Body Aches

“Body Aches” was preached at Sunnyside Presbyterian Church on Sunday, February 24, 2019. Inspirations for this sermon include Scripture, death & resurrection, this commentary, and current events. You can listen to an audio recording of this sermon here.

--------------------------

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

--------------------------

Two days from now, February 26^th is the six-year anniversary of the death of Dean Waldo Hall, my grandfather.

I remember the day he died quite well. In fact, it is one of the days I remember most. I was in the last semester of my senior year at the University of Northern Colorado, my North Dakotan grandfather’s alma mater. I spent the morning and early afternoon in class, a combination of both business courses and communications courses. Late that afternoon I went to my weekly counseling appointment. As I was leaving that appointment and driving back to campus to head into work, I received a call from my mom. When I picked up the phone, she asked what I was doing, and so I told her exactly that, that I was on my way back to campus to head into work. She asked me to call her after work as I only had a few moments before my shift started. I went to work that late afternoon. As a student ambassador in the office of admissions, one of our responsibilities was making calls to potential students. Cold calls are miserable, and more often than not, we went to voicemail and I’d always do my best to leave some cheerful, scripted message. After a few hours of this, still somewhat early in the evening, I was doing what I wasn’t supposed to be doing, and I was scrolling through Facebook, distracting myself from the endless calls. As I scrolled, I came across something my cousin posted. The first line read: “The world lost a great man today: Dean Waldo Hall.”  

I froze. I couldn’t hear or see anything around me; not the voices of any ambassadors making their calls. My breath caught, my throat became tight, I choked on a dry lump.  I didn’t cry because it felt like all moisture had already left my body. I was in shock. I became light-headed, my stomach wrestled with an empty sinking feeling as knots were twisted inside my gut. I felt the nausea come suddenly. I was on the verge of becoming sick in my seat.

And then the world snapped back to reality, the rush came back. I quickly gathered my things, stood up, walked over to my supervisor, blurted out in a fumble, “my grandpa just died”, and I left. As I walked home, I called my parents to confirm what I already knew, what my mom wanted to tell me earlier in the day. And that was that.

On the days when I miss my grandpa the most, I get the same achy feeling in my body, like I’m about to be physically sick, starting with my stomach.

When my body responds to death, I feel like I’m about to be sick. When I’m in moments of immense shock and grief, I feel it physically throughout my entire body.

Friends, I’ve had a stomach ache the last three weeks. Most days it’s dull, but it’s there. Some days, like the day you all received that letter in the mail or two Sundays ago when I stood in the pulpit or even just this past Friday, my body becomes overwhelmed with toxicity of grief.

I know what my body is telling me. My body is responding to what feels like a death, a metaphorical ending. And friends, I know I’m not alone in this. I know we are all responding to this “end” in our own ways. We are all experiencing grief in the many diverse ways we experience grief, but nonetheless, we all know the grief is there.  

Thank God, and I really do mean this, Thank God! That Paul wrote about death in our scripture text for today.

Up to this point in chapter 15 in the first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is still hammering in the central message of the Gospel: Christ has died. Christ was buried. Christ has risen. And Christ will come again to raise us. Paul will not the Corinthians forget that, nor will Scripture let us forget it: Christ has died. Christ was buried. Christ has risen. And Christ will come again to raise us.

Which bring us to verse 35. Paul starts our passage today with addressing a question he knows will be asked. Paul knows the Corinthians will respond to that message that has been driven home: the message of “Christ has died. Christ was buried. Christ has risen. And Christ will come again to raise us.” They will respond to that with the question, “How?” – “How are the dead raised? With what body do they come?”

In other words: “What will a resurrected body look like?”

Paul spend the next few verses answering that question. So today, friends, we’re also going to ask that question. “What will our resurrected body look like?” Our body meaning our community of faith, Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, following a metaphorical death, an ending. What will our resurrected body look like?

First, Paul nor the Bible in its entirety gives us a finite description of exactly what a resurrected body looks like. This we do not know. And this is true also for our body. We do not know for sure exactly what our body will look like in a few days or a few months or a few years. This is unknown, and this is okay. It is okay because although there are things unknown, we do know that resurrection follows death. This is certain. This is promised. An ending is not the end. Because when something ends, when death occurs; new life will be raised and a new body will be inherited. And this new body will hold certain traits that Paul writes about; this we also know.

The first trait of this new body is it is continuous. It will be of old but yet it will be new. A resurrected body is a new body, but it is not an entirely a new body or a new self. What once was, the old body, will still be there, and it will be recognizable. Think of Jesus. In his raising, his body did not remain in his tomb. No, it was raised and brought before his disciples and followers, and they were able to see him as Jesus; they recognized him in his new body through his old body.

This is true for us. We will not lose who we once were. We may become something new, but as we move forward, we will carry our identity, our history, and our memories with us. And we too will be recognized as Sunnyside, a thriving Presbyterian Church in South Bend, Indiana. We will continue to be as such. We will bring the old into the new.

The second trait of this new body is connected to the first, because as we bring the old into the new, the body will be transformed. Paul compares death to a seed that is about to be sown, a seed that will be raised. And a seed has many forms, whether it is a small flower, a shaft of wheat, or a great giant tree, yet they all still start as seeds. And when these seeds are buried in the earth, they transform and grow.

And so will we. We will transform, like a seed into a tree or a caterpillar into a butterfly. Our body, our congregation, will go through a transformation, and maybe we’ll experience a bump or two along the way that comes with change, we’ll call them growing pains, but we will hold onto the hope of what will come. We will spring into new life, and yes, it will be different, but there’s beauty and strength in transformation.

The next trait of the resurrected body is it will be suitable. It will be suited for the environment in which it lives. A body of dust is suited for life here on earth. That body will be hurt and damaged by the sins of the earth, with scars and illnesses, with aches and pains, but yet it survives. Until one day, that body doesn’t. And then a body of heaven is revealed. And that body will be suited for life in heaven, free from sin; free from damage.

Sunnyside, we will be suited for what comes our way. A wise friend and member of this congregation sent me a good reminder the other day: “God doesn’t call the qualified; God qualifies the called.” One of my favorite things about our community of faith, and I’ve said this before, the reason that we have thrived, is because we have paid attention to what God is doing around us and we have responded faithfully. We might be entering in new territory, and God might be doing new things, but we know that God has qualified us and will continue to do so, so that we can continue to respond faithfully.

Next, the resurrected body will be spiritual. Listen to the words that Paul uses to describe the resurrected body: imperishable, raised in glory and raised in power; a spiritual body. This body is from heaven, from the life-giving spirit that is Christ.

And this Spirit gives us life. In our moments of grief, we will experience weakness. We will experience sorrow. We will experience anger. We will experience exhaustion. And maybe we might lose hope. But the resurrected body doesn’t die. The spiritual body doesn’t die. Our body of Christ will be raised in glory and power. The kingdom of God here on earth, our church and the universal Church, is Spiritual, in which glimpses of heaven are seen. This is resurrection.

Last, the resurrected body is Christ-like. The most profound truth about the resurrected body is that it is the same body as Christ, the body from heaven. To be as Christ is, what more can be offered to us? Something as wondrous as this. Nothing! This is the greatest gift; that Christ will raise us into a body that comes from his risen body.

I don’t even need to connect this one from what Paul meant when he wrote this to the Corinthians to what we are experiencing now and what this means for us. We are the body of Christ, and Christ raises our body, which is his body, to be closer to him and more connected with him and more like him, more like Christ.

A resurrected body is continuous from old into new, transformed into something greater, suitable for its environment, spiritual in its life, and Christ-like in our body, which is Christ’s body. That is the good news in which we are reminded this day.

But to experience this good news, as Paul reminds us, we must first experience death.

And maybe right now we are experiencing that metaphorical death. Or maybe soon we will be. I honestly don’t know. But right now I do know we are hurting.

On Friday, as I drove home from the church, I felt so physically ill that once again I was choking on a dry lump in my throat with knots in my stomach. It was the end of a long week, I was stressed, I was experiencing grief, and because I was feeling sick, it brought me back to the visceral memory of my grandfather’s death and its upcoming anniversary, which made me miss him which then in turn, just made that stomach ache even worse.

My body aches when it reaches its limits, especially in moments of grief. But I think it’s aching for something; longing for some one. For Christ.

I’m reminded of Paul, of the man he once was, Saul, a man of death. As Saul walked down that Damascus road, I’m sure his body ached. And then a body appeared to him, but no earthly, mortal body. Saul saw the risen Lord in all his glory, and it blinded him. And then the resurrected body, through the manifestation of the risen Lord, was brought before Saul, now Paul.

So now if we experience death, metaphorical or actual, or if we experience the end of something, if our body aches, then I hold onto the promise that the risen Lord will manifest before us, and we will see his glory. I see glimpses of it now. I see the resurrected body; I’m looking at it now.

Thanks be to God. Amen. 

--------------------------

Believing the Gospel

“Believing the Gospel” was preached at Sunnyside Presbyterian Church on Sunday, February 10, 2019. Inspirations for this sermon included Scriptures, commentaries, The Bible Project's video on 1 Corinthians, the sermon by The Rev. Michelle Witherspoon at my ordination service, and current events. You can listen to an audio recording of this sermon here.

--------------------------

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

--------------------------

The church hurts when they start to believe what they think they know is a lie.

Sunnyside, I think right now, we know exactly what I’m talking about. The church hurts when they start to believe what they think they know is a lie.

But friends, I’m not talking about us. Or maybe I am coincidentally as it fits for us right here, right now. But I mean this in reference to the Christian church in Corinth. The church hurts when they start to believe what they think they know is a lie.

We are near the end of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Paul has been challenging the Corinthians; he has let them know major issues that the Corinthians are facing. Paul describes a problem, and then he responds to the problem with a solution found in the Gospel. He then shows the Corinthians that although they think they believe the goods news of Jesus Christ, they are failing to show that in their actions. In other words, they are not practicing what they preach. Paul writes they are dividing the church due to five major infractions.

This includes the Christian church in Corinth dividing themselves by who their favorite ministry leader is. It includes them being divided by sexual immortality because they believe they can just do whatever they want. It also includes dividing themselves on the issue of what food they can eat. And then they divide themselves on which gift in ministry is the best. After each issue of division, Paul pretty much writes “You’re kidding me, right?!” And rightly so. When did Jesus ever teach the message to divide rather than unite?

But the last infraction that divided the early Christian church in Corinth is found in Chapter 15, in our passage that was read today. It was also the greatest infraction.

It is on the issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the future hope of Jesus’ followers. In the church, there were some people who viewed themselves as Christian but thought that the resurrection of Christ was ridiculous; that maybe the resurrection didn’t actually happen and that it’s okay that it didn’t happen because it doesn’t really matter to being a Christian. That the teachings of Jesus are honestly good enough and that if they follow at least those (and to be honest, they weren’t, but if they follow the teachings of Jesus), they will be given eternal life, not through the resurrection but through possibly their own good works.

This is what I meant when I said, “The church hurts when they start to believe what they think they know is a lie.”

The people of Corinth knew the Gospel message. They heard the stories of the risen Christ. It was preached and taught in their church. But somewhere along the way, maybe because something happened; maybe something traumatic, and then they all found themselves in a situation where they now considered what they once believed might not be a lie. They thought the resurrection of Christ might be a lie. And so they were divided and they did unjust things and they lost touch with what they believed. All because they started questioning what they believed to be true; what they knew to be true in their heart of hearts, and  yet they questioned if it might just all be a lie.

Can we fault them for that? In moments of tragedy, have we questioned what we once believed to be true might now be a lie? Something that the logical side of you still knows is still true but the irrational side somehow takes over and you start questioning it.

This speaks to me. And perhaps it speaks to you.

I, at times, can be an irrational person. Ask my friends; ask my family. It’s something that has gotten me into trouble before. I become irrational when I feel like I’m backed into a corner, when I’m incredibly anxious or desperate or hurting. I become irrational. I start to question the truth. There’s the logical side of me whispering, “C’mon, Taylor! You know this is the truth.”  But it’s in those moments, in moments of darkness, the irrational side is screaming, “But what if it’s all a lie?”

What if it’s all a lie..?

Can you relate to that?

I can become irrational in my way of thinking and I question things in times of tragedy. I don’t share this fact about me to be alarming. I share it because I think it’s normal. And I share it to be helpful.  It’s helpful to know that it’s normal because when it happens to you, you’ll know it’s normal. I can believe the truth to be a lie at times. You can believe the truth to be a lie at times. Even the people of Corinth believed the truth to be a lie. They thought the resurrection of Christ was a lie.

So what does this mean for us? Why is it important to know that in times of tragedy or divisiveness, we may question what we know to be true?

Because this is where God is at work.

When the Corinthians begin to doubt the resurrection, Paul reminds them the truth in the story.

They absolute truth is: Christ died for our sins. Christ was buried. Christ was raised on the third day.

Why would God raise the dead? Does the resurrection really matter? Isn’t Jesus’s teachings enough to follow?

Because without the resurrection, there is no good news. If God had not raised Jesus; If God had not claimed victory over death, then the Gospel would be a lie.

But we do know that God did raise Jesus from the dead. This is the same God that was active in the lives of the ancient Israelites. This is the same God this is active in our lives today. This God is faithful and trustworthy, and this God has done miraculous, powerful things throughout time.

We’ve experienced these powerful things for ourselves.

In times of transition, ministry may seem like it can be brink of dissolution; that it can all fall apart in a moment. As I’ve discerned my own eventual departure from Sunnyside, this is one of the things that I fear most. That every significant thing we have done together might be undone. Friends, I don’t like that thought…

And here we find ourselves in a moment of great transition. Perhaps this is where we are questioning the truth. Maybe all of us are considering the things that might feel like they might be undone.

At my own service of ordination, my pastor, The Rev. Michelle Witherspoon, told us this: “There are some things that cannot be undone. There are things in which we are the participants in but not the agents of. Baptism and ordination and marriage and funerals… the resurrection. We participate. We dip our hands in the water. We lay our hands over ministers and elders and deacons. We say the prayers at marriages and funerals. But it is God who makes it what it is. It is God who makes it effective. It is God who seals the act to make them holy and lasting and enduring.”

Think of your marriage to your partner. It is God who united you two in love.

Think of the baptism of your child. It is God who claimed them as God’s own.

Think of when you eat the bread and drink the wine at the Lord’s Table. It is God who fed you with provisions of grace.

Think of your ordination to service to the church. It is God who raised you into holy leadership.

Think of the funeral of someone you love, perhaps a parent or a sibling or a child. It is God who raised Christ from the dead so that eternal life may be given to all believers of every time and place.

There are some things in ministry that cannot be undone because what God has done cannot be undone. This is promised. This is the truth.

And how did Paul remind the Corinthians of the truth they already know? He reminded them that Jesus in his resurrection appeared to many of his followers; over 500 apostles and disciples, including Paul himself. This adds credibility to the truth because people shared the same story about the truth.  

And so this is what I invite you all to do. To share your stories of the truth with one another. If you start to question what you know to be true as a lie, if you are feeling dark or desperate, share a story with a friend and have them share a story with you. And then share more with others. We need to hear the testimonies of truth and love in the days and weeks ahead. It’s in these moments that we need to rely on our relationships of faith, the holy friendships that we have made in this place.

The last thing I want to mention from this passage is the role of Paul in all of it. Paul, when writing about Jesus appearing to many following the resurrection, includes himself on this list… but as someone who did not deserve it.

Paul believes he was as good as dead when Christ appeared to him. He was killing the church of God. He was doing everything in his power to end the Jesus movement. He was a murderer and a persecutor and completely unworthy of God’s grace. And God chose him anyway.

If God can do something good through Paul the murderer, surely that same God has the power to work wonders in the lives of others. If God can help remind the Corinthians of the truth of the resurrection, surely God can remind us of our own truths.

The church may hurt when they start to believe what they think they know is a lie. Transition is hard. We question the truth. We assume false lies. We begin to see ministry as difficult. This day is not the product of smooth sailing and easy living nor is it a gateway to smooth or easy. And that’s a pretty normal feeling right now. But friends, the resurrected Christ is ever-present reminding us of the truth, the life-changing revelation that we are all experiencing.

Believe the Good News. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. The revelation of Christ is sure and true because of an actively-working, faithful God. And God is still working in our midst. We are witnesses to this in the stories of truth we share with one another. And when reveal these stories of truth to each other, we see God revealed to us through one another. Thanks be to God. Amen.

--------------------------