Love Wins - Easter 2011 (Temple Lutheran Church)

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We are among millions of people around the world who got up this morning, at the beginning of this new week, and have gathered together to celebrate that Jesus has risen. Millions are gathering around the world--many at this very moment--to shout “Alleluia” and “Christ is risen, indeed!” as we listen to the story of two women named Mary arriving at the tomb of Jesus.

It’s hard, though, to really experience it in the same way as the women did that morning. We all came out this morning knowing that Easter was here, which is not how that morning of the first day of the week began for those two women named Mary. They weren’t headed out to a festive occasion. They weren’t headed out to shout “alleluia”; they were going to a grave. They were going to a place they wish they weren’t going to. They were going to mourn, to keep vigil. To try to make sense of what had happened.

They arrive at the tomb--and then--all heaven breaks loose! The earth shakes. An angel of the Lord descends with an appearance like lightning. The stone is rolled away and they’re told “Don’t be afraid, you’re looking for Jesus; He’s not here!” Bet they didn’t see that coming, now did they?

I believe that God wants your Easter experience to be no less remarkable. God wants us to experience the living Christ today. That is the only reason we are here together right now. God wants to meet each of us in our lowest moments, just like those women going to the grave of someone they loved. That’s what Easter is all about.

When we have no strength, when we have nothing left and we can’t go on, God comes down--right where we are--and does something completely unexpected. The story that we think is going to unfold is completely changed.  Because God has the final word. And that final word is “resurrection.” God’s final word for us is that Love Wins.

When you find yourself assuming that it’s over. When all is lost. When all is gone. When life is broken and it can never be put back together again.  When you swear that it could never be rebuilt--hold on a minute. Because in that moment Easter has, in fact, just begun. Just as you’re arriving at the place you wish you weren’t going to--when there’s nothing left that you can do--God brings resurrection. God still has the final word that love wins. Resurrection announces that God has not given up. God has not given up on you. God has not given up on your life. God has not given up on this world.

Easter is happening right now--today--in 2011. God is once again inviting us into resurrection. God is once again pointing to a new reality--the reality God has made possible. The reality that love wins. Resurrection wants to be real on this Easter Sunday. God wants to speak that final word that love wins today.

People already gathered today, just like we are right now, in Japan. In the face of unthinkable despair, they placed hope in resurrection, because Easter says that the earthquake doesn’t win. Easter says that the Tsunami doesn’t win Easter says that nuclear radiation doesn’t win. Easter says that love wins.

People gathered by the millions across the continent of Africa and placed hope in resurrection because Easter says that AIDS doesn’t win. Easter says that Tuberculosis and Malaria don’t win. Easter says that extreme poverty doesn’t win. Easter says that love wins.

Armenian Christians are gathering today around the world, including right here in Havertown, Pennsylvania, and are remembering that today, April 24, is the anniversary of the mass murder of 1.5 million of their family members in 1915. Not their distant ancestors, but their parents, their aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends. Still, they gather shouting Alleluia--even through their tears. Because Easter says that genocide doesn’t win. Easter promises them that love wins.

To people in Libya, Sudan, Egypt and across the Middle East Easter says that corruption and violence doesn’t win. Easter says that love wins.

Right now--at this very moment--people are proclaiming Alleluia at Easter worship in Haiti. Their Alleluias that are rich with resurrection life. As one of their pastors put it: they will not be defined by rubble--they will not be defined by the earthquake. They are defined by resurrection, because Easter says that disaster doesn’t win, cholera doesn’t win. Easter says that love wins.

People from North Carolina to Oklahoma are proclaiming Alleluia right now because Easter says that tornadoes don’t win. Easter says that love wins.

To those of us trying to keep afloat in a bad economy, Easter says that the recession doesn’t win. Unemployment doesn't win. Foreclosure doesn't win. Uncertainty doesn't win. Love wins.

To those in the halls of our high schools that fear for their safety and are ashamed of who they are, Easter says that it gets better because bullying doesn’t win. Love wins.

To those lying in hospital beds this morning--and to those who sit next to them hour after hour--Easter says that cancer doesn’t win. Alzheimer’s doesn’t win.
Autism doesn’t win. Chronic pain doesn’t win. What wins? Love wins!

Even to those of us who visit the graves of those we love--who would give anything to have them show up again, even for a moment. Easter invites us to proclaim alleluia because God has the final word, and death doesn’t win. What wins? Love wins!

Love wins. Whatever it is for you that seems to be blocking the light. Whatever it is that is like a stone keeping you in a tomb, Easter says that it doesn’t win. Easter says that love wins. Easter announces that God has not given up. God has not given up on you. God has not given up on your life. God has not given up on this world.

Easter tells us that God has not abandoned us. God has not abandoned this world. Something new has begun to put this world back together. Something new has begun to put your life back together. God’s Amazing Grace has entered this world and wants to change everything. God’s Amazing grace wants to set you free from anything--from everything---that gets in the way of love.

Easter wants to set you free today: set you free to live in God’s love for you, and send you to live out God’s love for the world. Because it is God’s love working in your life—It is God working through you, through us, that will bring about love’s victory. Love wins (a lot of ad lib here) when we feed the hungry. Love wins when we clothe the naked. Love wins when we help the poor. Love wins when we look at another person--no matter who they are, what they've done or how different they are from us--and see a child of God. Love wins as we do God’s work with our hands!

How you live your life makes a difference. You can be a part of the new reality that God is creating every day, right here in this world--this world that God will never give up on.

Love wins. That is what Easter tells us today.
Love wins. That is the good news of Easter.
Love wins. That is the promise of resurrection.
Love wins. That is why we shout Alleluia!
Love wins….That is the good news of the gospel.
Amen.

Resurrected from the Bed - Lazarus Sunday

The Lazarus Sunday message began with reading the story of Lazarus from the Gospel of John followed by clips from the Lance Bangs documentary “The Lazarus Effect.”

“This illness does not lead to death.”

As we gather this morning around the story of a man named Lazarus, it is my prayer that this is a gathering of hope.  Over the next two weeks, Christians around the world will journey again into the story that is at the center of our faith:  the death and resurrection of Jesus—the one that we call Savior, Lord and Christ.  It is a story that pulls every one of us down into the grave, only to be called forth into new life.  It is a story that does not ignore the reality of death, and in doing so, finds a hope so powerful that death is defeated.

As we gather around the tomb of Lazarus today, this story wants to have a meaningful impact on us

This story is hoping, begging, pleading to actually mean something to us.  It wants to be more than words that we read.  You see, we can gather here and read a good story about resurrection, or we can gather here and be resurrected ourselves.  We can gather here and participate in the resurrection of others.  It all comes down to whether the Bible is your storybook or your story.

And there is a lot at stake, my friends.  The world we live in has no need for stories about resurrection; the world we live in today needs to experience actual resurrection.  The world needs people that have been given a hope bigger than death.

Just a few years ago, it appeared that the grave would have the final word for too many in our world.  HIV had taken hold of the continent of Africa and appeared unstoppable.  20 million lives have been lost.  I can’t even fathom that number: 20 million lives.  Entire communities destroyed.  Children orphaned.  People watching everyone they loved dying, one at a time.  Babies born without a chance of living.

And, to be honest, the world was slow to respond.  To be even more honest, the church was even slower.  I remain convinced it was because AIDS was connected to the gay community and too few Christians and Americans had the courage to respond.  I say that not as an accusation, but as a confession.  The only finger I’m pointing is pointed right at myself.  May God and the millions who suffered have mercy on me.

Thankfully, however, that was not the last chapter of the story.  The story does not end with the words “Lazarus is dead”.  The presence of God among us, the living presence of Jesus has already promised that “This illness does not lead to death, rather it is for God’s glory.”

God has been on the move in the last ten years.  The next chapter in our story has been written.  It is a story that has unfolded in laboratories as new antiretroviral medicines have become a reality.  It is a story that unfolded in clinics established across Africa—people going to the ends of the earth to not only bring treatments, but to take on the massive task of setting people free, not just from this disease but from the vicious cycle of poverty.

In 2002, treatments were available, but they cost nearly $10,000 per person annually.  Even so, 50,000 people were being treated—a massive achievement, but only the beginning.  Today, we are living in a world where what seemed impossible just a few years ago Is unfolding around the world at this very moment.  Treatments that cost $10,000 per year in 2002, now cost only $140—that’s less than 40 cents per day to save a person’s life.   The 50,000 that were being treated have become  4 million.

"This illness does not lead to death."

This new chapter is a story that has also unfolded in the halls of power, around the world and here in the United States.  It became possible because people all over the world insisted that this is not simply an opportunity for charity.  People all over the world began to insist that this is a matter of justice—a matter of fairness.  Nobody’s ability to live should be determined solely by what part of the world they are born in.  Where you live should not determine whether you live.  As people saw what was happening and insisted upon justice, the leaders of our world took notice and did the right thing.  President Bush created the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.  The United Nations created The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

God has been on the move.  Scientists and doctors and nurses have been on the move.  Presidents and senators and governments have been on the move.  Business leaders and humanitarians and musicians have been on the move.  And, yes, since God has been on the move, God’s people have been on the move.  People motivated by the love of God, living out their faith in the world, have been active in every part of this new story being written.  Today, for example, there are over 1,500 other congregations joining with us for the sake of the poor and the sick on this “Lazarus Sunday.”

And now it’s time to write the next chapter in this ongoing story.  With millions of lives already being saved, millions more are still waiting.  Today, however, they are not waiting to die, they are waiting to live.  They are not waiting for the grave, they are waiting for resurrection!

We have the treatments that will save their lives.  We have the right strategies and resources to reach them.  We only need to maintain the will to make it happen.

This is why millions around the world have joined the ONE Campaign.  This is why many of us have sent emails, made phone calls, & written letters.  To remind our leaders that these promises must be kept even as they work to keep our budget in check and economy moving forward.  This is why a group of five of us were thrilled to spend nearly an hour last month talking with Senator Toomey’s advisors about this important story while encouraging them to identify good solutions and respond.  We also delivered over 3,000 signatures from Pennsylvania ONE members.

The same has been happening across the nation in the offices of elected leaders of every political stripe.  This is not about any political agenda or political party.  This is about saving lives.  This is about every one of us living like people who believe in resurrection.  This is about refusing to treat the Bible like our storybook.  This is about writing our story…our part in God’s unfolding good news.

All of our faith, all of our prayer, all of our worship, everything that we call sacred and gather together around—all of it amounts to nothing if it doesn’t change our reality and send us out into this world to bring new life.  Resurrection means nothing if it remains locked up in our churches or closed up in the covers of a dusty old Bible.  It only matters if it springs forth like Lazarus—if we step out of our own graves and make the same possible for others.  That’s the only good news that is actually good news.  That is the only way the gospel can exist in the world today.

There’s a few things that I want you to do today. Don’t leave here today without adding your voice to the ONE Campaign.  I want every one of us to be a part of this.  Go to www.ONE.org to become a member.

I also want you to watch “The Lazarus Effect”.   It’s a wonderful story.  It’s only 30min long.  You can watch the whole thing at the bottom of this post.

Be a part of a worldwide gathering of hope.  Let the story of death and resurrection truly define your faith and life.  If you don’t have 30 minutes right now, please take a moment to watch this short video clip that shows the amazing change made possible by getting antiretroviral treatments to those who need them.   Thank you for reading this far!

And here's "The Lazarus Effect" (30 min.)