Peace be with you. I am Danny Bradfield. My pronouns are he/him/his, and I’m pastor of Bixby Knolls Christian Church.
It is so good to be with you on this first Sunday of Spring, this 5th Sunday of Lent, this first Sunday of the second year of the pandemic.
So much has changed in our world and in our lives because of COVID-19. We’ve had to cancel so many plans, and find new ways to do just about everything. It’s been a struggle.
Throughout it all, we’ve wondered: how can we best continue doing what we’ve been doing when everything has changed?
As we struggled with this, we knew that nothing we could do would be the same. We were sad, because we believed it wouldn’t be as good. Nothing would be as good as it was. Not with all the concessions we’ve had to make because of the pandemic.
But maybe, we thought, we can at least try to approximate the experiences we had before. After all, we have the internet; we have zoom; we have facebook live. And if we were successful, we could say to ourselves, well, it’s not the same, it’s not as good, but at least it’s something… at least it comes close.
However, there have been times when I was surprised and elated to discover that some of the things that we’ve seen and done… some of the altered, alternative ways of doing things… have actually brought new blessings, new insights, new creativity, new joy, new enjoyment!... And I was not expecting this.
It began last spring, in the early days of the pandemic. Ethan and I enjoy watching American Idol, and last season - a year ago, when they realized they wouldn’t be able to pack a theater in Hollywood with all the singers and an enthusiastic, cheering audience - they sent video and audio equipment to the singers’ homes, and had them perform remotely.
And since much of the enjoyment I get in watching the show comes from knowing a little about the background and personal lives of the singers, to see them in their own homes actually added some elements of enjoyment that weren’t there previously. One singer sang outside his family barn. Another sang on an outdoor patio with trucks passing by on the highway in the distance.
...and I thought: that’s kinda cool.
In other realms, people starting going live online from their homes. Including me. Including us. And it was raw, but it was also real.
Our General Minister started having weekly prayers online. Some of my favorite musicians started doing music concerts from their homes, from their kitchens and living rooms and backyards.
These were all ways to make up for the experiences and opportunities that we lost to the pandemic, and there was much that was missing. But there was also much that was new and fresh. And we discovered that we could do things that we didn’t think we would ever do, or that we could ever do.
Last week, I watched part of the Grammys… The producers and planners knew that they couldn’t do the Grammys the way they’d been done in the past.
They could have done what the Golden Globes did: they could have tried their hardest to simply recreate or replicate the traditional format, making sacrifices and alterations when necessary as a concession to the pandemic.
But they didn’t do that. Instead, they decided to completely reinvent not just the Grammys, but to reinvent awards shows in general.
I was impressed by the creativity involved. Not just the creativity of the artists who performed, but also the creativity of the show itself.
Obviously, this year’s show could not be the same as previous years. Because of the pandemic, filling up an auditorium full of people all packed in together just isn’t something we can do these days, because of COVID.
So, they got creative. They had the nominees only, seated at small tables spread safely apart, on what appeared to be a rooftop across the street from Staples Center. Staples Center was the backdrop for the ceremony. It was all lit up, and as the California sun set, the colors on the building began to glow, which made it look extra magical.
Somewhere nearby, they had built five stages in a circle - in the center of the circle were cameras and sometimes the host, Trevor Noah, but no audience. Each stage had its own entrance from the back, which allowed the artists to enter and exit while safely maintaining distance from other people.
And at times, the show moved from one stage to the next, from one performance to the next, several in a row, one after the other.
And the most amazing thing is: it was a really good show. Many say it was even better than traditional awards shows. Because of COVID, the Grammys were forced to transform into something new, and that “something new” was beautiful.
And I loved it.
I have loved every single moment, every single event, during this pandemic, in which people realized that the old way of doing things wasn’t possible, and a new way had to be tried… and the new way ended up being more creative, more innovative, than the old way ever was.
Now: No one wanted to reinvent how to do an awards show. It was something that was done out of necessity. But some are saying that it was done so well, that awards shows from here on have been forever transformed.
So. Why am I talking about the Grammys? Well, let me talk about today’s scripture, and see if you can figure out the connection.
Philip and Andrew go and tell Jesus that there are some people who wanted to see him. These people were Greeks, which just means they were Gentiles; they were non-Jews. That’s significant, because it shows that interest in Jesus’ mission and ministry had spread beyond the Jews, to include other people from other cultures and other religions.
So they tell Jesus about them, and Jesus starts going on about a grain of wheat that dies and gets buried in the ground, and how those who seek to hold on to their life will lose it, but those who lose their life will find their life renewed.
And this sounds like Jesus is being all negative and a party pooper, but what he’s really saying is that his movement isn’t so much about gathering greater crowds and drawing greater numbers of people; rather, it’s about transformation. It doesn’t mean anything to have a dozen or hundred or a billion people join the movement, if those dozen or hundred or billion people don’t experience some form of transformation.
The kind of transformation that comes about only through death and resurrection.
And a lot of people want the resurrection, but they don’t want the death that comes before it. They want Easter, but not Good Friday.
But Good Friday is important. Good Friday is dying to the corrupt, sinful ways of this world. Good Friday is letting what is contrary to God’s kingdom die so that something new can take its place.
This is something we in the church call repentance. Repentance is turning away from one way of living to embrace a new way of living. Repentance is transformation.
And for all we talk about repentance and transformation and Good Friday and Easter Sunday and letting go of our old life so that we can embrace our new life… we in the church aren’t always very good at this.
We do, in fact, try to hold on to old ways, even when old ways are no longer supporting our mission and ministry.
This is even true for Bixby Knolls Christian Church. We are a progressive Christian Church, theologically and practically. We have reimagined our future through the New Beginnings program. We have engaged in the difficult work of transformation, letting go of old ways, and embracing new ways that we believe will help us move forward in mission and ministry.
And yet…
Why do we still recite the Lord’s Prayer, using language that people used in the 16th and 17th century? “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” No one talks like that. Why do we still pray like that?
Because it’s how we’ve always done it.
Now, maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. But even in a church like ours, we sometimes find that we do a lot of things out of habit, that we cling to the old ways,... but then Jesus says: “those who love the life that they cling to will lose it, but those who are willing to die to that life will find new life, the life of the ages.”
Back to the Grammys...
The producers of the Grammys must have asked themselves: “How much of the old way of doing an awards show are we going to try to hold on to?“
The Golden Globes tried to hold on to everything, which kept the Golden Globes from being bold and creative; and people hated it. I’m not entirely sure why, because I didn’t watch the Golden Globes. But the reviews were not good.
But the Grammys got creative and tried a completely new way of doing things… and it worked.
I should point out that not everything was perfect. At one point during the Grammys, because they were outside on a rooftop across the street from Staples Center, someone giving a speech on stage was visibly startled by the sound of a motorcycle going by on the streets below.
It made me laugh; we sometimes experience the same thing here in our sanctuary. We have to keep the doors open for better ventilation as recommended by the CDC.
But is it really that big of a deal? I don’t think so.
I remember a time when I was walking along the Promenade Trail on top of Signal Hill, and I sat down to enjoy the peace and quiet and maybe engage in some prayer and meditation… and I couldn’t help but hear all the sounds of the city below. Cars on the freeway. Planes in the sky. Air conditioners buzzing. A siren, once in awhile.
But rather than get annoyed by such things, I incorporated them into my prayer. In hearing the sounds of the city, I felt the Spirit leading me to pray for my city…
The Spirit does that sometimes: it takes what we try to ignore or push away and turns it into a tool for spiritual growth.
So maybe the sound of motorcycles passing by our sanctuary during worship is a sign from the Spirit… maybe they are to teach us to be aware of the community that exists outside our sanctuary walls. Or maybe they are to teach us that a perfect worship service, and a good worship service, aren’t always the same thing...
Now, I get that, when Jesus was talking about a grain of wheat dying, being buried in the ground, and then producing new life, he wasn’t talking about motorcycles, or the Grammys. He was talking about himself. His own life. How he would die, how he would be buried in the ground, and then come back to life at the resurrection.
But here’s what’s catching my attention: when Jesus did come back to life - when the stone was rolled back and he came out of the tomb, and he appeared to Mary at the tomb; and he appeared to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius; and he appeared to the travelers on the road to Emmaus…
...None of them recognized him! He looked different. Transformed. He didn’t look anything like he looked before!
So when we go through a period of darkness, a period of dormancy, a period of death, we won’t come out of it the same.
Which means that as we emerge from this pandemic - something that will happen gradually, and not in an instant - as we emerge from this pandemic, we won’t be the same. This pandemic has transformed us. We are forever different.
Is that good news or bad news?
It depends. If you are the Golden Globes, and you try to make everything like it was before: it’s bad news.
But if you are the Grammys, and you take this as an opportunity to not only carry on, but to get creative and find a way to carry on that’s even better than what you were doing before: then, it’s good news.
Last week, we took time to mourn and lament all that we’ve lost during this pandemic. That is important work. That is Good Friday work. If you missed last week’s worship, I encourage you to go back and view the video, because this week’s worship - with its focus on transformation and new things - is incomplete without last week’s lamenting of all that we have lost.
This week, the focus is on the good news of new life, the good news of transformation. The opportunity we have to die to our old selves, and be made into a new creation in Christ.
And I could go on, detailing every aspect of our lives to which this applies. But what is most on my mind these days is how we’re going to worship once we return to gathering together in our sanctuary.
That’s what’s on my mind as I hear Jesus’ words about a grain of wheat dying and being buried in the ground, and then springing forth into new, abundant life.
That’s what’s on my mind as I consider how Jesus himself was visibly transformed into something new, something that his followers didn’t even recognize at first, not until he gave them some sign, or spoke their name, or said a familiar prayer, and then realized that this was, in fact, the Jesus they knew and loved.
That’s what’s on my mind as I think about how the Grammys reinvented themselves, took the unfortunate circumstances of the pandemic and used that as a challenge to get creative and find an even better way to produce an awards show.
Make no mistake: it is a challenge. But we’ve had a year of livestream worship, and now, as we make plans to return to in-person worship, the challenge before us is also an opportunity. And I don’t think it’s an opportunity we should allow to pass us by.
Plus: even if we tried to be the same, we would fail. Why? Because our world has changed. And we, as a church, have changed. We aren’t the same church we were a year ago. We have new people joining us for worship, people who have never set foot in our sanctuary. People who have only ever worshiped with us online! Do you realize how awesome that is? God is doing a new thing among us… the work of transformation and the growth into new life has been occurring, even as we’ve been in lockdown! Even as we’ve been hidden away, like a seed in the ground!
We have learned to not hold too tightly to the life we have, and because of that, God is bringing new life into our congregation!
Jesus prays that God’s name be glorified. That’s what we’re here for: to glorify God’s name.
Not to maintain patterns and activities that have served us well, but which need to be retired.
Not to get back to a way of doing things that characterized our life together before COVID.
We are here to glorify God.
And God is glorified when we let go of the life to which we cling, and allow God to create something new - new life - within us and among us.
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