of Jesus.” (Craddock, Interpretation, p. 88.)

Trusting in God, having roots deep in the living water of Christ and of the Spirit, causes us to bear fruit, the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so we follow Jesus, and we help him to implement his plan, his reign, his shalom.

For many years, you have helped to implement our Lord’s plan. In recent years, you have helped with a specific part of his plan. When our Lord says that the hungry will be blessed, that they will be filled, he is counting on us to help him with that, to be his hands and feet packing boxes of food and handing them out, to be his listening ears and loving heart when we talk with the folks at the food shelf and offer care and support. Individually and corporately, you have ministered to the folks Jesus calls us to care for in his beatitudes: the poor, the hungry, those who are grieving, those who are hated and excluded.

Just because a congregation is small does not mean that it is weak. As Molly Comeau would say, “You’re small, but you are mighty.” Thanks be to God for all your many ministries.

Dear Lord, help us to plant our roots deep in the living water of your love and grace, and help us to bear abundant fruit. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Fred Craddock, Jeremiah 17, Luke 6, Magnificat, Psalm 1 | Leave a comment »

Easter Day Year B April 1, 2018

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
John 20:1-18

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus said this to his closest followers shortly before he died, and it is the theme of our sequence hymn.

John’s gospel takes us back to that first Easter morning. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, sees that the stone has been removed, and runs back to Peter and John. Although he denied Jesus three times, Peter is back with the twelve. He denied that he knew Jesus because he was afraid that the authorities would kill him, too.

We can imagine Peter rejoining the disciples, confessing his denial, which he deeply regretted, and then waiting with the others to see what would happen next.

He and John literally race to the tomb, Peter goes in first and sees the cloth that had wrapped Jesus’ head rolled up neatly. One has a vision of Jesus rising and very considerately folding the head cloth before he leaves. Peter and John then go home. They have not grasped the fact that Jesus is risen.

But Mary stays. She can’t leave. And she weeps. They are all shattered by grief, but she is the one who expresses it. She looks into the tomb and sees the two angels. They ask her why she is weeping, and when she says she does not know where Jesus has been taken, there he is. He asks her the same question, “Why are you weeping?”

In all of these post-resurrection encounters, people do not recognize Jesus, and this is true for Mary Magdalene. She thinks he is the gardener. She asks him to tell her where the body of Jesus is so that she can take it away.

And then he says her name—“Mary!” And she realizes that it is Jesus.

He gives her the profound honor of being the first one to see him risen. Just as she is going to hug him, he tells her that he has to go to be with the Father. She cannot hold onto him. But he gives her another high honor. He asks her to be the one to tell the apostles that he has risen. Immediately, she goes and tells his followers that he is alive.

In all the gospel accounts, those who loved Jesus so deeply and watched his torture on the cross have an extremely difficult time realizing that he has risen. Yet God has brought good out of this horrible event.

When we go through something terrible, when we lose a dear one, or go through a disaster of one kind or another, or receive a serious or even terminal diagnosis, it seems impossible that any good or anything like new life could come out of it.

And yet, “Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain.” A little green shoot rises out of the earth in spring. The grain of wheat has been buried in the earth and now comes to life.

John Macleod Campbell Crum was an Anglican theologian, poet, and hymn writer who lived from 1872-1958. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1900 and served several parishes.He was a canon of Canterbury Cathedral from 1928-1943.

On Easter we know that love is come again like wheat that springeth green. Christ is love. God is love. Love is the strongest force in the world.

“Now the green blade riseth like the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; love lives again that with the dead has been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.”

Because of God’s unconditional love, we can always have hope. Because God loves us so much that nothing can stop that love, even the greatest brokenness, even the darkest hour, even the most profound and painful suffering, can and often does lead to light and life.

God cannot protect us from suffering, but, in some way that we will never understand, because God has gone though the worst suffering that anyone can endure, because God has taken all that darkness and hatred and brokenness and wrestled with it and worked with it and labored with it, and transformed it into life, we can experience that newness of life. John Macleod Campbell Crum has captured all of that meaning in his wonderful hymn:

“In the grave they laid him, love whom hate had slain, thinking that never he would wake again. Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen, love is come again like wheat that springeth green.”

“When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain, thy touch can call us back to life again, fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: love is come again like wheat that springeth green.”

Alleluia, Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 10, John 20, John Macleod Campbell Crum, Mary Magdalene, Psalm 118 | Leave a comment »

Easter Day March 27, 2016

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Luke 24:1-12

When the women walked to the tomb early on that first Easter morning, they had just witnessed one of the most horrifying events one could imagine. They had spent three years with Jesus, and, as they watched him and listened to him, they realized that he was different from anyone they had ever met.

They followed him, and the group of followers became larger and larger. He brought healing and hope to everyone he met. He would touch people and they would rise up from their mats where they had lain crippled for years, or he would make a poultice from mud and spit and put it on their eyes and they would see after a lifetime of blindness. He fed thousands at one time.

But what he really wanted to do was to give them and us another way to live, a way based entirely on love and service. He made this clear when he washed their feet at that last Passover and when he said that in this simple meal of bread and wine he would be with us forever.

As they walked to that tomb, their feet dragging with fatigue and dashed hopes, those women may have thought that his vision for the world, his vision for our lives and our life together, had died.

Have you ever really believed in something or given your all to something or someone, and then realized it was over? Maybe that someone was not who they professed to be. Maybe the vision had some fatal flaws which had not been apparent at the outset. Most of us have had experiences like this. Someone or something we felt passionately about—a person or a dream or a project or a vision comes to an and, falls apart, dies.

And we feel as though it’s all over for us.

What’s the use of trying to go on, we wonder. There’s nothing to live for. These women walking to the tomb were suffering deep grief because they had lost a person whom they loved deeply, a person who had changed their lives and given them hope and a purpose in life. Jesus had died, and they may well have felt that all their hopes had died with him.

When they got to that tomb and found the stone rolled away, and went in, and found no body, they began to wonder. And then, when the two angels reminded them of what Jesus had said and told them that he had risen—they couldn’t get back to the others fast enough to tell them this good news.

Most of us have had experiences of profound loss and disappointment, something that has made our world fall apart, something that has made us lose hope. That is how those women felt, That is how all of Jesus’ close followers felt.

Most of us have also had our own experiences of Good Friday. Our Lord has wrestled with the forces of death and has lost the battle. We go back to the upper room and pray and wonder, what next?

But we have to go and prepare the body for burial. The Sabbath is over and we just have to give him a decent burial. And when we get there, the landscape of our lives is completely transformed.

He told us there was a different way to go about things. He told us there was a different way to live. And he has just proved that that way leads to new life. It leads to his kingdom his shalom of peace, harmony, and wholeness.

Most of us have had our Good Fridays and most of us have had our Easter mornings. We go to the tomb to prepare the body and it is not there. He is risen.

Yes, the world is full of violence. There has been a terrorist attack in Brussels. Refugees are streaming out of Syria and Afghanistan trying to save their children from the ravages of war. There is violence in our own country as well. Here, and all over the world, people are hungry. They need shelter; they need clothing; they need medical care; they need hope.

We can look around us and think there is no hope. that we can do nothing. But that is not what our Lord is doing. He is risen. He is calling us to follow the commandment he gave us at the Last Supper—to love and serve others as he loves and serves us.

On this Easter morning, March 27, 2016, we are deeply aware that there is much brokenness and violence in this world. At the same time, we must remember that he is risen and he is in our midst. He has a vision, and he is calling us to help him bring in his shalom.

I quote our Presiding Bishop retired, Katherine Jeffers Schori: “The word ‘shalom’ is usually translated as ‘peace,’ but it’s a far richer and deeper understanding of peace than we usually recognize. It’s not just a 1970s era hippie holding up two fingers to greet a friend—‘Peace, bro.’ It isn’t just telling two arguers to get over their differences. Shalom is a vision of the city of God on earth, a community where people are at peace with each other because each one has enough to eat, adequate shelter, medical care, and meaningful work. Shalom is a city where justice is the rule of the day, where prejudice has vanished, where the diverse gifts with which we have been so abundantly blessed are equally valued.

“…Building the reign of God is a great and bold adventure, and it is the only route to being fully alive. If we don’t set out to change the world, who will?” (Jefferts Schori, A Wing and A Prayer, pp. 33 and 35.)

Christ is risen. Christ is alive. He lives in us and we in him. Let us help him build his kingdom, his shalom. Amen.

Filed under: Sermons, Summer Music | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 10:34-43, Feast of the Resurrection, Katherine Jeffers Schori, Luke 24, Psalm 118 | Leave a comment »

Easter Day April 5, 2015

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8

We were so happy to see the crowd welcome him. Then we shared the meal, and when he took the bread and wine and said the blessings over them, he told us this was his body and blood and that we should do this in remembrance of him. He had been saying that he would die. Our hearts sank.

Then we went to the garden, and he struggled. We fell asleep. Judas betrayed him. Jesus was arrested. Peter denied him three times. He felt so terrible about that. But when he and Jesus met later on, that was all forgiven.

And then the trial. Pilate wanted to let him go, but the crowd wanted Pilate to free Barabbas. And then the horror of the cross. And his mother right there. How she did it I will never know.

And then he was dead. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the ruling Council, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He took a huge risk. He could have been killed on the spot. Once Pilate made sure that Jesus was actually dead, he let Joseph take that beloved body and put it into Joseph’s own tomb. There were some people in high places who were secret followers of Jesus, but Joseph was the only one who stepped forward to help. Everyone was scared. If they could kill Jesus, they could kill any one of us.

We spent the night in the room where we had gathered. We prayed and cried. His kingdom would have been so different. How could this awful thing have happened, we wondered. He could have raised up an army, but he refused to do it. Through his own power he could have killed them all. But that is not his way. That night, as we mourned, many of us were so angry we almost wished he had killed them all. But we know that he would never have done that. As he hung in agony on that cross, he forgave the people who were killing him.

We had had such high hopes for a different kind of future, a different kind of world. Now those hopes were gone.

We got up early in the morning to go to the tomb and anoint his body. We had no idea how we were going to move that huge stone. We really didn’t want to get there and see his beloved body dead. It took all our strength and prayers to put one foot in front of the other and drag ourselves there. But when we arrived, that enormous stone was rolled away, and there was a young man there—I think he might have been an angel—and he told us that Jesus had risen and we should go to Galilee and find him.

We couldn’t believe it. We had been filled with hopelessness, but the tomb was empty. As we talked about it later, we remembered that, as we got near the tomb and saw the stone rolled away, we began to feel his presence. We knew that it wasn’t just us. We knew that he was with us. Jesus was alive. Jesus is alive.

People began meeting him—on the road to Emmaus, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He came right through the walls of the upper room where we kept gathering to pray. Thomas had had his doubts, but, when he saw Jesus, those doubts evaporated.

Centuries have passed. Millions upon millions of people have chosen to follow Jesus. You are among those people. You gather just as we did all those centuries ago. Because he is risen and he is alive in you and you are alive in him, he is just as close to you as he was to us. He is with you every moment.

You are part of his risen body, You have been given the gift of new life in him. Keep sharing that life and hope and love with others. Keep up the good work!

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 10, Joseph of Arimathea, Mark 16, Psalm 118 | Leave a comment »

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