A Bizarre Hope: John 20:1-18 - Easter Sunday
As someone who’s listened to sermons, or given sermons, for almost my entire life, I only remember just a few of them. The sermon preached at my wedding, for example, was so rude and condescending to my family, that we threw away the DVD. The sermon preached at my mother-in-law’s funeral, in the same church where we were married, was one of the most encouraging and uplifting messages I’ve ever heard, and I took notes on it, so that I could improve upon my own funeral messages. Then there’s the sermon preached at my ordination by the ELCA Presiding Bishop at the time, Mark Hanson. He expressed his concern that the letters ELCA had come to stand for “Expectations Low, Climbing Anxiety.” A lot of people were offended by what he said. But I thought his words were right on target. In the two years prior, nearly twenty percent of the ELCA’s congregations disaffiliated over disagreements around social issues. For decades, mainline denominations and congregations have been in a cycle of ...
