Sermon - Easter Day - Year A

Matthew 28:1-10

                                                  

Christ is Risen!   Christ is Risen indeed!

I am going to ramble on for a few sentences, but my chatter is merely background noise as you speak with those around you of of the signs of Easter which have come to you this morning.  Only a few of us are gathered here, inside this structure – too empty to be thought of as “the church,” and too enclosed to think of it as the place where Jesus’ resurrection is to be experienced.

What are the experiences of Easter which have come into your life this morning?  Was it the greeting of a loved one - reminding you that the bond which holds you together is able to meet all challenges because it is rooted in the promises of God?  I did have the luxury of coming to Augusta Street this morning.  I will tell you that the cross on the front lawn is absolutely gorgeous!  I hope many of you will drive over this day and continue the tradition of a family photo by the cross.  As I drove on Augusta Street, I saw that lovely cross as a sign of the faith and commitment and community which is St. Michael.  Those of us who come for worship only see that cross for a few minutes.  But it is there all day and all night as a sign for those who pass by.  A sign of Easter’s promise and gift for every one of God’s children. 

What are the places where you have seen Easter this morning?  Experienced Easter this morning?  Felt the celebration which is Easter?

I remember some of the Easters of my sixty-three years.  Like the Easter when the sexton mistook the children’s paper mâché tomb for a bit of trash.  Pastor Iddings modified his opening line for the sunrise service.  “Christ has risen!”  he announced.  Then quickly added, “And has taken his tomb with him!”

I remember the Easter after my mother died. 

I remember the two Easters I was able to observe in Wittenberg, Germany.  Worshipping in the church where Martin Luther served as preacher.

And, without a doubt, I am going to remember this Easter.  For many reasons. 

One reason is because of the ways in which this Easter is more like any of the previous Easter’s I have known.  I have seen glorious signs of Christ’s resurrection this morning, but there is this anxiousness all around.  Worship is never to be a distraction from the concerns of the world.  In particular, the Kyrie is an acknowledgement that all of those concerns come with us and are present with us as come into God’s presence.  Worship is not a distraction from the concerns of the world – it is an announcement that those concerns will not rule the day.  That no matter what threatens us there is something else bigger and better and stronger.  It is okay, in worship, to acknowledge how frightening it is – this world in which we live. 

This Easter is more like the first Easter in that while Jesus followers were beginning to realize the wonderful gift God was giving them, that morning they too were caught up in nervousness and anxiety.   It took them a while to get over their worry and their fear.  On Easter morning, they were filled with questions.

I know, and you know, that there will come a day when COVID-19 is under control and we can joyously gather anytime we want, with as many as we choose.  Oh, I long for that day!  (Can I get an “Amen”!)  But on this Easter morning, we aren’t there.  We are in a place more like the place where Peter and Matthew and Andrew and Thomas found themselves.

I will long remember this Easter.  It is the Easter most like the first Easter.

The gift of the internet allows me to be with a wider circle of you this morning.  It has been amazing how connected I come to feel through these live sharing’s.  And I hear from many of you that you are amazed too.  We are connected.  But there are only a few around us.  A very few.

Again, very much like that first Easter. 

We have come to associate Easter morning with big gatherings, egg hunts, huge meals, new outfits.  The first Easter was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary all alone on their way to the tomb.  Somewhere else there were eleven disciples, gathered and hiding in a dark upper room.  That first Easter wasn’t a time for impressive oratory or incredible music.  It was a small family unit gathered together and talking with one another about what all of this might mean. 

Please allow me to tell you that the greatest signs of Easter I have seen are in the short video clips I have collected and put on my laptop so Reid can point the cellphone camera that way as the small group of us who are here share bread and cup.  Those video clips are a sign and testament to where the experience of Jesus is the most powerful and long-lasting.  Easter occurs in our interactions with others.  Easter occurs when Jesus comes to life in the midst of our daily life. 

We only need to gather in this building in order to train and sustain the kind of sharing that this Easter has forced upon us.

I will never forget this Easter, and watching as families share a loaf of bread a cup and spoke to one another the promise Jesus makes it clear that whenever and wherever we share in this way - he is there with us. 

Where have you experienced Easter this morning?  Where do you see the signs that Easter has come?

I am grateful for the ways in which this Easter has allowed me to see in new ways what it means to proclaim that Christ has risen.  I will always remember sharing this Easter with you.  My prayer is that you will remember, too.  And give thanks.  And that you will allow that small kernel of confidence taking root in your heart an opportunity to sprout and leaf and grow and to produce the fruit which is bigger and stronger and more capable than any thing which might foolishly attempt to separate us from the love of God.

Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen Indeed!           Amen.