The Park Road Pulpit
Sermons from Park Road Baptist Church
Russ and Amy Jacks Dean, Pastors
Dancing When You Are Cold and Hungry
Matthew 28:1-10
Amy Jacks Dean, March 31, 2002
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. I stand along side Mary Magdalene and a whole host of other faithful followers throughout history who share this faith story. It is unbelievable. It is extraordinary. It is Easter. Today’s Scripture is taken from Matthew’s perspective, but we could have read Mark’s story or Luke’s account or John’s version. None of these four gospel tellings tell it the same way. That’s the beauty of the gospel story. The gospel story is always told from our own perspective. And so Mark has points that are important to his telling, and Matthew takes Mark’s account and adds a little here and some more there. Luke adds a little of this, and John emphasizes a little of that. But one element they each include is that Mary Magdalene was there. So, just as Mary stood before the faithful (and the not so faithful) followers some 2000 years ago to bear witness to resurrection, I stand before you today to do the same.
I’ll have to tell four stories. Two of the stories I have witnessed with my own two eyes and felt with my very own heart. The other two stories I have only read.
I had just pulled the white angel dress over my head, and I was tying the string at the neck – just settling in to the not-so-slimming attire of a Park Road Baptist Church Tableau angel – when we got word from Frank Porter that Renee Wade was about to have babies. I quickly recruited another angel to take my place, and Russ and I headed to the hospital. There we were, just days before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, standing beside a hospital bed holding the hands of a mother and a father who had been through so much. They were frightened and excited – tears of joy and tears of uncertainty and fear flowed. We all held hands and had a prayer, and then all but Deke and Renee waited in the waiting room. We were patient for a long while. Eventually though, the women waiters eased our way down the hall and eavesdropped outside the Wades’ door. The men waiters didn’t even seem to notice that we were gone. But after a while they too made their way down that hall and found us, and then we all waited there outside that door. There’s a saying that goes “Every time a baby is born it brings with it the Hope that God is not disappointed with humanity.” (TA Gore) And so when Renee asked if they could have Cameron and Crawford dedicated on Easter Sunday, I said that I could think of no better way to celebrate resurrection than to offer a blessing on these long-awaited, hard-fought bundles of God’s love and joy.
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. God is not disappointed in us. God has hope that we can be faithful. Each new birth is a reminder of Life and the goodness of it. Fear and Joy – together. Resurrection indeed.
It is Matthew’s story – filled with excitement and mystery, earthquakes and angels, and a message: don’t be afraid - go and tell the others. That devoted disciple, Mary Magdalene was there - recorded as the first to bear witness to resurrection which is a pioneering detail. “The testimony of women was not considered valid in a court of law at the time – women were deemed unreliable witnesses. But Good News can’t be contained. The one who knows it always has to run and tell someone else. So it was with Mary Magdalene who passed the word on. And from her testimony, the word spread around Jerusalem, across the globe, and through the ages.” (Joyce Hollyday in Sojourners Magazine, March-April 1995.)
What strikes me about Matthew’s telling of the story is that he says, “they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” (verse 8) That is the Easter story. It is one of fear, doubt, and even disbelief. Yet it is, all at the same time, a story of great joy.
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. I’ve read Matthew’s account, and I heard Fear and Joy – together. Resurrection indeed.
I have spoken before of my sixteen-year-old nephew’s tragic death as the result of a head injury from a car crash. It all happened 3 years ago this month. We hear more and more about organ transplants and the miraculous advances of modern medicine to offer more and better life to those who receive organ transplants. But we do not hear nearly as much about the donor’s family. My nephew Kevin was an organ donor. And so when the doctors told us, and we finally accepted the fact that Kevin’s brain could no longer withstand the trauma, the organ procurement teams from SC and NC, OH and VA sprang into action. On May 5, 1999, Kevin was brain dead, and on May 6, 1999, two men in their 60’s were prepped for surgery at the Duke University Medical Center where Kevin’s right lung was placed inside a man named Claude and Kevin’s left lung was place inside a man named Harold. In just the last few months, our family has received letters from these two men. Harold writes, “I have tried and tried to come up with the words that would be appropriate for what had transpired with your young son and my being a recipient of his left lung . . . I feel excited, I feel like jumping through hoops every time I realize the new life I have received. I could use every superlative in the dictionary and none could express my gratitude to you, your family and your son . . .I can never say enough and a simple thank you doesn’t do it.” Claude writes, “We will be forever grateful to you for your generous donation of an organ from your son. There isn’t a day goes by that we don’t say a prayer of thanksgiving . . . Even in our joy of the prospect of better health, the shadow of your son’s death was ever present. I feel a great sadness for your family and want you to know my family is so appreciative of the `second chance’ for all of us through my better health . . . Words seem so inadequate, but I thank you daily.”
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. On the day of the worst pain I have personally known, other families experienced joy and hope. Because of the testimony of resurrection, today Kevin lives in the forever presence of God. Forever in our memories. And forever, quite literally, in others. Sadness and Joy together. Resurrection indeed.
In her book Clothed With the Sun, Joyce Hollyday writes about a woman named Nicole. This young woman had known trauma, abuse, and neglect. Her mother was imprisoned, their family was poor, and her life was a mess. Hollyday writes, “There was never enough money. Once, after asking for money for food, [Nicole] came back the next day asking for more. When I questioned her, she confessed, `Charlie and I used it to go dancing.’ Before I could react, she pleaded with the innocent smile of a fifteen-year-old, `Isn’t it OK to dance when you’re hungry?’” Hollyday continues with Nicole’s story, “I will never forget a cold winter night when Nicole called to tell me that the heat had been cut off at the house because of an unpaid bill. I drove over to the house, expecting to find the family huddled together around the open oven for warmth. Instead, as I approached the house, I heard music blaring from the top floor. Inside, the family was dancing. The youngest child was giggling as she tried to show her bent-over grandmother how to pirouette and boogie at the same time. Pillows were flying and everyone was laughing, and Nicole shouted to me over the din, `We’re trying to keep warm!’ . . . Nicole walked into my life on a Good Friday, and we never really got past it.” In what I think is a profound statement, Joyce Hollyday says, “If there is any resurrection at all in [Nicole’s] life, I suppose it is that she has learned to dance when she is cold and hungry.” (pages 61-64)
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. Cold and Hungry and Dancing. Resurrection indeed.
We have heard throughout our lives Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John bear witness to resurrection. We have heard Mary Magdalene bear witness. We have heard countless other preachers and teachers and faithful followers of the Way bearing witness to resurrection. Today, you have heard me bear witness to resurrection: the birth of babies - terrifying and exciting, Matthew’s empty tomb where there was fear and great joy, organ transplants where deep sadness and hope abound, and a young woman who learned that she could dance when she was cold and hungry.
This holy day of celebration and worship is about resurrection. It is about God’s desire for us to live – really live – abundant and full lives here – even in the midst of sadness, doubt, and fear. And it is about a Blessed Hope that we will always live in the forever presence of God.
I stand before you today to bear witness to resurrection. It is my hope that you will all stand with me and be bearers of this Good News. May it be so.
Grant us eyes this day, O God, that could see resurrection.
Grant us ears this day, O God, that we could hear resurrection.
Grant us hearts this day, O God, that we could feel resurrection.
Grant us voices – today – that we might bear witness to
resurrection. Amen.