The WOW of Easter!

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Debt Free! My focus is our Gospel (Mark 16:1-8). … Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Chris and Dana step to the microphone. Four years after incurring $80,000 of debt from student loans, credit cards, two cars and the birth of two kids, they are ready for this moment. In unison, they shout at the top of their lungs, “We’re debt free!” … On the heels of their debt free scream, a line from Braveheart – “Freeeee…dooommm!!!”

Daily, dozens of couples and individuals echo these screams. Relieved that they are debt free, these people tell the world their stories of incurring debt and paying it off by heeding the advice of one man, Dave Ramsey.

Dave Ramsey fans travel to Nashville to tell their story and scream on his syndicated radio show because they are relieved they worked diligently, budgeted income and expenses, ate beans and rice, and lived like no one else. They proudly paid their debt.

We too are debt free. After incurring the debt of our sins and our parents’ sins – Adam and Eve – our debt is paid. The difference between the debt paid by Chris and Dana and ours is that Jesus Christ our Risen Lord paid our debt. Christ was payer and pay, propitiator and propitiation, and His payment warrants a debt free scream from each of us.

Our freedom from debt involved no effort on our part. We did not budget income and expenses, work two jobs, use the envelope system, or eat beans and rice for two years. All we did was believe. Believe.

Mark recorded the disciples of Jesus did not run from the cave screaming, “We’re debt free!” Rather, when they left the tomb, “they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

The thought of Jesus rising from the dead did not occur to them because they did not expect a resurrection. … Think of it. Until this moment, the Bible recounts six people raised from the dead – 3 by prophets and 3 by Jesus. Why would resurrection enter the disciples’ minds? That is why Mark recorded that the disciples fled the empty tomb trembling and astonished, and said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.

Resurrection from the dead … furthest thing from their minds. God’s victory over Satan, sin and death … furthest thing from their minds. A debt-free scream … furthest thing from their minds. In other words, Mark pointed out that the disciples realized God’s victory comes not from an experience of an empty tomb, but from an experience of the Risen Lord.

For Mark, the empty tomb in itself is not proof of the resurrection, but simply a source of wonderment. Faith in the resurrection springs from the actual experience of the risen Lord. Only then did the first Christians understand what the empty tomb meant – that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The Lord has risen indeed! God indeed conquered Satan, sin and death. Christ paid our debt. We are indeed debt free. Alleluia! Amen!

Unchecked excitement ran through the disciples’ veins and down their spines when the risen Lord appeared to them. They saw Him die. They saw His empty tomb. Then, they witnessed Him alive. The unparalleled experience of witnessing Christ alive impelled them to tell the world of the great Paschal Mystery – Christ’s willful suffering, death and resurrection, and what He taught throughout His life on earth. Peter and the disciples remembered and shared their experiences of Jesus the Christ with greater zeal and zest than any Dave Ramsey disciple.

Today, more than 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate Easter. More than 2 billion people share their own experiences of the risen Lord. More than 2 billion people share their debt free screams with others. More than 2 billion witnesses.

Are we among them? When did we last witness? When did we last share our debt free screams? When did we last share our experiences of the risen Lord with zest and zeal? Or are we still silently wondering what happened?

Is it because we have not pondered how the risen Lord has appeared to us? Is it because it is more difficult to believe God is present in bread and wine, in baptism and confession, in the Word proclaimed and preached by ordinary human beings than it is to believe Jesus rose from the dead? Indeed, God is present to us today, at this moment, but we do not always feel it or cannot articulate what we feel.

Let me share the brief articulated expression of a woman named Sally who became a baptized Christian 30 years ago. During the Easter Vigil 1989, Sally – then 62, frail and legally blind – was baptized and received into the Church. Several days later, when asked to share her experience of Christ’s death and resurrection symbolized in baptism, Sally, whose facial expressions and voice reminded one of Carol Channing, exclaimed, “WOW!”

Wow! Wow, Christ is risen and is present to us right now. Does the wow of that experience impel us into the streets like apostles with tongues of fire to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed? Does the wow of Christ Risen sustain me when I return to the humdrum of life’s work? Does the wow of Easter stay with me at home or hospital, in classroom or lunchroom, at the office or the in-laws? Do I feel the freedom of being debt free? Do I feel Victory even when I feel like a loser?

The wow of Easter should take all of us into the world because the world, America, Illinois needs Christians who know Christ’s Victory and the deeper meaning of being debt free. John’s Gospel says that the truth will make us free - not comfortable and not respected, but free in the real sense of the word: able to see and do what is right.

In the Christian tradition, freedom is to be used in the service of others. Working to defend the dignity of human persons and the dignity of the human family is an obligation of our freedom. As debt free Christians we are obliged, are we not, to protect the unborn child, the immigrant, the disabled, the elderly. If Christians are not involved in ensuring the dignity and rights of others, then we risk living in a state governed not by justice but by thieves. Bi-partisan thieves at that.

Let me close by asking a question that I pray you ponder as you go out from here and make your way home, hopefully not trembling and astonished. You should know that in recording that the women said nothing to anyone, Mark asked the unexpected question to every Christian who read or heard his gospel. Will you announce Christ rose from the dead? Will you demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in your life as Jesus did in his? Or will you remain silent when you are afraid?

As church, can we remain silent in public and be faithful to Christ at the same time? Working respectfully and firmly to form the public conscience violates no one’s free will. Actively witnessing to our convictions and advancing what we believe about Christian morality in the public life is not coercion. It’s truth-telling.

Let’s tell the world the truth about our faith, about what we believe. Let’s witness to the point that when neighbors see us walking up their driveway, they will no longer say, “Here come those Holy Rollers,” but, “Here come those Missouri Synod Lutherans.” And when we share with them the good news that we are debt free because Jesus Christ rose to free us from our sins, may we be overwhelmed by the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, and may it keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Married Couple Preaches Gospel

This is the presentation Cindy and I made at our Marriage Encounter Community. We discussed how we are both involved in my preaching.

Part I (Paul) - Write

When I am asked to preach, I feel privileged. My privileged feeling is like being a teacher or coach who is fortunate enough to teach young people something new. If my feeling were a color, it would be spring green. And so, I first read the Scripture passages for the day. Lutherans use a lectionary, and for the most part are proclaiming and hearing the same passages as those in mainline Protestant and Catholic churches. Most of the time, I choose to preach on the Gospel of the day, and may use the other readings to support a point in the sermon.

Once I have read the passages for the day, I begin to pray and meditate on them. At times, a strong message protrudes from the text. The raising of Lazarus from the dead prefigures Christ’s Resurrection.

At other times, a subtler message lies deep beneath the surface, and I love to dig around to discover the meanings. Chapters 12 and 13 of First Corinthians expose the not so Christian behavior of the community of believers.

Prayer leads to study. Afterall, the passage I am reading was most likely spoken in Hebrew or Greek and written in one of those languages for a people thousands of years ago in a culture unlike ours. So, I turn to my library and research what Scripture scholars have discovered and written. They offer insights that I may not know. For example, we read in Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Did you know that Isaiah was describing a traditional form of woodland management called coppicing?

Coppicing exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. When we lived in Edmond, Oklahoma, we cut down a number of trees, and surprisingly, shoots sprang up from the stumps. In other words, Isaiah used a traditional form of woodland management and applied it to God’s revealed word so that people might get the message. So, when I read about coppicing in my research, I understood how today’s landowners in Oklahoma or landscapers in Illinois might grasp the meaning of the words of a prophet spoken in a different language for a different people in a different time. Alaskan foresters or Midwest arborists understand what happens when they cut trees and allow stumps to remain. They can also understand how ancient prophecies relate to daily life in the forest or farm, as can accountants, teachers, nurses, engineers and students, which is why I conclude my sermon with a question: What does it mean to us today?

And while questions – “Did you know…?” and “What does it mean to us today?” – serve as bookends for my sermon, three points frame why the speaker spoke this message, why the writer recorded these words, and why the Church linked this passage (Isaiah 11) to the preaching of John the Baptist heard during the Season of Advent. Prayer, study and imagination help me write a draft, yet I often employ a method that helps listeners remember the main points of the sermon by framing my message with three points.

Research has shown that framing a message around three points, three words all beginning with the same letter helps one remember the main points. So, often I frame a message around three B’s – baby, body, beauty, or three P’s – Paul, pink and prayer – to make it easier for listeners to remember the main points of the sermon. Prayer, study and imagination help me write a draft. After I complete the writing phase, it is ready to be reviewed by Cindy, whom I lovingly call The Serminator.

Part II (Cindy) - Review

When Paul gives me his sermon to read, I read the scripture and pray. I do not read Paul’s sermon to challenge his theological points. I read it as a layman and whether or not I understand the points – frankly there are times when what Paul writes is over my head. While there are congregants who are very well versed in the Bible and have much more knowledge that I could ever achieve, sermons need to reach everyone.

When I come across points that I don’t understand, I ask Paul to explain to me what he is trying to say. I keep asking until I understand – then I make a suggestion on a possible way to explain his point. It may take just changing a work or two.

I try to read with a critical point of view. Will the words he uses mean the same thing to everyone, or can a word be interpreted differently?

There are times when Paul does not take my suggestions. I am ok with this.

When Paul asks me to read and critique his sermons, I feel honored. Honored that he trusts and values my opinion. This feeling of being honored is like winning an award or your favorite sports team going to the White House to meet the President. If it were an activity, it would be walking on a trail admiring God’s creation and feeling honored to be part of His creation.

Part III (Paul) – Speak

After Cindy returns the rough draft, I make the necessary changes. I then ask a couple of other people for some feedback and ideas. Once when I preached on Paul’s analogy of athletes competing, I asked our daughter, Jen, to reflect on the passage. Jen was a member of the UCLA Softball Team that won an NCAA Championship. When preaching on a healing passage, I asked my friend, Bill, a cardiologist to offer comments. Two individuals I always ask to offer feedback are my brother, John, and my friend, Wendell. Within a few hours or a few days, they return my second draft with some remarks and suggestions. Fresh eyes lead to fresh ideas. With appropriate changes, I incorporate these suggestions into my sermon.

Next, I run a spellcheck and final reading before printing my sermon. After I print the sermon, I read it aloud. I speak each and every word, marking the paper where further corrections need to be made. I may have to separate or merge paragraphs. I may add inflection marks.

I practice my sermon five or six times, and while I keep the text in front of me when I preach in the church, I am able to add or delete remarks as I scan the congregation. I preach from the script because I have seen others who do not use one lose track of their thoughts or later remind themselves that they should have said something they intended to say. And when I preach from the script, I know that I am not simply reading a sermon, but delivering a prayerfully inspired message that has involved Scholars, family and friends.

Preaching the Word before the congregation is an entirely different experience than writing, revising or reading the sermon. Preaching involves prayer, and, to paraphrase Martin Luther, prayer is much more difficult than preaching. So, before I stand to preach, I pray privately and publicly. My prayer prior to each sermon is this: Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

When I begin my sermon with this prayer, I feel hopeful. I know that what I am about to say will be the only sermon most of the people will hear this week. As I said earlier, I feel privileged when I am called to preach. And when I am about to preach, I hope my words will offer hope to men, women and children for at least a week. If my feeling were a thing, it would be spring training. If an event, the sunrise. Sunrise offers the hope of a new day, and I pray that my words offer hope to all who hear.

Part IV (Cindy) – Listen

On Saturday or Sunday when I arrive at church, I pray God will use Paul to deliver His message.

I have read Paul’s sermon and have listened to him practice. But when I am sitting in the pew listening to the sermon, it is like I haven’t heard it before.

It is humbling to see God use Paul to deliver His message. This humbleness is like knowing Christ died on the cross for me and had blessed me even as I am a sinner. I am also humbled that God brought Paul into my life. If it were a color it would be pastels. If it were a scene it would be hiking through a forest and feeling small among the tall trees.

Couple Dialogue: MEQ and How do I prepare for the message I hear from my priest or pastor?

Group Discussion Question: How do we as a couple keep God at the center of our marriage?