Easter IIB
St. Francis, Dunellen ‘10
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which
are not written in this book;
but these ARE written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, you may have life in his name.
The New
York Times, around Palm Sunday three years ago, carried an article about a
man's visit to a child's bookstore
On two
tables, each prominently displayed, befitting the season were Children's
storybooks:
one table
of Passover stories, and one of Easter books.
The
Passover books ranged uniformly from decent to excellent,
were well
illustrated and written,
telling again
and again the old Exodus story and, occasionally, commenting on the why and how
the festival is celebrated.
The
Easter books were uniformly bunnies, eggs, chickens,
and one
"Children's Story of Jesus."
(with all the sad/bad bits glossed over.)
No
comments on how one might celebrate the religious feast,
or even
information that this was a religious feast.
“What on
earth,” the writer wondered, “happened?”
Why this
gross discrepancy?
I must
admit to having also occasionally wondered
about that
myself -
especially the
year one of my congregations objected to my beginning the Vigil at 7:30pm
because it would displace the Easter Egg Hunt!!
Christians,
especially civic-majority Christians
in first world countries,
have more trouble
with Easter than we realize.
We
simply can't credit it.
Oh, we
know that Life returns every spring –
providing, at
least here in the Northern Hemisphere -
a
beautiful natural background
for Resurrection celebrations complete with young,
fuzzy animals,
We know
also that good can & does, on occasion
triumph over
evil,
and also that Human Beings are sometimes be quite
wonderful.
But
these observable realities, which any faithful
and hopeful
person can see in many
(if not all) times and places.
are NOT the same things,
they are not
even in the same category
as faith
in Jesus' resurrection.
To
believe in the resurrection is to do what which Americans
(but also French, English, Canadians etc.)
find
immensely difficult.
Resurrection
faith admits that Hell in life and on
earth exists,
for everyone, even
for small children in rich societies,
AND
Resurrection
faith insists that God has demonstrated
final power over that hell on earth,
by raising
Jesus from the dead.
The
realities of death, hatred and evil that we hide -
from our
children and even from ourselves
God's
power over death, hatred and evil we simply cannot credit.
No
wonder our children's Easter Books sound like the
Dick,
Jane & Spot readers of my childhood
and not at
all like the Gospel according to Matthew.
or like
the stories in the book of Exodus.
Yet,
life ALWAYS FORCES
(and I use that word advisedly) us to
confront
the depth and existence of evil in the world
whether at the
twin towers site,
in
or in a
worldwide economic crisis.
Any time
we walk straight up and look evil in the face,
and
claim God's protection as we set about to help bring
hope and
light into a dark and hopeless situation
God
proves to be there,
providing
strength, courage, and power
in the
midst of the evil and chaos.
It is to
this resurrection power that we are called to witness.
We are
not here to report that life has cycles which reliably appear year after year.
Nor are
we here merely to witness that most people are pretty much decent as lot of the
time.
We are
here to celebrate,
and then
go out into the world and report
that the
power which spun our universe into being
the One
who laid down its rules and rhythms, has been
AND
ALWAYS WILL BE,
victorious over death, hell & sin.
Like
Thomas, we may on occasion - or even quite regularly - doubt.
Our
doubting doesn't really bother Jesus,
who
simply says, "Oh, you need to actually see that I am me,"
Well,
here, look - think, read, ask, question . . .
Doubting
as Thomas did is what keeps our faith honest.
Doubting,
as Thomas did is not a problem,
provided,
that there are human hands and feet with
the
familiar scars and human voices with the familiar stories
to show,
to reassure, to tell the doubter
how
“life, the world and everything” really work.
THAT is
where we as the Church come in.
provided
that our books, our words,
our
liturgies and our lives
point
not to pretty spring - or any other season –
and
picture not the innocence of small animals
but
celebrate God's power over the greatest of evils.
As
members of Christ, we are called to be the
ANSWERS
to the doubters' questions.
We are
called to be credible witness - with
credible scars -
to the power of God over death evil and sin.
We are
supposed to write the stories of our lives individually and together, as John
wrote his gospel,
That is
– write/live them so that others may believe
that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that
believing, may have life in Christ's name.
Obviously
we cannot be such witnesses,
unless
we first face our own denial of evil
and our
doubts about God's power and presence among us.
Each of
us knows where the hell in our lives that we do not trust God to handle is
found.
That is
where we must start,
that is
where we must ask our Lord,
to save
us from our doubts and fears
and bring us to greater trust in
God's power and faithfulness.
OK, our
financial world is a mess.
It’s
even gone crazy enough that what all the folks have
been
telling us about how rough it is
to live
in
is
beginning to make sense even to us,
the
hyper - privileged of the world.
(And make no mistake, if you have food and clothes;
If your family is alive, unthreatened, and loving;
if you can find basic health care; you
already exist in the top 1% of the human universe!)
If today
you have friends whose world is falling apart,
if your
world is falling apart,
stop,
breathe, be still, and remind yourself
that we
and God are an unbeatable team.
Remember
your own ancestors, who crossed oceans,
climbed
up out of poverty,
survived
illnesses, divorce and death,
and handed life on to you.
Start to
put your head back on straight,
Ask for
financial help if you need it,
Disinter
your real value system from under all the “stuff”
that our
present “gilded age” has declared necessary for
being
“real” people.
Then go out
and help someone who needs help more than you do.
Look at
beautiful things – spring counts as beautiful,
even if
it’s not resurrection.
Tell a
funny story.
Laugh at
your dog, cat, or grandchild.
Grow a
plant. Read a good book.
Hug your
family members.
And when
you get down, sing an Easter Hymn,
Read a
resurrection story, read Peter’s sermons
to the
people of
(They’re in the book of Acts, chapters 2,3,
and above all in 10:34-43)
Remember
that you are God’s creation,
a unique
reflection of the glory of our Creator.
Entrust
yourself to the one who came,
lived
among us, died for us and is raised and present among us.
Then
when you – or we - say, "Alleluia, Christ is risen,"
(Which
is the only functional answer to death, hell and sin)
We will
be able to face the same question the disciples faced.
“How
credible is our witness to the resurrection?
Can the
world see and touch, and hear us, and believe?”
And we
can respond,
as we do
at each holy Baptism,
“Yes,
with God’s help.”
In nomine.
The Rev. Susan B. P. Norris, April 11, 2010