"TELLING US WHERE TO GO"

Jeremiah 31:1-6; Matthew 28:1-10

When I was in seminary,

my friend John Evans asked me to sing for worship

when he was installed as the Director of Vocations.

Curiously, at least at the time to me,

he asked if I would sing an aria called

"How Beautiful are the Feet"

from Handel's "Messiah."

For John I would agree to just about anything,

and so the organist and I began to work up that aria

for John's service.

On the day of the service,

the organist and I were in the chapel

and had just begun to practice together.

While I was singing,

I saw my church history professor come in

and stop in the back of the chapel to pray.

I wasn't sure whether I should keep singing or not,

but since the organist kept going, I did too.

After I finished,

I walked back to the pew where Dr. Paul had been praying.

He looked me straight in the eye

and with his wonderful British accent said,

"That was lovely, Sallie

but I didn't know feet were the most beautiful part of the anatomy!"

I didn't either.

And I'm still not convinced!

I remember my Aunt Sissie saying that she'd been afraid to get married

because Uncle Allen would be so put off by the sight of her feet.

As far as I know, that never happened.

Our feet may be one of the most important things about us,

but ordinarily,

they are not our most attractive feature!

We can pedicure ?em,

we can powder ?em,

we can pour them into three inch heels or put them in sneakers,

but at the end of the day,

they're feet.

So why, then,

do the prophet Isaiah and others throughout the Bible

talk about the beautiful feet "of them

that preach the gospel of peace?"

Why does the apostle Paul write to the church inCorinth

that the hand cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you?"

Did they not get the memo about our least attractive feature?

Actually, I think he did.

The Bible says that people who bring good news,

people who talk to other people about God,

have beautiful feet,

because feet are what it takes to get us from here to there.

In order for us to hear good news,

someone usually has to bring it to us.

The real good news,

talk about God that is honest and freeing,

can't be shouted over the airwaves.

It can't be plastered on a billboard.

It can't even be emailed.

Good news like the Bible is talking about

cannot come in the abstract.

Somebody has to pick up his or her feet

and go from here to there,

from where she or he is to where we are,

and look us in the eye,

and speak.

No wonder, then,

that on that very first Easter morning,

when the women had gone to the cemetery

expecting to see the place of burial.

no wonder, then,

that when the risen Christ met them

on the path full of life over death and love over hate;

no wonder, then,

when he spoke to them and said "Greetings,"

his voice full of the grace and peace of God;

no wonder, then,

that the first thing the women do

is to take hold of his feet.

Perhaps this is also why it seems

that God is always telling us where to go.

One of the reasons that God surely gave us feet

is so we can get there and share the good news

when nothing less than our presence will do.

In the Old Testament today,

Jeremiah is sharing the good news with God's people

that things won't always be this way.

Exile is coming to an end.

You won't always be on the run, he says.

You'll be in your new home long enough

to plant trees and see them bear fruit.

Your feet will feel like dancing once again.

But to do all that, Jeremiah says in so many words,

we can't stay here.

We have to go to the hills of Samaria.

We have to go to Zion.

We have to go.

And even on Easter morning!

What does Jesus say to the women?

The first thing he says is "Hello" - greetings!

Peace be with you!

The second thing he says is "Don't be afraid."

There's nothing to fear.

And the third thing he says?

"Go."

Go to my brothers.

Tell them to go to Galilee.

Get up and share the good news.

Tell them to come and see for themselves

so that they can go and share the news as well.

Friends,

the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ

wasn't meant to be kept to ourselves.

God sends the good news for our comfort and joy,

but not exclusively for us.

As much as we want to hold onto the feet

of the one whose presence brings us such joy,

we have to let go.

We have to let go of Jesus' feet,

and we have to let go of our own.

Dan Wakefield was one of those "children of the sixties."

For far too long,

he spent his life seeking salvation through drugs,

or alcohol, or promiscuity, or all the above.

But finally, in the 1980's,

he began to experience his own spiritual awakening.

He headed back to church and started worshiping,

even on those days when he says he

"felt sometimes like an unfortunate passenger

in an old prop airplane,

the kind you see in 1940's adventure movies,

caught in a thunderstorm,

bobbing through night sky over jagged mountains

without a compass."

When he finally found the courage to talk to his pastor

about his spiritual struggles,

his pastor recommended that he read a book by Henri Nouwen

called Reaching Out.

Wakefield not only read it, he practically devoured it.

He began to read Nouwen's other books

like he was eating popcorn;

he couldn't put them down.

He was so moved by Nouwen's work

that he pulled his courage together and contacted Nouwen personally

to see whether they could meet for lunch.

To his amazement, Nouwen agreed.

As they sat down together at table,

Wakefield told Nouwen how grateful he was

for all of Nouwen's teachings and writings,

and how much he admired him.

In the course of their conversation,

Wakefield said that when he'd read about Nouwen's own crisis of faith

in one of his books,

Wakefield was actually discouraged.

If someone like Henri Nouwen still wrestled with his doubts

and anguished over his faith,

what hope could there be for a mere beginner like himself?

Nouwen had some choices at that point.

He could have patted Wakefield on the hand

and said somewhat condescendingly

that he'd get stronger by and by.

Or Nouwen could have whipped out a prayer exercise to give him

or the title of another book to read.

Instead,

Nouwen put down his fork,

looked Wakefield in the eye,

and said, "Dan, contrary to popular opinion,

Christianity is not for getting your life together."

Christianity, Wakefield might say today,

is for giving feet to your faith,

for sharing the good news,

not for keeping all to yourself for your own benefit

but, as with the bread that we will soon share around this table,

breaking it and dividing it

so that untold others may come to know and to experience

the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You may have heard a rumor

that God has told me where to go, as it were.

But I believe with all my heart

that a new call for me

is also a new call for this congregation.

We are all going to be fine.

We can look all around us on the dawn of this Easter day

and see that resurrection is who God is.

God always brings new life where none seemed to exist before.

But on this particular Easter morning,

Jesus says to me, and to you,

and to all of us:

"Greetings."

It really is me.

God has conquered the power of death.

"Don't be afraid."

No excuses. 

Since God has defeated death,

there is nothing more that we need fear.

And then,

"Go."

Go and tell others what has taken place here.

Tell them to go and see for themselves.

The main thing we can do this morning

to improve the looks of our feet

is to use them to go to others,

to share the good news,

to look them in the eye and tell them

that death has no more dominion over them.

The grave is empty -

there's no reason to stand around it any longer.

Let's go and share that good news

that God in Christ has given to each and every one of us.

Amen.

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Many thanks to Tom Long and his wonderful book Testimony for inspiration regarding our feet, and for the story about Dan Wakefield and Henri Nouwen.