e-vo for week of April 14

Dearest e-votees-

The assigned psalm for this 3rd Sunday of Easter is our focus for this week.

I hope and pray you are savoring this Easter season. Easter is a 50-day season. Sometimes we let Easter end too quickly (as we do with the 12 days of Christmas). The over-commercialization and hyper-activity of the card companies can draw us off focus.

We of all people should luxuriate in good news of the empty tomb.

Peace,
Karl

------------------------

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." 7 By your favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication: 9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!" 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Psalm 30, NRSV

This psalm is appealing because it is real. It doesn’t sugarcoat the hard parts of life. We do get sick and need healing. We are beset by enemies. Death and grieving and mourning are a very real part of our existence in this mortal frame. We can antagonize God and merit God’s wrath. We certainly sin and the consequences come our way. Very hard things happen to us by our own fault and sometimes by us being blindsided by the world doing its thing.

Sometimes people don’t want to acknowledge or don’t know how to deal with the pain of others. So we lie and say we are okay. Or we miss obvious clues and try to shift the conversation to more uplifting topics. We don’t talk about our pets being put to death but rather put to sleep. We underplay and understate the pain as if somehow that will make it go away.

This psalm calls out the pain.

But this psalm also finishes the story. Have you ever heard one of those jokes where someone sets up a long story and there is really no punchline. The gag is to see how long the teller can string the listeners along. I hope my sermons don’t do that—that’s certainly not the intention. Or worse, have you ever had someone tell you an involved joke and then completely forget or botch the punchline? Not good.

This psalm calls out the pain as it is but then remembers that God does bring rejoicing. God’s favor is towards God’s people. Joy comes in the morning. Mourning shifts to dancing. Sackcloth gives way to outfits more suited to a feast—a wedding even.

Good Friday is real and painful. No one knows that more than God. But that isn’t the whole story. Easter and resurrection hope come too. If we really know that it might shape how we live and it might shape how we enter into the pain of others---with authenticity and with hope.


God, draw us ever deeper into the good news of Easter. Amen.