Renew, Rejoice, and Respond

Easter Sunday, March 22, 2008

Rev. Jane Page

A couple of years ago, I traveled with some of you to the Thomas Jefferson District Annual Meeting. That particular year it was held the weekend after Easter. And I was going to be providing a sermon on “resurrection” during one of the worship services at the conference. I had the sermon all prepared but changed my introduction the night before while we were at our motel. I changed my introduction because I was given a SIGN about the Easter story. I mean a real sign. As we were driving through this town looking for signs that my guide us back to the right road for our motel – I saw this SIGN in front of a drug store. In big letters it said --- “EASTER – 70% off.” And I thought – yeah, that’s probably about right. So that tale became my introduction to my sermon on resurrection. And indeed, most of us here do not fully accept the Easter Resurrection story as a 100% literal version of historical accuracy. But we have learned from it and many of us use this story of the empty tomb and new life as important metaphors for our spiritual journeys. The resurrection metaphor is one of renewal. Other renewal metaphors include metamorphosis and the beginning of new life, hence the tradition of using eggs in our celebrations.

Although this may be the date on the Christian calendar for celebrating Easter, resurrection and renewal, I find that every Sunday is Easter here for me. I just don’t wear my white shoes till the Easter on the calendar – my mom would be too upset. But this is always a place of renewal for me. Even though Sundays are supposedly a “day of work” for me as a minister, I am blessed to still be able to open myself up to those transcending elements of our worship service – including praise, thanksgiving, and holy connections with others through music, sharing, and even the tasting of sweet food and good coffee. I come to UU and to all of you and I’m renewed.

Renewal has been an important part of religion from time in memoriam. In fact the word religion itself is a word that means to re-connect. We connect and renew with communion here in this place. Sometimes it’s a ritual of communion – like we will have with today’s flower communion at the end of this service. And sometimes it’s an informal pat on the back. But we do commune with one another and with the sacred. If we were cars, this is where we could come to get our tires realigned. Tomorrow, I’m having my first visit ever with a chiropractor. One of you advised me to do this when I explained that my sciatic nerve problem in my right hip prevented me from sitting for any length of time without severe pain. This member said, “Jane – you may have something out of line.” Well, I’ve been accused of being out of line many times – but that usually has to do with other activities. In any case, I thought – hey maybe she’s right. So hopefully my visit tomorrow will renew my spine right into line. If it works, Thomas and JD will be very glad. Each month I travel down to Valdosta with them. I’m the monthly UU minister at their little church there and my grandsons get to visit with their dad who lives in Valdosta. On the way back last week, I began to get the terrible pain that I get when I drive and began making some verbal sounds associated with the pain. I was trying not to cry out though, since my grandsons were in the back seat but it was obvious that I was in agony. Then Thomas said, “Nana Jane – You sound like a dying goose.” Now I don’t know how he knew what a dying goose sounded like – but he was probably right. However, if I can get lined up right – maybe instead of those agonizing honks, I’ll be voicing sounds of joy – Rejoicing if you will. And that is what we should do when we are renewed here. We should rejoice!

We need to do more rejoicing at this fellowship. Today Christians around the world rejoice in celebration of the resurrection – perhaps one of the greatest renewal stories of all time. Several years ago, I shared with this fellowship how that resurrection story had taken on special meaning for me when my marriage fell apart in the late 90’s. I felt like I was in a tomb – and it was dark. But I could see a little crack of light, and I could hear the stone moving – and I knew it was going to be all right because I knew that for me – Easter was coming. And Easter did come for me – and low and behold in that glorious light that welcomed me, I found a faith that has continuously brought Easters to me – and that faith is Unitarian Universalism. (sing) Hallelujah – Hallelujah – Hallelujah!

So we come to this place to be renewed, and we rejoice! But this little homily has 3’R’s: Renew, Rejoice, and Respond. And how shall we respond? . . . Through our gifts of time, talents, and personal resources. We need to be good stewards of this fellowship and this faith. I always hated those messages about stewardship in the Southern Baptist Church where I spent most of my life. They were usually pretty boring – or at least that’s the way I perceived them to be. Maybe I just was not in a state of acceptance to what they were saying. Perhaps I was having a difficult time with the idea of giving more to a religious organization where my ideas, beliefs, and even gender were rejected or diminished. And maybe that’s why I have wanted to give since I’ve been in this fellowship. I wanted to share my time, my talents, and my financial resources with this welcoming group of folks. Because I thought that this was not only a place that was nurturing to me personally – but this is a place where my efforts and resources can combine with others to make a difference – to make the world a better place. And we are making a difference here.

I am so thrilled that many of you have volunteered to work with our children, to lead adult RE classes, to make our lawn beautiful, to sing in beautiful harmony, to cook wonderful food, to reach out to our community in efforts like our habitat project, and to give in so many other important ways – including giving your money. Jesus once told his followers, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Now this is like a correlation. You don’t know which is the “cause” and which is the “effect.” Certainly if we have things we care about – like our family members who have special needs – we are going to put some of our treasure there. But most of us also find that if we put money into something, we tend to care a lot more about it and we become more involved. Some of you belong to health clubs that are “pay as you go.” But most of us find that if we “pay anyway” – then we are more likely to go. And if it’s a regularly scheduled payment, then we are also more likely to keep up our exercising than if we pay less often. That’s why I choose to give to this church every month. I’m paid once a month so I use my bank’s bill pay scheduler to have a check sent automatically to our church’s post office box each month. That also prevents me from getting behind on my pledge. Just as my physical health is important to me, and I need to find ways to motivate myself to be in good shape, my spiritual health is so very important, and I can use my financial gifts – not only to help others and to help this church grow and develop, but to help me personally. I read an article in Friday’s Statesboro herald that indicated that research has shown that people who give are happier people. And it doesn’t really matter how much money they have – it’s what they do with it.

Next week is our annual Canvass Sunday, when we come together to renew ourselves, rejoice with good food and wonderful entertainment, and find out ways that we can respond to this fellowship which has meant so much to us. You’ll find out more about those things next week – but I do encourage you to come enjoy this service that is being organized primarily by our canvass chair, Cynthia Frost.

We are at a unique time and place in history. There are many problems, but if we can come together and work together in places like this fellowship. I do believe we can make a difference. Indeed, we can BE the Resurrection. That is what Victoria Weinstein suggests in this reading entitled:

Being the Resurrection.

She says:

The stone has got to be rolled back from the tomb again and again every year.
Roll up your sleeves.

He is not coming back, you know.
He is not coming back unless it is we who rise for him
We who lay healing hands on the reviled and rejected like he did
on his behalf --
We who rage for righteousness in his insistent voice
We who love the sinner, even knowing that "the sinner" is no farther off than our own heartbeat

He will not be back to join us at the table
To share God's extravagant banquet
God's love feast, all are invited, come as you are
And so it is you and I who must feast for him
Must say the grace and break the bread and pass it to the left
and dish up the broiled fish (or pour the wine) and pass it to the right.
And treat each one so tenderly
as though just this morning she or he made the personal effort
to make it back from heaven, or from hell
but certainly from death
to be by our side.

Because if by some miracle (and why not a miracle?)
He did come back
Wouldn't he want to see us like this?
Wouldn't it be a miracle to live for just one day
So that if he did, by some amazing feat
come riding into town
He could take a look around and say
"This is what I meant!"

And we could say
it took us a long time...
but we finally figured it out.

Oh, let us live to make it so.
You are the resurrection and the life.

Amen.