Easter – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

What Do You Do with an Empty Tomb? (Easter 2015)

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

There are few claims of Christian theology more audacious than the bodily resurrection of Jesus. And any citizen of the 21st century who doesn’t doubt such assertions is probably in need of a good head examination (or a reduction in their AMC viewing…). Dead bodies don’t return to life. Not as ghosts. Not as zombies. And certainly not as itinerant preachers. And yet…

On what would later be known as “Easter” – somewhere around the year 30 C.E. – a group of despairing Jews (who had no expectations of resurrection) went to mourn at the gravesite of their friend and found his tomb…empty. And they had no idea what to make of that fact.

In this episode we look at the reactions of Jesus’s most intimate followers as they came to grips with events they never expected.

Before a single Christian declared that “He is risen!” (which many eventually will exclaim), there was much confusion, doubt and a struggle to consider that sometimes the laws of nature don’t get the last word.

Ultimately it was not the “proofs” of theologians and philosophers that brought them to believe that Jesus is alive, nor was it the arguments of historians and logicians…it was encounter.

Belief in the resurrection came from seeing and hearing (not the empty tomb, but Jesus himself). And so it is today. Reports from reliable sources of an empty tomb can get our attention and – hopefully – open us to consider the the crazy possibility that Jesus has conquered even death! But faith requires an experience of new life. And, it turns out, that is not so hard to find as one might think…

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), April 5, 2015 (Easter Sunday). To learn more about Canvas, click here!

Loving God 101, Part 12: Contemplation “Lab” (Palm Sunday 2015)

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Having – hopefully – made the theological case for contemplation (as St. Ignatius of Loyola describes it), in this episode our pal, Jon Saur, gives a short example of the practice.

This sermon was preached on Palm Sunday 2015 and thus uses the traditional story of Jesus’s “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem as the gospel text to be contemplated.

If a short refresher is helpful, the goal of Ignatian contemplation is encounter, not “exegesis.” That is to say, in contemplation we read the scriptures so as to find ourselves within them (vs. writing an academic/interpretive commentary that explains the author’s intended meaning). As we read the story (particularly stories from the gospels), we try to identify the perspectives and experiences of the original participants. In this case, what was it like to be in the crowd as Jesus entered? How would a 1st century Jew have interpreted the events? How would a Roman soldier? How would one of the 12? (Clearly this requires a good bit of exegetical/interpretive background to be able to answer and thus we spend a lot of time in other sermons on this!)

As we move around the scene – viewing it from various perspectives (like scene in a movie being shot from the vantage point of different characters) – we ask: Where am I (in this moment in time) in this story? (And we know the answer might be different tomorrow.) And having identified ourselves we then ask: What does God have to say – through this story – to someone in my position? And what might God, then, be saying to me?

Because such reflections are deeply personal, they obviously are not the stuff from which doctrinal theology made (or, at least, ought not be!). And – as Ignatius regularly reminds us – if the direction we receive in such moments of prayer feel dramatic or at odds with our current course, we need very much to discuss them with wise counselors before acting. But as a habit of prayer, contemplation has done me – and many, many before me – a tremendous amount of good!

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), March 29, 2015. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

Understanding the Bible 31: Explaining the Atonement – How the Cross Saved the World!

June 13, 2014June 12, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

At last we put all of the pieces together, and I offer my explanation of the atonement – how it is that Jesus’s death and resurrection fulfills the covenant with Abraham and accomplishes the salvation of the world. It was not by satisfying a wrathful God (as though God was saving us from himself!). Nor was it by satisfying justice (as though God is less than sovereign and beholding to a moral category!). Rather, salvation was achieved when love was restored to a system from which it is both essential and lacking. That is to say – following the work of St. Augustine – sin is not a presence, but an absence. Thus, the only cure for the curse of sin is for love to be restored, which I suggest is precisely what happened when the God of love loved his enemies by not resisting their violence at the cross. It was by “turning the other cheek” that Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses, restored love to primacy and – as the one faithful Israelite – fulfilled the covenant.

This is the moment we have been building to for 30 weeks! And I hope that after this sermon much of the biblical story will come into sharper focus. Once we know “the butler did it” – and how he did it – the rest of the novel finally comes together.

From here we will be able to turn to Act 4 of the biblical narrative: Jesus’s establishment of the church!

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), April 20, 2014 (Easter). To learn more about Canvas, click here!

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