Robert T. Young - "And After It Is Finished, What Then?" Easter Service 9:00 am (March 26, 1978)
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| Announcer | Duke University Chapel, service of worship. | 0:06 |
| Easter, March 26th, 1978. | 0:09 | |
| (people chattering) | 0:13 | |
| (solemn organ music) | 0:22 | |
| (solemn trumpet music) | 6:52 | |
| (energetic trumpet music) | 7:14 | |
| (upbeat trumpet music) | 7:27 | |
| (solemn trumpet music) | 7:50 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 8:30 | |
| Pastor | The Lord is risen. | 10:30 |
| Congregation | The Lord is risen indeed, amen. | 10:33 |
| Pastor | And a voice from the throne said, | 10:37 |
| "Behold, I make all things new." | 10:39 | |
| (congregation speaking indistinctly) | 10:44 | |
| (solemn organ music) | 10:57 | |
| ♪ Christ the Lord is risen today, hallelujah ♪ | 11:40 | |
| ♪ Sons of men and angels say, hallelujah ♪ | 11:50 | |
| ♪ Raise your joys and triumphs high, hallelujah ♪ | 12:01 | |
| ♪ Sing ye heavens and earth reply, hallelujah ♪ | 12:12 | |
| ♪ Lives again our glorious king, hallelujah ♪ | 12:27 | |
| ♪ Where oh now is death thy sting, hallelujah ♪ | 12:38 | |
| ♪ Dying once our souls to save, hallelujah ♪ | 12:49 | |
| ♪ Where's thy victory oh stiff grave, hallelujah ♪ | 13:01 | |
| ♪ Loves redeeming work is done, hallelujah ♪ | 13:15 | |
| ♪ Fought the fight the battle won, hallelujah ♪ | 13:26 | |
| ♪ Death in vain forbids Him rise, hallelujah ♪ | 13:37 | |
| ♪ Christ has opened paradise, hallelujah ♪ | 13:48 | |
| ♪ Soar we now where Christ has led, hallelujah ♪ | 14:03 | |
| ♪ Following our exalted head, hallelujah ♪ | 14:14 | |
| ♪ Made like Him, like Him we rise, hallelujah ♪ | 14:25 | |
| ♪ Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, hallelujah ♪ | 14:37 | |
| (organic trumpet music) | 14:49 | |
| (congregation singing harmoniously) | 15:20 | |
| Pastor | The Lord is risen. | 19:00 |
| Congregation | The Lord is risen indeed, amen. | 19:03 |
| Pastor | Our faith in God's power and love, | 19:18 |
| which we celebrate this Easter day, | 19:22 | |
| enables us to acknowledge who we are, | 19:25 | |
| and to confess our sins before God and our neighbor. | 19:28 | |
| Let us pray. | 19:33 | |
| Oh God, you have put immortal longings into the hearts | 19:37 | |
| of us all, and we thank you for them. | 19:41 | |
| For the ideals which hone us, for the noble desires | 19:46 | |
| which move us to long for goodness, for the high ambitions | 19:51 | |
| to make life a beautiful thing, we thank you, oh God. | 19:56 | |
| Forgive us oh God for everything that keeps us from making | 20:02 | |
| the ideal into the real, | 20:07 | |
| for the laziness that will not make an effort, | 20:10 | |
| for the idleness which loves to do nothing, | 20:14 | |
| for the procrastination which puts things off | 20:19 | |
| until it is too late ever to do them, | 20:23 | |
| for the lack of perseverance, which gives up too easily | 20:26 | |
| and too soon, forgive us oh God. | 20:31 | |
| Grant unto us God all that we need | 20:36 | |
| to make the ideal become real, | 20:40 | |
| strength of will, steadiness of purpose, | 20:44 | |
| ability to do, willingness to bow. | 20:48 | |
| Grant us this, oh God. | 20:53 | |
| Wisdom to see what we ought to do, courage to begin it, | 20:56 | |
| fidelity to continue it, strength and skill to complete it. | 21:03 | |
| Grant us this, oh God. | 21:09 | |
| And even if we begin and fail, | 21:12 | |
| help us to know that it is better to attempt and to fail | 21:15 | |
| in some noble cause rather than not to try at all. | 21:20 | |
| So grant unto us the vision and the power to make the vision | 21:26 | |
| into a deed through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 21:31 | |
| Amen. | 21:53 | |
| Let us give thanks for God is good, | 21:55 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 21:59 | |
| (congregation praying indistinctly) | 22:03 | |
| Greetings in the name of the risen Christ. | 22:21 | |
| Two special opportunities to celebrate Easter are noted | 22:25 | |
| in the bulletin. | 22:28 | |
| Next Sunday at 7:00 PM here in Duke Chapel, | 22:30 | |
| the school of the arts using music and dance | 22:33 | |
| will present the passion according to St. Luke, | 22:36 | |
| a work by Penderecki, which has been called | 22:40 | |
| the most important passion written during this century. | 22:44 | |
| Then tonight, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:00 PM, | 22:48 | |
| the spectacular production of Leonard Bernstein's mass | 22:54 | |
| under the direction of Ben Smith will be presented | 22:59 | |
| in Page Auditorium. | 23:03 | |
| For your convenience, the Page box office will be open | 23:05 | |
| immediately after the service. | 23:09 | |
| It is impossible to imagine celebrating Easter | 23:12 | |
| in Duke University Chapel without the glorious music. | 23:16 | |
| On your behalf, a very special word of appreciation | 23:20 | |
| for all of the people who have made this service possible | 23:25 | |
| and especially the musicians. | 23:29 | |
| Preacher | Let us pray. | 23:39 |
| Prepare our hearts oh Lord to accept your word. | 23:42 | |
| Silence in us any voice but your own, | 23:46 | |
| that hearing, we may also obey your will | 23:49 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 23:53 | |
| The Old Testament lesson is from the 15th chapter of Exodus, | 23:58 | |
| verses one through 11. | 24:02 | |
| "Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song | 24:06 | |
| to the Lord saying, "I will sing to the Lord, | 24:09 | |
| for He has triumphed gloriously. | 24:13 | |
| The horse and his rider, He has thrown into the sea. | 24:16 | |
| The Lord is my strength and my song, | 24:20 | |
| and He has become my salvation. | 24:23 | |
| This is my God and I will praise Him. | 24:26 | |
| My father's God and I will exalt Him. | 24:30 | |
| The Lord is a man of war. | 24:34 | |
| The Lord is His name. | 24:36 | |
| Pharaoh's chariots and his host, He cast into the sea, | 24:38 | |
| and his has picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea. | 24:43 | |
| The floods cover them, | 24:47 | |
| they went down into the depths like a stone. | 24:49 | |
| Thy right hand oh Lord, glorious in power. | 24:52 | |
| Thy right-hand oh Lord, shatters the enemy. | 24:56 | |
| In the greatness of thy majesty, | 25:00 | |
| thou overthrowest thine adversaries. | 25:03 | |
| Thou sendest forth thy fury, it consumes them like stubble. | 25:06 | |
| At the blast of thy nostrils, the waters piled up, | 25:11 | |
| the floods stood up in a heap, | 25:15 | |
| the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. | 25:17 | |
| The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake. | 25:20 | |
| I will divide the spoil. | 25:24 | |
| My desire shall have its fill of them. | 25:26 | |
| I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." | 25:29 | |
| Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. | 25:33 | |
| They sank as lead in the mighty waters. | 25:38 | |
| Who is like thee oh Lord among the gods? | 25:42 | |
| Who is like thee, majestic in holiness, | 25:46 | |
| terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders." | 25:50 | |
| The epistle lesson is from the 15th chapter | 25:56 | |
| of 1 Corinthians, verses one through 11. | 25:59 | |
| "Now I would remind you brethren, | 26:05 | |
| in what terms I preached to you the gospel, | 26:07 | |
| which you received, in which you stand, | 26:10 | |
| by which you were saved. | 26:14 | |
| If you hold it fast, unless you believed in vain, | 26:16 | |
| for I delivered to you as a first importance | 26:20 | |
| what I also received, | 26:23 | |
| that Christ died for our sins in accordance | 26:25 | |
| with the scriptures, that he was buried, | 26:28 | |
| that he was raised on the third day in accordance | 26:32 | |
| with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, | 26:34 | |
| then to the 12, | 26:38 | |
| then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, | 26:40 | |
| most of whom are still alive, | 26:44 | |
| though some have fallen asleep. | 26:46 | |
| Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. | 26:49 | |
| Last of all, as to one untimely born, | 26:53 | |
| he appeared also to me, for I am the least of the apostles, | 26:57 | |
| unfit to be called an apostle, | 27:03 | |
| because I persecuted the church of God. | 27:05 | |
| But by the grace of God I am what I am, | 27:09 | |
| and His grace toward me was not in vain. | 27:12 | |
| On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, | 27:16 | |
| though it was not I, but the grace of God, which is with me. | 27:20 | |
| Whether then it was I or they, | 27:25 | |
| so we preach and so you believed." | 27:27 | |
| Here ends the reading of the epistle, amen. | 27:31 | |
| (solemn organ music) | 27:39 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 27:43 | |
| - | Will you arise to hear the words of the gospel lesson? | 34:23 |
| Now, after the Sabbath, toward the Dawn of the first day | 34:31 | |
| of the week, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary | 34:34 | |
| went to see the sepulcher. | 34:38 | |
| And behold there was a great earthquake | 34:41 | |
| for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came | 34:44 | |
| and rolled back the stone and sat upon it. | 34:49 | |
| His appearance was like lightning, | 34:52 | |
| and his raiment white as snow. | 34:55 | |
| And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became | 34:58 | |
| like dead men. | 35:02 | |
| But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, | 35:03 | |
| for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. | 35:08 | |
| He is not here for He has risen as He said. | 35:12 | |
| Come see the place where He lay, | 35:17 | |
| then go quickly and tell his disciples that He is risen | 35:20 | |
| from the dead, and behold He is going before you to Galilee. | 35:24 | |
| There, you will see him. | 35:29 | |
| Lo, I have told you." | 35:31 | |
| So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear | 35:34 | |
| and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. | 35:38 | |
| And behold Jesus met them and said, "Hail." | 35:42 | |
| And they came up and took hold of His feet | 35:46 | |
| and worshiped Him. | 35:48 | |
| Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. | 35:50 | |
| Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, | 35:54 | |
| and there they will see me." | 35:58 | |
| Here ends the reading from the gospel. | 36:01 | |
| All praise and glory be to God, amen. | 36:04 | |
| (organic music playing) | 36:08 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 36:18 | |
| Christ the Lord is risen. | 37:09 | |
| Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. | 37:12 | |
| What does the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, the Christ | 37:18 | |
| mean to you? | 37:24 | |
| What does it mean to me? | 37:30 | |
| Whoever you are, whatever your theological, philosophical, | 37:36 | |
| Christological, historical viewpoint, | 37:41 | |
| whatever your status or rank or position or place | 37:46 | |
| in life may be, | 37:49 | |
| wherever you have been, are now, or may be headed, | 37:52 | |
| however weak or strong your faith, | 37:57 | |
| overcome by doubts, are shored up by affirmations, | 38:00 | |
| what does the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, the Christ | 38:06 | |
| mean to you, to me? | 38:12 | |
| The answer you and I give to this question is at the heart | 38:16 | |
| and soul of the Christian faith, | 38:19 | |
| as we know it, as we believe it and as we live it. | 38:21 | |
| Who is this Jesus the Christ? | 38:26 | |
| Crucified, buried, raised. | 38:28 | |
| Who is He to you or to me? | 38:31 | |
| What do the life, death, resurrection of Christ mean | 38:34 | |
| on this day to each of us? | 38:39 | |
| For today is Easter day. | 38:41 | |
| Christ the Lord is risen today. | 38:43 | |
| This is indeed a day of Easter celebration. | 38:48 | |
| But let's go back a few days. | 38:55 | |
| In the crucible of redemption, a book by Carlyle Marney, | 38:58 | |
| he writes, "Everything that lives, lives only by running | 39:02 | |
| the risk of living. | 39:08 | |
| Everyone who gives birth, every mother runs the gauntlet. | 39:10 | |
| Every teacher who is a teacher, teaches himself away. | 39:15 | |
| Every doctor who has a cure rather than a mere healer | 39:20 | |
| gives himself away in driblets. | 39:25 | |
| Every brother loses himself in another. | 39:28 | |
| And unless God is a God who will die to save us, | 39:32 | |
| we cannot be saved. | 39:36 | |
| Maybe we have to keep dropping by Golgotha to see if God | 39:40 | |
| is still there so that our crucifixion is still all right | 39:45 | |
| for the God who is God gives Himself away." | 39:52 | |
| It all happened fast, almost too fast to be believed. | 39:59 | |
| Seven days ago, | 40:04 | |
| shouts of joy and celebration and acclimation. | 40:05 | |
| Three nights ago, supper together, 13 men, there were, | 40:09 | |
| close friends, intimate fellowship, bread, wine, prayers, | 40:13 | |
| hymns, the Passover feast, God in the midst of them. | 40:16 | |
| One departs, betrays. | 40:21 | |
| The other 12 finish the meal, leave singing, | 40:24 | |
| go to get semini. | 40:27 | |
| Jesus takes Peter, James and John deeper into the garden | 40:29 | |
| and goes on to pray alone. | 40:33 | |
| Arrested, forsaken, denied, | 40:36 | |
| shifted from religious authorities to civil authorities, | 40:39 | |
| condemned, death by crucifixion. | 40:42 | |
| "Bare your own cross," He was told. | 40:45 | |
| Peter burdened with the guilt | 40:48 | |
| of denying his Lord three times. | 40:50 | |
| Mary, Mary, and Mary completely bewildered. | 40:52 | |
| Jesus hanging by hands and feet, dead on a cross, | 40:56 | |
| all alone, all alone. | 41:00 | |
| "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" | 41:03 | |
| Surely maybe quoting a song, but also uttering a cry | 41:07 | |
| from the depths of His soul. | 41:11 | |
| I thirst, it is finished. | 41:13 | |
| "Love so amazing, so divine. | 41:17 | |
| Demands my soul, my life, my all," says the hymn writer. | 41:20 | |
| Arrest, trial, crucifixion. | 41:25 | |
| Death by mid-afternoon. | 41:28 | |
| Arrest, trial, crucifixion. | 41:30 | |
| In the tomb by dark. | 41:32 | |
| It is finished. | 41:35 | |
| It is finished. | 41:37 | |
| John tells us, the gospel of John that is, | 41:40 | |
| tells us that those were the last words which Jesus uttered | 41:42 | |
| on the cross. | 41:46 | |
| Now I know, particularly on a dreary, rainy, wet, cold, | 41:49 | |
| Easter morning, you did not come here this Easter day | 41:54 | |
| to hear about death. | 41:56 | |
| For Easter, for us of the Christian faith is not | 41:59 | |
| about death, but about resurrection. | 42:02 | |
| It's not even about immortal life, | 42:04 | |
| but it is about the resurrection of the body. | 42:06 | |
| But before resurrection, let's be sure there is death. | 42:11 | |
| Before resurrection, there has to be death. | 42:17 | |
| As a matter of fact for Jesus, | 42:20 | |
| there were many death-feel experiences in his life. | 42:22 | |
| Lost from his family as a boy, | 42:28 | |
| tempted by Satan, starving in the wilderness, | 42:31 | |
| estranged from his mother and his family, | 42:34 | |
| rejected by his hometown, | 42:37 | |
| misunderstood even by His best friends, | 42:40 | |
| betrayed by one of his own, denied by his dearest friend, | 42:42 | |
| accused recklessly, humiliated by the rulers, | 42:47 | |
| forced to walk the streets with his cross of execution, | 42:51 | |
| and finally death between two thieves. | 42:55 | |
| Death, you see, happened to Jesus and happens to us | 42:57 | |
| not only at the end of life, | 43:01 | |
| but at moments of deep pain and loss and rejection | 43:03 | |
| and separation all along the way of life. | 43:07 | |
| Indeed, life would be so much easier for us | 43:12 | |
| if there were only one death, physical, | 43:17 | |
| when we stop breathing. | 43:19 | |
| But no, there's the pain of a broken relationship, | 43:21 | |
| the unbearable hurt of someone disappointing us. | 43:27 | |
| The deep, deep agony we feel when we have been less | 43:31 | |
| than the person we know God wants us to be, | 43:35 | |
| or the bitter sadness of a love longed for, | 43:38 | |
| or a dream cherished, or a hope yearned for, | 43:42 | |
| a striving to which we have given our all | 43:47 | |
| only to find ourselves empty or beaten or broken or alone | 43:50 | |
| and saying it is finished. | 43:54 | |
| It would be so much easier if there were only one death. | 43:59 | |
| So it was with Jesus so much so that the last few days | 44:06 | |
| of Jesus' life was filled with such painful rejection | 44:11 | |
| and disappointment that he may well have felt | 44:14 | |
| as the character in one of John Buchan's novels, | 44:17 | |
| where it was described that there remained for him, | 44:20 | |
| only the trivial business of dying. | 44:23 | |
| It is finished, but not really. | 44:27 | |
| What seems to be the finish is not really the finish. | 44:32 | |
| It is finished for our Lord becomes not a stop, but a start, | 44:35 | |
| not an end, but a beginning, | 44:39 | |
| not the darkness, but the light, | 44:41 | |
| not a dead end, but an open door, | 44:43 | |
| not a brick wall, but a way through. | 44:45 | |
| Like someone said, many people leave the theater | 44:49 | |
| before the play is over. | 44:52 | |
| And here the play of Jesus' life is not over, not at all. | 44:55 | |
| As it turns out, what has happened thus far is only prelude | 45:00 | |
| or prologue or preface or introduction. | 45:04 | |
| Essential, surely it was, but only the beginning. | 45:07 | |
| For here, the good news is that the bad news of Jesus' death | 45:11 | |
| will not win out. | 45:15 | |
| Or as John Claypool, Baptist minister puts it | 45:17 | |
| reflecting upon the tragic death from leukemia | 45:20 | |
| of his 11-year-old daughter, | 45:23 | |
| "The point is," he says, | 45:25 | |
| "Life never comes to a complete dead end." | 45:27 | |
| But how often does it seem that it does? | 45:37 | |
| How often does it happen to us? | 45:40 | |
| How often do we think it is finished and really feel | 45:42 | |
| that we have had all that we can take, and that for us, | 45:46 | |
| the end has come. | 45:48 | |
| Only defined that there is more that life can go on. | 45:50 | |
| Indeed life does go on, indeed life will go on. | 45:53 | |
| For Jesus, after it is finished, | 45:58 | |
| death had done its worst, life was over and gone. | 46:01 | |
| The tomb was indeed his resting place. | 46:05 | |
| There was no life, no breath, no reach, no touch, no word, | 46:08 | |
| no glance, no hope, and yet there was more. | 46:12 | |
| This says to me that we really do not know | 46:19 | |
| when the end is come. | 46:24 | |
| We really can never be sure when it is finished, | 46:26 | |
| whatever it may be. | 46:30 | |
| Job, friendship, interview, examination, chosen career, | 46:33 | |
| plan of study, sickness, marriage, separation, divorce, | 46:38 | |
| trial, testing, temptation, death. | 46:42 | |
| We really never know when it is finished, | 46:45 | |
| whatever it may be. | 46:48 | |
| As James Russell Lowell puts it in his poem, Columbus, | 46:53 | |
| "One day with life and heart is more than time enough | 46:57 | |
| to find a world, and so it is." | 47:03 | |
| No one, perhaps not even Jesus had any idea | 47:08 | |
| that there was anything beyond Friday, | 47:13 | |
| or at least if the disciples did have any notion | 47:16 | |
| of something beyond, in the way of a resurrection, | 47:19 | |
| they surely didn't act like it. | 47:22 | |
| They stayed away Friday, Saturday, | 47:23 | |
| and even on Sunday morning, they were miles away. | 47:26 | |
| The remaining 11 disciples had such little faith | 47:30 | |
| that they locked themselves into an upper room in Jerusalem. | 47:33 | |
| Their response was about like that | 47:38 | |
| of the man facing surgery. | 47:40 | |
| The hospital chaplain was talking with a middle-aged man | 47:43 | |
| who was soon to have various serious surgery and asked him, | 47:46 | |
| "You got much waiting for you when you leave the hospital?" | 47:49 | |
| The man replied, "Nothing and nobody, just hard work." | 47:53 | |
| If we had asked the disciples on Friday, | 48:01 | |
| as they were gathered somewhere nearby, | 48:04 | |
| "You got much waiting for you after Golgotha?" | 48:08 | |
| They would have said, "Nothing and nobody, | 48:12 | |
| just an empty life. | 48:17 | |
| It is finished." | 48:21 | |
| That was their answer, their speculation, | 48:25 | |
| their hopelessness, their futility, their faithlessness. | 48:29 | |
| They had forgotten what we often forget | 48:33 | |
| that God has the final fulfilling word. | 48:36 | |
| We often lose our sense of the transcendence of God | 48:41 | |
| that God really is in control. | 48:45 | |
| And as Ernest Campbell puts it, "When in your life and mine, | 48:49 | |
| we are void of the transcendent, | 48:54 | |
| then we sink into the absurd." | 48:57 | |
| They had forgotten that Jesus said, | 49:03 | |
| "On the third day I will rise again." | 49:06 | |
| Or at least they had ignored that, | 49:09 | |
| or they had never heard it, | 49:10 | |
| or they didn't believe it at all. | 49:12 | |
| We often forget the promises of God. | 49:15 | |
| Job. | 49:18 | |
| Then Job answered the Lord, | 49:21 | |
| "I know that thou canst do all things and that no purpose | 49:25 | |
| of thine can be thwarted. | 49:31 | |
| Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, | 49:34 | |
| things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. | 49:37 | |
| I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, | 49:42 | |
| but now my eyes see thee." | 49:45 | |
| "It is finished," Jesus cried. | 49:50 | |
| But God said, "No, there is more, much more, more for you, | 49:54 | |
| more for your beloved, more for all my children." | 49:59 | |
| And the word I hear from God here is, | 50:04 | |
| "Never think that you have reached the end." | 50:06 | |
| What seems to be finished may be only a beginning, | 50:10 | |
| even rejection, even suffering, even misunderstanding, | 50:13 | |
| even death. | 50:17 | |
| And just because we think it is finished, | 50:18 | |
| does not mean that we know the full story | 50:20 | |
| or have the whole picture or have the complete answer. | 50:23 | |
| God does. | 50:29 | |
| And in the meantime, between the time we think | 50:33 | |
| it is finished and the time we really begin to understand, | 50:35 | |
| God's grace sustains us and upholds us. | 50:39 | |
| Thus in the meantime, on the morning of the first day | 50:44 | |
| of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary | 50:47 | |
| went to the place where Jesus lay. | 50:49 | |
| But it turned out to be not just a casual stroll | 50:52 | |
| in the garden, | 50:55 | |
| not just an everyday walk down the primrose path. | 50:56 | |
| Listen, there was a great earthquake. | 50:59 | |
| An angel came, rolled back the stone and sat up on it. | 51:02 | |
| His appearance was like lightning, | 51:07 | |
| raiment white as snow, | 51:10 | |
| guards trembled and became like dead men. | 51:12 | |
| The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, | 51:16 | |
| for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. | 51:19 | |
| He is not here, for He has risen. | 51:23 | |
| Go tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead." | 51:26 | |
| They departed quickly from the tomb with fear | 51:32 | |
| and with great joy, with mixed feelings of fear | 51:36 | |
| and great joy and ran to tell His disciples. | 51:39 | |
| And behold Jesus met them and they came up and took hold | 51:42 | |
| of His feet and worshiped Him. | 51:45 | |
| And Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid." | 51:47 | |
| It is not finished. | 51:52 | |
| If we read the gospels carefully, we begin to get some idea | 51:55 | |
| of after it is finished, what then? | 51:58 | |
| What then, death turned to life, despair become hope, | 52:02 | |
| doubt become faith, fear become joy. | 52:08 | |
| What then? | 52:12 | |
| Easter, life, reunion, communion, fellowship, | 52:14 | |
| breaking bread, eating fish, recognition, words of peace | 52:21 | |
| and experience of a presence, | 52:27 | |
| hope for the present, promise for the future. | 52:29 | |
| A word, a look, an invitation, a walk on the beach. | 52:33 | |
| A composite of Jesus' words spoken after the resurrection | 52:40 | |
| would include these words, "Peace, shalom, do not be afraid, | 52:44 | |
| peace be with you, receive the Holy Spirit, follow me, | 52:53 | |
| feed my sheep, tend my lambs, tend my sheep. | 53:01 | |
| Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age." | 53:06 | |
| After it is finished, what then? | 53:14 | |
| Life, Christ, God, tomorrow, forever. | 53:18 | |
| Hugh Prather writes, as his wife lay sick beside him, | 53:27 | |
| in his writings entitled, Notes to Myself, | 53:35 | |
| "I must accept the justice of death | 53:42 | |
| and the injustice of life. | 53:46 | |
| I have lived a good life longer than many, better than most. | 53:50 | |
| I have had 32 years, I couldn't ask for another day. | 53:56 | |
| What did I do to deserve birth? | 54:03 | |
| It was a gift. | 54:08 | |
| But now it's morning. | 54:10 | |
| I have been given another day, | 54:13 | |
| another day to hear and read and smell and walk | 54:16 | |
| and love and glory. | 54:22 | |
| I am alive for another day." | 54:25 | |
| It is finished sounds so final, so definite, so sure, | 54:31 | |
| so certain, so much like the end, but there is more. | 54:36 | |
| And so the question comes back again, | 54:45 | |
| what then does the crucifixion, resurrection mean to you | 54:47 | |
| and to me? | 54:50 | |
| That even when we cry, "It is finished." | 54:51 | |
| God says, "There is more. | 54:56 | |
| There is life for you, for now and for forever." | 54:59 | |
| Easter then, my friends, is yes. | 55:05 | |
| Easter then is life, Easter then is the touch of a friend, | 55:08 | |
| Easter then is people, people partying and people meeting. | 55:14 | |
| Easter then is promise, promise given and promise fulfilled. | 55:19 | |
| The resurrection is a sign the other half | 55:25 | |
| of the Bethlehem star. | 55:28 | |
| Not a hearts and flowers routine we go through once a year | 55:31 | |
| to cheer ourselves up, | 55:35 | |
| but rather an authentic word of who we are and of life | 55:37 | |
| that cannot be destroyed regardless of the death | 55:42 | |
| of our physical bodies. | 55:44 | |
| Easter is a promise and Easter is yes, | 55:46 | |
| but there is a choice. | 55:50 | |
| We must choose whether to believe the star and the sign, | 55:52 | |
| or to cry ourselves to sleep, | 55:55 | |
| to split the sky with our praises, | 55:59 | |
| or to waste ourselves in resentment and fear. | 56:01 | |
| We must choose between death and adoration, and so we do. | 56:05 | |
| Easter is memories and talk. | 56:11 | |
| It is two people trusting each other. | 56:15 | |
| Easter is laughter, Easter is life. | 56:18 | |
| Easter is yes. | 56:22 | |
| Easter is yours and mine with all its joy and beauty | 56:24 | |
| and goodness and hope. | 56:28 | |
| All we need to do is to claim it, and to claim it | 56:30 | |
| in the name and in the the spirit of Jesus Christ, | 56:34 | |
| our risen Lord. | 56:37 | |
| Christ the Lord is risen. | 56:40 | |
| Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. | 56:43 | |
| Amen. | 56:49 | |
| (drum rolling) | 57:07 | |
| (solemn organic music) | 57:11 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 57:29 | |
| Let us affirm what we believe. | 1:00:42 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 1:00:47 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile | 1:00:52 | |
| and make new, who works in us and others by the spirit. | 1:00:57 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 1:01:03 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 1:01:08 | |
| to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil. | 1:01:11 | |
| Our judge and our hope, in life and death | 1:01:17 | |
| and life beyond death. | 1:01:23 | |
| God is with us, we are not alone. | 1:01:25 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 1:01:29 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 1:01:32 | |
| (congregation speaking indistinctly) | 1:01:34 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:01:36 | |
| Oh, loving God, | 1:01:45 | |
| oh sovereign God, | 1:01:49 | |
| we bow before you lifting to your love | 1:01:52 | |
| all of your children who suffer, | 1:01:57 | |
| who wait for the word of hope. | 1:02:00 | |
| Comfort those who are weighed down with the grief | 1:02:03 | |
| and despair of their life. | 1:02:06 | |
| Write in their hearts your words of eternal hope. | 1:02:10 | |
| Nourish those oh God who are cast down because of poverty | 1:02:15 | |
| or hunger, because of illness or death of loved ones, | 1:02:19 | |
| or death of ideas or dreams or relationships. | 1:02:26 | |
| Help us not to forget these who you love. | 1:02:33 | |
| Oh God, source of comfort, companion of the lonely, | 1:02:38 | |
| be with those who by neglect or willful separation | 1:02:43 | |
| are left alone. | 1:02:48 | |
| Fill the empty places with love. | 1:02:50 | |
| You have bound us together in life. | 1:02:54 | |
| Give us grace to understand how our lives depend upon | 1:02:58 | |
| the courage and industry and honesty and integrity | 1:03:02 | |
| of our brothers and sisters. | 1:03:07 | |
| And may we be mindful of their needs, | 1:03:09 | |
| grateful for their faithfulness | 1:03:13 | |
| and faithful in our responsibilities to them. | 1:03:16 | |
| Send us your spirit oh God so that each of us may grow | 1:03:22 | |
| in our ability to care for your children and your creation. | 1:03:26 | |
| Help us to rediscover our compassion, our sensitivity, | 1:03:32 | |
| our ability to feel another's pain. | 1:03:39 | |
| Oh God, raise our broken spirits, our weak faith, | 1:03:42 | |
| our downcast hearts, our broken relationships. | 1:03:49 | |
| And may we have the courage to live as fully as Jesus did, | 1:03:55 | |
| serving others with generosity and joy. | 1:04:02 | |
| Hear us now as we pray the prayer our Lord taught us. | 1:04:08 | |
| Our father, who art in heaven, | 1:04:13 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 1:04:17 | |
| Congregation | Thy kingdom come. | 1:04:19 |
| Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. | 1:04:21 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:04:26 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:04:29 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 1:04:32 | |
| lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. | 1:04:36 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. | 1:04:41 | |
| Forever and ever, amen. | 1:04:46 | |
| Amen. | 1:04:48 | |
| (lady singing soulfully) | 1:05:17 | |
| (solemn organic music) | 1:06:09 | |
| (lady singing soulfully) | 1:06:31 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 1:07:19 | |
| (organic music) | 1:13:36 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 1:13:57 | |
| Oh God, we rejoice in the hope which comes from you | 1:15:09 | |
| every day but especially on this Easter day. | 1:15:14 | |
| We give thanks that you have created us through your power, | 1:15:20 | |
| recreated us through your mercy, | 1:15:25 | |
| that you sustain us to the spirit of our risen Lord. | 1:15:28 | |
| To you oh God of love, we bring our selves, | 1:15:34 | |
| our failures, our compromises, our fears, our joys, | 1:15:39 | |
| our hopes, our commitment. | 1:15:44 | |
| Use us, use our gifts to express your love | 1:15:47 | |
| for those who are in great need. | 1:15:53 | |
| We pray in the spirit of the risen Christ, amen. | 1:15:56 | |
| (solemn organic music playing) | 1:16:02 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 1:16:36 | |
| May the God who raised Jesus from the dead, | 1:20:07 | |
| sustain you and comfort you from this day forever more. | 1:20:11 | |
| (choir singing harmoniously) | 1:20:21 | |
| (solemn organic music) | 1:21:26 |
| (congregation murmuring indistinctly) | 0:04 | |
| (gentle piano music) | 0:11 | |
| (background soft murmurs in the congregation) | 6:17 | |
| (soft saxophone music) | 6:49 | |
| (liturgical congregational music) | 8:30 | |
| - | The Lord is risen. | 10:29 |
| Congregation | The Lord is risen indeed. Hallelujah. | 10:32 |
| - | And a voice from the throne said, | 10:36 |
| "Behold, I make all things new." | 10:39 | |
| (congregation replying indistinctly) | 10:43 | |
| (sacred orchestral music) | 10:56 | |
| (sonorous congregational music) | 11:40 | |
| (continuous saxophone music) | 14:49 | |
| (soft piano music) | 15:00 | |
| (sonorous congregational music) | 15:22 | |
| The Lord is risen. | 19:04 | |
| Congregation | The Lord is risen indeed! Hallelujah. | 19:07 |
| - | It is our certainty that God does make all things new. | 19:21 |
| That God does forgive our sins | 19:26 | |
| that enables us to make our confession before God | 19:29 | |
| and our brothers and sisters. | 19:34 | |
| Let us pray. | 19:36 | |
| Oh God, you have put immortal longings | 19:39 | |
| into the hearts of us all. | 19:42 | |
| And we thank you for them, | 19:45 | |
| for the ideals which haunt us, | 19:48 | |
| for the noble desires which move us to long for goodness, | 19:51 | |
| for the high ambitions to make life a beautiful thing. | 19:56 | |
| We thank you oh God. | 20:01 | |
| Forgive us oh God, | 20:03 | |
| for everything that keeps us from making | 20:06 | |
| the ideal into the real. | 20:08 | |
| For the laziness, that will not make an effort, | 20:11 | |
| for the idleness which loves to do nothing, | 20:15 | |
| for the procrastination which puts things off | 20:18 | |
| until it is too late ever to do them, | 20:22 | |
| for the lack of perseverance | 20:26 | |
| which gives up too easily into sin, | 20:29 | |
| forgive us oh Lord. | 20:33 | |
| Grant unto us God. | 20:35 | |
| All that we need to make the ideal become real, | 20:38 | |
| strength of will, steadfast in fasting, | 20:43 | |
| ability to do, willingness to learn, | 20:47 | |
| grant us this, oh God. | 20:52 | |
| Wisdom to see what we all have to do. | 20:55 | |
| Courage to begin it, | 20:58 | |
| fidelity to continue it, | 21:01 | |
| strength and skills to complete it, | 21:03 | |
| grant us this, oh God. | 21:07 | |
| And even if we begin and fail, | 21:10 | |
| help us to know that it's better to attempt | 21:13 | |
| and to fail in some noble cause | 21:17 | |
| rather than not to try at all. | 21:20 | |
| So grant unto us the vision, | 21:23 | |
| and the power to make the vision into thee, | 21:26 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | 21:30 | |
| Amen. | 21:55 | |
| Be certain that your sins are forgiven | 21:58 | |
| and that we can become the new creation in Christ. | 22:01 | |
| Let us give thanks, for God is good, | 22:07 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 22:11 | |
| (congregation replying indistinctly) | 22:14 | |
| We have two other very special opportunities | 22:32 | |
| to celebrate Easter. | 22:35 | |
| These are noted in your bulletin, | 22:37 | |
| next Sunday at 7:00 PM here in Duke Chapel, | 22:39 | |
| the school of the arts using music and dance, | 22:43 | |
| will present "The passion" according to St. Luke, | 22:47 | |
| a work by Penderecki, | 22:50 | |
| which has been called, | 22:53 | |
| "The major passion" to be written this century. | 22:54 | |
| Then tonight and Monday night, | 22:59 | |
| Tuesday night and Wednesday at 8:00 PM. | 23:01 | |
| The spectacular production of Leonard Bernstein's mass | 23:05 | |
| under the direction of Ben Smith will be presented | 23:09 | |
| in page auditorium. | 23:13 | |
| For your convenience, the box office at page | 23:15 | |
| will be open immediately after this service. | 23:19 | |
| It is impossible for us to imagine celebrating Easter | 23:24 | |
| in Duke University Chapel without the glorious music | 23:28 | |
| and the great preaching. | 23:32 | |
| In your behalf, | 23:35 | |
| a very special word of appreciation | 23:36 | |
| to all the people who have made it worked | 23:39 | |
| that we may worship this morning. | 23:42 | |
| And especially to Bob and to the musicians. | 23:44 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 23:53 |
| Prepare our hearts, oh Lord to accept your word. | 23:55 | |
| Silence in us any voice, but your own. | 23:59 | |
| That hearing, we may also obey your will | 24:03 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 24:07 | |
| Amen. | 24:09 | |
| The old Testament lesson | 24:12 | |
| is from the 15th chapter of Exodus verses one through 11. | 24:14 | |
| "Then Moses and the people of Israel, | 24:20 | |
| sang this song to the Lord saying, | 24:23 | |
| 'I will sing to the Lord, | 24:26 | |
| for he has triumphed gloriously, | 24:28 | |
| the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. | 24:30 | |
| The Lord is my strength and my song. | 24:34 | |
| And he has become my salvation. | 24:37 | |
| This is my God and I will praise him. | 24:40 | |
| My father's God and I will exalt him. | 24:43 | |
| The Lord is a man of war. | 24:48 | |
| The Lord is his name.' | 24:49 | |
| Pharaoh's chariots and his horse he cast into the sea | 24:51 | |
| and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea. | 24:55 | |
| The floods cover them. | 24:59 | |
| They went down into the depths like a stone. | 25:01 | |
| Thy right-hand, oh Lord, glorious in power, | 25:04 | |
| thy right hand, oh Lord, shatters the enemy. | 25:08 | |
| In the greatness of thy majesty, | 25:12 | |
| they'll overthrow us thy adversaries, | 25:14 | |
| thy send us forth, thy fury, | 25:16 | |
| it consumes them like stubble, | 25:19 | |
| that the blast of thy nostrils, | 25:21 | |
| the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap, | 25:23 | |
| the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. | 25:27 | |
| The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake. | 25:30 | |
| I will divide the spoil. | 25:33 | |
| My desire shall have its fill of them. | 25:34 | |
| I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. | 25:37 | |
| Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them | 25:41 | |
| and they sank as lead in the mighty waters. | 25:45 | |
| Who is like thee, oh Lord, among the gods? | 25:49 | |
| Who is like thee, majestic in holiness, | 25:53 | |
| terrible and glorious deeds doing wonders?" | 25:56 | |
| The epistle lesson is from | 26:01 | |
| the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians verses one through 11. | 26:03 | |
| "Now I would remind you brethren, | 26:11 | |
| in what terms I preached to you the gospel, | 26:13 | |
| which you received in which you stand, | 26:16 | |
| by which you are saved. | 26:19 | |
| If you hold it first, unless you believed in vain. | 26:22 | |
| For I delivered to you as the first importance, | 26:27 | |
| what I also received, | 26:30 | |
| that Christ died for our sins in accordance | 26:32 | |
| with the scriptures. | 26:35 | |
| That he was buried, | 26:36 | |
| that he was raised on the third day in accordance | 26:38 | |
| with the scriptures, | 26:41 | |
| and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. | 26:43 | |
| Then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, | 26:47 | |
| most of whom are still alive, | 26:51 | |
| though some have fallen asleep. | 26:53 | |
| Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. | 26:55 | |
| Last of all, as to one untimely born, | 26:59 | |
| he appeared also to me, | 27:03 | |
| for I am the least of the apostles, | 27:05 | |
| unfit to be called an apostle | 27:08 | |
| because I persecuted the church of God. | 27:10 | |
| But by the grace of God, I am what I am. | 27:14 | |
| And his grace toward me was not in vain. | 27:17 | |
| On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, | 27:20 | |
| though it was not I, but the grace of God, | 27:24 | |
| which is with me. | 27:27 | |
| Whether then it was I or they, | 27:29 | |
| so we preach and so you believed." | 27:31 | |
| Here ends the reading from the epistle. Amen. | 27:36 | |
| (liturgical congregational music) | 27:53 | |
| (upbeat instrumental music) | 31:00 | |
| (liturgical congregational music) | 31:45 | |
| Will you rise now to hear the reading from the gospel. | 34:24 | |
| The gospel lesson has taken St. Matthew 28:1-10. | 34:33 | |
| "Now, after the Sabbath, | 34:41 | |
| toward the dawn of the first day of the week, | 34:43 | |
| Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went | 34:46 | |
| to see the sepulcher | 34:49 | |
| and behold there was a great earthquake | 34:51 | |
| for an angel of the Lord, | 34:54 | |
| descended from heaven and came | 34:55 | |
| and rolled back the stone and sat upon it. | 34:58 | |
| His appearance was like lightning | 35:01 | |
| and his raiment white as snow. | 35:04 | |
| And for fear of him, | 35:07 | |
| the guards trembled and became like dead men. | 35:08 | |
| But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, | 35:12 | |
| for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. | 35:17 | |
| He is not here, for he has risen.' | 35:21 | |
| As he said, 'Come see the place where he lay, | 35:24 | |
| then go quickly and tell his disciples | 35:29 | |
| that he has risen from the dead | 35:31 | |
| and behold he is going before you to Galilee. | 35:33 | |
| There, you will see him. Lo I have told you.' | 35:37 | |
| So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear | 35:42 | |
| and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. | 35:45 | |
| And behold Jesus met them and said, 'Hail' | 35:49 | |
| And they came up and took hold | 35:55 | |
| of his feet and worshiped him. | 35:56 | |
| Then Jesus said to them, | 35:59 | |
| Do not be afraid. | 36:01 | |
| Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee. | 36:03 | |
| And there they will see me." | 36:06 | |
| Here ends the reading from the gospel, | 36:09 | |
| all praise and glory be to God. Amen. | 36:12 | |
| (soft piano music) | 36:16 | |
| (Gregorian chants) | 36:35 | |
| (sacred congregational music) | 36:59 | |
| - | Christ the Lord is risen. | 37:33 |
| Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah. | 37:36 | |
| What does the crucifixion resurrection | 37:43 | |
| of Jesus the Christ mean to you or to me? | 37:48 | |
| Whoever you are, whatever your theological, philosophical, | 37:57 | |
| Christological, historical viewpoint maybe, | 38:02 | |
| whatever your status or rank or position | 38:07 | |
| or place in life may be, | 38:09 | |
| wherever you have been, | 38:13 | |
| are now, or may be headed, | 38:15 | |
| however weak or strong your faith, | 38:19 | |
| overcome by doubts or shored up by affirmations. | 38:23 | |
| What does the crucifixion resurrection | 38:29 | |
| of Jesus the Christ mean to you? | 38:33 | |
| The answer you and I give to this question | 38:38 | |
| is at the heart and soul of the Christian faith. | 38:40 | |
| As we know it, believe it, and as we live it. | 38:43 | |
| Who is this Jesus the Christ crucified buried, raised, | 38:48 | |
| who is he to you? To me? | 38:54 | |
| What do the life death resurrection of Christ mean | 38:57 | |
| to each of us for today is Easter day. | 39:01 | |
| Christ the Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. | 39:05 | |
| This is a day for Easter celebration, | 39:11 | |
| but let's go back a few days to Friday. | 39:17 | |
| It happened also very fast, | 39:22 | |
| almost too fast to be believed. | 39:25 | |
| Seven days ago, shouts of joy | 39:29 | |
| and celebration and acclimation. | 39:33 | |
| Three nights ago, supper together, 13 men, close friends, | 39:36 | |
| intimate fellowship, bread, wine, prayers, hymns, | 39:42 | |
| the Passover, God in their midst, | 39:48 | |
| one departs, betrays, | 39:52 | |
| the other 12, finished the meal, leave singing, | 39:55 | |
| and go to Gethsemane. | 39:59 | |
| Jesus takes Peter James and John deeper into the garden | 40:01 | |
| and then goes alone to pray. | 40:05 | |
| Arrested, forsaken, denied, | 40:09 | |
| shifted first to religious authorities, | 40:12 | |
| and then to civil authorities, | 40:15 | |
| condemned death by crucifixion, | 40:16 | |
| "Bear your own cross." He was told. | 40:19 | |
| Peter burdened with the guilt | 40:23 | |
| of his threefold denial. | 40:24 | |
| Mary, Mary, and Mary completely bewildered. | 40:27 | |
| Jesus hanging by hands | 40:31 | |
| and feet dead on a cross alone, all alone. | 40:33 | |
| My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? | 40:40 | |
| I thirst, it is finished. | 40:46 | |
| Love so amazing, so divine, | 40:50 | |
| the hymn writer goes, demands my soul, my life, | 40:53 | |
| my all, arrest trial, crucifixion, | 40:57 | |
| death by mid-afternoon, | 41:02 | |
| arrest, trial crucifixion in the tomb by dark. | 41:06 | |
| It is finished. It is finished. | 41:12 | |
| John tells us that these were the last words | 41:17 | |
| that Jesus uttered on the cross. | 41:20 | |
| Now I know this morning that you did not come | 41:25 | |
| to this place to worship God, | 41:30 | |
| particularly on a day as dreary and dismal as it is, | 41:33 | |
| but you did not come to this place to worship God | 41:37 | |
| on this Easter day to hear about death, | 41:40 | |
| for Easter is not about death, | 41:44 | |
| but it's about resurrection indeed. | 41:46 | |
| It is not even about immortal life, | 41:49 | |
| but it is about the resurrection of the body. | 41:51 | |
| But before resurrection, | 41:56 | |
| let's be sure there was death, | 41:58 | |
| before resurrection there has to be death. | 42:03 | |
| As a matter of fact for Jesus, | 42:08 | |
| there were many deaths like experiences | 42:10 | |
| in his 33 years of living. | 42:13 | |
| Lost from his family as a boy, | 42:15 | |
| tempted by Satan, starving in the wilderness, | 42:18 | |
| estranged from his mother and his family, | 42:22 | |
| rejected by his hometown, | 42:26 | |
| misunderstood even by his best friends, | 42:29 | |
| betrayed by one of his own, | 42:33 | |
| denied by his dearest friend, | 42:35 | |
| accused recklessly, humiliated by the rulers, | 42:38 | |
| forced to walk the streets with his cross of execution | 42:42 | |
| and finally slow death. | 42:46 | |
| Death you see, happened to Jesus | 42:51 | |
| and happens to us not only at the end of life, | 42:54 | |
| but at moments of deep pain and loss | 42:58 | |
| and rejection and separation all along the way of our lives, | 43:01 | |
| indeed life would be so much easier for us | 43:07 | |
| if there were only one death, | 43:12 | |
| physical when we stopped breathing, | 43:15 | |
| but no, there's the pain of a broken relationship. | 43:18 | |
| The unbearable hurt of someone's disappointing us. | 43:23 | |
| The deep agony we feel when we have been less | 43:28 | |
| than the person we know God created us to be, | 43:32 | |
| or the bitter sadness of a love longed for, | 43:36 | |
| or a dream cherished or a hope yearned for, | 43:40 | |
| a striving to which we have given our all | 43:44 | |
| only to find ourselves empty or beaten | 43:47 | |
| or broken or alone and saying it is finished. | 43:51 | |
| So it was with Jesus, | 43:57 | |
| death, failed experiences all along through his life. | 44:00 | |
| And so it is with us. | 44:04 | |
| Death, failed experiences all along the way you live | 44:07 | |
| and travel through life and all along my path of life. | 44:12 | |
| So it was with Jesus so much so that at the end of his life, | 44:17 | |
| the last few days were filled with such pain for rejection | 44:21 | |
| and disappointment that he may have felt | 44:25 | |
| as a character in one of John Buchan's novels | 44:27 | |
| about whom it was written and remained only for him. | 44:29 | |
| "The trivial business of dying." | 44:32 | |
| It is finished. It is finished. | 44:37 | |
| Jesus said, but not really, God says, | 44:40 | |
| what seems to be the finish | 44:44 | |
| is not really the finish after all, | 44:45 | |
| for it is finished, becomes for our Lord, | 44:48 | |
| not a stop, but a start, not an the end, but a beginning, | 44:50 | |
| not the darkness, but new light, not a dead end, | 44:54 | |
| but an open way, not a brick wall, but an open door. | 44:58 | |
| Like someone said, | 45:02 | |
| "Many people leave the theater before the play is over." | 45:03 | |
| And here the play of Jesus' life is not over, not at all. | 45:07 | |
| As it turns out what has happened to him up to this point, | 45:11 | |
| it's only prologue or preface or introduction | 45:14 | |
| or prelude, essential, surely, but only the beginning. | 45:18 | |
| Here, the good news is that | 45:23 | |
| the bad news of Jesus' death will not whine out | 45:25 | |
| or as John Claypool puts it, Baptist minister | 45:30 | |
| writing, reflecting on the death | 45:34 | |
| of his 11 year old daughter with leukemia. | 45:36 | |
| When he says the point is life never comes | 45:38 | |
| to a complete dead end. | 45:43 | |
| But how often does it seem that it has? | 45:52 | |
| How very often does it happen to us? | 45:56 | |
| How often do we think it is finished | 46:02 | |
| and really feel that we have had all that we can take. | 46:06 | |
| And that for us, the end has come only to find | 46:09 | |
| that there is more, | 46:12 | |
| that life can go on, that life does go on. | 46:13 | |
| Indeed, life will go on. | 46:16 | |
| For Jesus even after he said it is finished, | 46:21 | |
| death had done its worst. | 46:25 | |
| Life was over and gone. | 46:27 | |
| The tomb was indeed his resting place. | 46:29 | |
| There was no life, no breath, no reach, | 46:32 | |
| no touch, no word, no glance, no hope. | 46:34 | |
| And yet there was more. | 46:38 | |
| Now this says to me that we really do not know | 46:40 | |
| when the end has come. | 46:44 | |
| We really never can be sure when it is finished, | 46:47 | |
| whatever it may be, | 46:51 | |
| job or friendship or interview or examination | 46:53 | |
| or chosen career or plan of study or sickness | 46:57 | |
| or marriage or separation or divorce | 47:00 | |
| or trial or testing or pain or even death. | 47:02 | |
| As James Russell Lowell puts it in his poem, "Columbus." | 47:08 | |
| "One day with life and heart is more | 47:11 | |
| than time enough to find a world." | 47:15 | |
| And so it is. | 47:19 | |
| No one, perhaps not even Jesus himself | 47:22 | |
| had any idea that there was anything beyond Friday | 47:25 | |
| or if the disciples did have any notion of something beyond | 47:30 | |
| in the way of a resurrection, | 47:34 | |
| they didn't act like they believed that. | 47:35 | |
| They stayed away on Friday and Saturday | 47:38 | |
| and Sunday morning, they were miles away from the tomb. | 47:40 | |
| The remaining 11 disciples had such little faith | 47:45 | |
| that they locked themselves in an upper room in Jerusalem. | 47:49 | |
| Their response was about like | 47:54 | |
| that of a man facing surgery. | 47:56 | |
| The hospital chaplain was talking | 47:59 | |
| with a middle-aged man who was soon | 48:01 | |
| to have very serious surgery and asked, | 48:02 | |
| "Got much waiting for you, when you leave the hospital?" | 48:06 | |
| The man thought a moment and replied, | 48:10 | |
| "Nothing. And nobody. Just hard work." | 48:12 | |
| Had we asked the disciples, | 48:20 | |
| "Got much waiting for you after Golgotha?" | 48:22 | |
| They probably would have replied, | 48:26 | |
| "Nothing and nobody, only emptiness." | 48:29 | |
| But they had forgotten what we often forget. | 48:37 | |
| And that is that we do not have the final word about life. | 48:41 | |
| God has the final, the fulfilling word about life. | 48:44 | |
| On the third day, he shall rise again. | 48:48 | |
| They had forgotten that or ignored that, | 48:52 | |
| or they hadn't heard it or they didn't believe it, | 48:54 | |
| or couldn't believe it or wouldn't believe it. | 48:56 | |
| How often do we day by day, | 49:00 | |
| forget the promises of all mighty God? | 49:03 | |
| Listen to the words of Job. | 49:07 | |
| Then Job answered the Lord. | 49:10 | |
| "I know that thou canst do all things | 49:11 | |
| and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. | 49:17 | |
| Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, | 49:21 | |
| things too wonderful for me which I did not know. | 49:24 | |
| I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, | 49:28 | |
| but now my eyes see thee." | 49:31 | |
| "It is finished." Jesus cried, | 49:36 | |
| but God said, "No, no. There is more, there is much more. | 49:38 | |
| There's much more for you. | 49:42 | |
| There's much more for your disciples, | 49:44 | |
| much more for your beloved. | 49:46 | |
| There is much more for all of my children." | 49:47 | |
| And the word I hear from God here is, | 49:50 | |
| never think that you have reached the end. | 49:53 | |
| What seems to be finished, may be only a beginning, | 49:58 | |
| even rejection, even suffering, | 50:02 | |
| even misunderstanding, even death. | 50:04 | |
| And just because we think it is finished, | 50:07 | |
| does not mean that we know the full story | 50:10 | |
| or have the whole answer | 50:12 | |
| or see the total picture, but God does. | 50:14 | |
| And in the meantime, | 50:19 | |
| between the time we think it is finished | 50:22 | |
| and the time we begin to understand, | 50:24 | |
| God sustains us and upholds us, | 50:27 | |
| thus, in the meantime, | 50:31 | |
| on the morning of the first day of the week, | 50:32 | |
| Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, | 50:34 | |
| went to the place where Jesus lay, | 50:36 | |
| but it turned out to be not just a casual stroll | 50:39 | |
| in the garden, | 50:42 | |
| not just an ordinary walk down a Primrose path. | 50:43 | |
| Listen, there was a great earthquake. | 50:46 | |
| An angel came, rolled back the stone and sat upon it. | 50:50 | |
| His appearance was like lightning, | 50:54 | |
| raiment white as snow, guards trembled | 50:57 | |
| and became like dead men. | 51:00 | |
| The angel said to the women, | 51:03 | |
| "Be not afraid." | 51:06 | |
| And it occurred to me as I read this, | 51:08 | |
| the beginning of the life of Jesus | 51:09 | |
| and the life after death for Jesus, | 51:12 | |
| both were announced with the words, "Do not be afraid." | 51:15 | |
| The angels to the shepherd, | 51:20 | |
| the angels to Mary and Mary. | 51:22 | |
| "Do not be afraid | 51:24 | |
| for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. | 51:26 | |
| He is not here for he has risen. | 51:29 | |
| Go tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead." | 51:32 | |
| They departed quickly from the tomb with fear | 51:36 | |
| and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. | 51:39 | |
| And behold Jesus met them | 51:42 | |
| and they came up and took hold of his feet | 51:44 | |
| and worshiped them. | 51:46 | |
| And Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. | 51:47 | |
| It is not finished." | 51:52 | |
| No. | 51:55 | |
| If we read the gospels carefully, | 51:57 | |
| we begin to get some idea about what it is | 51:58 | |
| after Jesus says it is finished. | 52:02 | |
| What is then, death turned to life, | 52:04 | |
| despair become hope, doubt become faith, fear become joy. | 52:07 | |
| What then Easter, life reunion, communion, fellowship, | 52:13 | |
| breaking bread, eating fish, recognition, | 52:18 | |
| words of peace and experience of a presence. | 52:20 | |
| Hope for the present, promise for the future. | 52:23 | |
| A word, a look, an invitation, a walk on the beach. | 52:28 | |
| A composite of Jesus' words spoken | 52:33 | |
| after the resurrection would include such words | 52:35 | |
| as these, "My friends, peace, shalom | 52:38 | |
| do not be afraid, peace be with you, | 52:45 | |
| receive the holy spirit, follow me, feed my sheep, | 52:50 | |
| tend my lambs, tend my sheep and Lo, I am with you always, | 52:56 | |
| even to the end of this age, after it is finished, | 53:04 | |
| what then Christ, life, God, tomorrow, forever." | 53:09 | |
| You pray then. | 53:17 | |
| Reflecting one night as he lay beside | 53:19 | |
| his wife who was critically ill, | 53:21 | |
| had some thoughts, | 53:25 | |
| which he later put down in his notes to myself and he said, | 53:26 | |
| "I must accept the justice of death | 53:32 | |
| and the injustice of life. | 53:37 | |
| I have lived a good life, | 53:40 | |
| longer than many, better than most. | 53:42 | |
| I have had 32 years of life. | 53:46 | |
| I dare not ask for another day. | 53:50 | |
| What did I do to deserve birth? | 53:54 | |
| It was a gift, but now it is morning. | 53:57 | |
| I have been given another day, | 54:02 | |
| another day to hear and read | 54:06 | |
| and smell and walk and love and glory. | 54:09 | |
| I am alive for another day." | 54:14 | |
| The word is not. It is finished. | 54:19 | |
| The word is, he has risen, he has risen indeed. | 54:23 | |
| Those who believe in me shall never die, | 54:30 | |
| but have life and life everlasting, | 54:34 | |
| it is not finished my friends. | 54:39 | |
| Hallelujah, Christ is risen. Amen. | 54:43 | |
| (congregation replying indistinctly) | 54:49 | |
| (melodious instrumental music) | 55:08 | |
| (charismatic congregational music) | 55:28 | |
| (soft orchestral music) | 58:19 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 58:36 |
| We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 58:40 | |
| who has come and the truly human Jesus, | 58:45 | |
| to reconcile and make me, | 58:49 | |
| who works in us and others by the spirit. | 58:52 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 58:56 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 59:01 | |
| to love and serve others, | 59:05 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil. | 59:07 | |
| Our judge and our hope, | 59:11 | |
| in life and death and life beyond death. | 59:14 | |
| God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. | 59:19 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 59:26 | |
| Congregation | And with your spirit. | 59:28 |
| - | Let us pray. | 59:29 |
| Oh loving God, our hearts rejoice in the majesty | 59:40 | |
| of your presence. | 59:45 | |
| We know that you care for us in so many ways. | 59:47 | |
| We need the assurance of your love, | 59:52 | |
| for without it and that death is not the end. | 59:56 | |
| We could not face the future. | 1:00:03 | |
| We leave to your loving care, | 1:00:07 | |
| all who are in pain, all who suffer. | 1:00:09 | |
| Those who are aggrieved | 1:00:16 | |
| because of the loss of the ones they love, | 1:00:17 | |
| may your raising of Jesus the Christ comfort them. | 1:00:22 | |
| We leave to your care those who are discouraged | 1:00:29 | |
| because of illness, | 1:00:32 | |
| because of the lack of hope for their future, | 1:00:36 | |
| because of shattered dreams and visions, | 1:00:40 | |
| open their hearts oh God to receive your love. | 1:00:44 | |
| Open their eyes to see you, | 1:00:49 | |
| as you come to them in unexpected places. | 1:00:52 | |
| Oh God of the lonely. | 1:00:57 | |
| We remember those who on this time of community celebration | 1:00:59 | |
| are alone, isolated, cut off. | 1:01:04 | |
| May your presence sustain them. | 1:01:10 | |
| May they be receptive | 1:01:13 | |
| to the gifts you give to them through us. | 1:01:14 | |
| Oh God hear the private yearnings | 1:01:19 | |
| of these your people who worship you, | 1:01:21 | |
| send us your spirit | 1:01:26 | |
| so that each of us may grow in our ability to be caring, | 1:01:29 | |
| help us to rediscover our compassion, | 1:01:36 | |
| our sensitivity, our courage. | 1:01:40 | |
| Oh God raise our broken spirits, our weak faith, | 1:01:46 | |
| our downcast hearts, our broken relationships. | 1:01:53 | |
| And may we have the courage | 1:01:59 | |
| to live life as fully as Jesus did, | 1:02:01 | |
| serving others with generosity | 1:02:05 | |
| and joy and help us truly to pray | 1:02:08 | |
| the prayer our Lord taught us. | 1:02:13 | |
| Our Father, who art in heaven, | 1:02:16 | |
| hallowed be thy name, | 1:02:20 | |
| thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth | 1:02:22 | |
| as it is in heaven. | 1:02:27 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 1:02:29 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:02:33 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 1:02:35 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, | 1:02:39 | |
| for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. | 1:02:44 | |
| Amen. | 1:02:50 | |
| (Gregorian chant) | 1:03:06 | |
| (liturgical congregational music) | 1:05:15 | |
| Oh God, we give thanks for the glory of Easter. | 1:13:02 | |
| For the hope it brings to us. | 1:13:06 | |
| We give thanks for the future, | 1:13:09 | |
| which is open to us and the possibilities which are ours. | 1:13:11 | |
| You came to us in human form | 1:13:16 | |
| that we might become who you intend us to be. | 1:13:20 | |
| We commit to you this day, | 1:13:24 | |
| ourselves, our lives, use this offering, | 1:13:26 | |
| a symbol of our commitment to you | 1:13:31 | |
| that others may have hope and be enabled to grow | 1:13:34 | |
| in the fullness of life. | 1:13:39 | |
| We pray in the spirit of Jesus the Christ. Amen. | 1:13:41 | |
| (melodious instrumental music) | 1:13:47 | |
| (solemn congregational music) | 1:15:50 | |
| May the God who raised Jesus from the dead, | 1:17:53 | |
| offer you hope and comfort this day and forever more. | 1:17:58 | |
| (liturgical congregational music) | 1:18:08 | |
| (upbeat instrumental music) | 1:19:03 | |
| (congregation murmuring distinctly) | 1:29:55 |
Item Info
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