Easter Day: Christ is Risen! Christians, Live As Easter People!

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Peter began to speak to the gentiles: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)


1 Corinthians 15:1-18 (NRSV)

I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

John 20:1-18 (NRSV)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Blog Reflection

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Beloved Christians, today we sing Jesus Christ Is Risen Today and Hail Thee Festival Day!  We gather in large numbers to celebrate what the Scriptures, Tradition and faith have celebrated throughout the Centuries.  The choirs are singing hymns and anthems while the organ and other instruments are being played with brilliance and jubilation.  Easter dinners and parties with family and friends celebrate the arrival of Easter and the long awaited ending of Lent and Holy Week.  What a beautiful and wonderful day.

That first Easter morning must not have been a happy one in the beginning for Mary and the other women.  They came to the tomb to bring spices and fresh linens.  They must not have known that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had already done those things at Jesus' burial.  Imagine the horrified look on their faces when they found the tomb empty.   Imagine the look on their faces when they were met by the angels as is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke who told them, "He is not here.  He is risen!"

What about those disciples?  They were told on any number of occasions that Jesus would be crucified and on three days rise again.  The mighty Peter who said that he would follow Jesus wherever He went, denied Him three times.  Now, Peter is looking into an empty tomb, turned away and went home "for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead." 

As Christians who claim to believe in the Resurrection, where do we find the evidence of such around us?  We celebrated Lent and Holy Week.  Here we are on Easter Day.  It is hard to find evidence of the Resurrection in our politics and news.  Gun violence still runs rapid with no additional legal protections.  Racism is a wild animal that preys upon teenagers, women and men in our police departments, schools, colleges and churches.  Bills are written, debated and fast tracked to give a license to discriminate on the basis of "religious liberty" to deny basic human services to LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews and others who do not fit the criteria of Christianists.  "Religious Liberty" is worth defending if one agrees with their version.  If one does not, then Christianists and Dominionists are being persecuted by making martyrs of themselves only.   Is it any wonder that Christians are viewed as standing at the empty tomb with the disciples and wondering what really happened?  Is it any wonder that many just cannot believe in the awesome Christian Faith that many of us embrace and love?

Thankfully, the Easter story did not end with the disbelieving disciples.  It took a woman of faith to weep in the garden, symbolizing the cries of Eve.   A woman who still believed in the hope of the Resurrection, finds her faith rewarded in her helplessness and despair as the Risen Christ comes and calls her by name.  The Risen Christ identifies Mary who is given the greatest of contemplative visions.  The Risen Christ didn't blame the woman for not believing, as Adam did.  The Risen Christ affirms the faith of Mary and ends all sexism and doubt that God restored humankind to it's Divine origins with our brokenness exposed, in a perpetual embrace in radical hospitality and reconciliation.  "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1).  As an Episcopalian and a Christian, I believe there is also no condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus as we Christians understand it to be so.  The Jesus that I believe in who rose bodily from the grave, embraces every person with dignity and unconditional love.

On this Easter Day, we renew our Baptismal Vows in communion with other Christians around the world.  To the questions, "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?", and "Will you strive for justice and peace among all persons, and respect the dignity of every human being?" we collectively and individually answer, "I will, with God's help."

Today, as Christians we celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  Now, let us celebrate by living as Easter People.  May we be an Easter People calling for an end to violence, prejudice, oppression and become ambassadors for the Risen Christ by doing all we can to make it so.

Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Prayers

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 for ever. Amen.  (Collect for Easter Day.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.222).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.823).

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Honoring the Faith or the No Faith of Others

Today's Scripture Readings

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

The king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled." Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me-- that is my petition-- and the lives of my people-- that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king." Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?" Esther said, "A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!" Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, "Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.

Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.

Psalm 124 (BCP,. p. 781)

James 5:13-20 (NRSV)

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Blog Reflection

Did you notice something missing in the reading from Esther?   The story is quite amazing.  Kings and queens discussing and negotiating.  A villain getting what he deserved.  A people destined to be destroyed, saved, and an innocent man rescued from a hanging.  Wow!!  What an incredible account.   But, there is something missing.  A word almost always used in every book in the Bible, but this one.  Not one place through out this reading is God ever mentioned.  Yet, is God really missing from what is going on?

In our day of the arguments over whether or not religious freedom is endangered, to read this account, one could easily deduce from it, that God might not have been so important to whomever the author or translator was.  But, maybe what we are meant to do is see God acting between the lines of what is being said and done.  This story is filled with violence and retribution.  Something that many of us in this day and age, find very difficult to stomach.  And, for good reason.   Just because we do not read the Name of the Lord, our God in this story, does not mean God is not acting nor conversing with us through the Holy Spirit.  In fact, God may be speaking quite clearly to us.  Could God be telling us to pay attention to things going on around us, and to search for God and love God when we find God?  Even with events going on around us, that seem like God could not possibly be doing anything.  Are we listening for God to speak to us?  Are we waiting for God to call out to us on our own terms, or are we open to God searching for us through people and circumstances, especially those that seem foreign to us?

Even if we were to discover that we really are not searching and listening for God in the way we should; the Church is the place for everyone.  The writer of James tells us that the Christian Community is a place for healing and reconciliation, as we draw together to love and pray for each other.   Our sins of exclusion and social injustice, however backwards and violent they may be; God is able to forgive us and extend God's mercy to us, individually and collectively   Have you ever wondered why when we pray the Confession on page 360 in The Book of Common Prayer that we always pray: "we confess that we have sinned against you...."?   It is because all of us are sinners in need of God's saving grace.  We all walk past someone we should help.  We all say things to people that we shouldn't have said.  Everyone of us loses control and gives the middle finger to the driver that cuts us off, or the politician campaigning to take away our health care.   The Church is not so much a museum for the saints, as much as it is a hospital for sinners.   Just as a hospital that cares for the body, develops a better understanding of diseases that have always existed, and seeking better ways of curing or treating them; so the Church by the Holy Spirit learns better ways of loving people that we once condemned or treated as if there was no hope for them.   We all have to seek the help of the Physician of the Soul, to heal us of the spiritual and social diseases of racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, Jewish phobia, and/or phobia of Atheists and Unitarians.  We need Jesus, to forgive us for not doing more to help people who are poor, disenfranchised from voting, losing their collective bargaining rights for better wages, health care and benefits, and allowing the horrible political rhetoric to divide us from one another.   The Church is the place where we come before God and seek new ways of understanding, behaving and helping others and ourselves to know God better.

The Rev. Ian McAlister wrote some very important insights concerning today's Gospel in Speaking to the Soul.

Each of us has one (or the other). We share having it and it connects us, past, present and future with the whole of humanity. It crosses racial, ethnic, cultural, physical, age and gender boundaries.

No matter who we are or where we live or what school we went to or what our job is or what colour our hair, eyes or skin happens to be, we humans have this in common: we have an extraordinary ability to create two groups of people, usually labelled Us (or me) and Them.

We see the results of this ability whenever Grand Final footy is played, or a boat load of refugees appears near Java, or a person makes a video belittling someone else’s faith, or a host of other circumstances.

As I say, it doesn’t take much for us to draw boundaries. The results of boundary-drawing are neither particularly pleasing to the eye or to the emotions, except if the Bulldogs beat the Storm this weekend.

What’s worse is the accompanying desire we have to let someone else sort out the difficulties: for some bureaucracy to come in and enforce conformity to manage our anxieties.

In the Gospel for this week, Jesus gets confronted with this line drawing, Innie v Outtie, battle. His disciples were getting twitchy; they want him to stop another bloke from casting out demons in his name because (horror of horrors) he wasn’t one of them.

I am not surprised that Jesus didn’t buy into this. It doesn’t surprise me that He goes on to point out that anyone who does a good work in his name will have a hard job doing anything against his name in the future.

It’s almost as if we are hard-wired to make lines, whether they’re racial, ethnic, linguistic, political, sexual, physical or religious. Truth is, religious lines are particularly well drawn and so simple.

As I contemplate this Gospel passage, I wonder whether it could shape or re-shape how we might think about those who see God differently from us, if they see him at all.

One of the greatest challenges for Christians is to be open to the movement of God in someone of a different faith tradition, or someone with no religious practice or belief at all, and honor that person.   These challenges are as difficult for me as they are for anyone else.  As an Anglican/Episcopalian, I think our rich tradition of Liturgy, prayer, theology and view of Scripture, Tradition and Reason are beyond description.  Yet, there are many who do not share my appreciation.   And, it is so difficult at times for me to put all of that down, and just love someone without looking to injecting my agenda into that person.   I do believe I learned that from my years in both Protestant Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism and as a conservative Catholic.    Yet, I also know, that I would not have all of the wonderful things I enjoy today, if it weren't for the time I spent in those traditions.  Therefore, I have to learn that everyone is who they are, where they are, because of whatever circumstances, however I might like or dislike those things.   The Gospel calls upon me to love a person I consider an "other" with the same love, by which God loves me.  I may pray that I will love God when I find God, but that same God knows how difficult that challenge is.  At times, I listen well.  At others, I fail miserably.  So it is as we work to be rid of our prejudices and attitudes towards those who are different from ourselves.

As we here in Minnesota are working to defeat the marriage amendment that would strip LGBT people from the possibility of marriage equality, the diversity that is coming together to oppose it is more than amazing.   Minnesotans United for All Families is the official campaign working to defeat the amendment.  A coalition of religious communities, political parties, businesses, labor unions, attorneys, individuals from all over Minnesota and the USA, organizations of varying purposes have all come together to encourage Minnesota to vote NO.   Each have found their voice in speaking up for the opportunity for LGBT people to marry the person they love.   Yet, as difficult as it is, we are also being challenged to love and respect those who are voting yes.  Even with the Catholic Archbishop working against us. As wicked as I believe his actions are, I still must welcome and love him as a brother in Christ.  I will disagree and even challenge him at the voting booth or by other means, but, I still have no right or business to fail to honor his dignity as a human being.  I still  have to bring myself and him before God in prayer, and ask for him to know the common good of God's love, as I do for those who support marriage equality, by voting NO.  This alone, immediately for many, will put me at odds with many in the LGBT communities, who are rightly angry and wounded by the actions of the Archbishop.  Many who are Atheists or do not believe in Christ as one with God, who just would rather glitter him in retaliation.  I cannot condone that sort of thing, yet, I must love them too.  I must pray for and seek to love and serve God who is present even in them.  Man, is it a challenge.   At times, I sure do mess up.

The good news today, is that regardless of where we are whether people of deep personal faith, or not, God loves each and every one of us,  Unconditionally and all-inclusively.  We are all made perfect in the image and likeness of God.  We have all been placed in this world to serve a common purpose, each in our own way.  However, differently we may all be, and feel towards each other, the best thing we can do is always seek the common good for one another.  It is a challenge that we need to be open to hourly, daily, etc.  Because today and this moment, is all we have.  There is work to be done.  God has placed us here to do the work.  So, let's get started.

Amen.


Prayers

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing
mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we,
running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of
your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, p. 234).

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815)   

Gracious Father, we pray for they holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).