Before There Can Be Resurrection There Must Be Death
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"Before there can be Resurrection there must be Death" by Keith Wagner
"Faith and Passion" by Keith Wagner
Before there can be Resurrection there must be Death
by Keith Wagner
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
When I was a youth my minister asked me to play my trumpet on Easter Sunday. It became a tradition. Every year, until I graduated from High School, I played the trumpet as the congregation sang, “Christ Our Lord is Risen Today.” Later I played with a small ensemble on Easter and on other special occasions. For me the trumpet was an important part of who I was. Although I still play occasionally, playing the trumpet is no longer my first love. Now, it is preaching.
In 1980 I was getting ready for church. It wasn’t Easter but it was a very special Sunday. It was my very first preaching assignment. It was summer and I had the bathroom window open while I was shaving. When I turned off my electric razor I heard a sound. It was the sound of a trumpet. Someone in the neighborhood was practicing, most likely for a Sunday morning worship service.
This was a profound experience for me. It reminded me of the principle of the resurrection. That is, before we can have newness in life, something must die. The trumpet would no longer be my primary role on Sunday morning. Now, it would be giving a sermon. Instead of spending hours practicing the trumpet I would spend hours studying for sermons. The termination of one passion gave birth to a new one.
Before Jesus could be resurrected, he had to die. There could be no new life, eternal life, without the end of the old life. Jesus could not be fully known in the future without the experience of the cross. Death did not have the last word. As Paul said to the Church at Corinth, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
The Principle of the Resurrection applies to all of life. For me, by closing the lid on the trumpet the door was opened for preaching. When part of us or even all of us dies, we are reborn, recreated into something new.
When I entered seminary in 1980 I was in for a real challenge. It had been over ten years since my last college course. It involved a lot of reading and writing. Before seminary I had spent my leisure time watching television or going to movies. Instead of living in a big city I had to relocate to a remote rural farming community. When I entered the seminary I was assigned to a local church, a three point charge in Central Ohio. Instead of a person listening to a sermon in the pew I was the one speaking to the people in the pews.
Resurrection is possible for all of us at any time in our lives. When we can “die” or “let go” take turns or make new choices anything is possible. No doubt there will be some rocky moments but transformation is always a possibility.
In the film, “As Good as it Gets,” Jack Nicholson plays the part of Melvin Udall. Udall was a wealthy writer but a crotchety, unhappy man. He did not relate to his neighbors. He was afraid of the outside world. He was superstitious and obsessive-compulsive. He would wash his hands excessively and always took his own sterile utensils to the same restaurant. When he walked he avoided cracks in the sidewalk. When he returned to his apartment he bolted his door with five locks.
His neighbor, Simon, played by Greg Kinnear, is mugged and ends up in the hospital. Meanwhile, Melvin was forced to take care of his dog. This was the same dog that Melvin threw down the laundry chute earlier in the film. Melvin begins to have a change of heart. At his favorite restaurant he paid for the medical treatment of the son of the waitress, Carol Connelly, played by Ellen Hunt. Eventually he falls in love with her.
One day as Melvin left his apartment he was shocked to discover that he had left his door unlocked. By some miracle he had overcome his fear of the outside world and had become loving and generous, free of his obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Just as Melvin was transformed, we too can be transformed through the power of the resurrection.
* * *
Faith and Passion
by Keith Wagner
Acts 10:34-43
Are there times when you are like the disciples and have doubts? Are there times when you are afraid and need assurance? If you are having doubts about the resurrection, you are not alone. When the disciples heard that Jesus had risen from the dead they “thought it to be an idle tale.” Peter checked it out, but he went home, “amazed at what had happened.” He must not have believed since he did absolutely nothing about it.
Here in Acts however, Peter is giving testimony to the events of Easter. Perhaps he needed some time to digest all that had happened. Boldly he stated, “We are witnesses of everything he did.”
Obviously Peter changed by becoming a proclaimer of the good news. I believe that when you truly believe in the resurrection your life changes. The fact that Peter said “God does not show favoritism,” is a phrase I can relate to.
When I was a youth I liked to play basketball. But, I was never good enough to play on a varsity team. I had some friends who were just like me and we played basketball every day until the weather turned cold. Fortunately my church had a youth minister who managed to get access to an elementary school gymnasium in our community during the winter. He arranged for us to play basketball on Saturday mornings. The youth minister played too and he took an interest in each of us. I have great memories of those basketball games. Everyone played and there were no losers or winners. For me, the church was there for me in my youth. I learned at an early age that I was just as special as any varsity player.
Thankfully, I had a youth minister who was a faithful witness because he believed in being inclusive. He was willing to go the extra mile to spend time with youth who couldn’t make the team.
Sadly, we live in a society where people aren’t willing to put forth much effort, especially toward the things they believe are important. When we are passionate about our faith we participate in the drama rather than just be spectators. Peter became impassioned with faith. This is evidenced by his words, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify?”
One time I took my grandchildren to the park. When we arrived they noticed a running track and within seconds they were on the track, running a complete loop. Their jackets, unzipped, were flying in the breeze. When they returned their cheeks were rosy pink. “Aren’t you tired?” I asked. “No Grandpa, we were having fun,” they replied.
To be excited about our faith is to be passionate like my grandchildren. All the witnesses on that Easter morning were running. What matters is how we respond to the Easter event. We can either go away with enthusiasm about our faith or just continue on, living our lives as if nothing has happened.
None of us can totally explain what happened that Easter morning. One thing is certain, our faith will be visible when we “run” with passion and tell the good news to everyone we can.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He has served churches in Southwest Ohio for over three decades. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and has an M.Div. from Methodist Theological School, Delaware, Ohio, and a D.Min. from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He has also been an adjunct professor at Edison Community College, Piqua, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 27, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Before there can be Resurrection there must be Death" by Keith Wagner
"Faith and Passion" by Keith Wagner
Before there can be Resurrection there must be Death
by Keith Wagner
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
When I was a youth my minister asked me to play my trumpet on Easter Sunday. It became a tradition. Every year, until I graduated from High School, I played the trumpet as the congregation sang, “Christ Our Lord is Risen Today.” Later I played with a small ensemble on Easter and on other special occasions. For me the trumpet was an important part of who I was. Although I still play occasionally, playing the trumpet is no longer my first love. Now, it is preaching.
In 1980 I was getting ready for church. It wasn’t Easter but it was a very special Sunday. It was my very first preaching assignment. It was summer and I had the bathroom window open while I was shaving. When I turned off my electric razor I heard a sound. It was the sound of a trumpet. Someone in the neighborhood was practicing, most likely for a Sunday morning worship service.
This was a profound experience for me. It reminded me of the principle of the resurrection. That is, before we can have newness in life, something must die. The trumpet would no longer be my primary role on Sunday morning. Now, it would be giving a sermon. Instead of spending hours practicing the trumpet I would spend hours studying for sermons. The termination of one passion gave birth to a new one.
Before Jesus could be resurrected, he had to die. There could be no new life, eternal life, without the end of the old life. Jesus could not be fully known in the future without the experience of the cross. Death did not have the last word. As Paul said to the Church at Corinth, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
The Principle of the Resurrection applies to all of life. For me, by closing the lid on the trumpet the door was opened for preaching. When part of us or even all of us dies, we are reborn, recreated into something new.
When I entered seminary in 1980 I was in for a real challenge. It had been over ten years since my last college course. It involved a lot of reading and writing. Before seminary I had spent my leisure time watching television or going to movies. Instead of living in a big city I had to relocate to a remote rural farming community. When I entered the seminary I was assigned to a local church, a three point charge in Central Ohio. Instead of a person listening to a sermon in the pew I was the one speaking to the people in the pews.
Resurrection is possible for all of us at any time in our lives. When we can “die” or “let go” take turns or make new choices anything is possible. No doubt there will be some rocky moments but transformation is always a possibility.
In the film, “As Good as it Gets,” Jack Nicholson plays the part of Melvin Udall. Udall was a wealthy writer but a crotchety, unhappy man. He did not relate to his neighbors. He was afraid of the outside world. He was superstitious and obsessive-compulsive. He would wash his hands excessively and always took his own sterile utensils to the same restaurant. When he walked he avoided cracks in the sidewalk. When he returned to his apartment he bolted his door with five locks.
His neighbor, Simon, played by Greg Kinnear, is mugged and ends up in the hospital. Meanwhile, Melvin was forced to take care of his dog. This was the same dog that Melvin threw down the laundry chute earlier in the film. Melvin begins to have a change of heart. At his favorite restaurant he paid for the medical treatment of the son of the waitress, Carol Connelly, played by Ellen Hunt. Eventually he falls in love with her.
One day as Melvin left his apartment he was shocked to discover that he had left his door unlocked. By some miracle he had overcome his fear of the outside world and had become loving and generous, free of his obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Just as Melvin was transformed, we too can be transformed through the power of the resurrection.
* * *
Faith and Passion
by Keith Wagner
Acts 10:34-43
Are there times when you are like the disciples and have doubts? Are there times when you are afraid and need assurance? If you are having doubts about the resurrection, you are not alone. When the disciples heard that Jesus had risen from the dead they “thought it to be an idle tale.” Peter checked it out, but he went home, “amazed at what had happened.” He must not have believed since he did absolutely nothing about it.
Here in Acts however, Peter is giving testimony to the events of Easter. Perhaps he needed some time to digest all that had happened. Boldly he stated, “We are witnesses of everything he did.”
Obviously Peter changed by becoming a proclaimer of the good news. I believe that when you truly believe in the resurrection your life changes. The fact that Peter said “God does not show favoritism,” is a phrase I can relate to.
When I was a youth I liked to play basketball. But, I was never good enough to play on a varsity team. I had some friends who were just like me and we played basketball every day until the weather turned cold. Fortunately my church had a youth minister who managed to get access to an elementary school gymnasium in our community during the winter. He arranged for us to play basketball on Saturday mornings. The youth minister played too and he took an interest in each of us. I have great memories of those basketball games. Everyone played and there were no losers or winners. For me, the church was there for me in my youth. I learned at an early age that I was just as special as any varsity player.
Thankfully, I had a youth minister who was a faithful witness because he believed in being inclusive. He was willing to go the extra mile to spend time with youth who couldn’t make the team.
Sadly, we live in a society where people aren’t willing to put forth much effort, especially toward the things they believe are important. When we are passionate about our faith we participate in the drama rather than just be spectators. Peter became impassioned with faith. This is evidenced by his words, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify?”
One time I took my grandchildren to the park. When we arrived they noticed a running track and within seconds they were on the track, running a complete loop. Their jackets, unzipped, were flying in the breeze. When they returned their cheeks were rosy pink. “Aren’t you tired?” I asked. “No Grandpa, we were having fun,” they replied.
To be excited about our faith is to be passionate like my grandchildren. All the witnesses on that Easter morning were running. What matters is how we respond to the Easter event. We can either go away with enthusiasm about our faith or just continue on, living our lives as if nothing has happened.
None of us can totally explain what happened that Easter morning. One thing is certain, our faith will be visible when we “run” with passion and tell the good news to everyone we can.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He has served churches in Southwest Ohio for over three decades. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and has an M.Div. from Methodist Theological School, Delaware, Ohio, and a D.Min. from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He has also been an adjunct professor at Edison Community College, Piqua, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 27, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
