HOPE ROLLED AWAY THE STONE

Do you have those family stories that get told differently? Cheri, I, and our friends sure do. One of my favorites is about the start of our friends’ band, the 3rd Floor Band. If you’ve never heard them, and many of you have but still more have not, they are a Christian Rock Band and they do a fantastic Christmas concert called “Blues Christmas” where they re-tell the Christmas story via classic rock, etc.

David Harris, their leader, and Cheri will tell you different stories on their founding. Was it David’s idea, Cheri’s idea, someone else’s idea, or some combination thereof? Did they play their first gig at our former coffee house service that was the Grandmother of the Village, the Back Door Coffee House, or was a district ministers event for David? Even the band isn’t sure any more. But one thing in common in all stories is what the band has done for Toby, and by extension hundreds of other folks.

Toby is the 3rd Floor Band’s bass player. He played the bars in Findlay, Fostoria & Fremont for years with Mary & Bob from the band. One night they invited him to come play in a band with them. They just neglected to tell him he was playing a church event. All we know for sure is that Toby’s life was not the same again.

Toby had a lot of pain and loss in his life. He had gone through all the places that kind of pain puts you, drink, doubt and fear, etc. But being a part of that band, that family, transformed Toby. It turned him into a follower of Jesus. He found hope through horrible times, including a stroke that threatened to take away his loves of playing music and transforming the world with his hands.

After being healed of his hurt, Toby has become a force of hope in this world, with the 3rd Floor Band’s musical efforts and beyond. By the way, that includes not only going to a prison on Christmas Eve and sharing that hope and joy of the “Blues Christmas Concert” but also going to Mexico to build churches and homes. Toby’s life and that of hundreds of others have not been the same since that first time he played with the 3rd Floor Band.

Stories with different versions are not unusual. We read one of the stories of Easter morning in worship. There are four main versions of Jesus’ life in the Bible, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. We read John’s which is in chapter 30. In the different versions of the Gospels, details vary. Did Mary Magdelene go alone? Did two disciples come with her later? While they were at Jesus’ tomb, did they see one angel, two or none? The stories do have a common thread though and they all agree, as do we, that the world’s never been the same since.

On Good Friday, we had a wonderfully moving service at the Village. We re-experienced that story. If you don’t know the story of Good Friday (and my son can’t grasp why in the world it is called Good Friday, he likes the Latin community’s version, Holy Friday) Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest followers, Judas. He was handed over to his enemies, beaten and tormented. Jesus was abandoned by one of his best friends, the one he was grooming to lead his movement when Jesus was gone, Peter. He was tortured and killed in a horrible way. We experienced the darkness that moment brought on the world in worship Friday night, by snuffing out candles in a darkened room, one at a time, as the details unfoled.

But Easter morning, Mary and maybe others, went to perform the funeral rituals that needed to be done to a dead body. They went to give a last bit of comfort to a fallen friend and teacher. But rather than a body, they got a tomb, where the stone that served as the door, had been rolled away, and was empty.

I’m not sure how that stone moved away. While getting ready for worship on Sunday I found a ridiculous picture that makes it look like Jesus used high explosives to get out of the tomb. What I can tell you is that hope appeared to die for us on Friday. But that’s not true. Hope didn’t really die that day. I’ m not really sure what process rolled that stone away. I can tell you though that hope didn’t die on the cross. I can’t say how Jesus rose, there was no video tape, no scientific testing, no Myth Busters special. But hope is alive.

That Sunday morning, about two thousand years ago, Mary was looking for hope. Something got her out of bed, after a horrid weekend, and got her to that tomb to care for her dead friend and beloved teacher. What she found was initially what she thought was a grave that had been robbed or defiled. The stone had been rolled away. She finds what she thinks is the Gardener. She’s too in shock or whatever to recognize the person standing before her. That is until he gently says her name “Mary”, and she realizes her “dead” teacher is there before her. Hope rolled away that stone.

Through Jesus, God defeated death. We say we’re an Easter people. That means we are a people of hope. We are a people who believe that hope can roll away that stone back then and our stones today as well. God’s love, our hope, gives us love, acceptance, calm, healing whatever we need to escape our times of darkness, when we’re in our own “tombs” (anger, addiction, fear, suffering, etc). It may be a big shove of the stone or a series of tiny nudges and pushes that gets the stone out of the way. Regardless, that stone will be moved away if we let it.

We are hope for another as well. We’ve seen that in our little, fledgling faith community. Just this last week, a group of teenagers came to Toledo with our web designer Jenny, who is a seminary student and youth minister. These teenagers came from Jenny’s church in Dayton, to spend their spring break, working to change the world, starting with Toledo, Ohio. They did work at the Village that we needed done, including spreading some flyers in our neighborhood to spread the news about our church. They also did work at Monroe Street UMC and Nu Vizion UCC, our sister churches.

While they were at the Village, they got to hear our stories. Robin told her story, the story of being an Iraqi War veteran with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for those who are not in the psychological know). How she felt God had abandoned her in Iraq, that is until she found the Village. They also heard from Vanetta, who found her way to us via one of our outreach events, our first open house. She was lost, she had lost her first child, due to her mental illness, and how she needed someone to walk with her down the path. She was pregnant with her second child and she needed a church family. The kids got to hear how these two followers of Jesus, found each other through the Village, and how these sisters in Jesus became a part of the others families.

These teenagers got to see a glimpse of how we’re trying to create a next generation church. Hearing these stories, there was an “ah ha” moment. They got it. They saw how the Village, and Nu Vizion, and Monroe Street are all serving their community. How existing communities like Monroe Street are feeding those who are fed by traditional faith communities, while doing innovative things outside of Sunday morning. They also found out how new churches, like our sister Nu Vizion and the Village are feeding those who aren’t fed by others.

From their hope and efforts, we got to see some hope ourselves. First, their effort spreading flyers, brought us visitors. But more importantly we saw they got a future we are preparing for. How new churches like ours can reach folks with hope. A hope that would never exist without two denominations taking a bold step of funding our little faith experiment.

The power of God is alive in this church. Cheri has been a minister for twenty years, but she feels that she is just now really getting started in ministry during the last year. Incredible things are coming alive here. This week, Cheri went to visit a homeless couple who found the Village. They are staying with Interfaith Hospitality/Family Promise while they work their way to having a place to live. They found the Village because despite only worshiping for five months, we are not a church to stay in our building. Instead, we reach out to those in need any way we can.

Cheri was at the IHN Day Center, providing pastoral care, when one of them began to have a seizure. She has neurological issues and has these during times of pressure. Can you imagine a homeless family having pressures? Thanks to our faith community, Cheri felt something other than a urge to dial 9-1-1. She bent over and began praying for our friend. She prayed for her, told her that God was with her, and assured her that she would get through that. Now, Cheri doesn’t claim to have cured her, but the seizure stopped, right there and then. Now, our friend is still going to a neurologist for treatment, but that seizure stopped. Thanks to the power of the risen Christ, this faith community and Cheri, that small miracle happened.

The power of the Village Church to help people find a home and healing and experience the risen Christ, is creating some wondrous things. Jesus is alive. Hope didn’t die on a cross. It’s alive. Hope gets people through the nights. It gets people through the days that follow as well.

Today we celebrate the power of God, the return of Jesus, and being that hope for one another. Hope rolled away the stone. If you don’t have that hope yet, we, the followers of Jesus, will help you find it. If you don’t find us, we’ll keep trying to find you, but there are few of us, many of you, and we need a refill every now and again today. If you’re not in Toledo, there are other places like us, all over the country, but if you’re in Toledo, without hope, you’re welcome here. Wherever you are on life’s journey. And if you want to be a part of creating that kind of hope for others, and already have it yourself, you’re welcome here too.