Year B 2nd Easter 2018 MLK Observed What Will Become of His Dreams

Year B 2nd Sun of Easter 2018 (MLK, Jr. Observed on the 50th Anniversary of Assassination) 

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 

“What Will Become Of His Dreams” 

Collect: Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  

Genesis 37:17b–20 Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” 

Ephesians 6:10–20 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak. 

Luke 6:27–36 Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.  “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” 

From Holy Women Holy Men: 

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta. As the son and grandson of Baptist preachers, he was steeped in the Black Church tradition. To this heritage he added a thorough academic preparation, earning the degrees of B.A., B.D., and Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University. 

In 1954, King became pastor of a church in Montgomery, Alabama. There, Black indignation at inhumane treatment on segregated buses culminated in December, 1955, in the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. King was catapulted into national prominence as the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott. He became increasingly the articulate prophet, who could not only rally the Black masses, but could also move the consciences of Whites. 

King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to spearhead non-violent mass demonstrations against racism. Many confrontations followed, most notably in Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, and in Chicago. King’s campaigns were instrumental to the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968. King then turned his attention to economic empowerment of the poor and opposition to the Vietnam War, contending that racism, poverty and militarism were interrelated. 

King lived in constant danger: his home was dynamited, he was almost fatally stabbed, and he was harassed by death threats. He was even jailed 30 times; but through it all he was sustained by his deep faith. In 1957, he received, late at night, a vicious telephone threat. Alone in his kitchen he wept and prayed. He relates that he heard the Lord speaking to him and saying, “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice,” and promising never to leave him alone—“No, never alone.” King refers to his vision as his “Mountain-top Experience.” 

After preaching at Washington Cathedral on March 31, 1968, King went to Memphis in support of sanitation workers in their struggle for better wages. There, he proclaimed that he had been “to the mountain-top” and had seen “the Promised Land,” and that he knew that one day he and his people would be “free at last.” On the following day, April 4, he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. 

I was born one year and 5 months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He does, however, hold a big place in my life. Growing up in the 70s, especially during February’s African-American History Month, we were told stories, made posters, and watched movies. Many of them were about Martin Luther King, Jr. I always liked that he was a Baptist Pastor, like I wanted to be. And I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase, “I have a dream.”  

50 years since he was taken from us, his dream remains just that, a dream. We are still striving for a place where people are judged not for the color of their skin but for the content of their character. For the last several years much of my work has been focused on helping us move into MLK’s Dream, and reconciling us with the nightmare of race based slavery upon which this country was established. We are still paying for the sins of our our forebears. Not to mention the sins of our day, as well. 

Personally I work on this issue with all my work with the Triangle of Hope with the Diocese of Virginia, the Diocese of Liverpool in England, and the Diocese of Kumasi in Ghana. We are working together on forgiveness, hope, and reconciliation. As Romans quotes (3:10): “None are righteous, no not one.” We were and are complicit in the slave trade. Even if not slave holders, or descendents of owners, there is a position of privilege allowed to us and to those who came before us by the color of our skin, and there are those for whom the opposite is also true. All three dioceses recognize the sins of our precedents. Ghana sold conquered enemies and tribute payments to Europeans because they made more money doing that than in the gold that originally brought the Gold Coast to the attention of the West. Slavery was far more profitable they found than gold itself. Liverpool was the shipping fleet and banking of the merchant marine. As you walk around the city, you still see the traces of trade in bas relief on the walls of the banks and buildings. And we, the United States of America, and our Caribbean neighbors, purchased the enslaved Africans for our benefit of cheap labor to supply the raw materials.   

We sent the raw materials to England, which shipped the manufactured goods to Africa, and swapped out human cargo to take the Middle Passage of the Atlantic creating a horrible triangle. And together, the three dioceses are working to transform this heritage of shame and hate to one of reconciliation and hope. God help us. God forgive us. For the last several years, I have worked on building up the Youth Pilgrimage between Liverpool and Virginia to prepare a new generation to continue the work of MLK’s Dream of a Beloved Community where people are honored and respected for who they are, which is the fulfillment of our Baptismal Covenant no matter what words are used. 

At the end of this month I will be going to both Liverpool and Ghana, continuing the work and preparing the way for the pilgrimage to expand to Ghana as well. You will be in good, capable hands with Harrison Higgins, our deacon, while I am representing you and the Diocese of Virginia overseas. Please be in prayer for our journey, and my knees on the airplanes. 

Another important area working toward racial reconciliation is that I have served at Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in Richmond, where I worked for 5 years. I taught many subjects, but was mostly the chaplain for this wonderful school serving East End kids in Richmond, most students coming out of the housing projects on Church Hill. Vastly African-American in its student population, the school is also about living out our baptismal vows of serving Christ in all persons, loving neighbor as self, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being. The Episcopal Church should be about this work because every life matters, and black lives matter in particular. 

Now by using that phrase, some of you will bristle. All lives matter. Which is exactly what our baptismal vows say and most of you have promised to do. But think on it this way. All houses matter. All should be safe and protected. And that is why we have a fire department. When we have a fire, though, what would it look like if the home owners whose houses were not on fire demanded that they be sprayed down first to protect their property while the house on fire is being destroyed? BECAUSE ALL HOUSES MATTER, WE PUT OUT THE ONES ON FIRE FIRST. And the words, “All lives matter” can only be uttered from a place of privilege which shows that someone does not comprehend what is going on. 

As a straight, white male, there are many assumptions I am given. I receive the Benefit of the Doubt because of the color of my skin, my gender, my orientation. It is not fair. It is not right. Add to that my collar, and I am the beneficiary of much trust and privilege. We, as a society, are wrestling with so much of this now. Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and the fallout from Parkland. So much has happened in so small a space, but let that drive us further into the call for the respect and dignity of all God’s Children. [Sung] 

Red and Yellow, Black and White,  

they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.  

We have a long way to go. We have a lot of work to do. I want to be in on that. I want to be a part of making King’s Dream, and I believe God’s Dream, come more true each and every day. 

On May 10, you can help us take a step in that direction as we join with our brothers and sisters of Shiloh Baptist on South James Street for a joint worship service. May 10 at 7 p.m. Together we can come and celebrate our unity in Christ, and our unity in spirit and truth. Start praying for this today. Put it in your calendar if it is not already there. 

Students and parents, we are already preparing for our pilgrimage to start again in 2020, so if you are in 8th or 9th grade next year you can start thinking about going with us to Liverpool, around Virginia, and to Ghana over three summers. Exciting and big days getting us closer to that Dream of the Beloved Community.  

And lastly, I want to speak on Dreams. Dreams are the encapsulation of what we hold most dear. Dreams speak clearly to us what is the desire of our heart, and puts it in such a way that we can fully grasp it with all our senses. We can taste it, touch it, hear it, and see it. It is so real it can drive us even when it is hopeless and senseless. JFK’s Dream for America took us to the moon, even after he was dead. MLK’s Dream is still out there, drawing us more fully into the promise of this country, that which many have called the bright and shining city on the hill which echoes the words of Jesus himself. 

Never have the audacity to scorn someone’s dreams or dismiss them. That may be all they have. 

In today’s Genesis reading we have Joseph’s jealous brothers trying to squash the dreamer. They think of killing him to tear down his dreams. They eventually instead, to line their pockets, sell him into slavery. And in their deriding of him utter this haunting phrase, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” Little do they realize that the dream they tried to tear down, they insured that it came true, and God could be glorified in it. MLK often said, that the redemption of the African-Americans may well prove to be the salvation of the United States of America and that even in the horrors imposed on MLK and so many others during the Civil Rights movements, God could be glorified, much like in Joseph’s story. Imagine that, all the things that happened to MLK, and he wanted, prayed for, and marches for all our redemption and fullness in God. That was his Dream. Not just for himself or his children, but for us all. 

I hold that Dreamers are actually the prophets at times, speaking truth to us in ways that we need. God can speak to us in our dreams, and our dreamers can be those prophets who proclaim the truths we need to hear. 

We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;— World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. 

-From “Ode” by Arthur O'Shaughnessy 

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a mover and shaker, and a dreamer of dreams. And his dream still resonates with me, and I hope for you as well. How can you further God’s Dream for the Kingdom by striving and sweating for the inclusion of all God’s Children into the Beloved Community? 

On the National Archives of this great nation we see these words carved into stone. It is taken from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: 

“What Is Past Is Prologue” 

For that to be true, then together we have to write the future. May it be so. Amen. 

Year B Easter Week WED The Same Stone

Year B Easter Week WEDNESDAY, 4 April 2018
St James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 
“The Same Stone”

Collect: O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Psalm 118:19-24   Confitemini Domino
19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; *
I will enter them;
I will offer thanks to the Lord.
20 "This is the gate of the Lord; *
he who is righteous may enter."
21 I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *
and have become my salvation.
22 The same stone which the builders rejected *
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord's doing, *
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 On this day the Lord has acted; *
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Luke 24:13-35
Now on that same day, the first day of the week, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Our perception is our reality. We might think that we are above and beyond that, but so often, too often, how we have decided to see is what we see. And even worse, we do NOT SEE what we are NOT looking for, as much as we see what we are looking for.

Whenever there is an accident with a small child and a car, or a motorcycle and a car, what do we hear? “I just did not see him/her/them.” And coupled with that, we all know how fast things can happen.

One day about 8 or 9 years ago, my youngest daughter got separated from our family while at Target. She was just a toddler. We were standing there, and we looked around and she was gone. Just gone. We had not moved. We had not left her. It was baffling. To complicate the matter, she did not speak well, and when she did, only we could understand her. Luckily my wife was with me. I told her to look around, and hold onto our oldest, and I ran to the front door of the store in case someone had grabbed her. In moments like that, every irrational fear comes, and it is hard to keep one’s head. I truly ran, and when I got to the front of the store I scanned around looking for her. She was so short, she could go through clothes racks, and spotting her in them would be impossible. I was about to call for an employee for help in the search when I see her coming down the aisle, fast and deliberate. She was headed right for the exit, thankfully all by herself. And when she saw me standing at the exit, she broke into a grin. “I KNEW YOU WOULD FIND ME!” She laughed and smiled. I could have killed her, and love her to death all at the same moment. All the adrenaline needed a place to go. She had wandered somehow from the back corner of the store, to the front door with no one stopping or slowing her. My only guess is she was heading for the car. Oh my. My heart still races thinking about it. But nothing, and I mean nothing, could have kept me from finding her.

I was looking for her, so I saw her. But my perspective, where she was with me (or so I thought) to her not being with me happened so fast.

The followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus were no longer looking for Jesus. They were not blind, nor ignorant, they just were not looking so they did not see. It gave Jesus a chance to reframe and enable them to see without seeing, look without finding, and in doing so they could hear and grow enough to see, really see, in the breaking of the bread.

Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Mark 4:9) Let him who has eyes to see, let him see.

Jesus did not judge or rebuke them, but met them where they were and brought them to where they needed to be. He does that with us as well.
“The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Ps. 118:22

One man’s nobody is another man’s Messiah. My prayer for all of us to have God’s eyes, God’s ears, so that we might actually see and hear what is real, and true, and needed. Think on that today as we come to Christ’s table; may we be awakened in the breaking of the bread. Amen.

Year B Easter Sunday 2018 Descended to the Dead/Fear Not

Year B Easter Sunday, 1 April 2018 

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 

“Descended to the Dead” 

Collect: 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. 

Isaiah 25:6-9 

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples 

 a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,  

of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 

And he will destroy on this mountain 

 the shroud that is cast over all peoples, 

 the sheet that is spread over all nations;  

he will swallow up death forever. 

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, 

 and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,  

for the Lord has spoken. 

It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.  

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;  

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 

Acts 10:34-43 

Peter began to speak to Cornelius and the other 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." 

John 20:1-18 

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. 

From the Apostle’s Creed, from what we say we believe about Jesus Christ: 

I believe in Jesus Christ, [God’s] only Son, our Lord.  

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit  

and born of the Virgin Mary.

That is why we are here today, isn’t it? We believe in Jesus of Nazareth, that he was the one? The Messiah, the Hebrew word, or the Christ, the word in Greek. The “Chosen One.” So unique, so singular in all of human history. So godly, that we had to rethink what God was like. The miracle of the Incarnation is that God shows Godself to be like Jesus, and this came through because of the godliness of Jesus. He lived in such a way that even a hardened Centurion on Good Friday declared, “Surely this man was God’s Son.” (Mark 15:39) 

The thought that the infinite became finite is beyond comprehension. That all that is took on our 46 chromosomes so that we could be shown the way things ought to be, so that we could see that Love Wins, always. C.S. Lewis was fascinated with the Incarnation, God coming in the flesh in Christ. He wrote:  

“…the Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up with Him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left.” (“The Grand Miracle,” God in the Dock, 80) 

He looked down and saw our need and decided that something needed to be done and that there was only one who could do something about it. God the Son. So he did. 

And from the Creed again:  

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,  

       was crucified, died, and was buried.  

This has been the focus of this week. Ensconced in history, at a particular time and in a particular place, Jerusalem around the year 30 of the Common Era, Jesus was betrayed, taken, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, scorned, ignored for clemency because of the “optics” [my least favorite political word], humiliated, spit upon, crucified, and then he died. The one thing in all of existence that had never happened, the eternal expired.  

Think on that alone.  

God died.  

God died for me. God died for you. God died for all of us. 

And again from the Creed: 

He descended to the dead.  

On the third day he rose again.  

Ever wonder about that? What happened in that space between. “It is finished!” and “Woman, why are you weeping?”  

Friday, and we have the irony to call it Good, Friday, through Saturday, and we have the Audacity to call it Holy, to Sunday, and we live in hope facing the Rising Sun, S-U-N or S-O-N, you make the call. 

Part of our faith tradition is that we claim that we know. “He descended to the Dead.” 

Other translations clarify by saying, “He descended into hell.” 

Now we have to be wary, thinking that what we mean and understand and what was meant 2000 years ago. Our understanding after 2,000 years has been enlightened, or morphed, in light of the Resurrection. Our knowledge of Easter affects how we see what happened during those quiet, deathly silent, hours. In those three days (Friday afternoon, Sunset becoming Saturday in the Jewish mind, and  another Sunset becoming Sunday), what happened? 

In the mind of the Greco-Roman world, there was an understanding of the place of the Dead, Hades NOT HELL. Our idea of HELL has influenced what we think about the Judgment Day and where the Dead go.  

Jesus says to the man who asked for remembrance on the cross beside him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” And so the question that this begs, what is “now”? 

A few weeks ago, I was praying with a family saying goodbye to a loved one in the hospital. Their loved one had been brain dead for many hours, and they were saying goodbye before the turned off the machines supporting life. Gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, horrible. And they asked me where their loved one was. 

I was honest, and said, “We just don’t know. We can’t.” But then I described things this way. Like Jesus said to the man on the cross beside him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” So what is Today? What is Time? 

Time is a creation, just like our bodies, our minds, and this world we so enjoy. It is like a stream of water, flowing, ever flowing in the same direction. And when we step out of Creation, we step out of time. So then, where are we. 

I believe what we say in the Apostle’s Creed. “He descended to the Dead.” Where are they? When are they? Are they? 

I think this is what we are getting at when we say what we think and believe, “He descended to the Dead.”  On this side of Judgment Day, where are those who have gone? 

To the Dead. Wherever that is. 

To the Dead. Whenever that is. 

And here in the West, we do not give much credence to what took place wherever whenever that is. But if we look to our Orthodox friends, this is an entirely different approach. 

Often in our Orthodox brothers and sisters minds are the images of the Anastasis, the Resurrection in the Greek. And in icons, and mosaics, and other sacred art we tend to see the Resurrected Christ along with Adam and Eve, representing “the Dead” and all that are with them. 

Anastasis literally means “standing up,” and when we view the Resurrection from the Orthodox perspective, the Resurrection is not what happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday just shy of 2,000 years ago.  

Resurrection is what happened to all of Creation. Jesus, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), and Adam and Eve, and all of the Dead who follow after, and you and me when our turn comes, then Heaven and Earth as described in Revelation, “Behold I see a New Heaven and  a New Earth coming down.” You see, like heavenly WD-40 or eternal Duct Tape, the Resurrection is a fix-all for all of Creation.  

Often you will not only see the Resurrected Christ reaching down to lift up Adam and Eve, but he will be stepping on Satan as well, vanquishing Death forever! 

Looking at the front of the bulletin for today, you see that very different visioning of what all this means.  

And if you look at the squiggles in the black, that are the chains that bind, and the locks that hold us in Death’s dark shroud.  

I remind you of what we read today in the prophecy of Isaiah (25:6-7): 

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples  a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,  of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain  the shroud that is cast over all peoples,  the sheet that is spread over all nations;  he will swallow up death forever. 

We hear of the feast, and we see a one-way venture, we and those of us alive flood in. But it is two-way. It is the flooding out of the those already counted amongst the Dead. Even think of some of our phrases, like “Dead and Gone,” or “Rest in Peace.” In the Anastasis, in his Resurrection, the standing up is not just Jesus. The Dead and Gone are Dead and Back. “He will destroy… the shroud that is cast over all peoples, ...he will swallow up death forever.” 

We are only given one ride on this Merry-Go-Round we call life. May we do it right the first time, living with no regrets, loving everyone while we can. You will often hear me intone this at the Blessing before we depart, “Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the…journey with us. So be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” (Henri-Frederic Amiel.  Amiel’s Journal: the Journal Intime of H-F Amiel,trans. Mrs. Humphrey Ward (London:  Macmillan, 1921: p. 146). 

Jesus did that with his one, single, solitary life. And in doing so, enabled us to do the same. Frederich Buechner put it this way, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” (Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABCs of Faith) I do know think that it is accidental that the phrase is uttered so many times in Scripture. From angels and prophets, and Jesus himself. “Be not afraid.” In fact, so much of the Good News of God in Christ is just that, that we NEVER NEED BE AFRAID. 

And lastly from the Creed: 

He ascended into heaven,  

and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.  

And here we have it all put back together. 

God stepped down and made Godself at home with us, sojourning in skin, and now is in heaven so that all may be made right with the world. And one day, in love and righteousness, we will all be gathered up and brought to where there is a place prepared for us, those who will be living and even those who have descended to the Dead. All of Creation will find it way home.  

In our world, too often it is said, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Sad, but too often true. But here, in this one instance, we all have someone on the inside, our Mediator and Advocate sitting at the right hand of God the Father, pleading on our behalf. As I said before, we NEVER NEED BE AFRAID. 

All will be set right. Our side wins. Love wins. All because of this day. This glorious Easter Day. 

Alleluia! THE LORD IS RISEN! 

THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED! Alleluia! 

Amen.