February 16, 2025
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“Death and Resurrection"
by Rev. Trip Porch
February 16, 2025 Based on 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Ash Wednesday is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and —even though its maybe a little odd— it is one of my favorite days in the church year. It’s the day we gather to remember our mortality, to be marked with ashes, and hear the words, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Some might find that a little morbid, but I actually appreciate the practice. It humbles me. It reminds me how precious life is. And more than that, it reminds me that I won’t live forever, nothing will, it’s a fact woven into God’s creation.
But on Ash Wednesday we bear witness to this fact with clear and honest eyes. The weird thing is though, this meditation on death doesn’t lead me to despair, instead it leads me to faith. It helps me remember that I am not the center of the universe, God is, and to trust that God always has me, no matter what. That in the fullness of time, in life or in death, everything will be made right.
It is not about fear; it is about trust. It is about acknowledging reality while holding onto hope. And this is something we need to practice—not just on Ash Wednesday, but in all aspects of our lives.
The truth is, the changes in life are constant. Things are always shifting, evolving, passing away. And if we ignore that truth, we will always be grasping for something that no longer exists, rather than living fully in what God is doing right now.
This is the heart of what Paul is getting at in his letter to the Corinthians. Some in the church were struggling to believe in resurrection. To believe that the dead will rise with Christ. And to be fair, it is a hard concept to grasp. We experience death and we lock in, grief takes over us and we lose hope. This is natural, doubt is a part of faith. We look at the world around us, full of suffering, full of endings, and we wonder—can life really come from death? Is resurrection something we can count on, or is it just wishful thinking?
But Paul doubles down, he tells the church: if there is no resurrection, then what is our faith built upon? If there is no resurrection for the dead, then how can we preach that Christ died and rose?
He goes further, to center this belief as the core theology of the early Christian movement. If we say Christ didn’t rise, then where is there hope for us? where is our faith
Resurrection is not just a doctrine we affirm—it is the very pattern of how God works. It is the dialectical pairing of death. Resurrection is the insistence that life goes on. Renewal comes out of loss. Something new is always being born just as something old passes away. And yet, how often do we miss this truth? How often do we despair and fall into the trap of believing “this is the end.” Especially when that is a phrase that has been repeated throughout history?
On Easter Sunday, every year we proclaim that we are a resurrection people, but I think if we are being honest we still live mostly on every other day as though we are afraid of death—not just physical death, but the death of the familiar, the comfortable, the way things used to be. Grief takes hold of us, and we lose hope, giving into despair. And I think that grief and despair worsens, when it’s not just our own life we are thinking about, but also our collective life.
Institutions of all kinds—schools, governments, even democracy itself—are in crisis. The world feels unstable, and people are anxious. We see the deeply entrenched divisions, the economic struggle that seems to only be worsening, and we start to get a sense that the foundations we once relied on are cracking beneath us. Many of us are rightly filled with uncertainty and fear. We fear what is next and whether what comes will be better or worse than what was.
This anxiety is understandable. We look at history and see how institutions have risen and fallen, how change has often come with conflict and pain. We see all of this and we can start to be much like the Corinthians, struggling to believe that anything could be resurrected from this. We get locked into our grief, and we abandon hope. In our grief, anxiety and fear, we start to belief that this must truly be the end, and we start to look back at the past longingly because we are uncertain about the future.
Take the church for example, the “Big C” Church. The church itself has changed. There was a time when it was the center of American life—when sanctuaries were full and we were expanding, when Sunday mornings in society were reserved for worship, when faith seemed woven into the culture. But that time has passed. And we grieve that loss. And we should. But we can’t lock into that grief. We have to name this truth, because once we acknowledge that things have changed, we are free to ask: What is God doing now? What new life is being born?
Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber once was invited to speak at a presbytery meeting about the decline of the institutional church, she said “We need to let go of the idea that our role is to preserve that which was once good.”
“The church is not about preserving the past;” she said “it is about trusting in the God who continually renews. The church is not defined by numbers, or buildings, or cultural dominance. The days when everyone in society was clean-cut, married, and Christian—those days are gone. In fact, they’re dead and gone. But with death, of course, there’s resurrection. “New life comes out of death,” she says, and that is what God offers us through salvation by grace. So let us not panic and proclaim the church is dying, because the church belongs to God, and it will survive.
I love this thinking, because it’s rooted in a deep faith. A deep trust in a God who resurrects. But it’s also important for us to remember that Resurrection is not resuscitation. The church will not return to the 1950s, or the 1980s, or even the early 2000s. And that’s okay. Because God’s work is not about going back—it is about going forward. The church of tomorrow will not look like the church of yesterday, but it will still be the church of Jesus Christ. It will still be a place of hope, of justice, of love for neighbor and stranger alike. It may not have the same buildings, the same programs, or the same size, but it will have the same Spirit, the same Gospel Good News, the same power of resurrection running through it.
Resurrection is not about restoring the past; it is about transforming the future. Just as Jesus’ resurrection did not return him to his pre-crucifixion life but instead ushered in something entirely new, we are called to embrace the possibilities that God is unfolding before us. The church and the world will look different in the years ahead, but the promise of resurrection assures us that what is to come will be shaped by God's hands, filled with grace, justice, and renewal.
Paul reminds us: “Christ has been raised from the dead, this is just the first fruits of those who have died.” The first fruits—the sign of the juicy abundance that is still to come. If Christ has been raised, then we can trust that God is not done with us. Not done with the church. Not done with this world.
As followers of the Risen Christ, as resurrection people we are called to a different kind of trust. We are called to faith. We are called to believe that even in the midst of all this uncertainty we feel, God is still working, still creating, still bringing new life.
So yes, let us name our grief. Let us acknowledge our fears. But let us not lose hope.
As one of my favorite John Lennon quotes says, A quote I’ve preached before
“In the end, everything will be okay,
and if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
Though Death and grief are real… Resurrection comes. It may not look like what we expect. It may not be the return of what used to be. But it will be new life, shaped by God’s hands, and it will be good. We may not see it yet. We may not understand it. But we can still trust in the One who is making all things new.
Thanks be to God for a hope like that. Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE "When the Lord Redeems the Very Least" Albert E. Brumley
INTROIT “With Joy, With Praise, With Love, With Peace” Emma Lou Diemer
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed!
Leader: Where there was death, there is now life.
People: Where there was despair, there is now hope.
Leader: Come Resurrection People, let us worship the God who brings new life!
People: Alleluia! Amen!
*Hymn 852 “When the Lord Redeems the Very Least” I’LL FLY AWAY
*Prayer of confession Mary Rebekah Fortman
Resurrecting God, we confess that we cling too tightly to what was, fearing the pain that comes when we lose the familiar. We resist change, doubting your ability to bring new life. Forgive us for our lack of trust. Open our hearts to your transforming power. Help us to release what is passing away so that we may embrace what you are bringing forth. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
*Assurance of pardon
*Response of praise 583 “Gloria, Gloria” GLORIA (Taize)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
Anthem “Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal” arr. Alice Parker
Children’s message Mary Rebekah Fortman
Prayer for illumination
Scripture 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 CEB
So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died.
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
sermon Rev. Trip Porch
we respond to god’s word
*hymn 485 “We Know that Christ is Raised” ENGELBERG
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Saying: O God of grace, bless us with peace.
Time of Offering online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
Offertory "Does the Journey Seem Long?" George D. Pyper
arr. Anne Britt
*Offertory Response 710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of life, we bring these gifts as an offering of gratitude and hope. Bless them and use them to raise up your kingdom in this world, that new life may spring forth in places of need, and resurrection hope may be proclaimed in all we do. Amen.
*Hymn 536 “Rise, O Church, like Christ Arisen” SURGE ECCLESIA
Time of community sharing
Charge & Benediction
choral response “We Take the Love of God” Emma Lou Diemer
Postlude "Rise" Stew Knight
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452