ThisWeeksSermon, Easter Day, March 23, 2008

“Talking about something completely preposterous: Resurrection”
Sunday of the Resurrection, Easter Day, March 23, 2008

May I speak only the truth, and may only the truth be heard by you. In the name of God our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. Amen.

I am basically an optimistic person,
mostly looking at the brighter side, I think,
taking chances,
expecting that things are going to work out.
“Think positively.”
My mother indoctrinated me with that phrase.
She kept Norman Vincent Peale’s book,
The Power of Positive Thinking,
at her bedside.
But when she was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 62,
her optimism faded,
but she still had hope.
She chose a faith healer instead of medical doctors,
and with hope in her heart,
she drank this stinky dark herbal tea until she could drink no more.
A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPTIMISM AND HOPE
There’s a difference between optimism and hope.
When I look around us at what’s going on in the world,
I’m not particularly optimistic.
The never-ending killing and brutality and destruction in so many parts of the world,
our cruelty to one another,
the threat that our planet is overheating and overwhelming our natural habitat.
I’m not particularly optimistic when I think about our American Culture either,
anti-intellectual,
dismissing logic,
at odds with modern secular knowledge and science,
and all this fostered by the mass media,
religious fundamentalism,
mediocre public education,
a scarcity of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and on the left,
and above all,
a lazy and gullible public.
When I look around us at what’s going on in the world,
I’m not particularly optimistic.
But I am hopeful.
There’s a difference.
I am hopeful not for human reasons,
I’m hopeful not from my natural optimism.
I’m hopeful because I believe that God is at work in the church and in the world.
I”m hopeful because I believe God is at work in the world even when God’s name remains unheard,
when the word “God” is never spoken.
EASTER SUNDAY MORNING
Today we celebrate the pivotal moment that sparked what became Christianity.
And it’s the preacher’s job to talk about something that’s completely unreasonable,
preposterous,
the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Every preacher everywhere knows that she or he is not up to the task.
Every preacher is totally thankful for the other ways the resurrection is celebrated:
the hymns and music of the organ,
the anthems and the flowers,
performances by children in a crowded church,
cake and champagne at coffee hour,
even colored eggs hidden outdoors for the Sunday school.
I got some advice recently from a pro,
advice about how to preach Easter.
The advice I got was to keep it simple.
Nothing fancy.
What everyone wants is to sing the hymns and hear the story.
Don’t minimize or trivialize the resurrection by trying to explain it.
Rest assured,
I’m not going to try to explain it.
But at the same time,
I don’t want to suggest to anyone that you have to check your brain at the door before coming in for Easter.
We’re celebrating the moment we call “resurrection”,
and there’s an unavoidable question:
Was it real?
With absolute honesty and conviction,
I can say that I believe it was real.
But I have to paraphrase Bill Clinton on this one:
“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘it’ is.”
What is the “it” that is real?
That’s the question.
The cross?
The death?
Jesus’ ghostly reappearances?
A physical resurrection?
Many if not most biblical scholars will tell you that the physical resurrection is tradition, not history.
Even St. Paul went out of his way to debunk those who believed in a physical ressurection.
In the 15th chapter of his first letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote:
, of course the resurrection was spiritual. What goes into the ground is physical. What comes out is spiritual.
THE “IT” THAT IS REAL
I don’t know what the first Easter experience was, of course.
I don’t think anyone does.
Matthew tells us that none of the disciples was there.
They all fled before Jesus was taken to Ciaiphus, the high priest.
Mark tells us that the disciples all forsook Jesus and fled from him in the Garden of Gesthemene.
In Luke’s narrative,
Jesus’ followers disappear entirely.
No mention of them.
Everyone who would have been interested enough to remember what happened on Good Friday,
and would want tell it to others,
was gone.
None of his followers turned up until the next day.
That’s when one or maybe three or maybe four women,
depending on which gospel you read,
discovered an empty tomb,
discovered a tomb with where they met one “young man”,
or two men in “dazzling apparel”,
or two angels,
depending on which gospel you read.
And you certainly won’t find any record of the first Easter in any of the secular writings of the first century.
BUT SOMETHING WONDERFUL HAPPENED! IT IS REAL!
I don’t know what the resurrection experience was, actually.
And neither does anyone else, as far as I can tell.
But it’s clear that “it” was real.
The “it” that happened transformed people’s lives.
It continues to transform people lives,
more than 2000 years later.
I expect that Christianity has survived all this time not so much because of historical fact,
but because individuals saw the face of God in Jesus’ face.
They heard the voice of God in Jesus’ voice.
They experienced and re-experienced the love of God expressed in the stories that have stood the test of time.
Those timeless lessons that Jesus left his followers,
and ultimately us,
are the basis for resurrection that is real.
the basis for the “it” that is real.
RESURRECTION IS REAL
Jesus said the Realm of God is at hand.
It’s here,
it’s now.
Anyone can experience it.
When we do,
resurrection is real.
When we have the courage to take responsibility for our actions,
make amends to those whom we have harmed,
and change what we have to change,
so it won’t happen again,
then our lives are different,
and resurrection is real,
here and now.
When we begin to trust the Universe,
a universe filled with an energy that yearns for the well being of all of creation,
that’s real resurrection,
here and now.
When we stop judging others,
and forgive others (and ourselves),
When we live with a generous heart,
Resurrection is real.
And finally,
when we treat life like a gift to be cherished,
to be celebrated,
to be appreciated,
then our lives take on new meaning.
Our death has no sting.
Resurrection is real.
JESUS DID SOMETHING THROUGH LIFE
Jesus did not necessarily do something for us through his death.
He did something for us through his life.
Jesus taught that the ultimate relationship with God and with each other is available to anyone,
here and now.
That is the Truth that we celebrate on Easter Sunday.
The ultimate relationship with God and with each other is available to every one of us,
here and now.
That’s the good news that we can celebrate every single day.
How do you know that the Easter story is true?,
that resurrection is real?
Jesus said:
You will know by the fruit that it bears.
In other words,
you will know by the peace,
by the fulfillment,
by the contentment,
and by the joy that it brings to you.
You will know it’s True by living it.
HOPE
When I look around us at what’s going on in the world,
I’m not particularly optimistic.
But like my mother,
drinking that dark smelly herbal tea, I am hopeful.
I’m hopeful because I believe that God is at work in the church and in the world.
I”m hopeful because I believe God is at work in the world even when God’s name remains unheard,
is never spoken.
Resurrection is real!
“Alleluia” (as we shout on Easter) for that.
PRAYER
Let us pray.
Eternal God, the Great Mystery that is outside everything and yet at the same time inside, keep alive in each one of us the search for a faith that is real, a faith that helps us to live happier lives, a faith that gives us a fuller meaning to life and the events of life. Bring us to know the goodness that flows from the heart of the universe and may we be expanded in heart and soul by that goodness.
This is our prayer. Amen.
Jerry Brooks