"IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE"

This past Monday, I drove from St. Louis to where my parents live in central Alabama. On the Interstate, about 30 miles or so north of Birmingham, Alabama, I began to see signs advertising the "Ave Maria Grotto," sort of like you see signs near here for "Our Lady of the Snows" Shrine. Only the "Ave Maria Grotto" was located in Culman, Alabama and that struck me as odd. You see, in any given area of north/central Alabama, there might be as many as 30 churches...29 of which would be some variety of Baptist and one independent, with a name like the "Church of the Apostolic Brethren Who Will Be the Only People Actually Saved." So...the "Ave Maria Grotto," which implied heavy-duty Catholicism, seemed like something I had to see.

I got off of Interstate 65 and headed east for a while...and kept driving through the city of Culman ("city," of course, being a merely technical term) out into what began to feel like the serious middle of nowhere... until, suddenly, I came to be big sign: St. Bernard Abbey and the Ave Maria Grotto. I parked and went in, not really knowing what to expect. I was greeted by a man who was dressed like a monk but spoke with an accent reminiscent of Gomer Pyle. It was a little surreal.

I paid my $5.00 admission charge and walked past the gift shop items through a door leading out to the back. What I encountered was nothing short of amazing.

The Ave Maria Grotto, it turns out, is a beautiful walking garden area along which, built into the natural slope of the hillsides along the way, are miniature replicas of ancient cities, temples, historic sites and imaginative dwellings. Stone, concrete, glass, sea shells and other kinds of materials were all used by a Benedictine monk named Brother Joseph to create these structures over a period of 50 years or so while he served at the Abbey. There are replicas of the ancient cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, as well as other Palestinian and Roman structures, American Landmarks, Spanish missions and European wayside shrines, as well as one structure called "the Temple of the Fairies."

As I walked through this amazing place, the sun was shining down through the Southern pines, and a gentle breeze was blowing lightly around me. The light on the flowers and shrubs that grew along and between large rocks and stone benches was truly beautiful. I had one of the most refreshing quiet times with God I have had in a long, long time.

If one were to set out to encounter an amazing tribute to beauty, imagination and devotion to God, I seriously doubt that Culman, Alabama would leap to mind as a destination. And yet, there...in the near middle of nowhere...God's influence was strongly at work.

That's how it is. It's most often in what feels like the middle of nowhere that God will most powerfully intervene into our lives.

On that first Easter morning, so long ago, when the women went to the tomb where they had seen Jesus laid, prepared as they were to anoint his dead body, they must have felt like they were stranded in the emotional and spiritual "middle of nowhere." Their great hope...their leader, their teacher, their expected Messiah...had not escaped the chains of his captors...had not fought back against their verbal and physical assault...had not miraculously saved himself from the fate of death on a cross. When he died, their great hopes had died and now it was back to ordinary life...doing the "women's work" of their culture, tending to the bodies of the dead: the ultimate nothing for no one in the middle of nowhere.

But when they got to the tomb, the last thing they would have imagined to find was waiting for them...or rather, was NOT waiting for them: the body of Jesus was gone. The tomb, just 3 days ago covered over with a stone much to heavy for any one person to move, was now open and empty. They stood, open-mouthed and unbelieving when, suddenly, two angelic beings appeared beside them and asked them the question,"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" I believe God is also asking that question, today, of us.

Contrary to what the world may think sometimes, the church did not create the Resurrection; the Resurrection created the church. As Christians, we are made to be people of hope and of life. And yet, so often, when we find ourselves in the emotional and spiritual "middle of nowhere," we have no expectation of anything good, we look to the worst-case scenario, we dwell on hurts and disappointments, we through up our hands, resigned to exist in misery.

The good - and, for most of us - relentlessly challenging news of Easter morning is that Jesus is not in the tomb and neither are we. If we claim to be believers in Christ, then we are called to live as "Easter people" - people who have hope and people who know the reality of Resurrection.

I do know what it is to feel suddenly dropped into "the middle of nowhere." The reason for my trip to Alabama this past week was to be with my family as my father went into surgery to, we all hoped, remove part or all of his lung in order to also remove the cancer that was recently discovered there. It was a strange thing to feel excited about - that kind of invasive surgery - and yet we...our extended family, my parents' church, many of you in this church...were very hopeful about the possibility. Our particular desire for that day, however, was not to be realized. Instead, we stood together as the surgeon said to us, "Well, we didn't get what we'd hoped for." Upon beginning the surgery, a small camera had been inserted to examine the areas in question more thoroughly and the doctor discovered what none of us wanted to know. We stood together, as a family, to hear him say, "Mr. Carpenter, you have stage 4 lung cancer which has spread to the lining of the ribs. At this point, surgery is not an option. I will refer you to an oncologist to begin treatment with chemotherapy."

The day before my Dad went into the hospital, he got out in his usual prepared garden spot and planted 8 rows of sweet corn and 2 rows of watermelons. The day after he got home from the hospital, he talked about getting his tomatoes and cucumbers planted. That could be interpreted, I suppose, as either foolishly optimistic or being "in denial."

But, you see, we are called to be people of hope and resurrection. The deal with hope is that "it ain't over 'til it's over." And the deal with resurrection is that even when it IS over...it's not really over. Jesus is not in the tomb...and neither shall we be. And so, even in the middle of nowhere...when our hopes are falling apart before our eyes, we must find a way to return to the single greatest assurance of our faith: sickness and even death do not control us. We are Easter people who have seen the death of death!

Those angelic beings who met the women outside the tomb gave them...and us...the secret to finding the hope of our faith consistently - even in the middle of nowhere. They said, "Remember how he told you..." and they recounted Jesus' words which should have prepared the women and all of his disciples for what was to come. Then, Scripture says of the women, "...they remembered his words."

For us, the secret to finding the hope of our faith consistently - even when we are frightened, even when we've been hurt, even when we are confused, angry, exhausted or lonely - is that we, too, must "remember His words."

Listen to some of these, the words of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels of John and Matthew:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (John 14:1)

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (J. 16:33)

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (J. 14:27)

"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (J. 11:25)

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (J. 15:11)

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28:20b)

"Then they remembered his words." Not only that, but the women then returned to tell the other disciples that Christ had risen. And soon the disciples would all discover for themselves that Christ is alive and they would tell and the ones they told would tell...and on and on, even to us here today - called to be witnesses to the truth of resurrection for the world. We are called to be Easter people - whose lives and witness can inspire and reassure others who are feeling lost "in the middle of nowhere." Jesus is not in the tomb...and neither shall we be!

Author Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "No matter where I am, and even if I have no clear idea where I am, and no matter how much trouble I may be in, I can achieve a blank and shining serenity if only I can reach the very edge of a natural body of water. The very edge of anything from a rivulet to an ocean says to me: 'Now you know where you are. Now you know which way to go. You will soon be home now.'"

For us, as Easter people, let us remember that it was Jesus who said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me,...streams of living water will flow from within them." In the book of Revelation we hear, "For the Lamb (who is Christ) at the center of the throne will be their shepherd...and will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

No matter where we are...even when we have no clear idea where we are...no matter how much trouble we may be in...we are never left abandoned in "the middle of nowhere." Jesus is not in the tomb...and neither are we. When we remember that Christ is alive and is with us always, then we know where we are...we know which way to go...we will soon be home. Hallelujah! Christ is risen indeed! Amen.

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