1 John 1:1-2:2

Join us for Worship
Next Sunday, April 19
at 8:30 or 10:00 A.M

"Life Together"

In the first letter of John, the writer declares his intention to tell what the early church has experienced; what they have heard and seen and touched "concerning the word of life." They have seen themselves in the light of Christ's presence. Sometimes it has not been pretty because in that light they have seen the shadows in their lives, but it had also revealed the deepest unity of their life together. How is their story our story? How can we experience the presence of the Risen Christ among us?

Please read 1 John 1:1-2:2

From the East Greenwich United Methodist Bulletin 4/12/09

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I John 1:1-2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

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Since it has been a quiet week … perhaps as weeks after Easter should be … I thought I would share some quotes from the Wesley Study Bible.

“First John was a significant text for John Wesley’s sermons, especially for those exploring themes of sin, salvation, and repentance. Wesley preached his sermon “The Great Privilege of Those That Are born of God” from 1 John 3:9, “Those who have been born of God do not sin.” For Wesley, those who continually dwell in God’s life, Spirit and grace, and who respond to these gifts of God with continuous praise, love, and prayer will not voluntarily transgress any commandment of God. This does not mean that believers will never sin but that while believers continue in complete fellowship with God, they will not willfully sin. From 1 John and other biblical texts, Wesley lays out his doctrine of Christian perfection in response to theological positions that argue that believers are saved but cannot be completely free from sin until death. … Loving others, as a reflection of the love of God grounds the believers in new life.”

-- From the Wesley Study Bible, page 1519

“How can we say that we love God when we live in and love the darkness? How can we say that we love God when we are leading others into darkness and taking up permanent residency there? How can we say that we love God when we refuse to confess our sins, refuse to forgive others, or refuse to be in fellowship with them because they have sinned against us? Are we afraid of the dark or afraid of the light? Before we can be the light, we mush see the light. God’s light saves, heals, cleanses and restores us despite our brokenness.”

-- From the Wesley Study Bible, page 1520.

“It is possible to live immersed in God’s light (1:7) and with one’s sin removed. This life is one of humble, close, active relationship with God rather than of bold claims of sinlessness. But if believers do sin, then they have Jesus to speak in their favor (2:1)”

-- From the Wesley Study Bible, page 1520.

Easter Meditation

For those who did not know, Bill asked me to give the sermon for the ecumenical Easter sunrise service last Sunday. Last night at Church Council, he asked that I share my mediation. I preached without notes in front of me, so this isn't line for line what I said, but close enough:

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Sandy Point Beach
6:00 A.M.
Ecumenical service led by Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist churches of East Greenwich.

To get the full effect you should:

1. Print this out
2. Fill your bathtub up with ice cubes
3. Turn on a fan and/or air conditioner
4. Then stand in the ice filled bathtub while you read

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Scripture reading > Mark 16:1-8

16When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

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BEFORE THERE WERE CHRISTIANS

Why are we here today?

It is cold.
It is dark.
It is early.
And we're tired.

In a few hours from now there will be a host of perfectly good churches that will be open with heat, coffee and places to sit.

So why are we here?

The answer is most likely different for each us.

Some are here because of tradition. We come because we always come. This is just where we are on Easter morning.

Some of us came to immerse ourselves in the deep metaphor of Easter – to come out in the midst of darkness and wait for the light to come.

Then there are those of us who may just really like Lent and see this as an opportunity to squeeze in some last minute suffering. [I pointed out that in 32 degree weather with wind-chill off the water, Bill was standing on the beach in a suit without coat, hat or gloves.]

Easter is generally a pleasant event. For some it is part of a three day weekend. As a whole people usually get up at a REASONABLE hour, have a cup of coffee and relax. If you have kids, there is a feeling of fun and excitement in the air as they hunt for eggs.

Then there is a nice breakfast and you head off to church – which is PACKED.

Now a packed church is a give and take situation. On one hand it is always great to have a full church. On the other hand, you walk in to find someone sitting in your regular seat.

But it's Easter … and you're a Christian … so you let it go. :)

There is a unique energy in the air. Hymns are charged with a little power and joy. We even taunt death itself as we sing out, "Where now is thy sting?"

Then you listen to the pastor's sermon … which you hope doesn't go on too long … and you look forward to a nice dinner with friends and family.

Each moment in a modern day Easter celebration seems to be an anticipation of something even better to follow.

However, it wasn't like that on the first Easter and I think we are here to remember the women who set out on that morning.

The names of the women who went to the tomb that morning depend on which Gospel you are reading. The names aren't important but the gospels talk about the women who watched Jesus be crucified on Friday. They spent the day watching him suffer. As the sun set, they watched his body taken down and followed with haste as he was brought to the tomb. They watched as the stone was rolled over the entrance and sealed. Then they hurried home before the sun set.

The Jewish Sabbath lasted from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. During that time they were forbidden to do any work. For the next 24 hours they remained in prayer and sorrow.

When the sun set on Saturday they gathered up the spices and supplies they would need to prepare the body which was so hastily wrapped and placed on Friday. However, leaving for a tomb in the middle of the night was probably no more appealing than as it is now. Perhaps they forced themselves to sleep. Perhaps they were awake all night. Whatever the case, they left with haste at first light.

They didn't know exactly what they would do when they got there. On the way they discussed how the stone would be moved. Yet still they went, with urgency, compassion and love.

When they arrived, they found the stone moved and the tomb empty.

Now what happens next also depends on what Gospel you happen to be reading. I'll leave it to you to explore on your own. But perhaps more significantly we should ask what happens next for us?

For some of us this is a first stop before we go on to our individual churches later on this morning … each home of faith containing its own denominational flavor.

And denominational flavor is a good thing ...

It gives us a place where we can start to ponder the mystery of God. Our denominations give us different doors in which to enter and begin to wrap our minds around the eternal and the infinite.

Of course we get ourselves in trouble when we see our denominations as endings and not as beginnings. We get ourselves in trouble when we think, "We have found the one true church and everyone else is an idiot!"

At best we can laugh at our differences. At worst people have killed others over thinking differently. It is sad to think that we have such dark moments in human history and that some of that hatred continues today. [As a note, this paragraph didn't make it into the sermon. I had a last minute thought I had already gone in the darkness and I was trying to build it back up toward the light. I leave it here because I think it is something we must still consider.]

We need to think about the rich significance of this being an ecumenical service – led by Methodists, Baptists and Lutherans. Perhaps there are among those gathered here who are Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Congregationalist or Catholic.

I think it is important to reflect on the women who went to the tomb before we go to our homes of denominational differences. I think it is important to come here first because these women came BEFORE there were Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics and Congregationalists … these women came before a time before there were even people known a “Christians.”

The women that morning did not set out to make a faith-based political statement. They were not acting out of a distinctive theology. They were followers of Jesus who observed suffering, spent a day in prayer and then set out with urgency, love and compassion. They knew there would be barriers before them, but still they went.

What would it be like each morning everyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus woke up, contemplated the suffering in the world and spent time in prayer? What if we didn't worry about the obstacles that might come up? What would the world be like if each day Christians set out in a spirit of prayer, compassion and urgency … just like the women on that first Easter morn.

Amen.

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-Keith

Mark 16:1-8

Join us for Worship
Next Sunday, April 12
at 8:30 or 10:00 A.M.

"Going Home"

Mark reports that after the Sabbath was over, when the women went to the tomb, they encountered a messenger who told them that Jesus was risen, "just as he told you." And, the messenger explained, "he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him." In other words, Jesus was going home. It is so ordinary. Why not go to the temple or some other holy place? But it is precisely in the ordinary and everyday events of life that Jesus promises to meet his disciples.

Please read Mark 16:1-8

From the East Greenwich United Methodist Church 4-5-09

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Mark 16:1-8

16When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

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Thus ends the oldest of the Gospels. Most Bibles note that this is the ending in the earliest manuscripts of Mark. Later versions included verses 12-20.

Some notes from the New Interpreter' s Study Bible:

"Some of the most ancient authorities bring the book to a close at the end of verse 8. One authority concludes the book with the shorter ending and then concludes with verses 9-20."

The Shorter ending of Mark:

"And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."

"This one verse ended was added to a manuscript of Mark sometime after the 3rd century CE. In one manuscript where it appears, it directly follows 16:8 as the ending of the Gospel; in some manuscripts "the shorter ending" is followed by the "longer ending" and in a few manuscripts the "longer ending" is followed by this "shorter ending." Like the "longer ending," it changes failure into success to end the Gospel on a positive note. It uses language found nowhere else in the gospel of Mark. (sacred and imperishable proclamation, eternal salvation)" - New Interpreter' s Study Bible, page 1884

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The Longer Ending (Mark 16:9-20)

9Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

12After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

14Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

19So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it."

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What does it do to the story if it just ended at this week's reading (verse 8)? Clearly it begs for something more. Jesus went ahead to Galilee, what then? Personally I like the "shorter ending." The "longer ending" gets a little weird for me around verse 18

18they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Where did the whole snake handling and poison drinking thing come from? It just does not seem, as some of my friends like to say, very "Jesusy."

I know it is getting away from this week's passage, but I can't leave it alone.

William Barclay offers: "The Church is a Church of power. We need not take everything literally. We need not think that the Christian is literally to have the power to lift venomous snakes and drink poisonous liquids and take no harm. But at the back of this picturesque language there is the conviction that the Christian is filled with a power to cope and deal with a life that others do not and cannot possess." Barclay's commentary on the Gospel of Mark, page 390.

Neither the New Interpreter' s Bible nor New Interpreter' s Study Bible say anything about this strange portion of the passage (that has really spawned modern day snake handling churches – seriously they handle snakes in church).

I wonder though if it is reference back to the story God casting people out of Eden and saying to the serpent "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head and you will strike his heel." (Gen 3:15)

Perhaps the imagery here is to symbolically offer that, with the Risen Christ, "the snake" can no longer hurt man and that the strife between mankind and God has been mended and are now be let back into the Garden of Eden – a place where God resides with people. Too much of a stretch?

The Wesley Study Bible also offers a interesting comment on verses 14-15:

"14Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation."

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"The imperfections of the disciples do not prevent God's working through them. According to Wesley, God heals us of our imperfections and allows us to work in God's service: "For first, God works; therefore you CAN work. Secondly, God works; therefore you MUST work." (Sermon 85: "On Working Out Our Own Salvation)" – Wesley Study Bible, page 1235.

I think this comes back to the women at the tomb ... they were filled with terror and amazement and said nothing. They went not knowing what they would do when they got there (how they would move the stone) and left not knowing what to do with what they found. Yet still we have Christianity.

We have a two thousand year old tradition of imperfect disciples and yet the Church goes on. Sometimes that seems a miracle in itself.

Join us for Worship
Next Sunday, April 5
at 8:30 or 10:00 A.M.

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place”

In Israel there are few more sacred places than the Mount of Olives. For Ultra Orthodox Jews, it is the place where the Messiah will appear. And for some Christians, it is the site of the second coming. When Jesus stood there, with the desert behind him, and the city in front of him, he was intentionally claiming his role as the Messiah. What can we learn from this historic moment?

Please read Mark 11:1-11

From the East Greenwich United Methodist Church Bulletin 3/29/09

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Mark 11:1-11

11When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. 7Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

11Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

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I saw this video a few weeks back and have been saving it for this week ....

Marcus Borg: Palm Sunday

http://www.beliefne t.com/Video/ Holidays/ Easter/Marcus- Borg-Palm- Sunday.aspx