[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Apr. 4 (Easter C) John 20:1-18

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for April 4 (Easter C) . They focus 
on the Gospel lesson, John 20:1-18, the story of Jesus' crucifixion.

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<>
Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, 
writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, 
bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by.  A writer is a gunner, 
sometimes waiting in his blind for something to come in, sometimes roaming 
the countryside hoping to scare something up. (E. B. White)


TITLE:  Easter:  God's Promise


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  The first disciples, having seen the risen Christ, 
show us their confidence that the resurrection is true -- and that it has 
power for our lives.


SCRIPTURE:  John 20:1-18

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TRUE STORY:

I read a story some time ago that I would like to share with you.  It was 
the story of a woman caught up in her own Good Friday experience that cut 
the foundation from beneath her life.  Her son had been killed in an 
automobile accident, and grief descended on her like the grief that overcame 
those first disciples when Jesus died.

A year later, still burdened by her grief, she saw that it was a nice fall 
day.  Before her son was killed, she had bought some jonquil bulbs to plant 
in your yard -- but then her son was killed, and she forgot the bulbs.

But now it was a year later, and she happened across those bulbs.  She 
thought it might brighten her spirits to get out in the sunshine and plant 
the bulbs, so she proceeded to do that.  She dug a hole in the ground and 
planted a bulb.  Then she dug another hole and planted another bulb.

But then the bulb in her hand crumbled, and she found herself with a handful 
of dust.  "Dead!" she cried.  Her bulbs, having spent a year in storage, had 
died and were no longer good for anything.  Angry, she crushed the remaining 
bulbs and threw the dust into the wind.

Winter came and went.  Springtime came.  Then one morning the woman looked 
through the window -- and there she saw a field of yellow jonquils.  The 
bulbs that she had thought dead had come to life under the winter snow, and 
were now brightening her yard -- and her spirits.  This is how she ended her 
story.  She said:

I stood still before this unexpected garden.
And clearly, as if spoken aloud, I heard the promise,
I am the resurrection and the life:
he that believeth in me,
though he were dead,yet shall he live.

Now, each spring when the jonquils bloom, I remember,
and I answer, "Yes, Lord, I believe."
(Billie F. Harvey, Guideposts, June, 1995)


FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT04john.htm

Scroll down to John 20.  There are many sermons on this text posted there.

THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

The evidence for Jesus' resurrection
is so strong that nobody would question it
except for two things:
First, it is a very unusual event.
And second, if you believe it happened,
you have to change the way you live.

Wolfhart Pannenberg

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The grave is but a covered bridge
leading from light to light,
through a brief darkness.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Something happened on Easter Day
which made Christ more alive on the streets of Jerusalem
forty days after his crucifixion
than on the day of His Triumphal Entry.
A false report might last forty days
but the church which was founded on a Risen Christ
has lasted for nineteen centuries,
producing generations of the race's finest characters.

Ralph W. Sockman

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The resurrection is not for the man of hope
a single event to occur at one point in time.
It is a constant progress;
each day we can die to our fears, our uncertainties,
our confusions, our distrusts, our suspicions,
and each day we can rise again to openness, confidence, trust, and love.

Andrew M. Greeley

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Christianity has died many times and risen again;
for it has a God who knew his way out of the grave.

G. K. Chesterton

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

HYMN STORY:  The Day of Resurrection

"The Day of Resurrection" is one of the oldest hymns in our hymnal.  The 
words were written by St. John of Damascus of the Greek Orthodox Church. 
John was born in Damascus in the 8th century, and was engaged in secular 
work for many years.  He became an Orthodox priest late in life, and spent 
the rest of his life at St. Sabas convent near Jerusalem.  He was a gifted 
poet --the greatest poet of the Greek Church.

The story is told of John writing a hymn for the funeral of a fellow monk --  
a monk not yet dead but at death's doorstep.  After writing the hymn John 
started practicing it loudly.  The next thing he knew, the dying monk came 
shuffling into the room to protest the unseemly noise.

This hymn, "The Day of Resurrection," was part of a much longer poem.  John 
Mason Neale translated it into English in the 19th century -- a thousand 
years after it was first written.

The first verse calls us to celebrate the resurrection -- to proclaim it 
abroad.  The second verse calls us to live lives pure from evil -- to live, 
as it were, resurrection lives.  The third verse calls all the heavens and 
earth to be joyful -- to sing -- to proclaim a joy that has no end. (NOTE: 
Check your hymnal.  Verses might vary.)

NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm

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