Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

The following is a very rough draft of the sermon. I could turn out very different than what you read here. I value your thoughts about it and suggestions. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster


Note: The capitol format is what I use in the first draft of a sermon before I hand write it for the worship service.


THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE COLOR WHITE THAT YOU FIND IN ALL THE ACCOUNTS OF EASTER. WHITE! IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK THERE IS A YOUNG MAN IN A WHITE ROBE AT THE TOMB. IN MATTHEW THERE WAS AN ANGEL WHOSE FACE SHONE LIKE LIGHTENING AND WHOSE ROBE WAS WHITE AS SNOW. IN LUKE’S GOSPEL THERE WERE TWO MEN STANDING AT THE TOMB IN DAZZELING APPAREL, AND IN JOHN’S WE READ THIS MORNING THERE WERE TWO ANGELS IN WHITE.
THE COLOR IS WHITE THIS MORNING. WE SEE THE WHITE LILIES UP HERE IN FRONT. WE SEE WHITE ON STOLES ON THE MINISTERS. THE LITURGICAL COLOR IS WHITE. WHITE ISN’T A COLOR IT IS THE PRESENCE OF ALL COLOR.
THURSDAY NIGHT OUR TEENAGERS REENACTED THE LAST SUPPER AND THEY HAD NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE AND IF YOU WATCHED THEM YOU SAW THEY HAD NO CLUE WHAT THEY WERE DOING. SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THEM WHEN THEY STUCK THE POSE OF THE DIVINCI PAINTING. THEY WERE TRANSFORMED. WE WERE ALL TRANSFORMED. ALL THE DISCIPLES WERE THERE. EVERYONE WAS THERE BUT JESUS. HE WAS PORTRAYED BY A CANDLE; A WHITE CANDLE
IF ANY OF US HAD TRIED TO REENACT THE DIVINCI LAST SUPPER WE WOULDN’T HAVE HAD A CLUE EITHER. WE WOULD HAVE WONDERED WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT.
FRIDAY WE WENT TO BLACK. WE STARTED THE SERVICE IN LIGHT AND WE GRADUATED OURSELVES DOWN TO DIM AND THEN TO DARK AND THEN WE WENT TO THE COLOR BLACK. NOW BLACK IS NOT A COLOR. BLACK IS THE ABSENCE OF COLOR.
TODAY THE COLOR IS WHITE. WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH A TIME WHEN WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING AND IT WENT TO BLACK BUT TODAY THE COLOR IS WHITE AND WHITE IS THE PRESENCE OF COLOR. IT WAS A DARK AND STORY NIGHT BUT THERE IS A SIGN OF REIGN. THE REIGN OF GOD. THE POWER OF GOD. THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE COLOR IS WHITE.
IT HAPPENED IN A CHURCH. IT HAS HAPPENED IN OTHER CHURCHES AND IT MAY HAVE HAPPENED HERE. IT HAPPENED IN MY HOME CHURCH WHERE I GREW UP. I SAW IT HAPPEN. IT HAPPENED IN CHURCH IN A SANCTUARY ON EASTER SUNDAY. IT WAS A WOMAN DRESSED IN WHITE.
EDNA HAD SUNG IN THE CHOIR FOR YEARS. SHE HAD ALSO SUNG IN THE CONCERT HALL. HER VOICE WAS TRAINED; LIKE “JULIARD TRAINED”. HER PROFESSOR WAS A MAN NAMED BLACK BUT SHE WAS A WOMAN IN A WHITE DRESS.
WHAT A VOICE! WHAT A TREMENDOUS SOPRANO VOICE! IT WAS THE KIND OF VOICE THAT COULD RAISE THE ROOF; OR THE DEAD. IT WAS THE KIND OF VOICE THAT WOULD ALERT THE LIVING TO THE FACT THAT LIFE IS GOOD. THE WOMAN DRESSED IN WHITE.
IT HAD BEEN A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT FOR HER BUT THERE WAS A CHANCE OF REIGN; THE REIGN OF GOD.
SOMETHING HAPPENED ABOUT A YEAR AGO. SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT WITH HER. SHE KNEW AT FIRST AND COVERED IT PRETTY WELL PRETENDING TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND BUT REALLY NOT QUITE GETTING IT. IT WAS FRIGHTENING AND SHE TRIED VALLIANTLY TO KEEP IT TO HERSELF BUT THERE CAME A POINT SHE COULD NO LONGER CONCEAL THE CONFUSION.
THINGS THAT ONCE CAME NATURALLY TO HER BECAME A CHALLENG SHE COULD NOT QUITE GRASP.
HER MIND, ONCE SHARP, NOW WAS BEGINNING TO DIM TO THE POINT THAT IT WAS BULENT AND THOUGHT WAS PAINFUL.
IT WAS AS IF THEE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN HER MIND, ONE BY ONE, SLOWLY YET ENEXORABLY.
ALZHEIMERS TOOK HER IN ITS GRIP AND SHE HAD TO DROP OUT OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS NEAR AND DEAR TO HER AND IT WAS A LOSS FOR ALL CONCERNED.
NO MORE VOLUNTEER WORK AT THE HOSPITAL WHERE HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN ONE OF THE SURGEONS.
NO MORE CONCERTS AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER.
NO MORE STANDING BEHIND A DESK AT THE BANK WHERE SHE WAS EMPLOYED.
NO MORE SOLOS IN THE CHURCH CHOIR.
NO MORE CHURCH UNTIL SHE GOT THE MEDICINE RIGHT.
THE WOMAN WITH THE WHITE DRESS. HER NAME WAS EDNA. THE NAME EDNA COMES FROM THE WORD EDEN. IT MEANS PARADISE.
AND EASTER SUNDAY CAME AND SHE WENT WITH HER FAMILY TO CHURCH TO WORSHIP; TO THE FAMILIAR PLACE; AND THE FAMILIAR FACES.
SHE WASN’T SURE WHERE SHE WAS BUT SHE KNEW IT WAS A PLACE SHE LIKED TO BE. AND THE PEOPLE WHO SPOKE TO HER SHD DIDN’T KNOW WHO THEY WERE BUT THEY SEEMED TO BE HAPPY TO SEE HER AND THEY WERE.
IT WAS A WARM PLACE; THE FLOWERS WERE BEAUTIFUL BUT IT WAS A BIT STRANGE FOR HER; THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE DRESS NAMED EDNA—IN PARADISE. IT WAS A STRANGE PLACE UNTIL…….
DURING THE FIRST HYMN AND THE CONGREGATION STOOD AND THE HYMNALS WERE AIMED AND LIFTED HIGH AND THE ORGAN WHEEZED AND THE CONGREGATION BEGAN TO SING, “CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN…TODAY.”
AND THE WOMAN WITH THE WHITE DRESS DID SOMETHING SHE HADN’T DONE IN MONTHS. SHE OPENED HER MOUTH AND SHE SANG.
OBLIVIOUS TO HER SURROUNDINGS; IMPERVIOUS TO THE PEOPLE LOOKING, SHE SANG WITH ALL THE POWER OF THAT MAGNIFICENT VOICE—A VOICE THAT COULD CARRY A CHOIR THROUGH A CANTATA. IT WAS POWERFUL AND MAGNIFICENT AND THE CONGREGATION BEGAN TO HEAR IT LIKE THEY REMEMBERED IT AND ONE BY ONE THEY STOPPED SINGING.
THE ORGANIST REALIZED WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND SHE SLOWED DOWN THE PACE AND THE PIPES LINED UP WITH THE CADENCE OF THE WOMAN WITH THE WHITE DRES WHO HAD NOW BECOME SOLOIST.
CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY
EARTH AND HEAVEN IN CHORUS SAY
RAISE YOUR JOYS AND TRIUMPHS HIGH
SING YE HEAVENS AND EARTH REPLY.”
THE ORGANIST FINALLY STOPPED PLAYING AND THE SOLO TURNED A COPELLA AND THE WOMAN IN WHITE FINISHED THE HYMN FROM MEMORY NOT EVEN LOOKING AT THE BOOK AND THEN IT WAS OVER AND THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN.
AND FOR A BRIEF MOMENT IN TIME WHAT WAS THOUGHT TO BE DEAD AND GONE WAS ALIVE AND PRESENT. FOR A BRIEF MOMENT IN TIME THE CHURCH HAD A GLIMPSE OF A GREATNESS THAT COULD NOT BE STIFFLED BY DEGENERATION.
DEMINTIA WAS DEFEATED FOR A MOMENT AND ONE LITTLE CHILD SAID TO HIS MOTHER AS THEY SAT IN THE PEW, “WHO IS THAT WOMAN IN THE WHITE DRESS, MOMMA AND WHY ARE PEOPLE CRYING?”
AND HIS MOTHER TURNED AND SAID TO HER SON, “THAT WOMEN IN THE WHITE DRESS IS WHAT EASTER IS ALL ABOUT.”
GOD MET THEM AT THE TOMB
GOD MEETS US AT THE TOMB OF DIMINISHMENT.
ALWAYS—ALWAYS TO SPEAK, TO WALK, TO SEIZE SOMETHING BY THE HAND AND WILL SAY TO ANYONE WHO LOOKS AT THE THINGS THAT CHANGE FOR THE WORSE AT THE WAY LIFE DISINTEGRATES AT THE DIMISHMENTS WE FACE; AGE WILL DO IT, BUT WE CAN FACE IT, GRIEF WILL DO IT, WE CAN FACE IT, NOTHING THAT WAS IS EVER GONE. EASTER IS ABOUT CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN…..NOT THEN, NOT THERE, BUT HERE AND NOW—IN US. THE WOMAN IN WHITE; EDNA; SHE WAS IN PARADISE.
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT AND THERE WAS A CHANCE OF REIGN; THE REIGN OF GOD.
IT HAPPENED IN THE DARK RECESSES OF A BASKETBALL ARENA IN CHICAGO. THERE WAS A MAN DRESSED IN WHITE AND HE WORE SHORTS AND A SHIRT AND THERE WAS A BIG RED NUMBER ON HIS BACK. IT WAS NUMBER 23. BUT I GET AHEAD OF MYSELF.
A LITTLE CHILD NAMED CORNELIUS ABRAHAM MCGEE WAS 6 YEARS OLD WHEN HE AND HIS 4 YEAR OLD BROTHER LATTIE WERE TORTURED.
IT WAS A LONG HOT SUMMER AND THE BOYS WERE BEATEN AND STARVED AND HANGED UPSIDE DOWN IN A LOCKED CLOSET MOUTHS TAPED SHUT AND FEET TIED TO A CLOSET ROD AND BURNED WITH A HOT IRON.
NO ONE KNEW BECAUSE NO ONE HEARD AND NO ONE TOLD. LITTLE LATTIE DIED AND HIS MOTHER AND HER BOY FRIEND WENT TO TRIAL AND WERE SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON LARGELY BECAUSE OF THE TESTIMONY OFFERED BY CORNELIUS.
A WRITER FROM A CHICAGO NEWSPAPER GOT INVOLVED AND HE DID MORE THAN WRITE ABOUT THE LITTLE BOY HE TOOK AN INTEREST.
HE DISCOVERED THAT CORNELIUS LOVED BASKETBALL. HE MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO TAKE HIM TO A GAME AND THAT’S WHERE HE MET THE MAN DRESSED IN WHITE WITH THE NUMBER 23 ON HIS BACK—MICHAEL JORDAN.
CORNELIUS GOT TO MEET MICHAEL JORDAN.
THE MEETING WAS DRAMATIC. IT WAS AN EVENT.
WIDE WITH FRIGHTENED EYES; EYES THAT HAD SEEN THINGS NO HUMAN SHOULD EVER SEE THE LITTLE BOY WITH THE WIDE EYES AND HE SAID NOTHING AS THEY WALKED DOWN THE STAIRWAY AND THE DOOR OPENED AND THE MAN DRESSED IN WHITE STOOD AND LEANED DOWN.
“HI CORNELIUS, I’M MICHAEL. YOU GOING TO CHEER FOR US TONIGHT. WE’RE GOING TO NEED IT. I WANT YOU TO SIT BESIDE ME ON THE BENCH.”
RIGHT NEXT TO MICHAEL JORDAN, THE GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER TO PLAY THE GAME.
WHEN JORDAN WAS ON THE COURT CORNELIUS WOULD BE SAVING HIS SEAT FOR HIM. NOTHING COULD BRING HIS BROTHER BACK. NOTHING COULD UNDO WHAT HAD BEEN DONE. BUT CORNELIUS WAS SITTING IN A CHAIR NEXT TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER AND HE WAS DOING SOMETHING HE HADN’T DONE IN MONTHS; HE WAS LAUGHING OUT LOUD. HE WAS LAUGHING OUT LOUD FOR THE FIRST TIME.
A LITTLE BOY WATCHES A HERO
A LITTLE BOY LEARNS TO LAUGH AGAIN
A LITTLE BOY LAUGHING OUT LOUD FOR THE FIRST TIME.
A LITTLE BOY WHO HAD LITTLE REASON TO LOOK FORWARD INTO HIS LIFE BEGINS TO SEE THAT THERE IS A FUTURE IN THE HUMAN STORY.
BUT THIS IS NOT JUST THE TALE OF A CHILD AND HIS HERO; CHARMING AS IT IS.
REMEMBER JAMES JORDAN; MICHAEL JORDAN’S FATHER? JAMES JORDAN WAS MURDERED. TWO YOUNG MEN ROBBED HIM; THEN THEY KILLED HIM. IT WAS WEEKS BEFORE THEY FOUND THE BODY. WHEN THE MAN DRESSED IN WHITE WITH THE NUMBER 23 ON HIS BACK KNELT DOWN AND LOOKED INTO THE EYES OF A LITTLE BOY AND THE TWO OF THEM LOOKED AT EACH OTHER SOMETHING HAPPENED; IT ALWAYS HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE HAVE THE COURAGE TO STARE VIOLENCE DOWN.
THE SCORE OF THE BASKETBALL GAME DOESN’T MATTER; WHO WON; WHO LOST. THE ADORATION OF A SUPERSTAR IS SHALLOW; TWO MEN—CORNELIUS, AGE 9, MICHAEL JORDAN AT HIS PEAK. TWO MEN LOOKED VIOLENCE IN THE EYE.
LIKE ANOTHER MAN THEY CALLED JESUS; SUPERSTAR; SAVIOR; THE CHILD; HEROIC FIGURES WHO WALKED THROUGH THE VALLEY OF VIOLENCE AND VIOLENCE DID NOT PREVAIL.
HEROIC FIGURES WHO LEARNED IF YOU TAKE AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH ALL PEOPLE WILL BE BLIND AND WILL HAVE TO EAT WITH SORE GUMS.
HEROIC FIGURES WHO LEANED TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK, WHO LEARNED TO TRUST THAT ALTHOUGH THERE ARE PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH WHO ARE MEAN AND HATEFUL MOST PEOPLE ARE THOUGHTFUL; MOST PEOPLE ARE KIND; MOST PEOPLE ARE FULL OF COMPASSION.
HEROIC FIGURES WHO WOULD NOT GIVE IN TO VIOLENCE BY TURNING BITTER.
HEROIC FIGURES WHO UNDERSTAND THERE IS A FUTURE TO THE STORY; THERE IS A FUTURE TO THE HUMAN STORY.
VIOLENCE IS A THREAT TO ALL OF US; IT TOOK A BROTHER; IT TOOK A FATHER; IT TOOK THE SON OF GOD; IT TAKES OUR MOTHERS AND OUR SISTERS.
AND YET ONE LITTLE AFRICAN AMERICAN BOY AND HIS FRIEND, THE ONE DRESSED IN WHITE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER FACE TO FACE AND STARING VIOLENCE DOWN A LITTLE BOY LAUGHED AND A SUPERSTAR SMILED AND THERE IS A FUTURE TO THE HUMAN STORY.
GOD MET THEM AT THE TOMB; GOD MEETS US AT THE TOMB OF VIOLENCE AND GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF VIOLENCE ALWAYS—ALWAYS TO SPEAK; TO WALK; TO SEIZE SOMETHING BY THE HAND.

GOD MET THEM AT THE TOMB AND THERE WAS SOMEONE DRESSED IN WHITE; THE PRESENCE OF ALL COLORS AND IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT BUT THERE WAS A CHANCE OF REIGN; THE REIGN OF GOD WHICH COMES WHENEVER SOMEONE REMEMBERS A SONG AND SINGS IT; WHENEVER ONE OF US OR ALL OF US STAND UP TO VIOLENCE BY REMEMBERING THAT WE WORSHIP ONE WHO WAS CRUCIFIED BUT STILL LIVES WHOM WE CALL THE PRINCE OF PEACE.