Resurrection in April – Apr 21, 2013

Sermon

April 21, 2013

Texts:  Psalm 23

Acts 9:36-43

Dr. Jacquelyn L. Foster

Compton Heights Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

In our faith these are the days of Eastertide – days of Resurrection,  the promise of new life, a season that stirs the Hope within us.   It is spring, the time of new growth, sneak peeks of warmth and color, that wonderful sense of freedom as we emerge from winter.  Eastertide always covers at least part of the month of April.

Unfortunately we live with a tension in the month of April.

Margaret Aymer on OdysseyNetworks.org this week reminded us of some April events:

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968)

The end of the Waco siege and the death of 82 members of the Branch Davidians. (April 19, 1993)

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed one hundred sixty-eight children and adults. (April 19, 1995)

The Columbine High School shooting resulting in deaths of 15 persons (April 20, 1999), a shooting that has been echoed in 31 schools since, most recently in Sandy Hook Elementary School of Newtown, CT.

The shooting death of 32 students at Virginia Tech. (April 16, 2007)

The murder of 13 persons at the American Civic Association Immigration Center in Birmingham, NY. (April 3, 2009)

And now in 2013, April continues its trend. On Monday, April 15, at least 2 young men bombed the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Before their rampage ended 4 people were killed and numbers have been maimed so that their lives will never be the same.

Sadly, the tragedy in Boston is not the first violent act this April has seen. Earlier this month, a young man brought military grade weapons into New River Community College in Christianburg, VA, with intent to kill.

On April 6 in Tennessee, a 4 year old shot and killed his aunt.   And  on April 8, a four year old in New Jersey, shot a 6 year old neighbor in the head.

April may be Eastertide, but for many, it will forever be marked by death.

What do we as a people of the Resurrection have to say in the face of the repeated violence and death that seems to slap us in the face in Eastertide?

This morning we read Psalm 23 which calls us to fearlessness in the valley of the shadow of death, because God is with us and comforts us;  God sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies; goodness and mercy will be with us every day of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord our whole life long.

And then there is this wonderful story from the Acts of the Apostles.

In Joppa there was a disciple of Jesus named Tabitha (or Dorcas in the Greek)  Now we should not miss that Luke (the author of Acts) calls her “disciple” here … the same Greek word (in the feminine form) – that he uses in vs. 38 of the disciples who send for Peter.  The first and foremost statement that Luke makes is that she is a disciple: “she is generous in her good works and her acts of charity.”   Tabitha has become sick and has died.  She is clearly so well known to the other disciples that they call Peter to come.  In the meantime, the widows – who were a strong ministry of the church – took Tabitha’s body to tend to it.  They did not turn away from her body or the disease that had killed her, rather they took her upstairs where everyone could see.

When Peter arrived and was taken upstairs to her body, the widows stood right beside Peter, weeping and telling Tabitha’s story.  They showed tunics and other clothing that Tabitha had made and given.

“There is a power in those who mourn and who will not let the story of a beloved one die. This is the witness of Rachel in Matthew 2:18, and of the devout men of Judea after Stephen’s stoning in Acts 8:2. Even Jesus holds up the worth of mourners (Matthew 5:4; Luke 6:21b).  This is the power of the President of the United States giving over his weekly broadcast to Francine Wheeler, the mother of six-year old Ben Wheeler, so that she could tell Ben’s story and her story, a story of love and loss, of injustice and the need to protect our communities. And this is the power of those communities of faith who have been calling their legislators and telling the story to compel them to listen, to act.”  (Margaret Aymer, OdysseyNetworks.org)

 Immediately in the hours following this week’s bombing in Boston, the family of 8 year old Martin Richard, began telling his story.  We saw the picture of him with his poster calling for peace – for people not to hurt each other any more.  It is the telling of the story of the good, that makes it possible for us to rise from the death, the horrible loss, the grief.

 Aymer suggests that “Unlike the little church in Joppa, not every church can summon an apostle with the power to raise the dead. Peter’s role in this story, although a witness to resurrection power, is outside of most of our capability. But even if we have no Peter, as we remember the named and unnamed death count of April, we can still follow the example of Tabitha’s church – the widows of Joppa.   Like them, we can tend to the bodies, telling the truth about the fatal toll of guns, bombs, poverty and disease. When we do so, we break death’s ability to sever our responsibility to one another. Like the church of Joppa, we can tell the stories of those who have died. When we do, we break death’s ability to relegate victims to oblivion and to glorify those who kill. Like the widows of Joppa and like the devout men who cry out in lament after the stoning of Steven,  like Rachel who cried out because her children were no more,  and like Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb, we can gather to lift up our voices in weeping. For our weeping is an act of protest, a refusal to be silent in the face of the injustice of death, death from disease and malnutrition, death from domestic terrorism, death from a brutal disregard for life.

Ted Loader says that “The good news is about bringing life where there is death, love where there is hate, healing where there is brokenness.”

So when we continue to proclaim the Good News right in the midst of a week like this one – then we can receive the gift that Peter brings when he witnesses to the power of resurrection.  “He brings her to them alive!”

We are people of the resurrection.  And we confess, despite all evidence to the contrary, that death will not win.