Debra K. Brazzel - Good Friday Service (April 9, 1993)
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| - | In God's story, things are often not as they first appear. | 0:10 |
| There's a mystery that runs throughout the Bible, | 0:16 | |
| and if any one thing is consistent, | 0:20 | |
| it is God's ability to surprise us, | 0:23 | |
| to act in ways we do not anticipate, | 0:26 | |
| to accomplish the seemingly impossible. | 0:30 | |
| Moses, a stutterer, becomes | 0:35 | |
| the mouthpiece of God, the giver of the law. | 0:38 | |
| Defeat is turned into victory at the Red Sea, | 0:45 | |
| as Israel flees the Egyptians. | 0:49 | |
| Elizabeth, an old woman, past fertility, | 0:53 | |
| bears a son named John to prepare the way of the Lord. | 0:57 | |
| And Mary, a virgin, bears the son of God. | 1:03 | |
| God can be counted on to act in unexpected ways. | 1:09 | |
| But here we are again at Good Friday. | 1:14 | |
| We've heard the story so many times | 1:18 | |
| that we are at risk of failing to be surprised. | 1:21 | |
| We may no longer be amazed at God's self-giving, | 1:26 | |
| shocked at God's persistent determination | 1:31 | |
| to save us. | 1:36 | |
| The Messiah has come. | 1:38 | |
| He has healed the sick, | 1:40 | |
| eaten with tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, thieves. | 1:42 | |
| He's fed the multitudes, even raised the dead. | 1:48 | |
| Just last Sunday he was acclaimed, | 1:52 | |
| swept into Jerusalem for a victory celebration | 1:55 | |
| that makes UNC's victory party seem tame. | 1:59 | |
| But as parties often do, things quickly turned ugly. | 2:04 | |
| Our shouts of acclamation turned into cries of condemnation. | 2:10 | |
| And we don't remember who started it, | 2:15 | |
| but soon we all joined in the cry. | 2:18 | |
| Crucify him, crucify him! | 2:21 | |
| So, here we are again at Good Friday. | 2:26 | |
| Jesus the Christ is hanging on the cross, | 2:32 | |
| as one despised, as one rejected by humanity. | 2:36 | |
| Can there be any clearer reminder | 2:42 | |
| of the many ways we've rejected God | 2:46 | |
| throughout human history? | 2:49 | |
| Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. | 2:51 | |
| Cain killed his brother Abel. | 2:54 | |
| Israel worshiped the golden calf. | 2:57 | |
| David committed adultery with Bathsheba, | 3:00 | |
| and then murdered her husband. | 3:03 | |
| The Bible is filled with individual and collective accounts | 3:05 | |
| of the disobedience and infidelity of the people of God. | 3:09 | |
| From the first man and woman, | 3:14 | |
| we have been amazingly consistent | 3:16 | |
| in our rejection of God. | 3:19 | |
| Think about the many ways that you've rejected God | 3:23 | |
| since we met here last year for Good Friday. | 3:26 | |
| How many times have you turned away from God, | 3:30 | |
| revealed in the sick, the hungry, the homeless, | 3:34 | |
| the imprisoned, the suffering humanity all around us? | 3:38 | |
| How many times did you act as if your life were your own | 3:44 | |
| and that you didn't have to be accountable | 3:48 | |
| to anyone, especially God? | 3:50 | |
| Ours may not be dramatic betrayals, | 3:54 | |
| but our everyday small acts of rejection | 3:58 | |
| are just as damaging. | 4:02 | |
| Each one of us, in our own way, | 4:05 | |
| has nailed Jesus to the cross. | 4:08 | |
| And if the story ended here, | 4:13 | |
| who among us could live with the guilt of that? | 4:15 | |
| But God, in typical fashion, | 4:20 | |
| turns guilt into forgiveness, | 4:23 | |
| defeat into victory, | 4:27 | |
| death into life. | 4:30 | |
| On the cross, the one despised and rejected | 4:33 | |
| is exalted above all others. | 4:37 | |
| The one who is falsely accused | 4:40 | |
| bears the guilt of the guilty. | 4:43 | |
| And the one who is pierced, heals the infirmities | 4:46 | |
| of others through his wounds. | 4:51 | |
| God takes a violent, unjust murder | 4:55 | |
| and uses it to accomplish the salvation of the world. | 5:00 | |
| Never content to accept our infidelity, | 5:05 | |
| in Jesus Christ God bears the iniquity of us all, | 5:09 | |
| becoming an intercessor on our behalf. | 5:14 | |
| The one we hung on a cross, is the one who bears | 5:18 | |
| the cost of our sin, our rejection, | 5:21 | |
| our everyday betrayals. | 5:25 | |
| Who can fathom the mercy, the persistent love | 5:29 | |
| of such a God as this? | 5:34 | |
| Who among us deserves such love? | 5:37 | |
| And who can understand the power of God | 5:41 | |
| to turn the suffering, obedient weakness of Jesus Christ | 5:44 | |
| into the greatest force for redemption | 5:50 | |
| the world has ever known? | 5:52 | |
| Truly, we worship a mysterious God | 5:56 | |
| who never ceases to amaze us. | 6:00 | |
| As we gaze today upon the Christ crucified, | 6:04 | |
| let us ever remember that Christ was crucified for us, | 6:09 | |
| for our redemption, | 6:14 | |
| and tremble at the love that would bear such a cost. | 6:17 | |
| There was a horrible tragedy in our community recently. | 6:24 | |
| Jamal Elliott was shot in the back and killed | 6:28 | |
| as he and four other teenagers ran away | 6:32 | |
| from an attempted break-in at the home of Michael Seagroves. | 6:35 | |
| This incident has caused great pain | 6:40 | |
| and polarization in our community, | 6:43 | |
| with supporters lining up behind each side. | 6:46 | |
| And there's been a lot of discussion | 6:49 | |
| about who was most wrong in this incident. | 6:51 | |
| Clearly, both the teenagers | 6:55 | |
| and Michael Seagroves were wrong, | 6:58 | |
| and it resulted in a great tragedy. | 7:00 | |
| And the courts will come to some decision | 7:05 | |
| that they believe is most just, | 7:07 | |
| though there is no way that justice can bring back Jamal | 7:10 | |
| or erase the impact of his death on his family | 7:14 | |
| or upon the family of Michael Seagroves. | 7:18 | |
| But thank God, that Jesus the Christ | 7:22 | |
| does not intercede only for the just. | 7:26 | |
| For who among us deserves the love | 7:31 | |
| and the forgiveness that we have received? | 7:33 | |
| No, Jesus suffered with Jamal, | 7:36 | |
| and he suffers with Michael Seagroves. | 7:40 | |
| Jesus bears upon his own body | 7:43 | |
| the grief of their respective families. | 7:46 | |
| Their sins and sorrows are born by a savior | 7:50 | |
| who was crucified for them. | 7:54 | |
| Through the power of Christ crucified | 7:57 | |
| God can bring peace and reconciliation | 8:00 | |
| to them and to our community. | 8:05 | |
| In Sarajevo, the first war crimes trial | 8:09 | |
| was held a few days ago. | 8:13 | |
| Borislav Herak was sentenced to death by firing squad | 8:16 | |
| after he admitted to murdering 35 Muslims, | 8:22 | |
| 12 of whom were women that he raped first. | 8:25 | |
| It is difficult for us to understand such horror, | 8:31 | |
| but even more difficult to fathom the mercy of Christ | 8:35 | |
| who bears the sins of Borislav Herak, | 8:40 | |
| who bears in his own body and being | 8:44 | |
| each of those murders and rapes, | 8:48 | |
| who bears in his own being the suffering | 8:52 | |
| of the victims and the killers alike. | 8:57 | |
| What impossible mercy that God chose one without sin | 9:01 | |
| to bear the sins and griefs of us all. | 9:06 | |
| Your sins and sorrows may seem minor compared to these, | 9:13 | |
| but Jesus Christ bears them | 9:18 | |
| all the same. | 9:21 | |
| For it is certain that each one of us, | 9:24 | |
| like sheep, have gone astray. | 9:27 | |
| Each one of us has turned to his or her own way, | 9:30 | |
| but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all | 9:35 | |
| to faLL on him. | 9:40 | |
| Thanks be to God for such impossible, surprising mercy. | 9:43 | |
| Thanks be to God for such persistent love. | 9:49 | |
| Amen. | 9:55 |