Second Sunday of Easter – Online Service
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Decorah, Iowa
Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

In these strange times, the good news of Jesus is coming to us through all sorts of different technology. This week it came to me through an email from Good Shepherd’s Visitation Pastor, Pr. Marion Pruitt-Jefferson. She wrote this to me about today’s Gospel reading: “How wonderfully appropriate it is that this week, Jesus just flat out invades the ‘quarantined’ disciples’ home and breathes – not a virus – but God’s peace on them all. No masks – no defenses – just an outpouring of peace that we can breathe right into our bodies. YES!”

Yes, indeed! Thank you Pr. Marion! An outpouring of peace to breathe right into their bodies is just what those first disciples needed. They faced a very real threat from the authorities who had just killed their teacher. They were in a type of quarantine, hiding behind locked doors. When Jesus breathed peace upon them, then they were able to believe and hope and trust. Thomas wasn’t there with them, so of course he struggled to believe – he needed that breath of peace that they had received.

We, too, face a very real threat. We need to be home behind closed doors. And oh, do we need the breath of peace now. So many in our world right now are struggling with shortness of breath and chest pain, so many are trying to breathe through anxiety and fear. There is so much chaos, so much fear.

AND In the midst of all this chaos, God continues to breathe peace and new life for our whole world. This is what God does. This is what God has done from the beginning, what God has done in Christ Jesus, and what God does for you today.

Breathing life is what God has done from the beginning. The two creation stories in the book of Genesis give us wonderful pictures of God breathing.

In Genesis 1 we see God breathing life into chaos. We’re told, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, there was a whole lot of chaos. Well, actually it says, “The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,” but the Hebrew word for deep can also be translated chaos. So, God is familiar with chaos. And God knows what to do amidst chaos.

We’re told when the earth was a chaotic, formless void, “A wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The Hebrew word for wind, ruah, also means breath and spirit. So, when there was only chaos, God breathed over the waters. When everything was chaotic, God took a deep breath.

So, in this crazy, chaotic time it is very Godly to pause and take some deep breaths. I’ll invite you to do that with me this morning as we move through this time – inviting you to breathe in, breathe out. If you can’t breathe deeply right now, we’ll do it for you and with you. As we do, we’ll pray silently in solidarity with those who are struggling to breathe for whatever reason. Breathe in, breathe out.

Genesis 1 shows us God breathing life into chaos by the power of the Spirit. It also shows us God speaking life into being through the Word we now call Jesus. God spoke, “Let there be light, and let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and so on.” God breathed and spoke creation in- to being by the power of the Word and the power of the Spirit.

After the first creation story in Genesis 1, we get another one in Genesis 2. That story helps us to know that God doesn’t just breathe out over all the chaos, God also breathes this breath of life into each of us. In Genesis 2, God walks around in the garden and gets down in the dust and we’re told, “form[s] Adam from the dust of the ground and breath[es] into his nostrils the breath of life.” This story shows how very close God is – as close as our breath – forming us, shaping us, breathing life into us.

And, throughout scripture we see that breathing the breath of life isn’t something God has done once. As Psalm 104 says of all living things,³⁰ When you send forth your spirit, (your ruah)^* they are created; and you renew the face of the earth. God continues in every moment to create and breathe out life and peace. Breathe in, breathe out.

God created us to breathe deeply the breath of life. God intends for us to honor and care for all life and breath. And yet, life in this world is marred by sin and sickness, suffering and death. Life in this world is not as God intends it to be.

So many struggle to breathe for all sorts of reasons. So many breathe their last far too soon. We take the gift of breath for granted. We do not care for the life and breath of others. Yet even in this, God is so very close to us. God has entered even into sin, suffering and death with us. God, in Jesus, hung on a cross, cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Jesus, the word of God, suffered and died as a result of our own human sin and violence.

All seemed lost, all was chaotic. Jesus’ disciples were huddled behind locked doors in fear. Yet, the Word and Breath of God could not be stopped. The Word and Breath of God overcame all the forces of death to live again and live on. And then Jesus came to the disciples who were locked in fear, panicking, maybe even hyperventilating. He spoke, saying, “Peace be with you,” and then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus spoke and breathed new life out of the chaos, as it was in the beginning. As it was in the be- ginning is now and ever shall be. Jesus’ word of God comes to us to recreate and renew our life.

Jesus comes to speak peace and breathe out God’s Holy Spirit for all of us and our world.

The breath of the Holy Spirit gives us peace and strength in the midst of our own personal chaos.

It also gives what we need to be part of God’s ongoing, life-giving work of renewal and recreation in our world.

So, we don’t have to panic when we consider the chaos in our own lives, the chaos all around us. We can breathe in God’s Holy Spirit and trust that Jesus is alive and at work in and through us for the sake of the world. We can breathe in God’s Holy Spirit and trust that God is as close to us as our breath.

Let’s take some time to breathe together now.

Easter Sunday – Online Service
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Decorah, Iowa
Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

Where is God amidst this global pandemic?

Where will we find hope, love, life in these times?

Where will we experience Jesus, who is God with us, in the flesh when we can’t gather for worship? Where will we find Jesus?

The women expect to find Jesus at the tomb. They go there to see him, to honor his body. Their world has turned upside down, all their hopes are dashed. They are grief-stricken and afraid. They need to see Jesus. They go where they expect to find him.

Instead, the world continues to shake. An angel appears and says, “Do not be afraid, I know you are looking for Jesus … he is not here. He has been raised … he is going ahead of you … there you will see him.”

We are a lot like the women on that first Easter morning. Our world is shaking, turned upside down. Our hopes and plans have been dashed. We carry such fear and anxiety. In the midst of all of this, we want to see Jesus. We want to honor Jesus’ body by being with his body, the body of Christ; we want to receive his body and blood in Holy Communion. We want to see Jesus.

We want to be here in this place where we know we will encounter Jesus in word and sacrament, music and prayer and the gathered community. This is where we expect to find Jesus.

Yet, beloved of God, he is not here, he has been raised, he is going ahead of you. There you will see him. He is not here. He has been raised. Which is to say, Jesus is not contained in this space, in this place, in all the places where we expect to encounter him.

Jesus has been raised from the dead and is now everywhere present. He is alive and on the loose and out and about in the world. So, Jesus is here, yes, because he’s everywhere; but he is not ONLY here, he is not bound here. Death cannot contain him, buildings cannot contain him, the ways we are accustomed to encountering him cannot contain him. God is on the loose, love is on the loose.

There is nowhere that God is not.

The women don’t encounter Jesus at the tomb where they expect to find him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t also in places of death, that he isn’t with us in our tombs of grief and sorrow. The risen Jesus is there, even there, but not contained there.

When the angel rolls away the stone, Jesus doesn’t walk out then. He is already up, already out breaking the power of death, working new life. Stones cannot stop him. Death cannot stop him from being at work in our world.

Where is God? With us in places of death and fear AND already working on the other side of them. Even when God seems absent, God is alive and on the loose. Even when we cannot yet see how, God is already out, already working on the other side of all of this.

Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus; he is not here, he has been raised from the dead. Jesus is not contained here, not bound here or anywhere. He has been raised. AND, He is going ahead of you, there you will see him.

The angel tells the women, “He is going ahead of you to Galilea, there you will see him.” Galilea means home to them, everyday life. How astonishing to think they will find Jesus there! After all the turmoil the women have just experienced in Jerusalem, it must be strange to imagine that they will ever return to their everyday lives, much less encounter Jesus there. Yet, they are promised they will encounter Jesus in the place they call home, in the midst of everyday life.

This is the promise for you as well today.

Today Jesus is with you in your home – in that place where you now spend so much of your life.

Isolated in your home, separated from so many you love, you are never separated from Christ Jesus. Jesus is with you, even there, always there. And through him, we are united with those we love and long for, both in heaven and on earth. Amidst all the turmoil of this time, Jesus is with you.

Jesus is with you AND he is going ahead of you, just as the angel promised the women. Jesus is go- ing ahead of you into all that this life holds. This means that you also are not bound by fear and sorrow and death. This means that you can know great joy even amidst your fear.

That’s how the women left the tomb after all – we’re told they left with both fear and great joy. The angel’s promise, “He is going before you, there you will see him” – this set them free to follow Jesus joyfully even as they were afraid.

Jesus goes before you as well. You also are set free to follow Jesus, to love and serve and hope and give, even as joy and fear entwine within you. You can persist, you can carry on, you can keep the faith for Jesus goes ahead of you.

Where is God in these days? God made flesh in Jesus is everywhere present – in places of death and fear, in your home, at loose in the world. He is with you always, everywhere. He goes before you.

You can follow him joyfully even when you are afraid.

Jesus is not bound here. He has been raised. He goes ahead of you. There you will see him.

Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.

Palm Sunday – Online Worship
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Decorah, Iowa
Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Matthew 21:1- Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Matthew 26:6-13

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

Today in one breath, in one word, we have both praised and asked God for help. I’ve never before focused on how the praise word Hosanna means “save us.” It has never felt very relevant, but does it ever now. Save us, O God. Oh, how we need you now.

And yet, the other part of the word Hosanna – the way it is also an expression of praise – is just as important for us today.

It may seem jarring to praise in these times when each morning’s news is even harsher than yesterdays. It’s also so much harder to praise at home. Oh, how we wish we could be together waving palm branches, parading outside as children race up the sidewalk, singing together “All Glory Laud and Honor”.

Praise does not come easily in these days.

The book of Hebrews calls us to offer a “sacrifice of praise.” That phrase, a “sacrifice of praise”, is an acknowledgement that praise asks something of us, that it costs us something, that it takes some work. That is so true in these days of global pandemic.

And yet dear people of God, the act of praise also saves us. The act of praise saves us from despair, it saves us from the power of fear. It shapes us into people who can hope and sing and trust even in the face of deep sorrow.

Praise is a way of defying the power of suffering. Praise says to suffering – you do not have the last word. There is something deeper and truer. Life and love will ultimately prevail.

The crowds who accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem crying “Hosanna” were defying the power of suffering. They lived under oppressive Roman rule. They lived with no safety net, no health care system, no modern medicine. They lived each day wondering if they would have enough to eat, if they or their loved ones would be beaten, imprisoned or even killed by Rome. They could have been killed for praising someone other than the emperor and yet, they offered a sacrifice of praise to Jesus crying, “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Today we join our voices with them and with the whole communion of saints, the multitude of pilgrims throughout the ages who have chosen to praise in the face of suffering. Sometimes, pilgrims can gather to offer this praise; sometimes, for whatever reason, it is not safe to gather.

Today we also heard the story of an unnamed woman who offered her praise to Jesus in a smaller, more intimate setting. Her story assures us that even when we can’t gather with a large crowd, we too can still offer our own sacrifice of praise and adoration. This unnamed woman anointed Jesus’ head with costly perfume, a sacrificial act of devotion and love. Jesus’ disciples got angry about the waste saying, “This ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.”

That is a common response to praise and worship especially amidst suffering. We wonder if it wouldn’t be better to spend our time and energy and resources in other ways to alleviate suffering. Worship seems like a waste. Yet Jesus affirms this woman’s sacrifice of praise – the good service she has done in tending to the body of Christ. He says whenever the good news is shared, what she has done is to be told in remembrance of her.

Jesus’ affirmation of this woman’s act of praise is sometimes misconstrued. His response, “You always have the poor with you,” has sometimes been taken to mean that we shouldn’t worry about the poor, that we should just worship and praise and ignore the needs of the suffering. Yet, Jesus is not saying that at all. He is saying followers of Jesus will always be with the poor, for that is what it means to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to be in community with those who are poor and suffering.

And when we are in community with those who know deep suffering, we often discover something powerful about the way the sacrifice of praise saves us. People who have survived disasters, wars, apartheid, genocide, those who live with poverty and hardship – they have much to teach us in these difficult days.

In her book, “A Witness”, Renee Splichal Larson tells of the night she spent in an open field after barely surviving the Haiti earthquake that killed her husband.

Renee had climbed out of the building that had collapsed around her, the building that was still collapsing, the building that still trapped her beloved Ben. She had nothing but the clothes on her back. It was cold. There were no blankets. There were bodies everywhere, people were dying all around her. The earth was still shaking with powerful aftershocks. Buildings were still crumbling.

The abiding image Renee has from that night is of a Haitian woman who sang praise to God all throughout that night. Amidst the chaos and the fear, the suffering and death, this woman sang unceasing praise, a powerful sacrifice of praise. The times she did need to stop and rest, someone else would pick up the song and sing praise until she could carry on.

As she sang praise, she proclaimed the truth that sustains so many suffering people, the truth that sustained Archbishop Desmund Tutu during apartheid in South Africa – the truth that goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death.

That image of the Haitian woman singing in the field helps me to understand the story of the un- named woman anointing Jesus’ head. Her singing through the night may have seemed to some like a waste of energy, a waste of breath, a pointless act when so many were in need of medical care and blankets and physical help. Yet, her sacrifice of praise saved many that night, pointing them to a deeper reality than the one unfolding before them. That woman’s singing saved and continues to save Renee and her family to this day.

The act of praise is a sacrifice, a sacrifice that also saves us, pointing us to a deeper reality that goodness, love, light and love will prevail.

So today, beloved, let’s raise our palms in praise to God. Raising our hands in praise is not something we’re used to doing as Lutherans, but let’s offer that sacrifice today. I encourage you to raise your palms as we sing our Hymn of the Day and our Sending Song today. After worship take a
picture of yourself raising your palms in praise and email it to me or share it with me on Facebook.

And today, let’s also offer love and devotion to the body of Christ in a more intimate way by tending to our own hands. Our hands are such important parts of the body of Christ. Our hands are making the love of Christ known even in these times of physical distancing. We are using our hands to call neighbors and loved ones, to write and type messages of hope and support, to stay connected to one another. Many are using their hands to package groceries, to pick up deliveries for others, to tend the sick. We are washing our hands and wearing gloves in order to try to avoid getting sick ourselves, but also in order to flatten the curve of the virus and not overwhelm our health care system. Our hands are getting raw and chapped as we wash them so often.

Today, let’s show some love and care for our hands by taking some lotion and anointing our hands with it as the woman anointed Jesus’ body with ointment. As you anoint your hands, I will offer you a blessing of love and devotion for your hands and your whole body – the body which is part of the body of Christ on earth.

 Blessing the Body

This blessing takes
one look at you
and all it can say is
holy.

Holy hands.
Holy face.
Holy feet.
Holy everything
in between.

Holy even in pain.
Holy even when weary.
In brokenness, holy.
In shame, holy still.

Holy in delight.
Holy in distress.
Holy when being born.
Holy when we lay it down
at the hour of our death.

So, friend,
open your eyes
(holy eyes).
For one moment
see what this blessing sees,
this blessing that knows
how you have been formed
and knit together
in wonder and
in love.

Welcome this blessing
that folds its hands
in prayer
when it meets you;
receive this blessing
that wants to kneel
in reverence
before you:
you who are
temple,
sanctuary,
home for God
in this world.

—Jan Richardson

As you raise the palms of your hands today in offering praise, as you wash your hands, as you use your hands to care for others know that your hands are Christ’s hands, your body is a temple of God’s presence.

Use your hands and your body today to offer a saving, sacrifice of praise. And today may you know deep in your bones the truth that goodness is stronger the evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death.

Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.