Christ is risen
Easter Day: 16th April, 2006
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
In every church on Easter Day, and in this one, there are going to be people who have never been to church before – and who come with questions and with hope in their hearts. In every church on Easter Day, and in this one, there are going to be people for whom this will be their last Easter. They too will have questions and will be seeking a message of hope. It could be any one of us.
Easter is the greatest of the Christian celebrations. Lent has given us six weeks of preparation for it. Holy Week and the ceremonies of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday brought us last night to the wonders of the Easter Vigil and the special joy of welcoming several of our own worshipping community into the fullest participation in our life together. Our own baptismal promises are renewed even as they make them for the first time. This is special. Something like 30 people worked very hard most of yesterday cleaning polishing and arranging. At least that many again were involved in rehearsals. It was good fun and some extra muscles got some extra use. But it is worth it to see this lovely old church glowing with all this care. It is worth it to try to help others see just how important this time is – certainly important enough to break into a perfectly good long weekend and to truly celebrate.
Something happens, and then everything falls into place. The first Easter morning was like that. Just consider the situation of all the characters, all the people we have heard about and got to know a little in the re-telling of the story over this past week. All of them must have thought that what had happened on Friday could scarcely have been surpassed. Caiaphas the High priest. Herod the King. Pilate, the Roman governor. Judas has by now killed himself. Now look at the events of that first Easter morning we celebrate again today. The resurrection morning gospels tell us of the reaction of Mary Magdalene, the very first to see, and of the other women. They tell us of Peter and of John. We are told nothing of the reaction of the Lord's mother, but she must surely have been at once involved. And what of some of the smaller players? The soldiers who had been guarding the tomb? Uncertain career prospects. Simon of Cyrene? Veronica? The centurion?
The stories spread. An empty tomb. Undisturbed grave-clothes. Actual appearances to very many people, in widely different locations. Eating food, being able to have his wounds touched. Just incredible, but too widespread to be discounted.
Seven weeks later, Peter, one of the first to whom the risen Lord had appeared: the same Peter who had denied the Lord three times on the Thursday evening, declared to a huge crowd: 'God raised him up...because it was not possible for him to be held by death.' (Acts 2:24) It was not possible. It was as irresistible as the new life that comes with the spring.
Now there is a message.
Many of us come here with a searching in our hearts: needs that are not easily addressed. Hopes and fears that are to do with the most basic and fundamental questions of being alive. Questions about issues of pain and suffering, about how we might live in a world where so many bad things happen and of course where we all ultimately will face our own deaths. As I said two weeks ago, this is the particular time when we take these issues on. Holy week and Easter. And few of us can fail to be moved. I say it again: In our tradition we spell it out through the unfolding liturgies. We pray and worship the ideas through. We take a lot of time and effort because there is actually nothing more important than this. And now it is time for us to take it in again. What does this say to me? How does this shape how I live and how I might die? How does this help me approach the death of those I love? How do we as a community of faith live this out? How does the re-acceptance of these central truths shape us as a community, in the ways that we live and we love and we serve?
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 a time when lots of us have much confidence in much of the larger picture. War and disease and injustice are everywhere. Christians still fight with each other with bitter hearts and cruel actions. Institutions all around are indeed crumbling.
Yet you know it is still possible to enjoy a beautiful day, a loving act, and a meal with friends. All is not bad, all is not lost. There is much that is good and we can be part of it. This city church can be part of it.
It remains 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, again starting where we can and where we are. Remember the call to St Francis of Assisi – "rebuild my church." He started with stones and mortar but soon realised it was people who were to be the building material. This city church is just such a place where we are building.
Every generation of a community of faith 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. I simply do not accept the gloom filled pessimism that many of us probably read in a major newspaper article this week. Specifically that there is just not going to be an Anglican church left open in 10 - 15 years time. Does anyone seriously look around a parish like this and come to that conclusion? And in any case, isn't that what the Easter gospel is about? Starting again, new life, new hope, against all the odds – and together, in the community that God will call.
At the beginning of a life of faith or coming closer to an end of this life, Easter is a time of festival for us all. Jesus our Lord has gone where one day we must. As followers of this Jesus, bearers of the sign of the cross, we are called to live and to love and to die, in this new context of true hope.
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed.
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