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19. Were You There?
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149 a b PARt IV euRoPe 19 were You There? (John 20:1-18) Lina Andronovienè Šárka Valley Community Church Prague, Czech Republic BIOGRAPHY Lina Andronovienè (B.A., B.A., M.Th., Ph.D.) is native of Lithuania. She grew up in a Christian family and was baptized in Klaipeda Baptist Church, where at an early age she began serving as a musician, and later as a worship leader and preacher. She has continued her involvement in the life of Lithuanian Baptist communities, but is also involved in Šárka Valley Community Church in Prague. She is a course leader in applied theology and pro-rector and academic dean at International Baptist Theological Seminar. She regularly authors articles in theological journals but also writes creative compositions and music. Andronovienè was one of the initiators of NEBIM, a nonresidential Bible school of the Baptist Union of Lithuania. She continues to serve, in a voluntary capacity, as its director and also oversees the external relations at her Baptist Union. SERMON COMMENTARY Offering the only dramatic monologue in this collection, Andronovienè presents the witness of Mary—first at the tomb—as if addressed to those who today share existential circumstances similar to her angst and disappointment . In the monologue Mary looks back at the events of Easter morning, 150 Baptist Preaching which she assumes her hearers know, and out to hearers today who need a similar reassurance because of the universal disappointments of life. Mary recounts her experiences of Jesus, focusing on the events of Holy Week. She seeks to express the pathos of those events as personally experienced . Then, in an effort to merge the horizons of the text and the horizons of those listening to the monologue, Mary compares her existential emptiness with that of hearers today who suffer various losses. The sermon moves from there to here, then to now, was to is. Having described the sense of loss shared with her contemporary listeners , she invites them to journey to the tomb with her. She underscores the contemporary, postmodern disconnect with the story of the resurrection and in so many words mouths the doubts of listeners today concerning the relevance of the Easter story. Andronovienè walks the thin line of risk in all dramatic monologues, that of believably standing in character. She succeeds in this by creating a sympathetic figure in the person of Mary, who looks out from the first century to the doubts and ennui of the twenty-first century. She anticipates objections of contemporary listeners and deals with them as if clearing the way to be heard about the Easter event. She then recounts her experience of the risen Christ in language that narrates the Johannine text and implies that we too may both release the past and at the same time in a newer way cling to the risen one. She catches the play on clinging/not clinging that the narrative evokes. If we hold to him in the old way we will not experience him in the new way. With economy of language and efficiency of description she connects the past biblical revelation with the current human situation. She takes up the image of “linen wrappings” and uses that image as a metaphor for all inadequacies of gender, education, or standing that might undermine the Christian witness for some. Then she takes the metaphor in another direction. Just as the linen wrappings were not enough to convince those who would not be convinced, we too may face those who consider our evidences insufficient. For those who will not believe, no amount of evidence will convince. The most creative aspect of the monologue is the tactile quality of the linen wrappings metaphor. For believers these evidences are sufficient , and no amount of evidence suffices for those who will not believe. In this image Andronovienè captures the two layers of meaning so typical of the Fourth Gospel. The Jesus who gives bread and is the bread of life leaves behind linen wrappings that are more than linen wrappings. In the midst of the sermon Andronovienè introduces the spiritual “Were You There?” This sets up the arresting and abrupt conclusion, “Were you there when he rose up from the dead?” This leaves the hearer with the options of response without assuming them. [3.235.120.15] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:12 GMT) Part IV—Europe 151 SERMON ANALYSIS The use of Scripture in this sermon reflects a transformative intent. The text makes a claim that Christ is...