Resurrection It Happens....Over and Over and Over again. Happy Easter

Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
maya angelou

On Palm Sunday 1994, the congregation of Goshen Methodist Church, located in the foothills of Alabama were gathered in the sanctuary for an evening worship service.  Pastor Kelly Clem had her two daughters, 4 year old Hannah and two year old Sarah sit on the front row so she could keep an eye on them as she led the service.  Her husband Dale, campus minister for Jacksonville State College was leading a group of college students on retreat in Oklahoma.   With absolutely no notice, an F4 tornado arose in the middle of the service and hit the sanctuary directly.  Just about everyone there was injured in some way and when Kelly came to…she herself began digging through the rubble to find the children who had been sitting on the front row.  Each hand she pulled, she prayed would be her girls…..Sarah, the 2 year old was found with minor injuries…..but when she found Hannah…she tried for what seemed hours to remove the large concrete beam that had fallen atop of her.  Kelly Clem, said goodbye to her first born daughter that Palm Sunday in the midst of rubble and rain and turmoil.  When she was finally taken to the hospital for treatment…..she then had to get in touch with her husband Dale to give him the news……

It doesn’t seem right does it?  How and Why do things like this happen?

Or better yet…how do we survive them?

  It may have been a cool morning similar to this one when the women rose from their sleep to head to the tomb….They missed him already.

For They had traveled with him,

Eaten many meals with him,

They saw him as a vessel of God, saw him heal the sick, saw him eat with lepers and touch the untouchable

They knew him as a teacher and a friend,

And from their actions,

It is quite obvious that they loved this man very much.

I wonder what they were thinking?

what they were remembering about Jesus early that morning?….

They had walked the journey with him from Galilee to Jersualem

They surely must have seen him as he was tried. 

I bet they cried and  agonized as he was beaten by the powers of the time,

I’m quite sure they had stood at the foot of the cross, watched his body wither in pain,

They must have cried as he withered in pain, agonized along side him.

Stood there, as hard as it was as Jesus breathed his last breath that day…

followed behind as he was laid wrapped into an empty borrowed tomb….

Already, I bet they missed him,

Mourned him…..wanted just one more discussion,

One more teaching moment,

Wanted to experience his tangible love just one more time….

But he was gone and his body was now housed in the coldness of

A tomb was simply a carved out area in the side of a mountain with

A small place to lay the body.

They’d seen him placed there……but because of the lateness of the hour and because of the beginning of Sabbath,

They had not been allowed to anoint his body on that day for this was           was the custom of the day.

  So they, the women,  got up early the morning after the Sabbath and

They stirred their spices into a mixture of olive oil….and they began  their journey to the tomb…..an act of love….the one thing they could still do for their LORD

As The women arrived at the tomb…..

Already a stone had been rolled away…..they approached  the entry way…

A little puzzled they were….

and

As they entered……

Perhaps they were even afraid….….

Jesus was not there…..his body was missing!!!  Somebody had taken him and

He was gone…

Two men, perhaps messengers of the risen Lord, quickly said to the women…

Why are you looking for the living among the dead?

He is not here!!

Don’t you remember when he told you…

He would die and on the third day he would rise again….

He’s not here!!!!

Suddenly the women….remembered….and they went to share with all the others who had known and loved Jesus….

Jesus, the Christ…….was gone and left behind were only the remnants of his burial cloth and a cold empty dark tomb.

   The women were so excited they could barely contain themselves….they ran…ran to tell the others….

Peter himself couldn’t even begin to fathom their story and so he got up and ran to the tomb himself…

Seeing it for himself, he went home.  Amazed at the wonder of it all.

The story of the Clems was one of many that Palm Sunday….in all 19 families lost children and relatives in the midst of the rubble……

Kelly tells the story that a few days after the tornado hit, she was digging through the rubble praying and in the midst of it she had a mystical encounter where she saw all the children that had died, including her own daughter, running and playing and laughing amongst the rubble….she said it gave her comfort……

On Easter morning, the congregation of Goshen gathered at the sight…….another church had gathered there to serve breakfast after the Sunrise Service, another church had set up 200 folding chairs there on the lawn of the church……Strangers from all over the country had sent stuffed Easter bunnies and baskets and families had picked their loved ones up in wheelchairs to attend.   Everywhere they looked, Kelly said she saw signs of God’s hope.

“As they waited in the darkness, rays of rich amber and burnt orange began to creep over the mountains facing the church…….and something happened….they were flooded with hope like they never knew before”…..

After the service a reporter asked Kelly how she felt how the service went….

She said the strangest words came out of her mouth…..

“The sun rose”….she said those words stirred her…filled her with hope for a new day….The Son Rose”………………..

And that is who we are……a group of people…a group of Easter people…who struggle with the hard questions of life, wrestle for theological understanding and in the end…we surrender once again to the incredible Mystery of it all….and we find hope…

What an incredible morning….

The SON HAS Risen!!!!

The tomb is empty

Brothers and Sisters….

“resurrection happens…..

It did happen!

It does happen!

It will happen over and over and over again for all of us who believe in the good news of the Gospel!!!

Our Christ has risen!!!! And because of it….so can we….

Alleluia!!!  Alleluia!!! Alleluia!!!