Easter Sunday 2022 St. Alban’s Church
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Christ did not die and rise from the dead just to make bad people into good people. Christ died and rose to make fearful people truly alive!
I’d like to begin this sermon for Easter morning with a special word of welcome
to those who are visiting with us today. We’re glad you’re here this morning,
and we invite everyone who wishes to join us to receive Communion.
Today we celebrate the heart of Christian faith, that death is not the end of the story.
Today we rejoice that we share in the new life of Christ Jesus beyond death.
Today we proclaim our freedom from any fear of being imprisoned in this world
of such swift and varied changes — we know where true joys are to be found.
Last Sunday we waved joyful palms to celebrate the easy way of being believers —
following Jesus in fair weather, when there’s a crowd cheering all of us on.
Then we shifted and became a mob crying for this one man to die for the people.
Some of us gathered on Good Friday in a vigil for divinity seeming to die —
trying to be faithful, when bring a believer seems to be the hardest thing to do.
And today we celebrate new life, risen life in which we all can share.
Christ did not die and rise from the dead just to make bad people into good people.
Christ died and rose to make fearful people truly alive!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
I’d like to share an unusual sort of Easter story, dating from the year 1996.
I had taken a two-month sabbatical from my ministry as a Rector,
and I spent several days at an Episcopal monastery above Santa Barbara.
I was not on a silent retreat, and I shared a few lunches with some gay men
who were on a very different form of retreat — they were living a kind of resurrection.
All of these dozen or so men had contracted AIDS. They had seen friends
and lovers die all around them. They themselves had been facing their own deaths —
in a sense, they had been preparing for death quite intentionally.
But around 1996, scientists had developed new treatments for those with AIDS —
a class of drugs called “anti-retrovirals.” They were not a cure,
but by working with an array of drugs, doctors could extend their lives.
These men were spending a few days at a monastery, getting spiritual guidance
about re-entering the regular ups and downs of daily living after getting ready to die.
I might be off-base, but I think they experienced a kind of Easter story.
Christ did not die and rise from the dead just to make bad people into good people.
Christ died and rose to make fearful people truly alive!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Gospel reading we heard, a woman named Mary, from Magdala, just can’t sleep.
She is thinking of what she plans to do at dawn — to visit the tomb of Jesus.
Finally she thinks, “I’m not sleeping anyway — I’ll just walk over there by moonlight
and be ready at first light for the anointing of the corpse of my beloved teacher.”
She discovers that the stone (the stone of doubt) has been rolled away, the tomb empty.
Then she runs and locates the official apostles, sharing this amazing news.
The men visit, and one of them has the insight that Jesus has been raised from the dead.
Mary waits until they leave, and then peeks in, and sees angels robed in white,
who ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Why are any of us weeping?
Well, we grieve for the return to European war in Ukraine, war in Somalia
and other countries. We grieve the divided state of our country, and of course COVID.
We try to help with donations and prayers, but it can seem so limited.
Are we holding back our tears, our anxieties, our dread of the future?
“Why are you weeping?” Tell God what it is that deeply touches your heart. For a few,
though, it will not be anxiety, but joy — you are weeping to express your bliss.
In Luke’s Gospel, the men in dazzling robes ask a different rhetorical question:
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Why do we keep returning
to old habits of mind and heart that we know do not bring us joy and peace?
On this Easter, on this day when we celebrate our share in Christ’s new life,
let’s look for new attitudes of mind and heart, and not seek new life in old dead habits.
Was it difficult for the disciples who went to the tomb to open their hearts again
to the love they felt for Jesus? Is it difficult for us to break out of the tombs and the traps
of our fond pleasant memories, and look around at the changed circumstances
of our life today, and find Jesus there? Among this world’s swift and varied changes
we know where the true joys, the authentic riches, are to be found: in our souls
and in our communities, which will not fluctuate like the breaking news of each day.
Let’s not be pasting last year’s leaves on the tree and trying to call that Spring.
Instead, look at your life this day! This moment Christ Jesus wants to live in you!
The new life just won’t be the same as the old life — God intends to do a new thing.
Christ did not die and rise from the dead just to make bad people into good people.
Christ died and rose to make fearful people truly alive!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
