I'm Alive
Drama
Hey Joseph!
A Complete Lenten Program
On February 27, 1991, Ruth Dillow was at her home in Chute, Kansas, when she received the news from the Pentagon that her son, PFC Clayton Carpenter had stepped on a land mine in the Persian Gulf and was dead. Ruth was stricken as if a knife had been thrust into her own heart. She heard what no parent ever wants to hear of his/her child.
Three days later, Ruth got another telephone call, and the voice on the other end said, "Mom, I'm alive!"
Ruth said, at first she could not believe it was the voice of her twenty-year-old son, over whom she had mourned for nearly three days. She said, "I jumped up and down! I was overjoyed! You just don't know now much!" (Source unknown)
Mom, I'm alive!
It was said in the garden on Easter morning, too.
"Mother Mary, I, your son, Jesus, am alive."
"Joanna. I, Jesus, am alive."
"Mary Magdala, I'm alive."
"You, the other Mary, mother of James, I'm alive."
"Salome, I'm alive."
"Susanna, I'm alive."
"Mr. Gardener, I'm alive."
"Terrified soldiers, I'm alive."
"You Doubting Thomas, I'm alive."
"Pastor _______, I'm alive. Organist _______, I'm alive. Ushers, I'm alive."
"Children, moms, dads, grandparents, visitors, members, worshipers on this Easter morning, I'm alive!"
It's been a great morning! I love Easter.
This morning I am going to borrow our choir director's baton and conduct an Easter symphony. Did you know that I am a symphony director? When did I conduct my very first symphony? Today. This morning. It is the Symphony of Easter and I invite you to participate. It is the Symphonic Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is beautiful. It is harmonious. It is so powerful it stimulates and recreates our everlasting hope.
My Symphonic Sermon of Salvation has five parts. Five movements. Your part:
The Tomb Is Empty! (right section)
He Is Not Here! (right center)
Christ Has Risen! (left center)
He Has Risen Indeed! (left section)
Hallelujah! (All)
1. The Tomb Is Empty! (Say it with me; left section) The first movement of the symphony sets the stage for all that follows. Nothing left but burial clothes. No body. Unlike King David who still lies in his grave in Palestine, Jesus does not. The Tomb Is Empty! It was not enough that the disciple's plans and expectation of Jesus was dashed. Now even in death their expectations evaporate. Why? (Ready?) The Tomb Is Empty!
2. The second movement trumpets He Is Not Here! That's what the angel said in Luke's Gospel. He Is Not Here! (rehearse two times) It was an angel who said, "He Is Not Here!" A messenger of God, one sent from God to earth with a message of God's will and plan for our rescue. It seems every time God wants to take another step toward reconciling us to God, God sends an angel -- a messenger -- to announce it. This one announced: He Is Not Here! As if to say I already know what you're going to do, God knows, God does it: He Is Not Here! And Mary Magdalene confused as to where Jesus was, nevertheless knew two things: The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here!
3. The third movement of our Easter Symphony is Christ Has Risen! Unheard of. Impossible. Incredible. The crucified Lord now lives again. He speaks, "I'm Alive!"
It was Easter morning a couple of years ago when just before the Sunrise Worship a bulletin blooper was discovered. In the hymn "Hallelujah, Jesus Lives," the typist mistyped "Hallelujah, Jesus lives. He is not the living one." The pastor had his young daughter go through every bulletin and change the "He is not the Living One" to "He is now the Living One."
The disciples reeled with seeing the not changed to now. Dead is dead -- isn't it? And yet, the angel's words rang in their heads, Christ Is Risen!
The Symphonic Sermon of Salvation has progressed from the hopelessness of The Tomb Is Empty! through the message that He Is Not Here! to this amazing word: Christ Has Risen!
The harmony and the blending of the symphony begins to take shape. Our voices began to swell with the angel's chorus proclaiming the awesome wonder of our God: The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen!
4. The fourth movement: He Has Risen Indeed! (congregation practices it) With believing hearts join the symphony in proclaiming: He Has Risen Indeed! What beauty! What harmony! What symphony! Know this, by faith and baptism into Christ, salvation is yours.
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Is Risen! He Has Risen Indeed!
5. What is left to be said? The fifth movement is a single word -- Hallelujah! (practice it) Churchy sounding word. Only place we use it is at church. It means: Tah dah! I'm alive, Mom. Horray! Yahoo! Whoopee, Cool, Right on Dudes, Kowabunga, You Betcha, Yada Yada! all wrapped up in one word -- Hallelujah!
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
This is our symphony. Our song. Other symphonies are beautiful melodious, commanding, and exciting, but this is authentically the symphony for all of creation for ever and ever. Add your voice to the harmony.
It is told of Johann Sebastian Bach that he was a very sound sleeper. It was difficult to wake him from a nap, but his children discovered a way to do it. They would play a familiar line of music on the piano, but omit the last note. Always, Bach would wake up, go over to the piano, and play the final note. He couldn't stand to have a line of music unfinished. God played the final note of Christ's victory by raising him from the dead.
Dr. Gerhard Frost, late professor at Luther Seminary, wrote a piece of poetry about the resurrection. He ends it by saying, "It had better be true." A pastor student of Dr. Frost, spoke those words at the death of Gerhard's two sisters who were members of the same parish. When sister Florence died, the pastor stood by her casket and quoted her brother, "It had better be true." When Esther Frost died, the pastor again said the same of the resurrection, "It had better be true."
"A pastor in Portland, Oregon, was told by his doctor that he had a terminal illness. On his way home from the clinic, he decided he would drive out of the city. He drove out to the Columbia River where he could see Mount Hood. He sat in his car and wept. Then he stepped out of his car, looked up at the mountain and said, 'Oh, mountain, you have sat there for millennia, and you will stand there thousands more years. But when you are gone, I shall still be alive.'
"Then he looked down at the mighty Columbia River and said, 'Oh, river, you have been running through this valley for thousands of years. But one day you will run dry, but I shall still be alive.' His sadness left. His spirit soared" (Source: Pastor Harold Grindal).
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
Amen.
One Heart Beat
Three days the body lay dead.
72 hours unmoved and cold.
4,320 minutes
the world was silent in that tomb.
259,200 seconds,
not a sound, not a movement.
Creation waiting.
Angels watched anticipating.
Demons watched speculating.
Silence.
One beat!
It shook the room.
Demons fled.
Angels cheered.
One beat!
The victory won.
One beat!
The enemy cursed.
One beat!
The bondage of death broken through.
One beat!
The fulfillment of life.
One beat!
Halleluia!
One beat!
Our hope secured.
One beat!
He lives!
One beat!
Forever!
One beat!
Almighty!
One beat!
Jehovah God!
(Source unknown)
Three days later, Ruth got another telephone call, and the voice on the other end said, "Mom, I'm alive!"
Ruth said, at first she could not believe it was the voice of her twenty-year-old son, over whom she had mourned for nearly three days. She said, "I jumped up and down! I was overjoyed! You just don't know now much!" (Source unknown)
Mom, I'm alive!
It was said in the garden on Easter morning, too.
"Mother Mary, I, your son, Jesus, am alive."
"Joanna. I, Jesus, am alive."
"Mary Magdala, I'm alive."
"You, the other Mary, mother of James, I'm alive."
"Salome, I'm alive."
"Susanna, I'm alive."
"Mr. Gardener, I'm alive."
"Terrified soldiers, I'm alive."
"You Doubting Thomas, I'm alive."
"Pastor _______, I'm alive. Organist _______, I'm alive. Ushers, I'm alive."
"Children, moms, dads, grandparents, visitors, members, worshipers on this Easter morning, I'm alive!"
It's been a great morning! I love Easter.
This morning I am going to borrow our choir director's baton and conduct an Easter symphony. Did you know that I am a symphony director? When did I conduct my very first symphony? Today. This morning. It is the Symphony of Easter and I invite you to participate. It is the Symphonic Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is beautiful. It is harmonious. It is so powerful it stimulates and recreates our everlasting hope.
My Symphonic Sermon of Salvation has five parts. Five movements. Your part:
The Tomb Is Empty! (right section)
He Is Not Here! (right center)
Christ Has Risen! (left center)
He Has Risen Indeed! (left section)
Hallelujah! (All)
1. The Tomb Is Empty! (Say it with me; left section) The first movement of the symphony sets the stage for all that follows. Nothing left but burial clothes. No body. Unlike King David who still lies in his grave in Palestine, Jesus does not. The Tomb Is Empty! It was not enough that the disciple's plans and expectation of Jesus was dashed. Now even in death their expectations evaporate. Why? (Ready?) The Tomb Is Empty!
2. The second movement trumpets He Is Not Here! That's what the angel said in Luke's Gospel. He Is Not Here! (rehearse two times) It was an angel who said, "He Is Not Here!" A messenger of God, one sent from God to earth with a message of God's will and plan for our rescue. It seems every time God wants to take another step toward reconciling us to God, God sends an angel -- a messenger -- to announce it. This one announced: He Is Not Here! As if to say I already know what you're going to do, God knows, God does it: He Is Not Here! And Mary Magdalene confused as to where Jesus was, nevertheless knew two things: The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here!
3. The third movement of our Easter Symphony is Christ Has Risen! Unheard of. Impossible. Incredible. The crucified Lord now lives again. He speaks, "I'm Alive!"
It was Easter morning a couple of years ago when just before the Sunrise Worship a bulletin blooper was discovered. In the hymn "Hallelujah, Jesus Lives," the typist mistyped "Hallelujah, Jesus lives. He is not the living one." The pastor had his young daughter go through every bulletin and change the "He is not the Living One" to "He is now the Living One."
The disciples reeled with seeing the not changed to now. Dead is dead -- isn't it? And yet, the angel's words rang in their heads, Christ Is Risen!
The Symphonic Sermon of Salvation has progressed from the hopelessness of The Tomb Is Empty! through the message that He Is Not Here! to this amazing word: Christ Has Risen!
The harmony and the blending of the symphony begins to take shape. Our voices began to swell with the angel's chorus proclaiming the awesome wonder of our God: The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen!
4. The fourth movement: He Has Risen Indeed! (congregation practices it) With believing hearts join the symphony in proclaiming: He Has Risen Indeed! What beauty! What harmony! What symphony! Know this, by faith and baptism into Christ, salvation is yours.
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Is Risen! He Has Risen Indeed!
5. What is left to be said? The fifth movement is a single word -- Hallelujah! (practice it) Churchy sounding word. Only place we use it is at church. It means: Tah dah! I'm alive, Mom. Horray! Yahoo! Whoopee, Cool, Right on Dudes, Kowabunga, You Betcha, Yada Yada! all wrapped up in one word -- Hallelujah!
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
This is our symphony. Our song. Other symphonies are beautiful melodious, commanding, and exciting, but this is authentically the symphony for all of creation for ever and ever. Add your voice to the harmony.
It is told of Johann Sebastian Bach that he was a very sound sleeper. It was difficult to wake him from a nap, but his children discovered a way to do it. They would play a familiar line of music on the piano, but omit the last note. Always, Bach would wake up, go over to the piano, and play the final note. He couldn't stand to have a line of music unfinished. God played the final note of Christ's victory by raising him from the dead.
Dr. Gerhard Frost, late professor at Luther Seminary, wrote a piece of poetry about the resurrection. He ends it by saying, "It had better be true." A pastor student of Dr. Frost, spoke those words at the death of Gerhard's two sisters who were members of the same parish. When sister Florence died, the pastor stood by her casket and quoted her brother, "It had better be true." When Esther Frost died, the pastor again said the same of the resurrection, "It had better be true."
"A pastor in Portland, Oregon, was told by his doctor that he had a terminal illness. On his way home from the clinic, he decided he would drive out of the city. He drove out to the Columbia River where he could see Mount Hood. He sat in his car and wept. Then he stepped out of his car, looked up at the mountain and said, 'Oh, mountain, you have sat there for millennia, and you will stand there thousands more years. But when you are gone, I shall still be alive.'
"Then he looked down at the mighty Columbia River and said, 'Oh, river, you have been running through this valley for thousands of years. But one day you will run dry, but I shall still be alive.' His sadness left. His spirit soared" (Source: Pastor Harold Grindal).
The Tomb Is Empty! He Is Not Here! Christ Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
Amen.
One Heart Beat
Three days the body lay dead.
72 hours unmoved and cold.
4,320 minutes
the world was silent in that tomb.
259,200 seconds,
not a sound, not a movement.
Creation waiting.
Angels watched anticipating.
Demons watched speculating.
Silence.
One beat!
It shook the room.
Demons fled.
Angels cheered.
One beat!
The victory won.
One beat!
The enemy cursed.
One beat!
The bondage of death broken through.
One beat!
The fulfillment of life.
One beat!
Halleluia!
One beat!
Our hope secured.
One beat!
He lives!
One beat!
Forever!
One beat!
Almighty!
One beat!
Jehovah God!
(Source unknown)
