Easter Sunday April 12, 2020
(Preached online from my front porch)
John 20: 1-18 http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEasterPrin_RCL.html
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Lord, Take our Eyes and See through them
Take our Ears and Hear through them
Take our Lips and speak through them
Take our Hearts and fill them with your fire.
It’s a really strange Easter, isn’t it? It’s a beautiful, albeit cold, Spring day outside and Here we are, most of us sequestered in our homes on Easter Sunday. Unless our work or other necessities demand it, Most of us are staying home trying to keep ourselves from contracting or spreading the COVID 19 virus. We have not yet reached the peak of this pandemic in Virginia, and it’s hard to believe we’ve already been out of church for five Sundays. Thankfully, none of St. Michael’s members that I know of have contracted the virus, but many of you know those who have. This year, Easter is definitely different.
No Egg Hunt on the front lawn at the church. No chance to hear our beautiful choir, No Easter Brunch out with family and friends. And Sadly, there’s no chance to kneel down next to your brothers and sisters in Christ to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, and greet each other with hugs and handshakes. It is a very strange Easter indeed.
Of course, most of the traditions of our typical Easter Celebrations have developed over time. If we go back to that first Easter, there was no choir, or egg hunt, or Easter brunch, either. There wouldn’t be cultural-wide Easter celebrations until scores of years in the future.
In fact, the disciples, like us, were sequestered in their homes for the most part, and like us, were confused and uncertain about the future. They were Fearful about what awaited them outside their doors, just as so many people are today.
And even though Jesus had prophesied his death and resurrection, the disciples didn’t understand. They were sad and dejected. Mary went to the tomb early in the morning, not expecting a miracle, but simply to grieve. She went to complete the solemn tasks of the Jewish burial practice that had been hastily begun Friday evening before the sabbath began.
Like Mary and the disciples, many of you can relate to that sense of grief or uncertainty.
Some of you are in a time of real grieving, having lost a loved one or gotten particularly difficult health news, and you’re not able to avail yourself of the comfort you’d get from being with family or friends. Others of you are distraught because you or your children are out of work, not sure how to make ends meet.
Some of our sadness around this time is about the milestones we’re missing …. Graduations and proms have been cancelled. Significant birthday parties have to be postponed or celebrated remotely. We don’t really know how our lives will be different in the future. We aren’t sure what our new “normal life” will look like once we get past this crisis. But almost everyone I’ve talked to says that things will surely change.
On the other hand, Others of you, perhaps those who are happy homebodies, and who have a steady income, and are healthy, are finding rest and unexpected gifts in this strange time.
One gift is that many of us have been learning new technology to keep ourselves connected to church, to work, to family, and to other circles we are part of. St. Michael’s Boy Scout Troop even had a back yard camp out last weekend, with a virtual campfire time online. Not only are many people working from home, but we’re having Zoom book club meetings and happy hours and bible studies and birthday parties. Lots of you have commented that you’ve enjoyed our online midweek and Sunday services and gatherings. I imagine we’ll find a way to keep some of that in the future, even after we can gather together again.
Nevertheless, whether this time is easy for you or challenging, many people I’ve talked too, including myself, have been having a hard time keeping the days straight. In a recent zoom conversation with my YMCA buddies, one of my friends said, “How was your weekend, everybody?” There was a pause. “It’s Wednesday, Wendell.” “Oh Right.” Later, he left the conversation with “Have a great Weekend” to which we replied, “It’s Wednesday, Wendell.”
Time doesn’t seem to have the same rhythm as it had before. Whether you’re less busy, or busier than ever, it’s likely different.
Let me show something to you . [Holding up my Christmas cactus.] Do you see this? It’s my Christmas cactus. It in bloom! Even my Christmas Cactus can’t keep track of time! It’s supposed to be the time for Easter Lilies, and here I’ve got this thing blooming at the same time. It’s a gift!
It’s actually kind of funny that my cactus in joining in a cultural movement where there are many people these days putting back out their Christmas decorations…. People are Putting up lights in the trees and windows. Some even putting out those big blow up Santas and snowmen in the yard. There aren’t too many in my neighborhood… I think it might be against the HOA rules. Maybe my cactus knew that. She knew I wasn’t going to pull back out the Christmas decorations, and that’s why she decided to bloom.
I think I can understand the idea behind this trend of people wanting to put up lights. Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. The lights and festivity of Christmas push back against the darkness with the joy and Good News of the birth of Jesus. The Light of Christ coming into the world.
People are putting out Christmas lights these days to push back the darkness, fear, and anxiety that this Pandemic is causing.
The thing to remember is that no one would have ever thought to celebrate Christmas unless we had already begun to celebrate Easter. There would be no reason to celebrate Jesus’ birth without the Good News of Jesus’ Resurrection.
Still it’s interesting to see how these two bookends of Jesus’ life are present at this Time – Christmas and Easter. Birth, Death, and Resurrection.
This last week, a St. Michael’s parishioner passed along a poem to me, an Easter Version of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch who stole Christmas:
Let me share part of it with you.
It’s “How the Virus Stole Easter”
By Kristi Bothur (with a few edits by me)
Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.
As winter gave way to the promise of spring, The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.
April approached and churches were closed.
“There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed.
“Easter can’t happen this year,” it proclaimed.
“Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.”
Of course, as the poem goes on we hear:
Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small, Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
“It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies, It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.”
Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before.
“Maybe Easter,” it thought, means a little bit more,
Maybe Easter, perhaps, is more than just lore.
Of course, we know that it’s more than just Lore. Jesus met Mary in a garden that first Easter Sunday, and whether the garden contained Easter lilies blooming or blooming Christmas cactuses, we don’t know. We do know that Jesus’ resurrection means all of life is transformed.
We have hope no matter what we face because we know that illness and death are not the final words. We have hope because we know that God can bring light and life from the darkest of circumstances.
Because we need not fear our eternal home with God, we can share God’s light with others.
You’ve probably seen a lot of ways people are doing just that these days.
· Musicians are giving free house concerts online.
· Neighbors are creating “Stuffed animal Safaris” putting out their plush animals in windows or trees, so that families out for exercise have something to look for.
· Children are decorating their trees with rainbows, God’s sign of promise.
· People are pulling out sewing machines to make face masks.
· Foodies are arranging for local restaurants to deliver dinner to neighborhoods to help keep the restaurants in business.
· People are shopping for shut-ins, making meals, and helping where they can.
These are signs that humanity has hope. These are examples of the Light of Christ shining in the world.
Kristi Bothur’s poem, “How the Virus Stole Easter” ends this way:
And what happened then?
Well....the story’s not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share the source of your life in this fight?
The churches are empty - but so is the tomb, And Jesus is victor over death, doom, and gloom.
So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer, As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.
May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be more than a year of survival, Not only that - Let it start a revival.
This strange era we’re in may have us mixing up our days, but for followers of Jesus, everyday can be Easter.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia! AMEN.