Easter Sunday

Sunday, April 12, 2009

St. David’s Episcopal Church, DeWitt NY

The Rev. James C. Bresnahan, Interim Rector

“Alleluia”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Today, we gather in the name of the risen Christ.

Today, we assemble in the joy of the resurrection.

Today, we pray in anticipation that the whole creation being freed from its bondage to decay.

Today, we exult, because death has lost its fearful hold.

And today, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we laud and magnify God’s glorious name.

Of course, every Sunday is the celebration of the Resurrection!  Of course, on the first day of every week, we rejoice in the Lord’s resurrection. Of course, on all Sundays we go forth from Eucharist to love and serve the risen Lord.

But only once a year does Easter joy rub up against the darkness of Good Friday and the cold of Holy Saturday.  Only once a year is the contrast so immediate between darkness and light, death and life, agony and ecstasy.

So it is with fanfare that we mark this day most glorious. 

Of course, we are not so naïve as to think we will not ourselves die.

Of course, we are not blind to the moaning of a world waiting for final redemption and the groaning of our own heart too as it grieves or anticipates losses and sorrows.

Of course, we still live not knowing what ills or good fortune tomorrow may bring, what joys or heartbreak, or what challenges or catastrophes the world may face.

But we do live under the promise that Christ is risen. Our hope is in God who raised him from the dead and made him Lord.  Our life is given over no more to serving the ways of a dying world but to serving Christ who blesses the poor, the humble, the seekers after justice, and the peacemakers.

In a dying world, where death reigns through great anxieties, people cling to possessions for security. They find satisfaction not in the extravagant generosity that brings blessings, but in the crippling greed that clutches tight. Some, fearful of sinking into the eternal anonymity of death, seek to make a mark for themselves in the history books by gunning down a host of people, as in Binghamton a week and ago, while others live their life to gain fame, as if that were more important than living it well. Still others try to repress thoughts of dying, refuse to make plans for it, and leave their families vulnerable.

The fear of death has hold of the world and breeds woe on every level.

In our being here, we do not claim to be beyond faithless fear and worry. We come here to confess our sins, our fears, and our cravings.  We gather here to listen to the words of him who offered his life for the sake of the world. We come hungry here because to be fed at table with the body and blood of him whose life was lived for others.  We gather here for Christ to draw us more deeply into his trust and confidence in God - to fear less and love more. For “Perfect love” as the Letter of St. John says, “casts out all fear.”

In closing, words from a hymn:

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abiding; The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Jesus with us siding: Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abiding still, His kingdom is forever.

Alleluia. Christ is Risen!