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Aug. 12th, 2005 01:12 pm(quikc get it down before you lose it time I guesss)
there is no third use of the law what purpose is there for something designed to convict and kill what are you gonna do, kill him again? so what are we to DO with all this grace once killed and resurrected by the power of the word? what do we do at any funeral? there's a saying that some pastors try to preach the deceased into heaven and they warn you about doing that in homiletics classes. so the really good ones though, they preach teh deceased alive for a few minutes, we hear that voice inimitably in our ears ("... well. what's the matter with pie?" in the sweet by and by?) and we know them, in the full scope of their life for a few more minutes, the whole container of their beautiful efforts, their striving, their love, their tiny triumphs and maybe just a touch of their failures, but then we hear about the restless resurrecting man lurking about the periphery ("jesus loves a fresh tomb!") and we taste that resurrection for a moment and everything is all brand sparkling new again, all a quiver with the Promise-- the one that creates the very faith that believes in promises and you sense like it's all going the right way.
The great funeral sermons make you hear the deceased, make that person live again. It's the essence of the already-not-yet eschatological tension in every moment. So if we were to imbue all our preaching with the urgency of a funeral, we no longer need trouble ourselves with ticky tack convolutions like "the third use of the law" because where ... HOW... does something that only knows how to kill have power in a place where that restless Nazarene is busy doing his death's work? ("christians live with one foot still out of the grave! and Jesus won't rest until he's pulled that sinner right through, right through death into new life") no use of the law for the risen body, with the crucified Jesus fulfilling its every stricture there in the foreground. So how we must proclaim the "what next" isperhaps exactly how we might do it at a funeral: look at our beloved friend, hear his voice and the small marvels of his personal history. LOok on his works! (ye mighty, and despair) and know that he has hopes and longings for you, then get out of here, he's free, you know. beyond care, beyond our vainglorious wantings and our ill expressed needs. he's exactly as free as death makes a person from itself. so much he can do now that was impossible: live on in stories, move you to tears (and bad halting offkey singing) to learn one of his favorite hymns is also one of yours (LBW 479), inspire you with service, resonate in the faces of family members who look so familiar, end arguments, resist pain, hate nothing, keep secrets, be trusted, fear nothing. so much you can do now that you're dead and on the way through, taht no one else can and what grace is this that pours out round us? what need is there for instructions in a state like this? what tablets are held before these resurrected eyes? no law touches you now. In this same place stands a whole congregation, the whole church, transparent to the kingdom, liquid and unboudn . You remember the voice and the mannerisms, and everyone laughs to recall his wisdom. and for a little while you know him as he was living, he is not dead! and how is that really any different from whta we should do in all our sermons, how we admonish all our flocks? "Who are you looking for? He is not here! he is risen and goes before you!" The focus was always on the body of the Son of Man, never on the concerns of "what do we do now" who is the star of the story? who are you looking for? he is not here he is risen and GOES before you. go on, go chase that star go and stop doing start going start being! what do you DO? Go! We're all here to go! (all these things integrate tra la!!) go follow the path in front of you and stop worrying about what's expected of you. you're free and forgiven, you don't need the rest of the instructions. Look, watch us, we're commending the body now, it's rolling out the door, it's leaving you all behind, stop waiting to be told what to do the body is leaving the room the grave is cracked open the fault lines are irrevocably laid down and the new life bared open like great vaults! If you've still got questions, fine here's the life of one who lived and loved and sought, just like you, who served and burned and hoped just like you. He was your friend or your teacher or lover or father or son or grandfather and he lives yet in your movements your voice, songs, stories, faces, memory, urgencies, actions, just like all the others and you know he might be embarrassed by your tears a little, but it's okay to go ahead and weep in front of everybody (never mind that the ushers sat you right there on the side where the soloist will be singing and every eye turns to you while your heart is breaking in a big runny nosed mess) it's okay because that's another way you'll see him, clear and resurrected right in front of your noses. Because you need that for a few minutes more or a lifetime, that's no problem because THAT's the resurrection, THAT is the new life the gift of the whole bared open heart of God from the interior right on out, the whole bursting dam and the great white opening of the gates the black expanse of starlit night. What sin holds us in a moment like that? What fears grip us? It's fine it's fine. Faint not. But look the light is bursting and the music rising, why do you need marching orders? It's okay, linger a while here in the hall, rejoice and remember the teacher, the deceased, the man. But the body's moving out, and the party is moving on and there's so many more things we're free to do. no one will criticize you for lingering, but don't try to tell the rest of them what they have to do because the party is always just getting started, we roll out the surprise every time someone else needs it, we refill all the wine glasses until great abnundant rivers soak the earth, we jsut keep making more food! you don't get an invitation, we'll just bring hte party to you, we'll just pour the wine and feed you and you don't have to do Nothin'. Come on, come on! Who are you looking for? What instructions are you still waiting for? He's leaving. He's going before us, look, all the hosts all the angels are with him go go go on! We're starting! No law, no doing, no rules, O joy O multitude O living heart again again!
there is no third use of the law what purpose is there for something designed to convict and kill what are you gonna do, kill him again? so what are we to DO with all this grace once killed and resurrected by the power of the word? what do we do at any funeral? there's a saying that some pastors try to preach the deceased into heaven and they warn you about doing that in homiletics classes. so the really good ones though, they preach teh deceased alive for a few minutes, we hear that voice inimitably in our ears ("... well. what's the matter with pie?" in the sweet by and by?) and we know them, in the full scope of their life for a few more minutes, the whole container of their beautiful efforts, their striving, their love, their tiny triumphs and maybe just a touch of their failures, but then we hear about the restless resurrecting man lurking about the periphery ("jesus loves a fresh tomb!") and we taste that resurrection for a moment and everything is all brand sparkling new again, all a quiver with the Promise-- the one that creates the very faith that believes in promises and you sense like it's all going the right way.
The great funeral sermons make you hear the deceased, make that person live again. It's the essence of the already-not-yet eschatological tension in every moment. So if we were to imbue all our preaching with the urgency of a funeral, we no longer need trouble ourselves with ticky tack convolutions like "the third use of the law" because where ... HOW... does something that only knows how to kill have power in a place where that restless Nazarene is busy doing his death's work? ("christians live with one foot still out of the grave! and Jesus won't rest until he's pulled that sinner right through, right through death into new life") no use of the law for the risen body, with the crucified Jesus fulfilling its every stricture there in the foreground. So how we must proclaim the "what next" isperhaps exactly how we might do it at a funeral: look at our beloved friend, hear his voice and the small marvels of his personal history. LOok on his works! (ye mighty, and despair) and know that he has hopes and longings for you, then get out of here, he's free, you know. beyond care, beyond our vainglorious wantings and our ill expressed needs. he's exactly as free as death makes a person from itself. so much he can do now that was impossible: live on in stories, move you to tears (and bad halting offkey singing) to learn one of his favorite hymns is also one of yours (LBW 479), inspire you with service, resonate in the faces of family members who look so familiar, end arguments, resist pain, hate nothing, keep secrets, be trusted, fear nothing. so much you can do now that you're dead and on the way through, taht no one else can and what grace is this that pours out round us? what need is there for instructions in a state like this? what tablets are held before these resurrected eyes? no law touches you now. In this same place stands a whole congregation, the whole church, transparent to the kingdom, liquid and unboudn . You remember the voice and the mannerisms, and everyone laughs to recall his wisdom. and for a little while you know him as he was living, he is not dead! and how is that really any different from whta we should do in all our sermons, how we admonish all our flocks? "Who are you looking for? He is not here! he is risen and goes before you!" The focus was always on the body of the Son of Man, never on the concerns of "what do we do now" who is the star of the story? who are you looking for? he is not here he is risen and GOES before you. go on, go chase that star go and stop doing start going start being! what do you DO? Go! We're all here to go! (all these things integrate tra la!!) go follow the path in front of you and stop worrying about what's expected of you. you're free and forgiven, you don't need the rest of the instructions. Look, watch us, we're commending the body now, it's rolling out the door, it's leaving you all behind, stop waiting to be told what to do the body is leaving the room the grave is cracked open the fault lines are irrevocably laid down and the new life bared open like great vaults! If you've still got questions, fine here's the life of one who lived and loved and sought, just like you, who served and burned and hoped just like you. He was your friend or your teacher or lover or father or son or grandfather and he lives yet in your movements your voice, songs, stories, faces, memory, urgencies, actions, just like all the others and you know he might be embarrassed by your tears a little, but it's okay to go ahead and weep in front of everybody (never mind that the ushers sat you right there on the side where the soloist will be singing and every eye turns to you while your heart is breaking in a big runny nosed mess) it's okay because that's another way you'll see him, clear and resurrected right in front of your noses. Because you need that for a few minutes more or a lifetime, that's no problem because THAT's the resurrection, THAT is the new life the gift of the whole bared open heart of God from the interior right on out, the whole bursting dam and the great white opening of the gates the black expanse of starlit night. What sin holds us in a moment like that? What fears grip us? It's fine it's fine. Faint not. But look the light is bursting and the music rising, why do you need marching orders? It's okay, linger a while here in the hall, rejoice and remember the teacher, the deceased, the man. But the body's moving out, and the party is moving on and there's so many more things we're free to do. no one will criticize you for lingering, but don't try to tell the rest of them what they have to do because the party is always just getting started, we roll out the surprise every time someone else needs it, we refill all the wine glasses until great abnundant rivers soak the earth, we jsut keep making more food! you don't get an invitation, we'll just bring hte party to you, we'll just pour the wine and feed you and you don't have to do Nothin'. Come on, come on! Who are you looking for? What instructions are you still waiting for? He's leaving. He's going before us, look, all the hosts all the angels are with him go go go on! We're starting! No law, no doing, no rules, O joy O multitude O living heart again again!