Easter Sunday April 10, 1966

THE LIVING CHRIST; CONTRA-"GOD IS DEAD"

In the wovie, "The Life of Zola", there is a remarkeble court scene.
Hrile Zole wes battling to reopen the Dreyfus affair, but his evidence was
not edmitted end his witnesses were not sllowed to testify. \ Finally the
Judge declared that it wes a closed case.\ As they were leaving the court-
room, Zola's lawyer pointed to a murel sbove the judgets head. | It was a
painting of the Crucifixion. \ The lewyer said, "thet, too, Was once rercerded
es a 'Glosed Gase'."

4oie battied on and ultimately the-closed-ease was-reopened—end— Dreyfus
wes-eacauitted. I presume that, indeed, the Roman officials and the Chief
Priests considered the cese of one Jesus of Nazareth to be closed. | To the
Romens he had been nothing rore than e minor nuisance - in a land where major
problems were occuring dn ity.\ Actually, he had done nothing to upset them
in the first place; but it had become expedient to cooperate with the Jewish
Figh Court and execute hime. | It was another matter to the officaldom of
Judaism. \ Jesus hed ceeseeeee a clesr threat to the authority of the
orissthood - BY word end deed he had not only broken the law, but publicly
insulted those who devoutly kept it.\ And worst of all, he had the people
with him. \ How they must have sighed in relief as he wes taken down from

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the cross. | How glad they must have been to be done with the whole messy

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business as his body was buried in the tomb. | That they considered him a
threat - even in death, however - is proven by the fact that they requested
and received a cordon of Roman guerds to be placed about the tomb. \ It was
certainly - a closed case.
You know, it is almost impossible to imagine the’ course of history of
Western civilization hed it remained a closed orse.\ It is quite impossible

to think historically apart from the effect the fect of Christ's resurrection

has had on thet history.

Thes¢

me 2 ie

And yet, in a sense, some are seying today that it was s closed case,
l refer to the new school of theology which has announced the desth of God.

I assure that you heve read sbout it and heerd about it - in that it is todey

the fashionable thing to discuss, and not a newspaper or macazgine worth its
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selt has neglected to give it coverage.\| This week's issue of Tine asked
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on the cover - in bold red letters ~ "Is God poner} As I began to think
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about an Easter Sermon this year, I intended to discuss the issue raised by
theologians in some detail.\ In preparation, I read everything I could get
my hands on regarding the dehate.\ I had it all outlined, documented and
illustrated. \ And then as I sat down to put it on paper, the thought occurred
to me thet the whole vroject was | I had just concluded a series

of three worshiy services having to do with the last super and crucifixion

of Jesus Christ. After each service I stopred in at this buildings to visit
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briefly with those who were generously giving their own time to brine it to
completion. e: decided that to discuss the death of God debate with this
group of' domentpptng, sacrificing Christians was about as relevant as
addressing the Dyer Garden Club on the subject of whe ther or not roses
really exist.

I don't know that I've ever quoted Billy Graham in a serron before, and
I don't know that I ever will again - but his response to reporters!
question about his thourhts regarding the death of God debate was classic.
"God couldn't be dead",)he said, "I just telked to him this morning." I
think he was speaking for many men who know God as a living reality in
their lives; who have felt the power of God; who have been Lifted up or
made humble by a reality that could only be God.\| And so, if anyone wishes

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to discuss the matter in detail, I will be only too havny to do so = but

not in an faster Serron.

The rercson I mention it at all, is that it does provide a convenient
entry into what I really want to sey. \ as I understand it, the leading
Death of God theolosrizn, Thomes J4 Altizeé, is sayine thst God once existed -
but no lenrer does. | He has, in fact, died. | AS a transcendent beine who is
ever present - creating end re-creating - God does not exist. | What is
irportant about this assertion is the fact that many peorle act es if it
were rue s\ veorte who are horrified by the very idea. \ The well known
Congrevationalist minister, Chalmers Cos, has said, ("Even the most impeccable
Churchmen srong us heherye, for ell the world, es though God were ron-existent,

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end are not so much intellectual as practical atheists," }

For many peoole, resipious faith is totally irrelevent - the question
of God has notning whetever to do with the on-going, day by dey task of
livine. | re they believe in a God he rirht se well be desd *ecause he has
nothine whrtever to do with their lives. [tronically, neny of therm would
point to the Church rs the source of their theolorical cynicisn. | "Look at
the Church} they say with teiling interrrity, end then tell me that
Christienity is vital and nlive.\ hveryone of your menhers has publicly
confessed his faith snd oronised to give his whole life to Christ and his
kinedom on carts And vet only sbout one-third of those people can be

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counted on to worship rerulerly. | They promised to clive their whole lives;
and in terms of real piving, 1t totals shout B2.CO e week." \ "Look st the
Church," they would say. "Committed ta one Lord, one Faith, one Revtism;:
and they spend more time competing with e:ch other than they do comneting
with the evil in the worta.| Look at the Church. Committed to loving one
another, and if a Negro walked into some of their senctueries, oalf the
concreration would get up and leave."

If God is ceed in the minds of our nedrinore:|i¢ God has ceased to

exist as a mecnineful idea in our cukture -~ it is the Church that murt

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shoulder most of the diame «\ For it is to the CGhurch ~ to vou and me ~

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that the world locks for sore hint thet he does exist.

And so, we come back to the point of our own taitn.| Where doas it

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bepin? j'yhat does it inelude® \ wost particular understandable nail does
& 7S Ae 2 \ Pp CULlEr UNCEDS

it heng on? | At this point we discover that we are vulnerable; we find that

ramy peoole have no- faith - but only a colleetions of pious odde and ends
. \ : . ps .
thet they have picked ur alonr the ways For instence, many would find the

focal point of frith in neture;\and yet, besides sharing this view with
PIES NY : .
rillions of pavans, these persons must admit to a creat deal of ampiravi

——

7.
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For nature provices tkillins hurricanes as well es soft 'reez’s, and terrible

floods eg well es spring rains... Othere would lodge their faith in the

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mystical poodness of men; | but ‘orld War II, Aushwitz end Dachau leave that
hn bees Ly mr m ae
argurent without foundption, \ Still others would have as their faith the

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ethical imeeratives of the Sermon on the vount.| Relirion, for them, is

sirvly leading a coad lite. \ wat, as one modern theolorisn has ocointed out,

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"the tree worshipners were very moral and kind seonie”.| And as I keep
discovering, some of the world's most humanitarien peotle are those who have

Giscarded belief in God ~ and thereby know that the welfare of humanity is

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nmants control, not Godts,

And finaily, there are those whose God is a blenk - a cray.spot of
rwystery in the mind, a distant deity whom one addresses in sonorous tones;
but takes none too seriously. \ tn reality, there peovle are firet cousins
to the true atheist whe has had the couracre at tleast to sffirm his
unbelief.

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‘qhere, then, do you hang your Faith? \ How do vou know what you think
you know shout nod? \ shere is the tangible instant in time that you cen

point to and sey, "There is my God”.

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The Church hes always found that when the chins are down;|when the
loric of men has brought everthine else into doubt and question - one thing
rerains and thst is an er-pty torch. \ Strengely enough, it is precisely this
point - this mrtter of resurrection thet is the least understandable and

logical affirmation we rake. | And yet, it is on this point that cour
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relicious feith rests A Take it sway and there is nothing Jeft.
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why is 1t so irnortant? | Consider the Few Testament messare without
it. \ Jorns of Nazareth was nothing rore than s wiscuided idealist at bert.
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At worst, he wes a freud.\ fe tried hard; he taught about love and cherity:
he spoke about an eternal love that follows men throurh de-sth into eternal
Lite. \ Sut then he cot into trouble with the authorities and was executed.

\ "
That wes it.\ hice try - Jesus. \Parbe someone else will do better.
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«_ 8 — . . .
Or think of what it makes the Siscinies. \ If Jesus Christ did not rise

from the erave, they weré the worst bunch of scoundrels in history. | Sat is
it possible to think in these terms at all without stretchins our

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imaginations ta the breaaing point? \ Is it norsible to iragine the disciples

in # locked room after the terrible and friehtenins experience of his errest
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and crucifixion - rationally plottine to go out and deceive the world? \ 7s
it possible to itserine Peter addressing them: f
Moo IIS ee,

"Gentlemen, Wetve had a4

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terpvorary set back. \ Cur Lord, execuce mé, the one we believed was our Lord,

obviously wesn't sil he thourht he wes. ut never rind. Let's «o on about

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our business, Let's conauer the world for him - just for the fum of it."¢%

Cr is it possible to belie:e that, one by one, ther sil experienced the
geme stesanee halucinetion: and then on this besis went out to persurde the
a . in

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whole Voran Brpire? j Dis thes live and rladiy-and floriously die for a

pross ile?

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You see, up to the point of “esurrection, all we have is a nice story

ebout a good man who died for a losing cause.\ A martyr - no more, no less,

it is the resurrection that defines our feith. | It was the aD; errance of
Jesus in the midst that convinced the dtucipiee thet he wes the Lord, And
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it hes been his real presence in the lives of men thet has enabled Christianity
to survive persecutions, indifference and the sheer weight of 2,000 years,
You see, it is throuch the door of the open tomb that we look beck at

the life of Jes.s and have the audacity to claim thet he was God incarnete.

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without this - there is nothing.

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ad

As Christians, we know God:\we heve religious faith only through Jesus

Christ. | And Jesus becomes the Christ for us, beeause he was dead but is now
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alive. \ We are Christians beceuse we know him, not as ea dead mertyr, hut as
a living Lord.*+ One whose resurrected presence we experience in each other,
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in our personel jJives, and as we gether around his table.\| It is not a
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delusiom. \It is for us, who know him, a reality - a fact - the most

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important fact in all of life.
I want to conclude by reading to you - part of an editorial that

appeared lest week in The Christien Century. |Every now and then, one comes
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across something that erticulates and deliniates one's own thinking.\ The
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editorial did this for me, and I hone you will find it meaningful ss well.

It apneared under the title, "with Glad snd Grateful Hearts".
"Most clergymen feel that ss presechers they are never at
their best on “aster Sunday, and for most of ther, this is true.

Why this ~ one the day in the cslendar thet should draw forth the

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preecher's finest power, the day celebrat.ng the pivotal even in

Christian tredition?

ed

sm Sm

"We can blame the hectic schedule that vreceeds Faster.
{an excuse I find particularly meaningful this veer) 2ut
perhaps his unusurl inadequacy. is and index of a fact rbout
himself and Hester.

For, however learned he may be, this dey's proclametion
thet God raised his deed son leads everyman to depths and heichts,
mysteries and glories, where enalysis, explanstion and descrintion
falter, and men either affirm, praise end pive thanks, or stend
wistfully outside the Easter pageentry. ‘These sre human experiences
of such intensity that they reduce the most articulate men to

aeroan, a sigh, a gasp. Fester is such an experience.

The Preacher who feels adequate before the “of God

reising up his son deceives himself. Whatever it is at other times,
preachinre is - by this event, reduced and therefore eleveted to
proclametion. For the Saster act requires not that it be
analyzed, argued, defended; but thet it be announced, trumpeted,
sung, vrocleimed and mingled in the common greetings of men to
men.

Tne vreecherts sense of futility about his Haster sermon
rises from attempts to add to whet hes been verfectliy done in
the | All tnet is need is that he end his veovle,

with elad and preteful hearts, accept and proclaim the risen

Christ."

Thus - my frustration et not being able to clarify whet is alreedy

crystal clear; jand my joy in simply being able - as your pastor - to share

with you, gladly and gratefully, the truth thet "Fe is not here; for he has

risen", He is a livine Christ,

Amen.