Sermon from 4th Sunday of Easter
By now you’ve probably eaten most of the Easter candy laying around your house…vacuumed up the last of the strands of Easter grass…Easter seems like a distant memory, yet we are still living in the Easter season! In fact every Sunday should remind of us Easter!
Signs of resurrection are all around us…the earth is resurrecting in this season…colors coming out, flowers that not long ago lay dormant are now back in bloom, people coming outside of the “caves” of their homes back into the streets. Within sanctuary walls we hear the story of Christ not being overcome by the cross or the grave, but that He is alive…not just for a while, but forevermore.
The song “Easter People, Lift your Voices” was playing in my head the other day and it made me think about what that means. Easter people are the ones who see resurrection and tell others about it! They are the ones who see that resurrection is not a future, distant option but rather a very present one – with people living to testify to God’s goodness here and now! And Easter people are the ones who don’t shy away from the Good Fridays in other’s lives. They’re the ones who remain present – who stick things out – bearing their pain, relieving it when they can, and pointing to the hope that the other person may not be able to see.
Last Fall, a group of deacons from all over the U.S. traveled together to Africa where there were present day resurrection stories all over the place. Where people who might have been overcome by the destructive power of disease and poverty are rising up as communal witnesses to show that resurrection can be sensed and felt in the present, and that when you think all hope is lost, it’s there and more powerful than ever.
Psalm 30 – The Message
I give you all the credit, God— you got me out of that mess,
you didn’t let my foes gloat.
2-3 God, my God, I yelled for help
and you put me together.
God, you pulled me out of the grave,
gave me another chance at life
when I was down-and-out.
4-5 All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God!
Thank him to his face!
He gets angry once in a while, but across
a lifetime there is only love.
The nights of crying your eyes out
give way to days of laughter.
6-7 When things were going great
I crowed, “I’ve got it made.
I’m God’s favorite.
He made me king of the mountain.”
Then you looked the other way
and I fell to pieces.
8-10 I called out to you, God;
I laid my case before you:
“Can you sell me for a profit when I’m dead?
auction me off at a cemetery yard sale?
When I’m ‘dust to dust’ my songs
and stories of you won’t sell.
So listen! and be kind!
Help me out of this!”
11-12 You did it: you changed wild lament
into whirling dance;
You ripped off my black mourning band
and decked me with wildflowers.
I’m about to burst with song;
I can’t keep quiet about you.
God, my God,
I can’t thank you enough.
This psalm is particularly poignant when I think about Project Tariro – a program located at the Old Mutare Mission in Zimbabwe which began as a deacon’s initiative. Tariro in Shona means hope. When you feel as if you’ve descended to Sheol…to the abode of the dead, you need hope. And like the psalmist, those who find out that they’re HIV positive in Africa, often feel as if they have descended to the land of the dead. Because understanding and treatment is often very limited, families will turn out those who find themselves diagnosed with this disease. Can you imagine? Just when you need someone the most, you are all alone. It reminds me of Good Friday – when Christ was given a death sentence, and the ones he loved betrayed him. By God’s grace, Project Tariro others are present to help people through their betrayal and illness to help them realize that HIV/AIDS no longer has to be a death sentence for them, but that they can be resurrected in this life.
Watch video:
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5868469&ct=7689857
Grace, Robin, Agatha, so many others have found through Project Tariro that they can live resurrected lives. First, they’ve found acceptance…when they enter the door of Project Tariro and see Joyce or Evelyn and they hear perhaps for the first time that an HIV diagnosis does not mean death. When they hear that they’ll receive drug therapy and nutritional assistance, can you imagine how that must feel? When they receive handshakes and hugs and know that they’re in a community who will not abandon them to the land of the dead, hope – resurrection – feels possible.
Project Tariro is a partnership of The United Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, The Faculty of Health Sciences at Africa University, and Friends of Project Tariro – led by Rev. Dr. Paul Van Buren. What began as a dream is now a reality thanks to donations from so many.
As you saw in the video, Project Tariro has social workers and support groups, a nutritional garden to feed and to seed future gardens, job training, and an educational program that goes out into the field – sometimes literally – to inform others and provide HIV testing on the spot. Project Tariro is filled with Easter people…people who point to hope when it seems to be hidden…who tend to those who are hurting and who tell others what may seem to be an unbelievable story – that people can live positive lives even after they’ve been diagnosed with HIV.
And it’s not just the one diagnosed who can then live a positive life. In this great web of life, it is the family and the friends who are brought into that positive, resurrected life as well. Children, who instead of becoming known as AIDS orphans, have a living breathing parent to rely on! Grandparents, who instead of having to raise grandchildren get cared for themselves in their old age. Positive, resurrected life for everyone…and even for those like us who choose to stand in the margins with them.
Because you know God…when you go into the margins, you can’t help but be changed yourself! You may even get more than the physical help you’re giving to someone else. You may get a spiritual awakening. A reordering of what is important in life. You may get the very life lessons that nobody else could teach you besides someone living in the margins.
One woman who had suffered so greatly, spoke to me with eyes that see beyond the physical. Telling me of the losses she had endured, she then said that when she gets down, she sings…Because He Lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives. All Fear is gone. Because I know who holds the future, Life is worth the living just because He lives.
People who find hope through Project Tariro – that life can be positive even with AIDS – live out the message of the Psalm…testifying that:
11-12 You did it: you changed wild lament
into whirling dance;
You ripped off my black mourning band
and decked me with wildflowers.
I’m about to burst with song;
I can’t keep quiet about you.
God, my God,
I can’t thank you enough.
(watch video of dancing at Project Tariro: http://www.youtube.com/user/nneelley#p/a/u/1/cJUxGDFa5yY )
Still, when we opt for the margins, we see that in the here and now, all is still not well. There are plenty of Good Fridays still being experienced even as we gather today. We still see those in Zimbabwe diagnosed with HIV/AIDS who feel lost – many times without homes, forsaken by their families, left by others to descend to their own depths of Sheol.
One woman – Nora – who found out she was HIV + – was turned out by her family into the streets. When she discovered Project Tariro – it was there that she found an even deeper meaning of family. That those who were living a positive life were ready to support not only her but also her daughter, Thandiwe. This new family supported Nora through her earthly resurrection…enjoying her presence and her spirit. But there were limits to what they could do for her…lack of transportation, lack of medicine eventually claimed Nora’s life, with her daughter Thandi at her side. Nora’s support group and Project Tariro family once again stepped up…raising money for a decent burial when the blood relatives would not come forward, and taking Thandi when no one would claim her. Nora’s dying words expressed the depth of concern that parents of young children have – who would take care of Thandi when she was gone. By then, she knew with confidence that her new family would do everything they could.
We know that Nora is resurrected with Christ – her care is now out of our hands. But what about others like Nora…who still feel the depths of hell in their lives? They wait on hope. In a country where so many are infected, many do not receive treatment and help.
As Easter people, we believe in the resurrection – that one day all shall be well. That all people’s needs will be met. That the love which we may only have seen dimly as in a mirror will be understandable and tangible for all. That there will be a place at the table for everyone. That there will be no more crying and suffering and dying. But as Dr. Martin Luther King said,
“It’s all right to talk about “long white robes over yonder,” in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It’s all right to talk about “streets flowing with milk and honey,” but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day. It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God’s preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee.” If Dr. King were living today, perhaps he would add to that list Africa and maybe even Old Mutare, Zimbabwe.
The second verse of Easter people says:
(Sorry, I can’t find the lyrics online!)
Will we be Easter people year-round? May God help us to stand with those who need hope as they experience “good Fridays”; may Christ’s mercy help us to do all that we can for them. And may God help us proclaim with our lives that Christ is alive! It’s in His name that I offer these words, Amen.
Note: You can learn more about Project Tariro by visiting www.projecttariro.com
Leave a Reply