Sunday Sermons
The act of preaching is something that happens between the preacher and the gathered assembly each week, but sometimes folks find it helpful to be able to read or go back to the sermon text. So, Pastor Inga will do her best to keep this page updated with her most recent sermons. (If there's one in particular you're looking for and can't find, just ask. She probably just didn't get around to getting it posted.)
You'll notice the sermon text always begins with a list of the scriptures of the day, which are the basis for the sermon. You may find it helpful to read those passages before delving into the sermon itself.
Select Sermons for
Lectionary Year B, 2018
Sermon for Resurrection of Our Lord Sunday - April 1, 2018
Pastor Inga Oyan Longbrake
Gospel: Mark 16:1-8
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus’ body]. 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.
-----
Grace, mercy, and peace from the Triune God are yours. Amen.
Every time we conclude our worship services, we end with a dismissal:
Go in peace and serve the lord!
Go in peace and share the good news!
Go in peace! Christ is risen!
And with this dismissal, the assembly responds, Thanks be to God!, understanding that we have just been sent – out from worship and back into our everyday lives, to love and serve our neighbors, to love and serve God. To live out our faith and cling to the hope and grace that is ours in Christ Jesus.
But, it seems…. the women at the tomb didn’t get the memo.
They did receive a dismissal from the man at the tomb early that first Easter - to go and tell the rest of the disciples what was had happened, but who knows if they even caught what he was saying?
As far as we can tell from the text, terror had consumed them and they just…
Took. Off.
But I have quite a bit of compassion for that. I mean, think about it: Doesn’t some of the best news often start out this way, with some very real fear?
For example, when I learned I was pregnant with my daughter, this was in fact the news Wil and I had hoped for, and yet… Our first response?
Ah! What have we done? This is terrifying!
Or maybe it’s something like a new job or a promotion you’ve been working towards. If you actually end up getting it, fear might be a first response:
Can I handle this responsibility? Am I in over my head? What if I fail?
Or, one more example: My parents have just sold our family home of 40+ years and they’re moving to a new home in Rapid City, SD. It’s a big change – and one they’ve been planning for. And yet, when I asked my father if he was excited, he first confessed some fear.
Well, we’re going to have to settle into a whole new social circle….
Human reaction to good news, at first, can often be fear and trembling.
No doubt we’ve all been there.
And no doubt, then, we can understand the women’s reaction to the news that Jesus is alive, just as he said.
Jesus may have said it, but it doesn’t seem that anyone was realllly expecting it to happen. Yet now, these women who have come to do the duty of attending to the tomb have found the stone, the very large stone they had SEEN put in place, has now somehow been rolled away, and an angel-man dressed in white is waiting to give them the good news.
He even tells them not to be alarmed. This was always his plan, right?
But oh… they are alarmed! This good news, at first, is absolutely terrifying.
And so then, our gospel proclamation seems to end mid-story.
The women fled… and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid…
“The gospel of… the… Lord???”
Well, here is what we know.
We know is that the women eventually must have made their way from fear to courage and joy – because we are all sitting here now.
(Don't underestimate the women!)
The word got out. Christ is alive!
And this is all the more astonishing when you think about how, unlike learning that you’re pregnant, or getting a new job, or moving to a new home, there was more at stake with the news these women received.
It wasn’t just frightening to learn the good news of Jesus being raised from the dead; it had to be frightening to consider sharing it, as it would no doubt make them look like fools.
Oh yes, that’s right, an angel-man dressed in white evidently pushed that thousand-pound stone away from the tomb all by himself in order to let Jesus come out, who, incidentally, is no longer dead. He has been raised, and he’s walking out around -- alive.
Women had a tough enough time in Jesus’ day without having to try and convince people the dead were alive again. It wasn’t real likely that they’d be taken seriously. They would be called fools, of course, because even if it were true, why would they – the women – be the ones entrusted to share this goods news of the Messiah?
Or perhaps instead, the response would be, What do you women take us for, fools?
Either way, it all must have seemed like so much foolishness as the word did begin to get out, because this one who went to the cross – with no objection, mind you – with no seeming ability to save himself from that cross – who underwent all of that humiliation… he’s now alive? That cannot be! That is foolish talk!
It doesn’t make any sense!
How fitting that Easter Day just happens to coincide with April Fools Day this year…
(I've been looking forward to this for months!!)
Jesus’ whole life was lived in ways that the world would call foolish. He spoke boldly against the powers of his day and the way they exploited and oppressed the poor and excluded them from the community. Awfully risky, awfully foolish.
He hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors and lepers, absolutely a foolish thing to do in his day. He loved those who were the least loveable and told them the kingdom of God was for them. In other words, he found God in all the wrong people. And he never backed down from any of it. How foolish can you get?
You could get killed for that kind of foolishness!
Well.
He didn’t shy away from that, either.
And the world shook its head.
But what looked like the epitome of foolishness was done for the sake of the very ones who shook their heads – and for all those who couldn’t quite yet comprehend that in order to be saved you need a savior who will go to your darkest places, even unto death, who can pull us up out of the grave, including the graves we dig for ourselves all the time – through “our violence, our lies, our selfishness, our arrogance, our addictions,”[1] our self-loathing – and who then loves us back to life, over and over and over again.
This world of ours is all too attached to its death-giving ways. We divide ourselves over and against each other without giving it a second thought. We demonize each other. We discriminate. We use things like gender, race, sexual orientation, culture, and religion to make distinctions about who is worthy of being treated decently and who is not. We know the ways of violence far too well, to the point of no longer being shocked when our children are killed in their schools or young, unarmed black men are shot to death in their own back yards. (We might be saddened by it, but we are not shocked.)
So of course Jesus looks like a fool when he stands up for the ones the world despises.
Of course God looks like a fool when he won’t lift a finger to retaliate in violence to the violence done to his Son.
This is the foolishness of the cross.
But this foolishness means that the one who doesn’t flee death, ironically, brings all of us into his life-giving ways.
As Peter puts it in our first scripture for today: I truly understand that God shows no partiality…
This is the good news.
And then this One who goes unto death and brings us out with him calls us to join him, to follow in The Way. The Way that takes us, too, into the dark places of the world where God’s love is most needed. But Jesus goes with us.
When we take this call seriously, we know we’ll be called fools, too. It'll happen.
But on this April 1st, on this Resurrection of our Lord Sunday, let the church proclaim: We are blessed with enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference in the world, for the sake of the world, for the sake of the least and the lost, for the sake of God in Christ Jesus who loves this world, who loves all of us – and frees us to be fools.
If the world wants to call us April fools today, then let them.[2]
The resurrection to new life means that whether we’re scared or not, we truly are free to be fools for Jesus.
AMEN
[1] NBW.
[2] Bp Eaton.
Pastor Inga Oyan Longbrake
Gospel: Mark 16:1-8
1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus’ body]. 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.
-----
Grace, mercy, and peace from the Triune God are yours. Amen.
Every time we conclude our worship services, we end with a dismissal:
Go in peace and serve the lord!
Go in peace and share the good news!
Go in peace! Christ is risen!
And with this dismissal, the assembly responds, Thanks be to God!, understanding that we have just been sent – out from worship and back into our everyday lives, to love and serve our neighbors, to love and serve God. To live out our faith and cling to the hope and grace that is ours in Christ Jesus.
But, it seems…. the women at the tomb didn’t get the memo.
They did receive a dismissal from the man at the tomb early that first Easter - to go and tell the rest of the disciples what was had happened, but who knows if they even caught what he was saying?
As far as we can tell from the text, terror had consumed them and they just…
Took. Off.
But I have quite a bit of compassion for that. I mean, think about it: Doesn’t some of the best news often start out this way, with some very real fear?
For example, when I learned I was pregnant with my daughter, this was in fact the news Wil and I had hoped for, and yet… Our first response?
Ah! What have we done? This is terrifying!
Or maybe it’s something like a new job or a promotion you’ve been working towards. If you actually end up getting it, fear might be a first response:
Can I handle this responsibility? Am I in over my head? What if I fail?
Or, one more example: My parents have just sold our family home of 40+ years and they’re moving to a new home in Rapid City, SD. It’s a big change – and one they’ve been planning for. And yet, when I asked my father if he was excited, he first confessed some fear.
Well, we’re going to have to settle into a whole new social circle….
Human reaction to good news, at first, can often be fear and trembling.
No doubt we’ve all been there.
And no doubt, then, we can understand the women’s reaction to the news that Jesus is alive, just as he said.
Jesus may have said it, but it doesn’t seem that anyone was realllly expecting it to happen. Yet now, these women who have come to do the duty of attending to the tomb have found the stone, the very large stone they had SEEN put in place, has now somehow been rolled away, and an angel-man dressed in white is waiting to give them the good news.
He even tells them not to be alarmed. This was always his plan, right?
But oh… they are alarmed! This good news, at first, is absolutely terrifying.
And so then, our gospel proclamation seems to end mid-story.
The women fled… and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid…
“The gospel of… the… Lord???”
Well, here is what we know.
We know is that the women eventually must have made their way from fear to courage and joy – because we are all sitting here now.
(Don't underestimate the women!)
The word got out. Christ is alive!
And this is all the more astonishing when you think about how, unlike learning that you’re pregnant, or getting a new job, or moving to a new home, there was more at stake with the news these women received.
It wasn’t just frightening to learn the good news of Jesus being raised from the dead; it had to be frightening to consider sharing it, as it would no doubt make them look like fools.
Oh yes, that’s right, an angel-man dressed in white evidently pushed that thousand-pound stone away from the tomb all by himself in order to let Jesus come out, who, incidentally, is no longer dead. He has been raised, and he’s walking out around -- alive.
Women had a tough enough time in Jesus’ day without having to try and convince people the dead were alive again. It wasn’t real likely that they’d be taken seriously. They would be called fools, of course, because even if it were true, why would they – the women – be the ones entrusted to share this goods news of the Messiah?
Or perhaps instead, the response would be, What do you women take us for, fools?
Either way, it all must have seemed like so much foolishness as the word did begin to get out, because this one who went to the cross – with no objection, mind you – with no seeming ability to save himself from that cross – who underwent all of that humiliation… he’s now alive? That cannot be! That is foolish talk!
It doesn’t make any sense!
How fitting that Easter Day just happens to coincide with April Fools Day this year…
(I've been looking forward to this for months!!)
Jesus’ whole life was lived in ways that the world would call foolish. He spoke boldly against the powers of his day and the way they exploited and oppressed the poor and excluded them from the community. Awfully risky, awfully foolish.
He hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors and lepers, absolutely a foolish thing to do in his day. He loved those who were the least loveable and told them the kingdom of God was for them. In other words, he found God in all the wrong people. And he never backed down from any of it. How foolish can you get?
You could get killed for that kind of foolishness!
Well.
He didn’t shy away from that, either.
And the world shook its head.
But what looked like the epitome of foolishness was done for the sake of the very ones who shook their heads – and for all those who couldn’t quite yet comprehend that in order to be saved you need a savior who will go to your darkest places, even unto death, who can pull us up out of the grave, including the graves we dig for ourselves all the time – through “our violence, our lies, our selfishness, our arrogance, our addictions,”[1] our self-loathing – and who then loves us back to life, over and over and over again.
This world of ours is all too attached to its death-giving ways. We divide ourselves over and against each other without giving it a second thought. We demonize each other. We discriminate. We use things like gender, race, sexual orientation, culture, and religion to make distinctions about who is worthy of being treated decently and who is not. We know the ways of violence far too well, to the point of no longer being shocked when our children are killed in their schools or young, unarmed black men are shot to death in their own back yards. (We might be saddened by it, but we are not shocked.)
So of course Jesus looks like a fool when he stands up for the ones the world despises.
Of course God looks like a fool when he won’t lift a finger to retaliate in violence to the violence done to his Son.
This is the foolishness of the cross.
But this foolishness means that the one who doesn’t flee death, ironically, brings all of us into his life-giving ways.
As Peter puts it in our first scripture for today: I truly understand that God shows no partiality…
This is the good news.
And then this One who goes unto death and brings us out with him calls us to join him, to follow in The Way. The Way that takes us, too, into the dark places of the world where God’s love is most needed. But Jesus goes with us.
When we take this call seriously, we know we’ll be called fools, too. It'll happen.
But on this April 1st, on this Resurrection of our Lord Sunday, let the church proclaim: We are blessed with enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference in the world, for the sake of the world, for the sake of the least and the lost, for the sake of God in Christ Jesus who loves this world, who loves all of us – and frees us to be fools.
If the world wants to call us April fools today, then let them.[2]
The resurrection to new life means that whether we’re scared or not, we truly are free to be fools for Jesus.
AMEN
[1] NBW.
[2] Bp Eaton.
