Easter Becomes Hope

A sermon for Easter Sunday given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on March 31, 2013.

Isaiah 65:17-25

Acts 10:34-43

Luke 24:1-12

Easter begins in confusion.

Easter begins in fear.

Easter begins in doubt.

The women wake up early for the first Sunrise service,

lug bags of spices and perfumes

set out early on a Monday morning

Of course it wasn't Monday, it was Sunday – their first day of the week.

But I think it might help us experience it a little better to think of it as Monday.

set out early on a Monday morning

after a seriously rough weekend.

They make their way to the tomb.

We can understand some of the bewilderment they must have felt.

We can understand some of the confusion that lingered from the previous days.

Add to that – early morning, pre-coffee muddled thinking

and it was the first day of a new week of work and responsibility.

Easter begins in exhaustion.

Love and Financial Sense

A sermon for the fifth Sunday of Lent given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on March 17, 2013.

John 12:1-8

New Englanders pride themselves in being frugal,

following all the phrases we got from Ben Franklin

“Time is money”

“A penny saved is a penny earned”

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”

or my new favorite:

“The sleeping fox catches no poultry“

Some go to the dump, I'm sorry – transfer station – looking for that “one man's trash”

that can become this “other man's treasure”

Or we spend a day delighting in the deals at thrift stores or bargain shops.

Jesus in the Village Store

A sermon for the third Sunday of Lent given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on March 3, 2013.

Luke 13:1-9

I imagine the beginning of Luke chapter 13 taking place in the Village Store.

Jesus and his disciples walk in and someone calls out,

“Hey did you hear about the Galilean tourists?”

another chimes in “Big massacre”

a third concludes: “those radicals had it coming to them.”

This exchange. Sharing the news and giving our take on it.

This is what we do. In the workplace, in the home, at the store, at the transfer station,

leaning over the hood of a pickup truck.

What's so interesting to me about this part of our lives.

Is the way that we make sense of things

and help each other do the same.

We hear the news story and we speculate.

How could this happen?

What should we do?

Here's how I imagined it: