Hymn: Jesus, Stand Among Us
Sermon: Why Sunday?
Jesus, stand among us in your risen power;
let this time of worship be a hallowed hour.
Breathe the Holy Spirit into every heart;
bid the fears and sorrows from each soul depart.
Lead our hearts to wisdom till our doubting cease.
and to all assembled speak your word of peace.
_____________
Why is Sunday our holy day?
For Muslims, Friday is the holy day because it’s the 6th day of creation, when humanity is created by God and given the job by God of taking care of the world -- so Friday is humanity’s birthday -- a day for prayer, for remembering the beginning of our life and the meaning of our life, and to recommit to it in prayer and worship of the God who brings us to life.
For
Jews, it’s Saturday -- the 7th day of creation when God rests,
declares everything good and invites us into rest as well -- so Saturday is a
day not to work, to rest in the goodness and creative love of God, and remember
that ultimately it is God, and not we, who holds all things together, makes
them good, and makes our life good as well.
For
Christians, though, it’s Sunday that’s the holy day because this is the day of
resurrection -- the day when the followers of Jesus see the tomb -- the
dead-end-of-life broken open and emptied, and the risen Jesus appears among
them -- helping them understand the Scriptures’ message that death is not the
end but the beginning of new life … breaking bread with them and feeding their
tired souls … speaking peace to them and promising them power from God to be
witnesses of new life to all the world.
When
Sunday begins they think it’s over – the week in Jerusalem that was to be the
week that changed the world is done; the window of opportunity has passed; Jesus
and the kingdom of God that had come to life through him have been crushed under
the heel of Jerusalem and Rome, of church and state …
…
and now in the cold light of Sunday, the day after the sabbath, the beginning
of another week, it is time to go back to work, to where they have come from,
to the same old grind… those who speak of cycles and never-ending circles of
sameness seem to be right … it is foolish to think there can/ will be anything
new under the sun and in the world we inhabit …we know what that feels like …
what it feels like to think that.
But
then, as the sun of that Sunday morning begins to work its way into their
consciousness, they see the newest thing of all – an opened and emptied tomb …
what does this mean? And then the risen
Jesus among them ... the new meaning at the heart of everything!
They
see in the light of that Sunday that this is not the week that was, just
repeated, but a new week entirely … a new creation of God just begun … the
world made anew … calling for new ways of living and loving and speaking of
God’s love and new life into all the week ahead …
And
so, as the story says, they meet the next Sunday as well … because this now is the
Lord’s Day … the day of the revelation of his resurrection and his appearing among
them … and the story says they find the same thing again … as they meet he
appears and stands among them again … answering their questions, meeting their
doubts, breaking bread with them, and sharing God’s power and peace with them …
And
so they continue, week after week … Sunday, the day after the sabbath, becomes the
holy day for Christians to gather … even those who still keep Saturday as a day
of rest with their Jewish brothers and sisters, they take the time as well
early Sunday morning to meet with other Christian believers … and more often
than not, they find themselves in new, vitalizing, hope-creating, strengthening
encounters with the risen One as they read scripture, break bread, give
thanks …
Jesus
stood among them …
Jesus stand among us …
It
really doesn’t matter if this is a day of rest or of work … a civic sabbath or
not … What matters is that we gather as we can to read scripture, break bread and give
thanks, that Jesus stands among us, and that we continue to grow in our
openness to him and the gift of new life …
No comments:
Post a Comment