A stirring in the hearts of many people
Easter Day: 11th April, 2004
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
What does Easter mean to all these people, I was asked on Friday at the end of the city Way of the Cross. It was for the channel 9 news and I don't know what part of my answer actually went to air. It is not an easy question and of course I could not possibly answer for everyone. But I could notice what was there for all to see – a willingness for many many hundreds of people, from all walks of life and differing religious traditions, to walk that way of the cross through the city streets, to pause, to listen, to pray and to sing, above all to quietly sing that Taize chant of the final prayer of the good thief from the cross – "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom". It is hauntingly beautiful and even more so echoing off tall city buildings. May we be connected to God's mercy and God's grace flowing from the sacrificial love in Jesus our Lord. Let this new life be ours and ours to share. That is that prayer. Holy Week and Easter are very special times for us to claim again this Easter inheritance, this great Easter hope that is ours through our baptism.
Last night at the great Vigil the Easter celebrations began. They started outside in the cold darkness and were to move into a darkened but expectant empty church. The presence lamps in the sanctuary were still unlit, the tabernacle was still empty, the organ was quiet and the music subdued – but growing. So we began with the blessing of the new fire, the light of Christ again shining in a dark world. We continued the vigil, the watch, with the great readings from the prophets yearning for the coming of the promised one of God. We acknowledged that together we do indeed constitute a community of faith, with the filling of our baptismal font with fresh water and oil of blessing and our mutual re-affirmation of the baptismal vows that we all share. The lights were on, the organ thundered, the bells rang and the people sang. Flowers, incense, candles, bells and voices, yes and hearts, joining together to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. Christ is risen, says the traditional Easter proclamation. He is risen indeed, is the heartfelt response.
There is a stirring in the hearts of many people. There is a continuing search for meaning and a sense of purpose. For many there is a deep dis-satisfaction in how things are. Much about all the institutions of our society, including the Church, does not help. This is not at time when lots of us have much confidence in much of the larger picture. We are in a world that is so full of war and pain and fear right at this time, and we are a part of Churches that have divisions within and between that are sharp. In both cases things seem to be getting worse rather than better, so now this stirring of hearts and this awareness of dis-satisfaction takes on an urgent edge. We can have little expectation of changing much at the national or world level, or even at the level of a diocese. But that is not a reason to give up hope.
It is very clear to me that we are going to have to act and to work at those levels where we can have impact. So we must first start with the change of heart that is necessary in ourselves, each one of us.
And the next step is the absolutely intentional building up again of the church community, starting where we can and where we are. I am of course reminded of the call to St Francis of Assisi – "rebuild my church." He started with stones and mortar but soon realised it was people who were the building material. This city church is just such a place where we can build.
Every generation needs that critical mass, that sufficiently enthused and committed group, with energy and hope who do indeed trust that God can work through them. Such a community is contagious – it attracts others. In an increasingly dark world such places and such groups of hope-filled people are going to be essential. Increasingly it is going to be the experience with these particular smaller communities of faith, that is going to be life changing or life shaping.
There will be people coming to these Easter masses today searching. They will be coming to hear the Easter message of hope and to find a Christian community sharing the Easter joy of the resurrection. They will be looking for places where the theology and the doctrine finds connection with the living and the practice. They might even be considering looking for a spiritual home. There are many such church communities around and they are worth seeking out. These are places where those spiritual connections are able to be made, where God and neighbour are loved, where a living tradition is honoured and developed, where human networks of care and support are cherished and where the struggles and challenges of attempting to grow in the spiritual life are approached with honesty and integrity. The future of the Church is going to be in these places.
The hope, the re-newed hope that was given to the disciples on that first Easter morning, re-fired their faith, their belief and trust in their Lord. It filled them with an overwhelming and powerful love, for him and for each other. Without the resurrection there would assuredly have been no Church. And the continued existence of the Church down the centuries, through thick and thin, bears witness to the truth which it was first summoned to proclaim: God is with us. The risen Lord is with us. God was in Christ, says St Paul: God is in Christ, reconciling us to himself. The Easter proclamation that Christ is risen, is in fact the starting point for a whole new way of looking at life: whole new way of ordering our sense of meaning and purpose and a whole new basis of motivation for action.
In Christian teaching, everything extends out from this point. Everything extends from the acceptance in faith of the working of the power and purpose of God in this way. It is the principle of the new, bursting from the ruins of the old. Of life where there was death. Of good where there was evil. Of closeness to the love and mercy of God, where formerly there was separation. Of closeness, service and outreaching care to each other. Of commitment to living and working for justice and peace. God in Jesus Christ shows us the nature of God. The nature of God is love. God in Jesus Christ shares our humanity. God knows our hopes. God knows our failings and our fears. And God is with us.
So today, we celebrate this festival of all festivals: the feast of the resurrection of the Lord. It was this resurrection that gave to his dispirited followers that complete revival of faith, which was to so characterise their living and sharing of the good news, in the years to come. It was this belief, this experience, which was to give authority and legitimacy to everything that the Lord had previously said and done and taught. Here too, for all generations, is to be found the basis of all Christian hope, in the context of so much that so desperately needs renewed hope.
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed.
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