ìIt’s a Good Day to Die!î - Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 2, 2010 – Christ the King L.C. - John 13: 31-35 – Pastor Deborah Birkeland

ìIt’s a good day to die!î Now isn’t that a crazy way to begin a sermon? But, that’s the way this sermon is going to begin, and end, for IT IS a good day to die! Now, I am not talking here about physical death. I am talking about daily death –a Martin Luther concept that defines how we live our out baptismal promise - a death to our self, and a rebirth to a new creation. A death that makes room in our souls for that new commandment Jesus has given all his disciples, when he said, ìÖ love one another just as I have loved you.î

Now I know that I am known for being rather ìperky,î and I hope it is true that I am mostly upbeat and enthusiastic as one of your pastors. But, I must confess that for a variety of reasons, I have been in a bad, funky mood lately. You know the kind of mood I am talking about, that crabby, leave me alone, I am tired of the rat-race, it’s spring and I want to be free to do whatever I want to do kind of mood.

What is it about spring that brings black clouds, both literally and figuratively? While budding trees, blossoms, birds singing, people out walking and biking brings a kind of joyfulness, there is also a restlessness that wants everything cleaned up, re-organized, or made shiny and new! A restlessness that is tired of reading bad news in the newspaper and wants some GOOD newsÖa spring of hopefulness for a change along with the budding foliage. There is a weariness of the same old, same old that compels us to clean out our closets and haul our junk to a rummage sale; a push that motivates us to paint that room, dig up that garden bed, root out those weeds, clean those windowsÖbut, UFFDA, I sure would rather sit in the sunshine and read a book or hit a golf ball around the rolling greens!

Well, for whatever reason, I have been in a funky mood with a black cloud of restless frustration over my head for a few weeks now, and thenÖsomething in me was finally ready to die!

It happened last Wednesday afternoon. Dale and I arrived with several other people from Christ the King, and dozens of other volunteers, to pack food for Feed My Starving Children. Donning our hairnets, we embraced two hours of assembly line type packaging rice, soy, hydrated vegetables and chicken flavored base into sealed packages and then boxes. Together, with lively music to energize our efforts, a room full of volunteers package over 38,000 meals that will now feed 104 starving children for about 1 year. All in only TWO hours! During those two hours, we became something more than individuals with our own distinct problems, moods or agendas. We became a body of love, actively engaged in an exercise of self-giving for the sake of the other that made us into a new creation. It was a simple, yet profound experience of rebirth, for when we walked out into the spring sunshine, we were differentÖor at least, I WAS. The birds were singing a little more brightly, the fruit trees were flowering a bit more joyfully, and somehow, that funky black cloud of moodiness had died. It wasÖa good day to die!

Jesus said, ìI tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.î (John 12: 24) This statement came in John’s gospel just after Jesus revealed to his disciples the he must be crucified at the hands of those who hated him, and he must die. In today’s gospel text, we have more of that pre-crucifixion discourse as Jesus gives his disciples a new commandmentÖa seed of rebirth, that must be planted in their hearts if they are to carry forth His mission for God’s kingdom on earth. Jesus now says, ìI give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.î (John 13: 34-35)

By THIS, this new birth that manifests itself in loving acts for the sake of another, we will THEN be known as Christ’s disciples. It is as simple, and as profound as that!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of love a bit hard to maintain day after day. Those black clouds of self-indulgent moodiness often get in the way of being loving and self-less. It becomes easy to read this text as law- something we MUST do. As law, the emphasis is on ourself - our own will power and definitions of WHO to love, HOW to love, WHY to love etc. etc. Our human tendencies to control love, or protect love, or even manufacture love get in the way of REAL love. REAL love, perfect love, love that embraces the unlovable in the other- that trusts the goodness in the other- that sets boundaries to preserve and protect the other so that they can be all they were created to be, cannot come from human reason, will, feelings or even understanding. It can only come from God himself.

John later writes in his letters, ìBeloved, let us love one another, because love is from GodÖif we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in usÖ[for] God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in him.î (1John 4)
What this means is that love isn’t real love unless its source is found in God. As creatures whose lives are broken by sin, it is only by the power of God’s abiding presence that we CAN love one another at all. It is only when we restÖabide in this kind of love, that we can get beyond ourselves and give love away for the sake of another. In other wordsÖwe must die to ourselves, and LIVE for Christ. How hard can that be?

Apparently, pretty hard. Our Tuesday morning Women’s Bible study has been working our way through Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. In this letter we find the texts that have fueled some of the greatest church fights over sexuality and the place of women in the church. Paul is the pastor of an infant, rebellious, over-zealous, bickering body of believers that can’t seem to love one another as Christ has first loved them. Not unlike some aspects of Christ’s church on earth today.

Last week, we finally got to Paul’s famous chapter on LoveÖ1 Corinthians 13 – the Hymn of love where Paul writes: ìLove is patient and kind; not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on it’s own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrong but rejoices in the right., Love bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things endures all things. Love never endsÖ.î

I asked the gals if they knew ANYONE who fit this description of Love –someone who managed to love this way all the time. WellÖno they said. Sometimes this kind of love happens, they thought, often in spite of ourselves, love happens. But, they conceded, there is only ONE person who truly LOVES this way. And that person is Jesus Christ. ONLY JESUS modeled this kind of love! SoÖwhat does that mean? WellÖ I believe it takes me back to my opening statement. IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE! Why? Because it I don’t die to my ego, I can’t live within Christ’s presence and become his hands, his feet and his heart of love. And that’s the way it is with God’s love. When we seek His love first in our lives; when we abide in it, struggle and grow in it; trusting that God’s love is more powerful than our own, we discover that we CAN die to ourselves, and be reborn to moments of rebirth in which LOVE HAPPENS.

So, let’s be bold and let go of our funky, restless, helpless, ego-driven selves. Let that part of us DIE again, and again and again. Daily, as Martin Luther dares to demand! For it IS a good day to DIE so that LOVE might truly be born. Amen.

GUIDED BY THE GOSPEL: GATHERING • GROWING • GIVING