Online Sermons
Easter Sunday: April 12, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Schlachter
Welcome to our website. You are here: The Word --> Online SermonsEd Note: Barbara gave an extemporaneous homily during the sermon time at the Easter Vigil service, Saturday, April 11. That homily was directed primarily to all the children present, who were invited to come forward. She focused on the evening's upcoming baptisms and gave gifts of sunflower seeds to the children.
The following sermon was preached at services the following day.
Have you ever sat in darkness and waited for the sun to peek over the horizon, watching the colors of the sky go from black to pinks and reds and purples and finally seeing that tiniest of golden light on the far horizon? What a wonder!
Whatever happened to Easter sunrise services? There is something awesome about sitting out in the night air, watching the moon and stars prepare to bow their goodbyes and following the never-ending motion of the sky as it prepares for dawn.
It was this awareness of the dawn that caused Thomas Merton to say that morning belongs to the Christians and that each morning is a Resurrection. There is a prayer by Philip Newell based on an old Celtic prayer that starts out, O Son beyond all suns, I give you greeting this new day. The old Celts would take off their hats and bow their heads when they first saw the sun each morning. It is a great way to start each day, to be reminded of the Risen Lord in the very rising of the physical light of the world.
We are told in our Gospel this morning that the three women who went to anoint Jesus’ body went early on the first day of the week, after the sun had risen. There we get that phrase, “after the sun has risen.”. It is spelled “sun” but we could also think of it as after the son, the Christ had risen.
It was light; Sabbath was over. It was time to do what women did. They took care of the bodies. They did the daily tasks. Perhaps they had already made the breakfast, taken out the dog, made the beds. They perhaps had done the same quotidian, the same daily, tasks that you and I do each morning. In their daily faithfulness they were now ready to do another task, not done daily thank God, but still done faithfully when needed. It is always good, when we are in grief or in shock to do those things that are there to be done, the daily tasks, the small acts of love that at least might mean something to someone, if only us.
Their one concern was a legitimate one. Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb? It was a large stone, and we all know how heavy even a smaller stone can be. There was no way that they could manage that on their own. But that didn’t keep them from going. Somehow, the stone would be removed.
Follow their emotions with me: first, they were sad over the death of their friend. Then they were worried about the large stone. Then they were alarmed—not only had the stone been moved but there was a young man in a white robe in the tomb. It was not Jesus. He was not there. “He has risen,” the messenger in white told them. “He has gone to Galilee and will see you there. Tell the disciples.”
Now they were shaking with terror and amazement and fear. And they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. There is not much good news here for these women.
The Gospel of Mark actually ended with that line, “and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” The Gospel that you heard read has had a tacked on ending, given later, perhaps to make it more like the other two synoptic gospels.
Do you have a hard time believing in the resurrection? You are obviously in good company. These three women could not comprehend what they had been told. Fear was the reigning emotion. Perhaps later they told Peter and the others. But now they are dumb with disbelief and fear, as I daresay we would be, also.
What I want to suggest is that we don’t worry about the Resurrection. We just Practice Resurrection, to use a phrase from a poem by Kentucky poet philosopher and farmer Wendell Berry.
Practice Resurrection? I can just hear you say, I’m not even sure I believe in the resurrection!
It is not my purpose this morning to convince you that the Resurrection happened. That puts us into a mind game, a place of argument. What I would like you simply to remember is that something happened that turned a rough bunch of dense thick-headed disciples into a powerful force that changed the world. Something had to have happened, whether in their psyches, in their community, something that would make them declare that Jesus had died and Christ had risen.
So let’s just say that something has happened to you, also, so that you can suspend any doubts you have, any questions of how could this happen?
Make the leap of faith. Decide to Practice Resurrection, not get stuck on whether you believe or not. Those of you who are athletes or musicians know that practice is all important. You can’t be an athlete or musician without practice. You can’t be a Christian without practice.
We have lived the desert these 40 days of Lent, we have been through the Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We are emerging from the desert and we see around us that the desert is blooming.
I wish you all could see an old cactus we have in our dining room at home. It has burst into bloom for Easter! Isaiah was right when he predicted the desert would bloom!
Resurrection life is not something that is promised to us only on the other side of death. It is something that is given to us now, with our baptism. Our resurrection life is offered to us fresh each morning like the rising sun. Each morning we rise with Christ to the rising of this life itself, and it is a blooming, blossoming life that bears flower and fruit. You are the flower and your love is the fruit.
There is a transformation offered to us. We need no longer believe that only Jesus was God’s beloved child. Jesus’ death as one particular man in one particular place in one particular time has meant that for all time, in every place, every person who chooses can have the living Spirit of Christ within them. We are risen! We are transformed, like the caterpillar into the butterfly! We move beyond the fear of the empty tomb into the joy of a life truly lived. We are free to Practice Resurrection.
So what does the Resurrected Life look like? How do we practice this?
Each of us is called in our own particular way, and yet there are some things that we are all offered as part of our practice:
To live in the moment we are in rather than regretting the past or worrying about the future. We are forgiven people who know that Christ goes ahead of us to prepare our way.
To live in the awareness that we are loved and accepted just as we are and that we have a place in the community of the church. There will always be a place at the table for us.
Therefore, we can live without fear stopping us from being loving or courageous.
To hold our physical possessions and resources lightly, knowing that they are ours only for a short time and are to be used for God’s glory and others’ welfare.
To be inspired by the beauty of Creation and live in harmony with the earth.
To not think so much about what others think of us, to let our ego diminish a little, realizing that our true Self is the Christ within.
To find meaning in the daily tasks performed with love and hope.
To laugh a lot, to hug freely, to play joyfully.
What else would you add to the list? We could go on a long time.
When the sermon is over, you have time to think about how you are called to Practice Resurrection as you hear a wonderful piece of music, and when that is over, we will reaffirm our Baptismal Vows.
I am going to end with a poem by EE Cummings.
i thank you God for most this amazing
day: for leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky, and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes.i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday, this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?(now the ears of my ears awake and
the now the eyes of my eyes are opened)