Jeff: By a show of hands, how many people here have been tent camping? Ok. Now, leave your hands up if you really enjoyed it. I remember having a really profound experience the very first time I went tent camping. The summer after my freshman year of college, I helped plan and lead a work trip to Tennessee for the youth group that I’d been a part of in high school. During the day, we helped to replace the shingles on a roof for someone who couldn’t afford to pay someone to do that for them. In the evenings, we would sit around a campfire, sing songs, have a time of devotion, and just talk. There was one night that I remember pretty distinctly. We were around the campfire talking and people began to share their struggles. In particular, I remember one of the guys, who was always very quiet and closed off, shared some rather personal stuff with the group. And we listened with compassion and we prayed for him. It was a powerful moment in which God began to turn his pain toward new life. I’m not saying that happened because we were tent camping, but it may have had an influence.

Did you know that God has an affinity for tent camping? I see some skeptical looks and some faces asking, “Where in the world is he going with this?” Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, in the passage April just read from Revelation 21, we hear all about God’s affinity for tent camping. Let me read part of it again. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” So…do you get it now? No? Maybe it requires a small Greek lesson. The word translated as ‘home’ is skene, which is the word for tabernacle or tent. Therefore, the text says that the tent of God is among mortals. But there’s more. The word translated as dwell is from the same root word. The word here is skenosai, which means to live in a tent…or to tent camp. “See, the tent of God is among humans. God will tent camp with them as their God; they will be his people.”

I tell you all this as an odd introduction to talking about the portion of the Lord’s Prayer that is our focus for today. We have gone through the prayer piece by piece throughout Lent and we have come to that final two weeks. This morning, we are looking at the line, “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” This probably has you asking yourself what tent camping has to do with the kingdom, power, and glory of God. And perhaps asking, “What does the resurrection of Jesus that we are here to celebrate on this Easter morning have to do with this exclamation of praise about the kingdom and the power and glory belonging to God?” I will return to that first question, but perhaps April can shed some light on the second one first.

April: On that first Easter morning, the miracle of resurrection didn’t feel like a shout of praise. It began in the dark. It began with the women, who likely wept on the way to the tomb. It began with fear when the tomb was found empty and the stone rolled away. In fact, the short ending of the Gospel of Mark lingers on the fear. When the women entered the empty tomb, a man in dazzling white clothes told them Jesus had been risen and to go and tell the others, but instead, the women reacted with fear.

The first Easter morning had confusion, as Mary Magdalene looked up at the risen Christ, and through her tears thought he was the gardener. The grief, fear, and confusion quickly evaporated when Jesus called Mary by name. She ran to tell the others the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead, but her joyful proclamation was met with disbelief and skepticism, by people who thought it was just some “idle tale” the women made up. 

Now, over 2,000 years later, we try to remember what that first resurrection day must have been like. But despite our best efforts, we are overwhelmed with joy. We try to reenact the moments of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but we can’t forget that the resurrection is coming. We, unlike the people who lived with Jesus, have the benefit of over 2,000 years of hindsight. And so we gather on this Easter morning with shouts of Alleluia, and hearts overflowing with praise. We feel the miracle of resurrection and we say, “For yours, O God, are the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen!”

At the end of the first century, or beginning of the second, a short manuscript called the Didache was written. This document was a manual for the growing Christian church, and it included teachings as well as recommendations for worshiping. By the time the Didache was written, the Lord’s Prayer ended with the line, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen,” even though none of the Gospel have these words. This morning, as we focus on the joyous miracle of resurrection, I’d like to share about the two words in the middle – the power, and the glory. 

In the Old Testament book 1 Chronicles, King David wants to build a temple to the Lord, but God tells him this job is not for someone who has shed blood. Instead, David’s son Solomon will build the temple. David explains this to the people, and he asks them to consider giving their offerings to help with this lofty goal. The people gave with such generosity that David was amazed. He sees the spectacular generosity of the people, and he wants to make sure the focus gets put back on God, rather than on what the people have done. He exclaims, “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord…” 

So, what does it mean to say the power and the glory are God’s? The Greek word used for “power” is the word “dynamis,” which sounds a lot like our word for “dynamite.” This word means ability, strength, and power. In the New Testament, it is often used to talk about the power of God. When we pray, “thine is the power…” we are remembering that even though many things are impossible for us, nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is outside of God’s power. On this Easter morning, we see this truth front and center. When Jesus told his disciples he would die and rise, they didn’t believe it. I think they didn’t believe it because they didn’t want to think Jesus would go away from them, but I also think they couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea of resurrection. When something dies, there’s nothing you can do to change it–at least, that’s what they thought. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we proclaim that even death can’t stop the power of God.

Thine is the power, and thine is the glory. The Greek word for “glory” in this prayer is the word “doxa,” which is where we get the word “doxology.” This word carries with it a sense of “weight” or “weightedness.” Think about the value of gold, and how heavy that value is on the scale. The glory of God has substance. It’s heavy, kind of like the way Marty McFly talks about weight or powerful situations when he says, “This is heavy!” 

On that first Easter morning, the disciples moved from doubt and skepticism, to fear, to confusion, to belief, and when they recognized the vastness of God’s power and glory, I imagine that their mouths hung open with wonder and surprise. When we pray the Lord’s prayer together this morning, let’s allow ourselves to experience God’s power and glory in a whole new way–the power and glory of God who overcame the grave. 

Jeff: Jesus died. He was gone. From the afternoon on Friday until Sunday morning, Jesus was dead. His followers were in mourning. The hopes they had placed in Jesus were crushed. What sort of king does this? What sort of king dies before even sitting on the throne?

I talked earlier about God having an affinity for tent camping. In John’s Revelation, the loud voice from the throne says that God’s tent is among us and God will dwell in that tent with us. That does not seem like a very kingly act either, does it? What king leaves his castle, his luxury, his place of power and authority, to come and dwell with his subjects, his servants? When we say, “Thine is the kingdom,” we HAVE to acknowledge that this kingdom that is God’s is not like other kingdoms. God is not like other kings. God was and continues to be willing to come to us and dwell with us, even though we are not worthy of it, even though we are ridiculously inferior to God. But, in Jesus, we saw the lengths to which God would go through to be with us, God’s people. He was willing to become one of us, to suffer like we suffer, to be tempted as we are tempted, to die as we die. But then God, in Jesus, did something that none of us could ever do. He came back from the dead. He appeared defeated, but he wasn’t. And for us, the most amazing part of it all is not the miracle of the resurrection but the reason for the resurrection. God didn’t bring Jesus back to life just to make himself look cool or impress his friends. God brought Jesus back as the hope of resurrection for us all. God brought Jesus back to life to say to us, I can and will do this for you also. In the verses we read from Revelation, it says, “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we can have new life. The promise of God making all things new has already begun in small ways and we have the opportunity each day to help God make things new in our world. But that promise is also for our forever. Because Christ lives, we too will live…forever with our Savior. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!