From the pulpit to your pocket is a radically honest writer and ELCA Lutheran pastor sharing from his heart, mind, and soul during these amazing but troubling times. Wonder with a spiritually curious preacher like Keith as he explores the ancient scriptures and ponders what the Spirit of Christ is up to today. Special thanks to St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove, Minnesota (www.stlukecg.org) where Keith has preached and served as Senior Pastor since 2018.
"Like Peter and the other disciple grappling with the unexpected, how we see differs, too. So let’s let go of trying to get everyone to agree on what’s real, and let’s embrace the slow dawn of Truth with a capital T. Let’s be curious about our own “something else” stirring our faith within—and within others. Let’s give our eyes time to adjust to the Light and to free ourselves of whatever is still binding. Death in all of its forms is no doubt devastating, but it need not be the final word. That, in a nutshell, is the Truth of the Good News of Easter. For this Good News to stay relevant, I believe Resurrection must be ongoing and not the work of one person from an insanely long time ago."
Thanks for listening! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) For more information about Keith visit www.authorkeithlong.com or St. Luke Lutheran Church visit www.stlukecg.org
SPEAKER_00
Welcome to the Pocket Pastor Podcast, Sermons on Demand, a show for those on the go, instant inspiration, questions for the quest, strength for the soul. I'm Keith Long, and this Pulpit to Your Pocket preaching comes to you from St. Luke Lutheran Church, a congregation of the ELCA in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. For more information about me, check out authorkeithlong.com. To see what we've got going on at St. Luke, visit us in person at the corner of 70th and Hinton in Cottage Grove, Sundays at 9 a.m., or check out Saint LukeCG.org for more information. Thanks for listening. I'm honored to be part of your spiritual journey. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The Gospel of John, chapter twenty, verses one through ten. Have you ever felt like you see things completely different than other people? Of course you have. This is the United States of America. That's literally everyone's experience right now. Seeing what others see is usually preferable than not seeing anything at all. Because missing out can be a lonely feeling. Like glancing away the second a shooting star goes by and everyone ooze and ahs or or that time you blinked and missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime flash of lightning. Another favorite example of FOMO or being the odd one out comes from an SNL skit where three people are reporting their experience aboard an alien spacecraft. One shares about awakening to a beautiful being made of a calming light. And then the second person says he was so completely overcome with amazement that he cried. And then the third person angrily shares how they woke up to forty little grey aliens watching them pee in a steel bowl, who then took the bowl and walked out. I know it's a little quirky, maybe even disturbing to imagine something like that. Rest assured it won't get any weirder than that image, I promise. But have you ever been that one person? The one who missed it? The one whose order was misplaced, who's holding up the rest of the table? The one who hated the movie that everyone else loved, the one who just cannot see the magic eye illusion? Are you also the one who shows up on Easter Sunday but doesn't see what others see? It's not forty little gray aliens weird, but it is a weird story. This one starts out well and good with Mary Magdalene finding the open tomb, but then it goes a different way. Let's recap. First, Mary tells the boys that Jesus is missing, that the tomb is empty, so they take off running like siblings out for a leisurely jog, but then the unnamed disciple sprints ahead and gets to the tomb first, but doesn't go in. Then Peter blows by him and into the empty tomb. Eat my dust, sucker. Peter looks around and takes in the scene, linen wrappings strewn all over the place, but no Jesus in sight. Peter goes silent. Then the other disciple enters and sees the same mess Peter does and is filled with belief that something miraculous has occurred. Then they both leave without speaking a word to each other and go home. John Shelby Spong from the fourth gospel, tales of a Jewish mystic. Feel the contrast between Peter and the beloved disciple. The former struggles, the latter believes. All they see is a grave that cannot hold Jesus, grave cloths that cannot bind him. That was enough for the beloved disciple, but for Peter, death as the doorway to life does not seem apparent. The text doesn't say that Peter didn't believe, but make sure to name that not only did the other disciple reach the tomb before Peter, but they believed first too. Which person do you resonate with? The believe first and ask questions later disciple? Or the late adopter disciple, who needs a little time before making a life altering decision. For those of us for whom faith in the miraculous is neither fast nor easy, take heart. Kudos to those who can declare that loose linen wrappings in an empty tomb means that Jesus is risen from the dead, but for those who are curious about what this all means, that's okay too. Easter belief has varied from person to person for centuries since that first resurrection Sunday. It took over three centuries and multiple church councils for Orthodox Christianity to get their stories straight following the death of Jesus. It wasn't until three hundred ninety seven AD when the New Testament that most Christians read today was established. That's four hundred years of different Christians and different Christian communities considering different books to be scripture in the early church. doctor Bart Erman, New Testament scholar and author of the bestseller How Jesus Became God, writes The empty tomb narratives were not part of the early tradition, and even when they did come to be told and discussed, Christians realized that the empty tomb itself would not generate faith. Something else did. That something else was whatever ultimately inspired Peter. That something else was whatever changed Paul's mind. That something else was what transformed Mary's unbearable grief into uncontainable joy. Somehow, some way Jesus must have made himself known beyond the grave, but I for one am uncertain that it involved the tomb or anything else we could describe in a book. Whatever that something else truly was, whatever happened, the miracle of resurrection must keep happening, or the church would have died off by now. From John Shelby Spawn again. Perhaps the Gospel of John is trying to say to us that the resurrection we seek is not so much that of Jesus as it is of ourselves. Because resurrection is not easy. Its truth dawns slowly. From my own relationship with doubting faithfully to reading other great thinkers and reformers and their ideas and theologies about belief and doubt, I find the Peter approach of taking one's time to be the best, at least for me. In terms of trying to understand the unknown, I've learned through trial and error that it's not about the speed or strength of our confession or seeing doubt as a problem to be solved. Generating the kind of faith that rolls away stones and transforms death into new life involves nothing more than our desire and commitment to show up and to be present and to be open minded to whatever we encounter. For example, it took many years for world-renowned Christian theologian and church father Saint Augustine of Hippo to make sense of his weaknesses and to overcome what was holding him back from the life he wanted for himself. In his flagship book Confessions, writes Jennifer Hecht in Doubt a History, Augustine writes how doubt isn't all about getting to the bottom of what's real. But for him, doubt is actively trying to commit oneself to belief. In today's world of navigating our innumerable differences amid constant encounters with death, loss, and uncertainty, it's understandably easy to despair or to feel defeated. Take a deep breath or two. Relax. Give yourselves some time and grace to create a game plan, to discern what to do, or just run as fast as you can and figure it out when you get there or on your way home. Like Peter and the other disciple grappling with the unexpected, how we see differs too. So let's let go of trying to get everyone to agree on what's real and let's embrace the slow dawn of truth with a capital T. Let's be curious about our own something else stirring our faith within and within others. Let's give our eyes time to adjust to the light and to free ourselves of whatever is still binding. Death in all of its forms is no doubt devastating, but it need not be the final word. That in a nutshell is the truth of the good news of Easter. For this good news to stay relevant, I believe resurrection must be ongoing and not the work of one person from an insanely long time ago. It must continue in you and in me, for there are so many more great stories ready to be lived. So find yourself a running or walking buddy, and let's go see what we see and work together to make sense of it for the good of all. In the name of Jesus, our forever story, creed, confession, and forgiveness, who is lovingly committed to you in life, death, and in life beyond death. Thanks be to God, for Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.
