Resurrection Living -- A Sermon

Luke 20:27-38

In our opening hymn we remembered the saints of God, “who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name O Jesus, be forever blest!” Because today is the Sunday after All Saints Day, it’s appropriate for us to stop and remember all the saints of God who no longer walk this earth, including those who have impacted our own lives in powerful ways. Each of us can name a saint of God, whose life has exemplified the grace, mercy and love of God.

Therefore, I would like to remember the Rev. LLoyd Saatjian, who served for many years as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara. LLoyd died in July of 2009, but in life he was my colleague in ministry, friend, and mentor. He encouraged me to become a leader in the local faith community and stood by me when I experienced difficulties in my ministry in Santa Barbara. After I left that pastorate, he continued to stand with me, helping me to consider what my call to ministry might look like as I moved into the future. Perhaps the most powerful memory I have of LLoyd was his willingness to make space in the worship of service at First Methodist for me to pin Brett with his God and Country award at a time when I was between churches. LLoyd is one of God’s saints who in life stood strong in his confession of faith and in his love for all God’s people, and who now rests from life’s labors. Having shared my memory of LLoyd, who is it that you would name today as a saint of God?

As we remember God’s saints, we come to hear the message of the Gospel, which declares to us that our God is “God not of the dead, but of the living.” This powerful statement comes to us from out of a conversation between Jesus and a group of Sadducees. If you remember the discussion from Ron Allen’s lectures, the Sadducees were religiously and socially conservative, and didn’t believe in the resurrection. They also controlled the priesthood and the Temple, and their Scripture was limited to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. When they looked into their Bible, they claimed not to find the resurrection, but they were also of the mind that this doctrine, which Jesus shared with the Pharisees, wasn’t all that reasonable either. I mean, imagine what would happen if a woman who had married seven brothers and hadn’t produced a child for any of them? If there is a resurrection, then to whom would she be married? In his response to their question Jesus suggested that maybe we’re not married in the next life, but more importantly, Jesus offers an answer out of the very text of Scripture that they affirmed as being authoritative. He reminded them that when God appears to Moses in the Burning Bush, God claims to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, if God is the God of these three patriarchs, then surely "he is God not of the dead, but of the living."

The debate over the resurrection continues to this very day. Although many find it a compelling doctrine, there are many others who find it rather unscientific. Instead of focusing on offering a defense of the doctrine of the resurrection, however, I’d like to consider how the message of resurrection affects the way we live our lives in the present.

1. THE PURPOSE OF LIFE?

As you read this text and hear Jesus speak of the resurrection, what does that mean to your daily life? That question came up several years ago when I was invited to speak about the beliefs of Mainline Protestants to a class studying World Religions at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara. That wasn’t an easy assignment, since we’re a fairly diverse group. But, I did my best, and when I told the group that most Mainline Protestants are moderate to liberal in their theology, someone asked me about salvation. I told them that there are many Mainline Protestants that believe that the only way of salvation is a direct confession of faith in Jesus as savior. There are others, I told them, who are universalists. That is, these Christians believe that in the end God will reconcile all of humanity to God’s self. Now, this answer didn’t sit well with everyone, including one student who asked me: Why then are we even alive? That is, if God saves everyone in the end, then what is our purpose in life?

This student, who was more conservative in her theology, believed that we’re on the earth to be tested. Either we pass the test, which involves confessing Jesus as savior, or we don’t. If we don’t pass the test then surely there has to be some sort of punishment. I mean, if everyone passes then what’s the purpose in life? In fact, if everyone makes it into heaven and there’s no punishment in the offing, then why even bother being good? So what should conclude? If God is going to save everyone anyway, then maybe we can follow the way of the Epicureans, and “eat, drink, and be merry!

2. RESURRECTION LIVING

What then is the purpose of life? I believe that our text has the answer, and that answer is found in the resurrection. Although the resurrection from the dead remains a mystery to us, because it’s not something we can test scientifically, it continues to stand at the center of the Christian confession of faith. I say that the resurrection is a mystery, even though we’ve all heard stories of people coming back to life and telling about a white light and maybe even seeing loved ones who have already died. Some find these stories compelling, and others don’t, but in the end, we must receive the message of resurrection in faith. As we receive this message, we can find strength in Jesus’ words: God is a God of the Living and not the Dead. Although this message offers hope that there is more to our existence than this life, we must ask the question – does the resurrection have anything to say about life here in this time and this place?

When Jesus answers the Sadducees’s challenge by reminding them that God is the “God of the living and not the dead,” he was saying that life is important to God. That is, God values life, all life, and therefore, we should value life as well. Even if death is a natural part of our existence in this world, God doesn’t rejoice in death and neither should we. If we’re called to embrace the principle of resurrection living, then we should begin to live out the values of resurrection in the present.

To give you an example of what I mean, listen to what Garrison Keillor said at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco sometime after 9/11.

. . . if we want to really understand the truth of this event, we should look to all the men and women who saw that death was near, who called home on their cell phones. And not to express anger or fear or bitterness but, simply, to say "I love you, take care of the children, have a good life." In a moment of great clarity at the end, they called amidst smoke, and confusion and panic to give us their benediction. And we should accept it. Love each other, take care of the children, have a good life. And give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart for his steadfast love and faithfulness and beseech him that we may have a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity and that in every place men and women should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument. Amen.  [Garrison Keillor quoted in "The Most Important Things," by Russell Peterman, The Wellspring: The Newsletter of Sandy Springs Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 3 (October, 2001): 4.]

I do think that this is a good description of resurrection living. It answers the question – why are we alive? It’s about living in relationship with God and with our neighbor. It’s a reminder that as the people of God we should value life so much that we don’t think about getting revenge, but instead we would embrace each other and give thanks for the opportunity to be alive, even in the presence of death.

Now, we live in a time of great uncertainty, and many are asking why we’re even alive. What’s the purpose? We seem to be struggling with marriages, jobs, families, and we ask: What do these things mean? Jesus says to us as we ask these questions: Our God is God not of the dead but of the living!

The prophet Haggai spoke to people asking very similar questions after they returned from exile in Babylon. As they looked around they saw that their Temple was gone, and the foundation stones for the new temple, which had been sitting there for years, suggested this temple wouldn’t be nearly as grand as the one the Babylonians destroyed. They wondered – so, what's the point? What they had known before, was now gone. But Haggai responded: Remember, what you build now is a foretaste of what is to come. Take courage and start to build. God said to the Judeans, Take courage and work on the Temple "for I am with you." Yes, remember the promises I made to your ancestors when they came out of Egypt. "My spirit abides among you; do not fear" (Haggai 2).

What does it mean to experience resurrection living? It means that when we’re in the presence of God we don’t have to live in fear and in regret. Indeed, by embracing the resurrection we’re free to love and to live boldly before God.

More than a Parable? (Bruce Epperly)

Bruce Epperly returns today with reflections on the Resurrection.  This essay follows up on a statement made earlier that unlike many Progressives he affirms a physical resurrection.  As one who also affirms the same, I asked Bruce to flesh this out.  In invite your thoughts and questions.  I appreciate as well Bruce's willingness to share his insights with this audience.

**********************************

MORE THAN A PARABLE?

Bruce G. Epperly

Last week, I spoke about miracles without supernaturalism, asserting that there is a deeper naturalism that opens the door to transformative acts of divine power, grounded in the divine- human “call and response,” that can change bodies, minds, spirits, relationships, and the planet. I asserted that if “we live, move, and have our being” in God’s dynamic presence, there is no reason to see divine activity as supernaturally breaking into our world. God is already here, acting in each cell and thought. Bathed in God’s presence, the world is more wonderful than we can imagine. Indeed, I believe the naturalistic theism that I suggest is more hopeful and transformative than the popular Christian picture of God acting supernaturally from the outside, sometimes healing and sometimes not. In the dynamic synergy of divine action and creaturely response, acts of power may occur, revealing deeper possibilities within the realm of cause and effect than we had previously imagined.

When I suggested that even Jesus’ resurrection could be seen as a deeper reflection of the interplay of God’s action and human openness, understood perhaps in terms of an energetic body, lively enough to be liberated from typical physical constraints, I took a rare stand among progressives, asserting that the resurrection may actually have occurred in space and time, and might even, in the words of Borg and Crossan, have been videotaped or captured on a cell phone photograph!

Now, I am appreciative of the insightful work of Borg and Crossan and find their text,The Last Week, a spiritual and theological gem. Yet, I wonder if there indifference to factuality of the resurrection narratives testifies to an Enlightenment and Modern, rather than Quantum and Post-modern understanding of reality. While I do not the mechanics of Jesus’ resurrection, I believe that in an energetic, multi-dimensional universe, it is entirely possible that Jesus, to quote Borg and Crossan, “really did appear to his followers after his death in a form that could be seen, heard, and touched.” (The Last Week, 191) Although Borg and Crossan agree with Paul’s recognition that without the affirmation that Christ has been raised, our faith as followers of the Way is in vain, they “do not think that it intrinsically points to the historical factuality of an empty tomb” or the resurrection appearance stories. (191) Borg and Crossan believe that the Easter stories are parables, meaningful truths, that assert that Jesus lives and that his mission has been vindicated personally and politically.

I agree with Borg and Crossan that meaning is at the heart of the Easter stories, and while we cannot prove the factuality of the resurrection from proof texts or eyewitness accounts, I affirm the likelihood that Easter is more than a visionary experience, though it surely falls into the realm of the mystic, paranormal, and miraculous (as understood naturalistically). If visionary experiences occurred in the days following Jesus’ crucifixion, I contend they may have reflected God’s movements in the life of Jesus and in the lives of those who had visionary experiences! (Visionary experiences can reflect divine guidance and initiative.)

Something happened that radically transformed the lives of Jesus’ first followers – something that was more than a parable, but was embodied meaning. While I see scripture as inspired rather than infallible, I believe that the resurrection and post-resurrection testimonies of the gospels, odd and diverse as they are, point to an encounter with the Holy that gave new life to Jesus’ frightened and hopeless followers. Could Jesus really have breathed on his followers? Could they have felt a gentle wind or a healing touch? Could his life energy have materialized in a way that enabled Mary of Magdala, the disciples at the seashore, and Paul on the way to Damascus to “see and touch” the Risen One?

Now, I recognize that I have said too little for fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals and too much for Enlightenment-influenced progressives. But, I hope I have something that will nurture faith that Christ is alive and can still move through our lives today. Our visionary experiences today are not merely personal in nature, but may emerge from God’s touch in our senses and psyche.

The tradition of mystical theology asserts that every discussion of divine action must take into account the interweaving of the kataphatic and apophatic understandings of reality. The kataphatic, “with appearances,” proclaims that the world is sacramental and that, in the spirit of Borg and Crossan, “Emmaus always happens.” (201) Kataphatic theology truly sees Jesus on the road and at table. Apophatic, “without appearances,” proclaims that the Risen One is always more than we can imagine and can never be pinned down in space and time. Apophatic theology finds its inspiration in Jesus’ words to Mary of Magdala in the Garden, “don’t hold onto me.” Jesus is not localized, not tied down by embodiment, but is everywhere.

Borg’s and Crossan’s recognition that the resurrection appearance stories are “the product of the experience and reflection of Jesus’ followers in the days, months, years, and decades after his death” (198) points to the “fact” that something happened, more than just a “parable,” in the lives of the disciples. The testimony from John’s gospel that “Jesus did many signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30) points to the recognition that Jesus is always more than we can imagine and that we may, in fact, live in a world in which lively, energetic, transformative, and meaningful resurrections are possible, and that in ways that we can’t fully encompass Jesus “met” his first followers and meets us today.

Could it be that many progressives are simply too “conservative,” too caught up in the limitations of the modern world view? Perhaps, we need to open the doors of our imaginations so that we might experience nature, in Blake’s language, as “infinite,” holding within the causal relatedness of life unexpected possibilities, resurrection events, and healing power.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary; pastor at Disciples United Community Church, Lancaster, PA; theologian and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. (http://www.bruceepperly.com/)

Miracles without Supernaturalism (Bruce Epperly)

We continue our Tuesday series of essays by Dr. Bruce Epperly.  Bruce has been gracious to provide for this blog insightful and challenging essays that help define what it means to be progressive and spiritually centered.  Last week's post focused on the difference prayer makes.  This week Bruce extends that conversation by thinking through the tricky question of the miraculous.  That is, in what way is God truly active in the world?  I think you'll find this an intriguing message. 

*************************************

Miracles without Supernaturalism

Bruce Epperly

Walt Whitman once noted that all is miracle. As a spirit-centered Christian of a progressive bent, I agree with Whitman – life is miraculous, God-filled, and adventurous. Last week, I reflected on the difference that prayer makes in our lives from a progressive Christian perspective. I suggested that in an interdependent universe, our prayers support the well-being of others and create a field of force that enables God to be more active in achieving God’s vision of Shalom for the lives of others, ourselves, and the world. In this essay, I will consider the question of prayer in terms of the contrasting perspectives of naturalistic and supernaturalistic theism. I want to reflect on the questions, “Can we have miracles without supernaturalism, that is, without unilateral divine interventions temporarily nullifying the laws of nature?” and “Can we appropriately speak of naturalistic miracles, that is, dynamic expressions of God’s presence that transform our lives and the world, congruent with the laws of nature?”

I take prayer seriously: I pray for persons in need, participate in liturgical healing services, prayerfully lay hands on anyone who wishes prayer, and practice a form of energy healing, known as reiki healing touch. I believe in life-transforming answers to prayer and have experienced them. I have written three books on healing, focusing on how we can embody Jesus’ healing ministry in our lives today.1 Though I affirm the insights of biblical scholarship and appreciate the work of Crossan and Spong, I believe that the New Testament healing stories reflect the life-transforming love present in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus healed persons, body, mind, spirit, and relationship, and we can participate in that same healing energy today.

But, still the question of supernaturalism remains open both biblically and theologically. The term supernatural is of relatively recent origin in theological discourse and seems to have gained popularity in the wake of Newtonian physics. If the universe is basically material and God works from the outside, it is reasonable to speak of divine action in our lives as supernatural in nature. Since nature, including our bodies, is essentially unfeeling and self-contained, God must act from outside the normal cause and effect relationships to achieve God’s goals.

My own understanding of divine activity is based on a very different understanding of the God-world relationship, in which God is present within each moment of experience, working within the world and our lives, mind, body, and spirit. Further, God is not an outsider – all things “live, move, and have their being in God” and thus are touched by God. In a world described by Isaiah – “the whole earth is filled with God’s glory” – God works within causal relationships and creaturely freedom and creativity to bring about God’s vision. Acts of power, transformations of body, mind, spirit, and relationships, accordingly, are not contrary to the laws of nature, but these evolving God-inspired laws are constantly influenced by Divine Creative Wisdom, such that God’s prevenient grace and healing presence is at work in every situation. While there are limits to what God can do in an interdependent and creative universe, God can choose to be more present in some moments than others, such as the incarnation, the healings of Jesus, the resurrection, and our own mystical and life-changing experiences. These are not contrary to nature, but reveal the deepest intentionality energies of a God-influenced universe in which every event, to greater or lesser degree, reflects Divine Wisdom.

As one of the few progressive Christian theologians open to claiming the resurrection story as a historical occurrence, I suggest that the resurrection reveals what can happen in the interplay of divine vision and creaturely (Jesus) openness in terms of the emergence of unexpected bursts of healing energy. While no one can fully describe the mechanics of resurrection – in the same way that the origins of the big bang will always be somewhat mysterious - Morton Kelsey, one of the leading figures in the revival of healing in mainstream Christianity, saw Jesus’ resurrection body in terms of a leap of quantum energy, evidenced in a lighter, livelier physical body, able to go through walls and appear and disappear at will. From this perspective, the resurrection reflects God’s initiative working through deeper laws of cause and effect.

Supernaturalism, as unilateral divine activity, does appear in scripture, even though the biblical worldview sees all events reflecting divine activity in some degree. However, naturalistic as well as supernaturalistic divine actions are affirmed in scripture. For example, the majority of Jesus’ healings, as I suggest in God’s Touch, were relational in nature and, thus, could be described as naturalistic – God’s prevenient or prior grace elicits the response of faith, which opens the door to Jesus’ healing activity. Mark’s gospel suggests that Jesus could do no great work because of peoples’ unbelief, but was enabled to do great things when people (the woman with the flow of blood, Jairus and the disciples) were open to new possibilities for personal transformation. In a God-filled universe, in which grace shapes each moment, even when we turn away from God, there is a God-orientation which enables human freedom and divine initiative to join in personal transformation.

In scripture, descriptions of divine unilateral (supernatural) activity are often morally ambiguous – a flood that destroys the human and non-human population, the killing of the Egyptian first born children, the projected divine destruction of the earth (popularized by the Left Behind series). Ironically, such bursts of divine unilateral power reflect divine failure, rather than divine power, in which God – like an exasperated parent at the supermarket – punishes creation severely because of God’s lack of patience or persuasive power. In much of the Hebraic scriptures and New Testament, in contrast, God’s relationship with the Hebraic people seems to be dialogical, rather than unilateral. When miracles, or acts of divine power, occur, there usually is a human openness to divine initiative.

In summary, in a living universe, in which God is moving within all things, providing possibilities and the energy to achieve them, acts of life-changing power are congruent with the relative stability of nature and our physical bodies, and the causal relationships which make life somewhat dependable. God is not an outsider trying to get in as supernaturalism suggests, but an insider working from within. Creaturely creativity and freedom are real, and can thwart God’s vision in the present moment, as scripture suggests. But, creaturely creativity and freedom can never overcome God’s patient and ongoing aim at wholeness. God constantly works within our lives, seeking reconciliation, repentance, a change of heart, and openness to healing, even when we don’t notice it. God touches each of us personally, moment by moment, bidding us to wake up to the reality that healing, salvation, and beauty are within and all around us. God has a vision and can choose to be more active in achieving that vision in certain contexts, just as some moments reflect who we are and our character more than others. When God’s energetic and empowering vision is met with openness then great things happen – not contrary to the laws of nature – that reflect God’s vision of divine-human partnership. Lives are changed, bodies transformed, hearts opened.

We can expect great things of God and ourselves. We can “expect miracles,” lively naturalistic events that transform the world. Perhaps, when we – as one bumper sticker says – “accept miracles,” we will discover that “all is miracle,” that life is wonderful, that loaves can be multiplied when we let go our possessiveness and open to generosity, and that we can be God’s partners in healing the world. In conclusion, I believe that divine-creaturely synergy presents a more worshipful, hopeful, and more dynamic of God than images of supernatural and unilateral divine intervention.

1. God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus (Westminster/John Knox); Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice (Pilgrim); and Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus (Northstone, with Kate Epperly).

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary; pastor at Disciples United Community Church, Lancaster, PA; theologian and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. (http://www.bruceepperly.com/)