Have
you come expecting to find what the world
teaches us to be the truth – that dead
is dead?
Have
you come to make the bad news that nothing has changed and nothing is healed
and nothing is forgiven and the demons still reign a little more palatable?
Have
you put on your best clothes to dress up
the fact that there is no there there –
no hope,
no promise, no forgiveness, no new life?
Have
you come to find the strength to stay stoic in a broken
world?
Or against all logic,
against cynicism and despair,
against the marketing campaigns
of this world telling you how to rise to the top;
against
all fear and oppression and even helplessness,
have
you come to join me in announcing the only good news which is eternal?
HE
IS NOT HERE.
HE HAS BEEN RAISED!
REJOICE! All
of you who have failed at algebra, or at parenting or at marriage or at a business. You
who come with broken minds, broken hearts, broken bodies, broken promises,
broken souls, come and rejoice. He is not here.……He has been raised.
WELCOME BACK All
of you younger sons and daughters who rejected the wisdom and customs of the
elders and wandered far away from all who knew and love you, who wallowed in
the mud of an indifferent world.
You too, you first born, working dutifully, following the rules, so faithful it
verged on self-righteousness and entitlement, who then rejected the hand of
love when it was extended to you - Here
– take my hand! Come and see! He is not here. He has been raised.
Rejoice
all whose lives have been trapped in a corner by the demons, held captive by
guilt, crushed by forces and powers.
Rejoice
all you who have lost sight of the light, whose hope has died, whose joy has
dried up on the vine. THIS
TOMB IS EMPTY! It all stops here. Where o death is your victory? Where o death is your sting?
………and
as for you who are bowed down by the oppression of this world, who have known
abandonment and betrayal, who have faced rejection and never known the power of
love
……....come
close look carefully, because the Jesus that this world mocked and scorned, the Jesus executed by the
government, handed over by his own people, abandoned by his disciples
Jesus, the crucified one – he is not
here. He has been raised.
Ask
me not for explanations and diagrams. Ask
me not for logic and reason.
We
stand in the presence of the great mystery of God,
the Divine Creator whose
love created life
the
beloved son Jesus who is the healing, forgiving,
inviting, restoring, renewing presence of God
the powerful Holy Spirit who moves and breathes
and forms new life every day
in
every corner of the world
We
stand before the great mystery of this God, this love, this new life. The
stone is rolled back.
He is not here! He
has been raised.
And
now that he lives, we can live.
Now
that death no longer reigns, we are healed.
Now
that he has made peace with the forces that deal death, we can make peace in
our time
Now
that love has triumphed, we are free to will the good for the other, the
neighbor, the stranger, even the enemy.
Now
we can live in hope, and not just any hope.
Not that wistful longing that the day will be sunny, the bills be paid,
the news be good and the boss generous.
We
live in, with, under and through the risen Christ Jesus and his rising is our
hope.
His
rising opens all tomorrows – throwing open God’s future to each of us.
Rejoice
all you who have known death. Put your
spices away.
Hear
the Good News
He.
Is. Not. Here.……..He has been raised.
Easter, 2019
