A New Location
by Eric Folkerth

I'm always pleased to see so many folks here on Easter.
But, the one thing I'm sad about today is all you who couldn't be here
during Lent. Because that means you missed my five straight sermons that
referenced Mel Gibson"s movie, "The Passion of the Christ". I know you
are probably sorry to have missed that. And I also know that some of the
people who WERE here for all five of those sermons are little sorry about
it too...but for very different reasons! They're ready to be done with
this movie!

And so, I have a welcome announcement for you today....this sermon todays
is very likely the LAST time I will ever publicly mention Mel Gibson's
"The Passion of the Christ".

But,  I also wanted to let you in on a little secret: I knew that I would
mention Mel Gibson's movie today, in my Easter sermon, even before I ever
saw the movie. (And! Even before I knew I would mention it in all those
other sermons!) I knew that it would make a PERFECT Easter sermon
illustration before I had ever laid eyes on ONE SINGLE frame of the movie.

How? Because, there is a TRUTH, with a capital T, that you can say about
ALL movies ever made about Jesus. You can be assured that
...no matter how careful the filmmaker has been,
...no matter how stressed the "attention to detail,"
.....even if the characters deliver dialogue in a dead language,
...even if the action is lifted entirely from the Gospels themselves,
the story of Jesus Christ is NOT a story that makes for a good "literal"
movie.

It's not a story that makes for a good literal movie precisely because
it's a story that was originally told with such ambiguity and mystery.
It's a story told in nuanced tones.

Take the resurrection story itself. That one story alone is told several
different ways, actually, in the four several different Gospels. There
are important details in some of the Gospels have that are not in the
other of the Gospels.  And this morning, as you heard just a few moments
ago, we're reading the account from the Gospel of John.

And so, that's why, when I heard that Mel Gibson was attempting to make a
movie about Jesus that was the most literal and historically accurate
movie ever made, I knew he couldn't possibly succeed. Not because he's
flawed as a human being, or has bad artistic vision...but because literal
and historical truth are not the kinds of truths the Gospels themselves
are trying to teach us.

And, actually, if I had to pick out a movie that COULD teach you
something profound about Easter --really MIGHT challenge you to see
Jesus's story through the eyes of faith-- I wouldn't pick "The Passion of
the Christ". I'd pick another movie from this past year...a movie that
got hardly any press at all. I¹d pick a movie called "Big Fish".

"Big Fish" is an absolutely wonderful movie. And, since you're a captive
audience, I hope I can encourage you to run ---don¹t walk-- to go see it,
rent it, or buy your own copy.

"Big Fish" the story of a man named Edward Bloom, and his son Will.
Edward Bloom, if you went by the facts, was a completely unremarkable man
who spends most of his life in a completely unremarkable part of the
Alabama, doing completely unremarkable things.

But, Edward Bloom is also a storyteller. In fact, Edward Bloom is an
UNREPENTENT and one-of-a-kind storyteller. He does nothing else so well
as to tell stories. And the story he tells the best is the story of his
own life. And in the telling of his life's story, nothing is literal. As
Bloom himself says, "Most men, they'll tell you a story straight
through...it won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either."
And so, Bloom constructs a more interesting life for himself. His stories
include all the usual tall tales about catching "big fish" and high
school sports prowess. But they also include more fanciful things too.
Such as encounters with a 20-foot Giant who is terrorizing his town. He
talks of buying an entire town. Bloom tells stories about the Korean War,
where he parachutes behind enemy lines and single-handedly obtains top
secret information with the help of a two-headed lounge singer. He talks
of encounters with a Witch who has a glass eye. He talks about years he
spent in the circus, working for a ringmaster who was also a werewolf.

He tell fanciful tales his entire life....tales that charm the pants off
of everybody he meets....they immediately disarm anyone trying to really
get to know him. There is only ONE person who doesn¹t like his stories.
And that is his son, Will.
Will, now an adult, has become a journalist, obsessed not with the
telling of a good story, but the accuracy of facts. When his father turns
gravely ill, he comes home to confront the old story-teller, and to try
to get to know his dad one last time.
And in the process of their time together, Will learns an astonishing
thing: that INSIDE these fanciful myths his father has been telling all
these years is almost always a kernel of some truth. It might not be
FACTUAL truth, but it IS truth. And by the end of their time together,
Will has discovered the value of a good story...a good myth that speaks
of truth.

In a very touching moment of dialogue, Will reflects on his father.
He says: "In telling the story of my father¹s life, it's impossible to
separate the fact from the fiction, the man from the myth. The best thing
I can do is to tell it you the way he told me. It doesn't always make
sense, but that¹s what kind of story this is."

What strikes me deeply is that we can say exactly the same thing about
Jesus' story. In fact, change a few details in that quote, and you've got
powerful words for us here on Easter morning. Here today, we could say:
"In telling Jesus's story, it's impossible to separate the fact from the
fiction, the man from the myth. The best thing we can do is to tell it
the way it has been told to us. It doesn't always make sense, but that's
what kind of story this is."

You see, the writers of the Gospels are all are people trying to tell a
story with an almost unbelievable story-line: that Jesus Christ was
crucified...died.....was buried...and rose on the third day.

It's a story that cries out NOT to be told literally...but instead to be
told through myth and symbol. All the way through, Jesus' story is a
story of amazing deeds and miracles. It's the story of incredible
healings. It's the story of HUGE crowds that love Jesus one day, and
revile him the next.

And, like the journalist-son Will Bloom, we find ourselves wondering
sometimes what we can believe...what we can accept. Because, at times, it
seems like just the same kind of tall tale that Edward Bloom might tell.

As a former journalism major myself, I learned a little something about
the "facts" along the way. And, in the end, what I learned was that
knowing the FACTS and knowing THE TRUTH are not always the same thing.
And it's not just because facts get "spun" by pundits. Sometimes, it's
because there are truths that speak, whether or not the facts are true or
not.

Jesus' resurrection, it seems to me, is that kind of story. And, in a
sense, it's the most important kind of story of all. And the TRUEST kind
of story of all. It's a story about ultimate truth, told like one of
Edward Bloom's tall tales. The best thing we can do is to just tell the
story the way it's been told to us....because it's that kind of story.

The way the great tale-teller John writes this story, Mary Magdalene is
the first real apostle. If apostle means what we THINK it means
---somebody sent to spread the good news of the Gospel-- then she's the
very first one be one. And she does it before she even believes it or
understands it herself.

She runs and tells Peter and another disciple that Jesus is no longer in
the tomb. They run to check it out, and they find that she IS telling the
truth. Jesus is not in the tomb. Incredibly, without really knowing where
he is now, the two men decide to go home.

So, Mary is more confused than ever. She stands beside the tomb, weeping.
Two angels appear to her, sitting where Jesus' body had been lying. And
when she tells the angels that she's confused, that somebody has taken
Jesus away, suddenly Jesus is standing right there with her. She whirls
around, and it's him standing there before her. Only, for some strange
reason, she doesn't know it's him. She thinks he's the gardener. And she
accuses him of being in on a plot to get rid of Jesus' body.

But Jesus calls her by name. And somehow, in that moment, Mary recognizes
that it is Jesus. Mary apparently wants to hug him, but he prevents her,
saying that he's not yet ascended. "Do not hold on to me," he says. Mary
runs back to the others, and becomes the first to spread the Good News of
the Gospel, when she says, "I have seen the Lord."

And that's the way the story gets told. That's the way the Gospel of John
tells the resurrection of Jesus. Not a whole lot of explanation of what
the resurrection means. But a simple story with several pretty
hard-to-swallow details. And the closer we look at the story, the more
our scientific, rational, journalistic minds want to pick it a part.
Why DIDN'T she recognize Jesus?
Why didn't those angels have anything to say for themselves?
Why do the men just go home?
Why COULDN'T Mary touch Jesus?

Like Will Bloom, our factual minds go racing....

But perhaps if we let them race too far, we miss the TRUTH with a capital
T. And to get at the truth of the resurrection, let me tell you a joke.
The joke comes from a preacher friend of mine, named Bass Michell.

Bass tells the story of a man who had a friend; and the friend was
opening a new business. In honor of his friend opening the new business,
the man sent his friend a bouquet of flowers.
A couple of days later, the man attends the grand opening of the
business, and sees the spray of flowers he'd sent, sitting on a desk. So,
he goes over to the wreath and, much to his shock, can hardly believe the
words on the card. The words say "Rest In Peace."

Well, he's absolutely horrified. And so, soon as he can, the man rushes
over to see the florist, to give the florist an earful. He berates the
florist up one side, and down the other about how inappropriate it was to
send the card "Rest in Peace" to someone who had just opened a new
business.

So, the florist apologizes profusely. But then the florist --a person of
great wit and a keen sense of irony--- say, "Well, look at it this
way..... somewhere today, someone was buried under a wreath that said,
'Good luck in your new location.'"

And what if, like all good stories, that joke is also true?
What if the final truth of the resurrection is this: that the
resurrection is nothing more and nothing less than the continuation of
life in a "new location?"

It's "location" that's got Mary all confused in this story to begin with.
She goes to the location where she THINKS Jesus is supposed to be. But
he's not in that location. She tells Peter and the angels her confusion.
And then, she gets the chance to address Jesus directly...thinking he's a
gardener who's taken Jesus' body to another location. And, even when she
finally realizes that it is Jesus, what she realizes is that his body is
still not meant to STAY in this location. It's meant to be going
somewhere else still.

And isn't that the case in our lives so often? When difficult things
happen to us personally....
... when a loved one dies.
... when we lose a job
... when relationships end
... when tragedy strikes...

The thing we often say is that it feels like we are in some new and
strange place. Even if we're in our own house or own space, it feels like
someone's moved all the furniture, and rearranged the appliances. It
feels as if nothing will ever be the same again. And the truth is that it
won't be.

But what can happen is that we can get to a NEW place...a  NEW location.
Not that we're ever in the old location again. But one day, we can wake
up to discover that something new has happened.  We find ourselves,
spiritually, in a "new place."
Perhaps resurrection is that moment when we realize that God has created
a new location for us....as new place for us to be.

Through the grace of God, we are in the process of building a "new
location" for Northaven Church. Easter is always an important weekend for
us in the church. But this Easter takes on a special meaning for us, as
it may well be the last one ever spent in this particular space.
And, just like this Lenten Season itself, we are about to enter a time
that may seem confusing. It may feel like someone has moved all the
furniture. And, guess, what? They WILL have!

But through our trust in God's grace, perhaps we will one day find
ourselves one day in a new place...one that will never be quite the same.
But one that will be OURS just the same.

Because whether in our lives or in our church, God's story is a story of
stones that won't stay in place, but roll away instead. God's story is a
story of angels who sit in the place where you'd expect to find death.
God's story is a story where gardeners are really risen Messiah's, and
where women are the first apostles. And God can take the displacement of
our lives, our sorrows, our griefs, our pain, and move US to a new
location....a new and surprising life.
It's hard to separate the fact from the fiction, the truth and the myth
in this story. It doesn't always make sense. But that's just the kind of
story this is.
It's God's story. And it's the truest kind of all.
Amen.

(Comments to Eric at ericf@NORTHAVEN.ORG.)
Website: http://www.northaven.org
Eric's music page: http://www.ericfolkerth.com