Easter Sunday Sermon ...

Easter Sunday – April 12th 2009 – First Presbyterian Portage

The story is familiar – we know the cast of characters, we know what happened.
Each year we mark the events of Easter and recount the story – it is familiar to us.
But – and this is the rub – what does it mean to talk about the Resurrection?
What does it mean to say – “He’s Risen”
Or “I’ve seen the Lord”

How do we celebrate something that we’ve known only from a printed story in an ancient book?
How do we embody the concept of BEING and Easter People when, if push really came to shove – we wouldn’t really have a clue of what it means to speak of the Resurrection, much less proclaim “He is Risen?” or “I’ve seen the Lord.”

On one level, that’s the power of the Easter story and the cast of characters that people it. We may find ourselves like Thomas who missed the happenings of Easter Morning and later sat in the upper room with the others who were happily chattering about the Risen Lord. It was Thomas who said – “I won’t believe until I see and feel for myself the Risen One …”

Or perhaps we’re like Peter and the other disciples who when the women arrived with the news that the tomb was empty and Jesus had been risen from the dead, ran to see for themselves. They had just enough doubt to question the veracity of the story from the women of all people – just enough doubt that they HAD to go and see for themselves …

Or perhaps we’re like the women … we approach these events in the the darkness – in the uncertainty of just not knowing for sure what has happened, only to discover … the earth has shifted, our understanding and our rational intellectual approaches are for naught … things are NOT what they should be … what we expected, anticipated and even dreamt of are simply NOT to be … things are in upheaval and uncertainty …

The women are perhaps the figures in this story where we can enter the story and experience THIS (…) for ourselves.

One of my professors at McMaster wrote a book on the role of anonymous characters in the Jewish Scriptures, and from the simple question – “why do some of the most important stories have a nameless anonymous character in them?” If the stories are so important, why aren’t all the characters named?

As an example – what’s the name of Noah’s wife??
She is central to all of the work that needed to be done, yet she has NO NAME.

Dr Reinhartz opened the door for the possibility that the anonymous characters are intentionally placed in the narrative of the story so that we – you and I – as listeners and readers can place ourselves IN the story, and experience the events in a first hand way.

In the Easter Story there are numerous anonymous individuals who break into the scene and fade away … the young man who ran away naked, the hapless servant who lost and ear, the Centurion who stood at the foot of the cross, and now this morning, we hear of the ‘disciple Jesus loved’ who figures prominently in the narrative of Jesus’ life, but is NEVER named …

Perhaps the whole point of this story – the account of Mary and Peter and the others, is to open ourselves to the possibility that we are to enter the story and be part of the moment when the disciples say – “I have seen the Lord …” and to live the consequences of that statement: “I have seen the Lord …”

This past week I’ve been reading the various resources I brought back with me from the StreetLevel Conference in Ottawa and over and over I keep stumbling on modern expressions of the old Celtic Blessing – “may you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet, and may they see the face of Christ in you …”

It’s such a simple concept – such a simple idea – yet, it is one that we struggle with in the Church constantly …

We can think of numerous examples of un-Christ like behaviour in our leaders and laity that leaves us shaking our heads … but it’s the complacency of saying – NOTHING – that is most troubling.

We are called to faith.
We are called to living and sharing our faith.

And yet, when we see glaring examples of un-Christ like behaviour we will shrug our shoulders and say – “what can you do?” and at times breath a sigh of relief that it’s THEM that got caught rather than ourselves … the spot light is on their dark little corner, not ours – “WHEW!!!”

If we take seriously the notion that we are to BE the face of Christ to the world many of us have some work to do …

Our attitudes need to be fine tuned.

Our outlook needs to be reoriented.

Our ideals need to be adjusted.

Our paradigm needs to be shifted …

AND NONE OF THAT IS EASY or COMFORTABLE.

And that’s the problem. … If it was easy and comfortable we’d be there yesterday.

But when it challenges us to look critically at who we are, how we fit in the world, and what we’ve been about – right down to our most deeply held beliefs – well, that’s a whole other ball game isn’t it?

That’s the point of the Easter Story … something wondrous and amazing has happened … we are no longer prisoners to the way things were … we are no longer to fear the shadows of death and darkness … God has entered Human life and history in a startling way and said – “Hey people – here’s a radically different way of looking at and living in and moving through the world!!!”

It’s called FAITH.

It’s about GRACE.

It’s about a gift of LOVE.

The resurrection is about the Kingdom of God in our midst – here and now, not in some sweet hereafter over there in the by and by – but here and now.

When the word spread that the tomb was empty, things started to change … The Risen Christ is not dead and gone – the Risen Christ moves among us – if we have the courage to open our eyes and see …

We speak words of welcome – but are they conditional? Offered only to the people who we are comfortable and like? Or are they unconditional and open to ALL?

If we are project Christ into the world – are the words of our lips – the prayers and proclamations we make here in this place – consistent with the actions and thoughts we have on Tuesday afternoon? Or Thursday morning? Or Friday night?

Its easy to say – “may we see the face of Christ in everyone we meet.” But what if that face is in the gutter? Or in an AIDS hospice? Or looking at us from between prison bars? Or dirty and drunken?

There’s the challenge of Easter in our modern world … Christ is Risen … we can see the Risen Christ all around us … the challenge is whether we really want to …

It’s easy to say – “I’ve seen the Lord …”

It’s harder to live that understanding as we move through our days … yet we are called to see the Lord in ALL people, not just some.

May it be so – thanks be to God … let us pray.

(and as though on cue - at the conclusion of the service when everyone retreated downstairs for coffee, they were joined by a very inebriated gentleman who was given a cup of coffee, some very generously heaped sandwiches, and asked if there was anything else "we" could do for him? He headed back into his day having recieved a warm welcome and the gift of sustenance ... I felt like I'm preaching to the converted !!!)