Shout a Yes to the Resurrection – Gary Harder – April 8/07

Shout a Yes to the Resurrection

April 8th, 2007

Gary Harder

 

Text:  

Acts 10:34-43

Romans 6:3-11

 

Introduction:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

“We too might walk in newness of life”.

“We will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his”.

An Easter Sunday morning baptism is an awesome thing. We hear the Easter story. We hear the shout “He is risen”. We will hear a faith story. We will witness a young man being baptized upon his confession of faith in this risen Christ. We will pour water on his head. Baptism water.

My heart stretches in size and shape this morning. Words seem far too small a thing to capture what I/we are experiencing this morning. Words alone can’t fully express the Resurrection story. Words can’t really express an Easter worship and an Easter baptism. A sermon seems too small a thing to express the power of what happened then, and what is happening now. So I will turn to music.

The Mass and the Passion

It is a year ago now. From the side balcony of Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. I help Ivars Taurins conduct Bach’s Mass in B Minor, slowed only momentarily when Lydia digs me in the ribs. The Tafelmusik baroque orchestra and chamber choir are performing. My hands and my body can’t seem to stop moving. The music weaves through my body and soul. I become a part of the intensity, movement, rhythm, pulse, passion, dynamism of the performance. I leave the church dancing. Transcendence feels closer again.

Last week Lydia and I are again at the same church. Same composer. Same orchestra. The choir this time is much smaller. Nine world class singers in total. This time the performance is of the St John’s Passion. A stunning performance it is. I have never heard this Passion as crisp and clean and nuanced and musical and – almost overwhelming. I am again fully drawn into the story emotionally. Again it is a powerful thing to hear the story of the passion of Jesus told, and to respond with all those reflective and deeply personal chorales and arias, even though theologically I don’t always resonate fully with the Lutheran piety of the texts.

The B Minor Mass and the St. John’s Passion are dramatically different from each other. This week I have reflected on that difference; reflected theologically on that difference. The Mass starts with the Creeds. The Passion tells the story from the Gospel.

The Mass in B Minor epitomizes for me the heart of my love for the music of Bach. In some ways this seems like a strange thing for me as one who turns more often to the Gospel stories than to the creeds to express my faith. The Mass is based on the Creeds – our faith summarized in short statements – while the Passion is based on the Gospel – the story of the crucifixion of Jesus.

This may have been a bit strange for Bach also. He was a Lutheran, after all, not a Catholic. And here he set to music the traditional text of the Catholic Mass, creating in this musical setting perhaps his greatest musical legacy.

My soul resonates deeply with the Mass in B Minor. Especially on Easter Sunday morning. Every Easter the Credo section from this mass is ringing at high volume off our living room walls and through my soul. The Credo is the “This we believe section” of the mass, normally not the first place I as a Mennonite turn to, since we are not really a creedal people.

Our argument with both the Catholics and Reformers during the Protestant Reformation was that creeds weren’t enough. Doctrines and belief structures weren’t enough. It wasn’t enough to claim that you believed in Jesus. Reciting the Nicene or Apostles Creed every Sunday wasn’t enough. What was important was living out the faith. What was important was embodying your faith in this Jesus by trying to live the way he taught us to live. What was important was a personal transformation, letting your life be changed and filled by the love of God. And central to how we Anabaptists understood following Jesus was his way of love and peace and sacrifice and forgiveness. This reflected the heart of God.

Believing in Jesus was not enough. Following Jesus was the key to being a Christian. You were empowered to follow Jesus by having your life transformed. And so there has always been an uneasiness among Mennonites with making creedal formulations too central in understanding the Christian faith. We are not inclined to recite the creeds on Sunday morning like many other Christian traditions do. Mennonites have written many confessions of faith, but they don’t quite have the weight of “Gospel”, of insisting that we believe everything exactly as written in them in order to be truly Christian – or even truly Mennonite.

So why then is the Credo section of the B Minor Mass the high point of all of music for me?

There are two especially glorious moments in the Credo section for me.

The first section is set up by the text, “And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried”. The music itself seems to die, word painting at its best, the sound almost like the old record player playing at half speed, a hand grabbing the vinyl, forcibly slowing it down while the sound hollowly dies. I am drawn into the death of Jesus; emotionally drawn into an agony of ending, life and voice silenced.

And then the Resurrection rips open the silence. The trumpets and drums and voices burst out a surprised but exuberant exclamation, “And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures.” Nothing can stop the sound. Or the exultation. Or, often, my tears.

The Credo continues. “I confess one Baptism for th
e remission of sins”. Again the music sinks into the depths of anguish – and solitude. And again the trumpets and drums and voices break the chains of death and silence and anguish. The words leap out with the music. “And I look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.” And my soul runs, dances, soars. Lydia has to nudge me to contain myself and my pseudo conducting.

And I know again deep within myself that I am shouting amen to both the music and the message. I do believe that the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus are at the heart of my faith, and the heart of how God works in the world and in my life. The crucifixion proclaims that Jesus will choose to suffer and to die rather than to violently save himself or violently bring in the Kingdom of God. He will invite me, not threaten me, into the Kingdom. Love, not violence is God’s way. And the resurrection proclaims that such profound love cannot be forever killed – that it will, and does, triumph. Christ was raised from the dead. We will be raised from the dead.

There is a kind of coming together of the stories the Gospels tell – in this case the stories of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the bold statement of belief in its simplest creedal form.

I am fully aware that many people stumble over the stories of the resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels because there are so many differences and even contradictions in the four Gospels. Each writer writes from a particular point of view, and they are not the same. I am fully aware of the fact that there are different understandings of what actually happened, and of what the resurrection of Jesus really was or really means. And certainly there is a great deal of mystery remaining in the Bible as to what our own resurrection will mean or when it will happen.

I am fully aware that our human lives will continue to be full of complexity and of pain and confusion even though we live in resurrection faith. Last week we had two deaths in our congregation, and that grief and pain will not quickly go away just because today is Easter. Life for all of us will continue to be full of challenges and struggles and failures and illness and depression. But we can live these with a new hope.

For me crucifixion and resurrection are bottom line faith confessions. They are central to my faith and to my spiritual walk with God.

I invite you to listen to a part of the Credo from Bach’s B minor Mass. In honour of the baptism to follow, I will play the “I confess one baptism for the remission of sins” part – the “Et Expecto”.

Et Expecto from the Credo

Acts 10

Ever since meeting Jesus Peter had experienced one wrenching change after the other, one loss after the other, one conversion after the other. Every foundation in life was shaken. He lost his vocation, his way of life, his fishing. He lost the security of home life as he wandered around with Jesus. And then, just when life is getting familiar, comfortable, the surprising actions and teachings of Jesus more or less expected already, comes the devastation of the passion of Jesus. Everything is lost. Even his self worth is thrown into turmoil because of his cowardly denial of Jesus. And then Jesus had died horribly.

And then of course came the Resurrection, first a total shock, then an incredible joy. Life made sense once more. Peter’s transformation into a solid, rock like leader of the church was almost complete. But not quite. One more wrenching loss, one more total shaking of the foundations, one more conversion would need to happen first. That change is recorded in Acts 10 in the prelude to our text for today.

Peter is a follower of Jesus of course. But he is also still a Jew. Being a Jew still gave his life and faith a solid foundation, a framework which makes sense of the whole thing. In that framework, some things are clean and some things are unclean. The Torah says so. There are clear rules to life. His own people are the chosen people of God. And Gentiles are not included in God’s favour. They are unclean.

But Peter experiences a disorienting vision while he is in a trance. He sees all kinds of unclean creatures lowered to the ground around him. And then he is instructed to kill and eat. He protests. “I have never in all my life eaten anything profane or unclean.”. “This violates the very framework of my life, of what I have always believed and held dear.”

The voice – the voice from God – said, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane”. Three times this conversation is repeated. We can hardly imagine the absolutely profound shaking of Peter’s foundations in that trance – the loss of the familiar and secure tradition on which life is built – a questioning of the very Torah itself.

But now, conversion complete, Peter is ready to enter the home of Cornelius, the Gentile, an astounding thing, really, because that would make Peter unclean according to the rules that he had followed all his life. Peter enters the home of Cornelius, where many other Gentiles have gathered. He says to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came ;without objection…” This is an incredible transformation.

And then Peter preaches a sermon to those Gentiles gathered in that home. He begins with an astounding confession – astounding in that world and in our world. He begins his sermon this way. “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

This was not what Peter was taught at home and in the synagogue. The sermon continues. “But God is preaching peace by Jesus Christ – he is Lord of all. Let me tell you about this Jesus.”

Peter first tells his Gentile audience that they are already accepted by God, Gentile though they are. And then he tells them the story of Jesus – about his baptism, his public ministry of doing good and healing people, his death by crucifixion, and his resurrection by God on the third day. Peter gives a short summary of the Jesus story, almost like a creedal summation, a summary which came to be know as “The Kyrgma”, the Jesus story in short form which often proceeded baptism. He tells these Gentiles that they are already accepted by God, but that their life and their faith will be fuller if they follow this Jesus.

And as Peter preaches, the Holy Spirit is at work in the usual mysterious ways. And, seeing that the Holy spirit chooses to be poured out even on Gentiles, Peter is ready to baptize them all, and they have a great celebration that lasts for several days.

Bapt
ism

The work of God cannot be stopped. No “Jewish- Gentile” barrier can stop the Holy Spirit. And a new pattern is set. Tell the Jesus story. Tell the story of his life and teaching and healing ministry, and tell of his crucifixion and his resurrection. And then baptize people.

That is what we are doing this morning. Telling the Jesus story. And then holding a baptism service. This is a part of our big “Yes” to the Resurrection.