ed. note: This is from my notes....it's format is odd...please forgiveThere is an old, corny story that ministers like to use...often.
…that I’m going to use again today…
Maybe you’ve heard it… however, if you're an adult you may not have heard it.
It goes like this…
One morning in Sunday school class the teacher was quizzing her students..
Question 1. Who rose from the grave on the third day?
Answer Jesus!
Question 2. Who is the Son of God?
Answer Jesus!
Question 3. Who walked on water and healed the blind and the deaf..
Answer Jesus!
Question 4. What is small, grey, has a big bushy tail and stores up food for the winter?
There was a pause….no one dared answer….finally the teacher called on Billy Johnson…. Billy do you know the answer?…
Well Mrs. Smith….It sounds a lot like a squirrel…. But I guess the answer is Jesus!
So I have a question for you.…
What in the world are we doing here at the sunrise service…?
It’s dark…it’s freezing….it’s way too early for humans…. And people of God. I am not a morning person. So for me the cold is a blessing that keeps me awake….
Why have we done this thing?
Well you might as well start a list of why(s).
Why did we build the outdoor basketball court underneath us?
Jesus
Why did the good folks of Charleston in 1680 or 1681 depending on which account you are reading…start the English Church in the new southern colony?
Jesus.
Why do we have a beautiful church building…
replaced twice, repaired a hundred times.?
The Risen Lord Jesus!
Why is there a breakfast after this service?
Only Jesus!
Why do we spend money on people like Musicians and Christian Educators, and Youth Ministers… Not to mention the odd men in clergy collars?
The Ressurected Christ!
Why do we bother with ECW or Men’s Bible Study? Why is there a
Bishop Gadsden or a Porter Gaud School?....
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Many people in this world would answer those questions with the following…
Well, you know community is important….
And it’s a beautiful day…
That building is really a testament to the engineering skills of the 19th century…
But the true answer in 1680 or 1710 or 1838 (All the dates St. Philip's was built or rebuilt) was never any other answer than “Jesus”.
The primary reason why the British Empire spent so much money building churches in this country and Asia and Africa…was their desire to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ….
What we celebrate today is the wonderful truth the God works in ways that transcend our understanding and our realities…
A truth that much of the world chooses to ignore…or replace...
We’ve all seen how the world has moved from celebrating Easter to celebrating Spring. A reversal back to paganism although they wouldn't admit it.
The Colors of Easter have become a rainbow of pastels…
The baby rabbit business booms 2 weeks before and then 4 weeks from now the shelters fill with unwanted bunnies…
Despite our efforts to keep Him out, God [still] intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked "No Entrance" and left through a door marked "No Exit."i
And He lives and reigns as the intercessor and savior and redeemer of us all….
We should not waste time trying to find any other meaning in this season, this life, this day…
We are here, in this blessed moment, on the chilly, early, morning, because God’s covenant with Abraham has been fulfilled.
Because God’s promise to save our lives for eternity has been made a present reality.
Because Jesus the Savior is real…is alive…and is here with us today…
And no Pulp fiction novel-turned Hollywood movie, no box of bones in Isreal, no universalist idea that God is who we make him be and not who his is, is going to change that Fact…
Jesus is Risen, Jesus is Risen,…. The Lord is Risen indeed….
And the rest of our lives is to be spent and lived like Jesus is alive…
Every relationship…every moment on our knees… every song we sing….every burden we bear… should be lived as a life that is supported, blessed, and made spiritually whole by the living God.. the Messiah of our Journey…the Son of God…
Psalm 139 tells us this truth about God..
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
There is no escape from the loving, living, God if one has even a molecule of faith … In Christ we are never alone…
Knowing that truth about the tenacious love of heaven….How can people turn their backs on that Jesus…? It baffles me…
Although…even though I say it baffles me… I understand.
I have lived that life…. For a long time I was a member of a church and a diocese that tried to reach me as I proceeded to live with myself at the center of my world….as they tried desperately to tell me the truth…I remained…sure that I was all the God I needed..…
It took a deep personal crisis to open my eyes…. Like when a drug addict inspires a family intervention or when a gambler runs out of money…I ended up with a bankrupt soul… with a thirst for something I could not quench myself…with a hunger that nothing I’d tried before could satiate…
I was a good Episcopalian and I loved the church…
but I was a churchian not a Christian…what I needed was surrender. I needed cleansing. I needed an honest relationship with God. I needed Jesus.
If you are in that same boat today… by that I mean here at this service for no other reason then tradition or family pressure, or even by mistake, God has something for you.
If your personal gain and personal goals are the center of your personal life… I know something better.. for you…
Jesus, the risen Jesus.. The Jesus who sits upon the right hand of God, who blesses us with His spirit and who is right next to you in this yard on this morning…wants to enter your life and make it explode…with grace and forgiveness and humility……
That is why we are here… today…
That is why you are here today… you are here for a reason….
Jesus wants you with Him…And not in some sappy way all hugs and warm fuzzies....but in a real, concrete and transforming way.
And if you already know Him…He wants you to remind yourself of that fact…check in….ask.. how is it between us Lord…?
Yes..He does...the Risen Jesus wants you to know Him.
And with that in mind…let us bow our heads in prayer…
Dearest Lord Jesus…
We are here in your name… because of what you have done for us… died…taking on our sinfulness. You rose again…as you had promised… to live forever in the lives of those who turn our faces toward your light of grace and mercy and love.
Come into our hearts Lord Jesus….make the baptismal promises of our parent and godparents our own.
And if this is the first time we’ve seen your face…heard your promise and desired your residence in our hearts…
We ask you in Lord…at this time…we ask you in..
Be known to us.
In the name of Jesus who is the risen Lord of all….
Amen.
© The Rev. David M. Dubay 2007
i Peter Larson, Prism (Jan/Feb 2001)
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