Easter Day – 2010
Acts 10: 34 - 43; Psalm 118: 1 – 2; 14 – 24; 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 11; John 20: 1 – 18
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Acts 10: 34 - 43; Psalm 118: 1 – 2; 14 – 24; 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 11; John 20: 1 – 18
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, April 4, 2010
WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Let us pray: Risen savior our joy this day is great in recognition of the fulfillment of your presence among us. We have journeyed this past 40 days through the times of temptation and test, of repentance and return, of cold and dark and finally into new light with rebirth and Resurrection. Fill us this and every day with the glory of your good news that we might resolve to live out your resurrection and proclaim our faith in the sure and certain hope of eternal life in you. May our song of Alleluia rise to fill the world with love in your name and bring hope to all who live in the promise of new and unending life in you. Teach us to recognize you when you call us by name and to see you in the faces of those whom we love – and especially those whom we do not. Amen.
(SUNG) I HAVE COME TO BRING THE TRUTH,
I HAVE COME TO BRING YOU LIFE.
IF YOU BELIEVE – THEN YOU SHALL LIVE!
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL NEVER DIE.
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
YOU WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL LIVE A NEW LIFE.
In the rapid paced week prior to our resurrection celebration this morning, our faithful and dedicated music director who has voluntarily taken on the added responsibility of producing our bulletins since budget constraints forced the elimination of our Parish Administrative Assistant; did a marvelous job in compiling and reproducing 4 bulletins in about as many days. One oversight of that rapid production was the exclusion of the Gospel text appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary for Easter Sunday of Year C. The text printed in your bulletin was simply a repeat of the text from last year’s bulletin. The text which Ken proclaimed this morning from the author of John’ account of the Good News is the text appointed and the one for which your Priest in Charge had prepared his sermon. “Jesus said to her, woman why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Interesting question indeed; and one we might fairly ask ourselves as we gather in this place this morning. Who are you looking for? What might you be expecting to find here today that you have not found before? What do I suppose that I can preach about this day – this event that has not been preached before? Christians have been gathering on this festival day to mark the central act of our faith for some two thousand and ten years – is there really anything new that can be said about the discovery of the empty tomb and the failure by those present that morning to recognize the risen Christ? Probably not, its all been said before and much more powerfully and articulately than I would ever be able to do – so I’ll just go sit down now, and you can conjure in your memory the best Easter sermon you’ve ever heard!
I guess I’m not going to get off that easy eh? Well I can share with you some thoughts that have been ruminating in brain during this past week, which for people in my line of business can be pretty hectic and demanding. What I have tried to do is to make sure that I balance the care and nurture of my own spiritual health with the needs of the gathered community and the support and participation of the people of God in this “holy week”. I can tell you that the Gospel message proclaimed in Christian churches around the world this day – that the one who was judged, scourged and crucified and who has risen as was promised – produces a profound sense of joy that often defies feeble attempts at explanation. This is part of the reason that we incorporate into our celebration color and light, music which accompanies our voices with trumpets and grand flourishes from organ pipes. This is the day when all the stops are pulled out and we deck ourselves and our churches and sanctuaries in their finest array. “On this day,” says the psalmist, “the Lord has acted, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Let me tell you one of the most exciting things for me about this day. This is Easter day begins the liturgical season of Eastertide which will extend for the next 50 days until we mark the Ascension and then the feast of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit; this also means that Lent is over – and beginning on this day I can return to Breyer’s mint chocolate chip ice cream; and that is very good news indeed! Whatever the Lenten disciplines that we took on beginning on Ash Wednesday – we can now incorporate into our celebration of this festival day and the joyous season that accompanies it. Our liturgical colors turn to dazzling white and our sanctuary is once again filled with the beauty, fragrance and color of flowers that remind us of the return and rebirth of the season of spring. The simple pottery chalice and plate are replaced with our finest silver lovingly polished and buffed to its brightest sheen. The Light of Christ, which is symbolized by the Paschal Candle which we lighted last evening from the new fire – will burn in our sanctuaries and in our hearts for the next days of this celebratory season. Our renewal of and re-commitment to our baptismal covenant also part of our vigil liturgy reminded us of the promises which we made to “ continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers” to “persevere in resisting evil, and, when we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord” to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
(SUNG) KEEP IN MIND THE THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID
REMEMBER ME IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
IF YOU BELIEVE – THEN YOU SHALL LIVE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL NEVER DIE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
YOU WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL LIVE A NEW LIFE.
I found a quote from an anonymous source that reads Christmas is the Promise – and Easter is the Proof. The captioned phrase “He is risen” speaks of the Easter moment to those of us who are believers. Unlike the other major Christian festival that we celebrated only three short months ago; the moguls of Madison Avenue have not been truly successful in converting the forty days of Lent into the only twenty shopping days left until Easter campaign. Colorful green and yellow ad inserts in the local newspapers tout the benefits of one stop shopping for your succulent holiday ham – but generally speaking we have held onto the sacredness of our Christian story in this season far better than the in the rampant “commercialization” of our Christmas festival, and we don’t have too much to fear from the consumer culture that looks to capitalize on the potential moneymaking opportunities of candy manufacturers and egg farmers. “He is risen” means more, however, than the smiling Pillsbury Doughboy image which has been traveling around in my circle on the internet. It is the claim, from those of us who find reason to gather here on Easter morning – that the story of the Incarnation (i.e. the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth) fills us with promise and purpose and mission. We who are among those whom Jesus loves (which includes ALL of creation) look to spread that Good News or Gospel of hope into a world, which is skeptical of claims about resurrection. The story, which we heard read this morning from the author of John’s account, is filled with intrigue and excitement, with doubt and with strength for those harried and grieving followers who trudged to the tomb early on the first day of the week. God, in infinite wisdom and sense chooses to offer the first appearance of the resurrected Christ to a woman – whom we know as Mary Magdalene. This devoted disciple is distraught with the fear that the body of her teacher, her rabbi and her friend had been dishonored by grave robbers or religious government officials who looked to make sure that his humiliation was complete. Whatever else Mary may have carried in her grieving heart that early morning; I can’t imagine that hope in the fact that Jesus would have surmounted death was in her realm of possibility. Why would it be? We all know, only too well, that death is the final moment. Yet something happened that fateful morning – something that she would not be able to explain – something which thousands of learned theologians in the years since have not been able to explain, because faith is not explained faith is experienced. Resurrection is not explained – resurrection is experienced. I have experienced resurrection in my life – all of you have experienced resurrection in your lives; too many times to not believe that it is possible. Those moments when the grief seems too great, when the guilt seems too crushing and when the hope seems too faint – God enters in and resurrection happens in spite of our doubts. The explanation is never needed as long as we are able to trust the experience. That’s what Mary was able to do when she heard Jesus call her name; she was able to trust the experience of love in that voice and know that it was no gardener – rather is was the voice of the one whom she loved. In fact, it was the voice of Love itself; it was the voice of God. It is the voice of resurrection, which continues to draw us here around this table to share the love, which is God with each other, and to recognize in that sharing that we are the Body of Christ called to continue the building of the kindom of God among us – in this place, in this time and for this community.
My guess is that we have come here this morning looking for the One who calls us to love. We have finished the Lenten journey and have made our way from Bethlehem in Judea to Jerusalem of Israel, and into the sure and certain truth that Paul writes about in the first letter to the early Church in Corinth; “but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain” and that the author of Luke/Acts proclaims; that “all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” This is the good news of our Easter story. Easter, according to Theologian Jürgen Moltmann is “God’s protest against death”, this does not mean that death will not happen; I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone here this morning that death will touch each and everyone of our lives more times that we might care to know. The truth of the Easter experience is that because of the empty tomb and the encounter with the risen Christ that death will no longer hold sway over us. The struggle has been fought and won – the Risen one will gather all of the faithful and lead us into new life. That is our sure and certain hope this day – that is what we have come here looking for and that is what we have found; new life in the Risen Christ and in the Kindom of our God among us, right here – right now!
Amen
Let me tell you one of the most exciting things for me about this day. This is Easter day begins the liturgical season of Eastertide which will extend for the next 50 days until we mark the Ascension and then the feast of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit; this also means that Lent is over – and beginning on this day I can return to Breyer’s mint chocolate chip ice cream; and that is very good news indeed! Whatever the Lenten disciplines that we took on beginning on Ash Wednesday – we can now incorporate into our celebration of this festival day and the joyous season that accompanies it. Our liturgical colors turn to dazzling white and our sanctuary is once again filled with the beauty, fragrance and color of flowers that remind us of the return and rebirth of the season of spring. The simple pottery chalice and plate are replaced with our finest silver lovingly polished and buffed to its brightest sheen. The Light of Christ, which is symbolized by the Paschal Candle which we lighted last evening from the new fire – will burn in our sanctuaries and in our hearts for the next days of this celebratory season. Our renewal of and re-commitment to our baptismal covenant also part of our vigil liturgy reminded us of the promises which we made to “ continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers” to “persevere in resisting evil, and, when we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord” to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
(SUNG) KEEP IN MIND THE THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID
REMEMBER ME IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
IF YOU BELIEVE – THEN YOU SHALL LIVE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL NEVER DIE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
YOU WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL LIVE A NEW LIFE.
I found a quote from an anonymous source that reads Christmas is the Promise – and Easter is the Proof. The captioned phrase “He is risen” speaks of the Easter moment to those of us who are believers. Unlike the other major Christian festival that we celebrated only three short months ago; the moguls of Madison Avenue have not been truly successful in converting the forty days of Lent into the only twenty shopping days left until Easter campaign. Colorful green and yellow ad inserts in the local newspapers tout the benefits of one stop shopping for your succulent holiday ham – but generally speaking we have held onto the sacredness of our Christian story in this season far better than the in the rampant “commercialization” of our Christmas festival, and we don’t have too much to fear from the consumer culture that looks to capitalize on the potential moneymaking opportunities of candy manufacturers and egg farmers. “He is risen” means more, however, than the smiling Pillsbury Doughboy image which has been traveling around in my circle on the internet. It is the claim, from those of us who find reason to gather here on Easter morning – that the story of the Incarnation (i.e. the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth) fills us with promise and purpose and mission. We who are among those whom Jesus loves (which includes ALL of creation) look to spread that Good News or Gospel of hope into a world, which is skeptical of claims about resurrection. The story, which we heard read this morning from the author of John’s account, is filled with intrigue and excitement, with doubt and with strength for those harried and grieving followers who trudged to the tomb early on the first day of the week. God, in infinite wisdom and sense chooses to offer the first appearance of the resurrected Christ to a woman – whom we know as Mary Magdalene. This devoted disciple is distraught with the fear that the body of her teacher, her rabbi and her friend had been dishonored by grave robbers or religious government officials who looked to make sure that his humiliation was complete. Whatever else Mary may have carried in her grieving heart that early morning; I can’t imagine that hope in the fact that Jesus would have surmounted death was in her realm of possibility. Why would it be? We all know, only too well, that death is the final moment. Yet something happened that fateful morning – something that she would not be able to explain – something which thousands of learned theologians in the years since have not been able to explain, because faith is not explained faith is experienced. Resurrection is not explained – resurrection is experienced. I have experienced resurrection in my life – all of you have experienced resurrection in your lives; too many times to not believe that it is possible. Those moments when the grief seems too great, when the guilt seems too crushing and when the hope seems too faint – God enters in and resurrection happens in spite of our doubts. The explanation is never needed as long as we are able to trust the experience. That’s what Mary was able to do when she heard Jesus call her name; she was able to trust the experience of love in that voice and know that it was no gardener – rather is was the voice of the one whom she loved. In fact, it was the voice of Love itself; it was the voice of God. It is the voice of resurrection, which continues to draw us here around this table to share the love, which is God with each other, and to recognize in that sharing that we are the Body of Christ called to continue the building of the kindom of God among us – in this place, in this time and for this community.
My guess is that we have come here this morning looking for the One who calls us to love. We have finished the Lenten journey and have made our way from Bethlehem in Judea to Jerusalem of Israel, and into the sure and certain truth that Paul writes about in the first letter to the early Church in Corinth; “but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain” and that the author of Luke/Acts proclaims; that “all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” This is the good news of our Easter story. Easter, according to Theologian Jürgen Moltmann is “God’s protest against death”, this does not mean that death will not happen; I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone here this morning that death will touch each and everyone of our lives more times that we might care to know. The truth of the Easter experience is that because of the empty tomb and the encounter with the risen Christ that death will no longer hold sway over us. The struggle has been fought and won – the Risen one will gather all of the faithful and lead us into new life. That is our sure and certain hope this day – that is what we have come here looking for and that is what we have found; new life in the Risen Christ and in the Kindom of our God among us, right here – right now!
Amen
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