Easter 2020 – Pastor Ellen Mills

I am offering you two ways to receive this.  In print, you will need to read the scriptures for yourself, and then the prayer and reflection that follow in this post.  If you click on the audio link below (below), you can hear all of it, including the scriptures.

Easter 2020

We celebrate this day the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

The tomb is empty!  Our Lord is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Because He lives, we shall live also, and nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, in Jesus Christ our Lord…not even death.

This is our Easter faith: that on this day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from death to life.  This is our hope for eternal life.

When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into His death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.  For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

This is God’s promise to us in Baptism:  The promise of the cross, the promise of the empty tomb that was full of life on that first Easter morning.

This is the good news of the Gospel:  The Lord is risen!  He is risen indeed!  And because He lives, we shall live too!

Let us pray,

Great God of wonder, we sense the gladness of this day.  Our pain, suffering and loss has turned to joy.  Our guilt has turned to happiness.  Our state of despair has turned to hope.  We thank you for your abiding presence, not only in life, but in death; as life breaks through the silence of the gift of your only begotten Son, and the new life He has brought to us.  We offer our prayer in the name of and to the glory of God the Father who created us, to God the Son who has redeemed us this day, and to God the Holy Spirit who continues to sustain us from this time forth and forevermore.  Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you.

Let us pray,

God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive and has become the Lord of life.  Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Colossians 3:1-4

Matthew 28:1-10

     The angel this morning has two messages.  The first is traditional.  “Do not be afraid!”  And this comes with the reassurance that there is no body because Jesus has been raised from the dead.  The angel even encourages the women to come and see the empty tomb.  And maybe this is the only message we hear for Easter morning.  Death has been vanquished; Jesus is alive. And that is huge.  And it would take a while for them to understand, since they had never experienced the risen Jesus.  What would result from that message? Possibly joy about Jesus.  Possibly what it might mean about their own deaths later, although I think both of these would be understood only over time.  But there would be the risk that this message would be celebrated as a historical event, but not change their daily lives.  The second part of this message is said by the angel, and then again by the risen Jesus.  And I think it has far more meaning than just what they were to do on that day.  They were told that Jesus was not where they were looking (i.e. the tomb) and that he will go ahead of them to Galilee.  They are to go to Galilee and tell the other disciples to go there also because they will see him there.  What does that message mean today?

     I have said in previous sermons that Jesus is pointing them to ordinary life, where they will find Jesus always ahead of them, and with them.  And I would still say that.  But this year, I am left with another image. This is not only the Easter of the empty tomb; for many of us it is also the Easter of the empty churches.  If we come to church on Sunday morning to “find Jesus” we might want to rethink that.  Yes, Jesus is to be found in church.  But Jesus is not to be found only in church buildings.  From the very beginning, the followers of Jesus were sent out.  And they were taught a way of relating to the risen Lord that involved every bit of their daily lives, and that involved love and care for others.  Our response to Jesus was not to be an isolated spiritual practice, and it was not to be just about ourselves.   It is fine to have Sunday morning worship as part of your spiritual practice.  But if the only place where you seek God is in one building on one hour a week, you will be left as lost as the Israelites were long ago when the temple was destroyed and they were sent into exile.  They had to learn where else and how else God was with them.  As I have read countless times on Facebook the last few weeks: the building is not the church; we are the church.  We are sent by God for the sake of the world, and we are called to see the face of Jesus in each other. Go out and see Jesus around you this day and for evermore.  Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord’s face shine upon you with grace and mercy.

The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.

Amen.

Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring son; endless is the victory thou o’er death has won!

Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

kept the folded graveclothes where thy body lay.

Lo, Jesus meets thee, risen from the tomb! Lovingly he greets thee, scatters fear and gloom;

let his church with gladness hymns of triumph sing, for the Lord now liveth; death has lost its sting!

No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life; life is naught without thee;

aid us in our strife; make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love;

bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.

Thine is the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son; endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death has won!