The reality is all of the things I have mentioned above are part of a world where it appears that Jesus Christ has not risen from the dead. Violence, religious based discrimination towards people that are LGBT, Jewish, Muslim, and anything but a right wing Christian are just not Easter attitudes. The excuses that allow war, disease, lack of health care and the ability to take care of our homes, jobs, families and neighbors suggests that Jesus and our society is dead. Such examples are how many still live in a world that does not believe in the resurrection. The religious right does not witness to the resurrection with anti-LGBT rhetoric that insights violence. The United States Government does not witness to the resurrection of Jesus when people are not able to keep their homes, jobs, be educated and taken care of when there is massive flooding in Rhode Island. Those things are signs that Jesus is still dead for so many of us. If Jesus Christ had truly risen from the dead and it were more than just an abstract event then taking care of each other and building a world where LGBT people are included in society and the church would be a priority.
What keeps so many of us from living our lives as if Jesus Christ had risen from the tomb? It is fear. People are afraid. They are afraid that believing and acting on the resurrection will cost them something. If people would only look at the empty tomb and see that Jesus has already moved the stone.
In his book "In the Eye of the Storm" Bishop Gene Robinson writes:
"Surrendering to the truth and power of the resurrection means embracing the knowledge that there is no good excuse anymore for letting those stones get in the way. The stone has been rolled back, and now the hard work of living a resurrected life begins, for each of us. Living our lives in that truth means doing courageous and mighty things in Jesus' name. Surrendering to the resurrection means letting go of all the anxiety and fear that can so easily grip us and leave us powerless, and experiencing the joy of the resurrected life. It means living our lives with "the peace that passes all understanding" in our hearts. And it means stopping each and every day, one day at a time, to look up and be reminded that the stone has already been rolled away." (Page 64).
To live a life believing in the power of the resurrection means we no longer live and tolerate prejudice, violence, bigotry and leaving those without homes, health insurance, jobs, education, basic human rights and all the basic necessities of life. It also means that we play our role in eliminating biases because it is the right thing to do, even if the rest of the world or the church disagrees. To live the resurrection means to recognize Jesus Christ in every person. Excuses for reducing other people based on hate rhetoric or violent behavior would no longer be acceptable. Then the notion of Uganda's Kill the Gays bill would be totally absurd if we truly believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. If only all Christians would see that Jesus has risen from the dead and given us new life and the opportunity to serve the marginalized of society, there would be no one tossed to the side and left there by our own attitudes of arrogance.
Is Jesus Christ alive for us today? Is the idea that Jesus Christ rose from the dead enough for us to say we are sorry for the ways we hurt one another and make room for reconciliation and healing? Or is the resurrection just another excuse for us to harbor attitudes of bias? In other words, the resurrection is an abstract, not something that has actually happened yet.
God longs for the resurrection to be more than a story in the Gospels. God wants the resurrection of Jesus Christ to actually take place in our hearts, souls, minds, lives and world every day. As we go through the great Liturgies of the Great Vigil of Easter and Easter Day, we renew our Baptismal promises because God keeps giving all of us the opportunity to make Jesus Christ alive in our world. What happens in our worship longs to happen in our daily lives. Jesus Christ wants to live not just in our church liturgies, but in our lives as we deal with the violence and discrimination of a world and a church that has yet to give Jesus Christ the chance to live among us and make a difference. Jesus Christ wants to make that difference through the church which is Christ's Body. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, yet in the way the church often conducts it's business you would think the stone at the tomb was never pushed back. That's why the members of the church renew our Baptismal promises year after year, because we want to grow in our mission to tell the world that Jesus Christ is alive. Not just through our beautiful Liturgies and music that we all love, but through our commitment to ending the attitudes and behaviors that suggests that the resurrection has yet to happen.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians help make the resurrection happen as we confront the prejudice that is in the church and society. Our Pride celebrations, our activities in organizations such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, Soul Force and Beyond Ex-Gay, Integrity, Lutherans Concerned and so many more are ways in which we tell society and the church that all attitudes of bias towards LGBT people do not reflect the resurrection. The love that LGBT people, couples, families share is holy love and it is blessed by Jesus who's resurrection we too celebrate today. Our work for equal rights is a message that Jesus Christ made a new world order in his life, death and resurrection. It is a world that makes room for all kinds of people to be active and to participate in the life of society and the church. When the Episcopal Church and the ELCA made the decision last summer to include LGBT people to discern a call to church leadership and to be married in the church, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was made real. It was bold step that told the world that LGBT people are among the church's Easter people. It told the church that the days of darkness toward LGBT people were ending and the Light of Christ's resurrection was finally shining and ending discrimination. That's the resurrection making a difference in the church and society.
How are we going to make the resurrection an actual living event today? What are we willing to do to show people that the stone really has been rolled away from the tomb's of prejudice? How are we good examples of Jesus' resurrection today? Do we pray to Jesus and tell him that we are still afraid to be Easter people? Do we allow Jesus to help us to break the tombs of our closets and live as LGBT people of faith? How do LGBT people live the meaning of the resurrection in a world and church where discrimination still exists?
Let today be the beginning of new life as the resurrection promises. Let today be the day when we answer the question is Jesus alive for us?
Alleluia. Christ is Risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, Page 222).
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