What More is There to Say

Sermon by Rev. Steven McClelland on Mark 16: 1 – 8.  Focus on what more we need to say in light of the resurrection.  Check out the Children’s Choir.

Mark’s account of the resurrection ends in this way: “They went out and fled from the tomb, for fear and trembling had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone …” But somebody talked. Someone spoke about the resurrection or else we wouldn’t be here today. Someone said something to us – something that soothed us, angered us, or intrigued us enough to check Jesus out for ourselves. This is how it has been working for almost two thousand years.

When people talk, the Word gets around, and lives change. But there is a word for this age-old process. It’s called evangelism. An evangelist is simply a person who is talking about his or her own experience of God in their lives. It may not be your experience but you can’t argue with it. It is simply their experience and they are the experts who can speak to it. It is the Gospel According to You. The story of being lost and how you were found. Mark was a Gospel writer. So are you!

And the wonderful thing about the Gospel message is that it creates what it proclaims. It is no sooner said than done. “You are my beloved son”, God says, and that is true even when the beloved son is hanging on a cross. “Blessed are the poor,” Jesus says, and that is true, even if they are no better off today than they were yesterday.

On the one hand the Gospel is just a bunch of words: “Do not be afraid”, “Your sins are forgiven”, He has risen”. And offering mere words to a hurting world can seem as futile as putting a bandage on a broken bone or offering an aspirin to someone who is dying. But when we proclaim these words we say that these words are The Word of God because they are authorized by someone who is speaking them through us. We never speak them alone.

These words dry tears. They calm fears. They forgive sins. They heal souls. They Incarnate the Good News every time we speak them. Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest, professor of psychology at the Menninger Clinic in Kansas and at the universities of Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, after having succeeded in so many ways by any and all standards, left it all behind in order to live among people who were mentally handicapped in the L’Arche community of Daybreak located in Toronto, Canada.

His experience offers a great example of what we can do in the light of the resurrection.

The people I live with sometimes have a very hard time believing they are loved by God. They suffer, not so much from their mental handicap, but from the feeling of not being wanted, not desired. They have lost touch with the truth that they are blessed and loved. It’s hard for them to be in touch with that, precisely because the people around them have often said, “I don’t want you around. I don’t want you to be here. Why don’t you go away?”

Way too many people feel that they are not blessed. There is one of my friends (where I live) who is quite handicapped but a wonderful, wonderful lady. She said to me, “Henry, can you bless me?” I remember walking up to her and giving her a little cross on her forehead. She said, “Henry, it didn’t work.” I was embarrassed and said, “I gave you a blessing.” She said, “No, I want to be blessed.’ I kept thinking, ‘What does she mean?’’

We had a little service and all these people were sitting there. And Janet walked up to me and said, “I want to be blessed.” She put her head against my chest and I spontaneously put my arms around her, held her, and looked right into her eyes and said, “Blessed are you, Janet. You know how much we love you. You know how important you are. You know what a good woman you are.’

She looked at me and said. “Yes. Yes. Thank you Henry.” Suddenly I saw all sorts of energy coming back to her. She seemed to be relieved from the feeling of depression because suddenly she realized again that she was blessed. She went back to her place and immediately other people said, “I want that kind of blessing too.” And suddenly I found myself embracing all kinds of people.

I remember one of the people in our community who assists the handicapped, a strong guy, a football player, said, “Henri, can I have a blessing, too?” I remember our standing there in front of each other and I said, “John,” and I put my hand on his shoulder, “You are blessed. You are a good person. God loves you. We love you. You are important. Can you live as a blessed person?”

I think it’s very important that we bless other people. People need our blessing; people need to know that their father, mother, brothers, sisters and grandparents bless them. Then something happens – we are broken. We are broken people. You and I know that we are broken. A lot of brokenness has to do with relationships. If you ask me what it is that makes us suffer, it is always because someone couldn’t hold onto us or someone hurt us. Each of us can point to a brokenness in our relationships with our husbands, with our wives, with our father, our mother, with our children, with our friends, with those we love.

Wherever there is love, there is also pain. Wherever there are people who really care for us, there is also the pain of sometimes not being cared for enough, or in the way that they needed. What do we do with our brokenness? As the people of God we have to embrace our own brokenness, not say, “That should not be in my life.” No. We should dare to embrace our brokenness, and really be able to say. “Yes, I am hurting. Yes, I am wounded. Yes, It’s painful.”

Too often we want to solve people’s problems and tell them to do this or to do that, to help them get over it. But that creates distance. The main task we have is to put our brokenness and the brokenness of the people with whom we live under the blessing of God. If you believe your brokenness is a curse, even a little brokenness can destroy your life.

It’s like an affirmation that you are not good and suddenly you say, “You see what has happened? I lost my job. This friend won’t speak to me.” We can hold on to it and see it proven that we are no good or we can put the brokenness under the blessing of God, to live as people whom good things are also being said. If we live our life as people who are called, blessed, and broken, then we can give of ourselves. We are given too, taken, blessed and broken in order that we be made whole.

Jesus said, “It is good for you that I leave you because when I die I can give you my Spirit and you will bear much fruit in your life.” He is talking about his legacy after he is gone. Similarly, our legacy is how we have touched others. How have we shown love and given grace to other people? How have we used our words and our actions to incarnate Jesus for those whom God puts in our path?

Our lives can indeed bear much fruit. The words and deeds we sow can multiply like the loaves and fishes. Not just in the moment but also into the future. To this day I hold onto my mother and father’s words of love to me. Everyone should know and hold onto the promise that they are blessed and beloved. And then go forth and be a blessing to others.

So today whether you whisper he is risen or shout it remember you have the power of God’s word to make all things new again! All because someone simply took the time to talk to and love you. What more is there to say: Maybe it’s as simple as saying: “I love you!” Amen