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Mel Williams
THE POWER FOR LIFE
John 20:1-18
A sermon by Mel Williams
Watts Street Baptist Church
March 23, 2008 (Easter)
i thank you God for most this amazing day
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
for a blue true dream of sky
for everything which is natural, which is infinite
which is yes. (e.e. cummings)
Today is Easter morning—the day that sings YES to life—ALLELUIA to life! Today energy is flowing all around us—adrenalin, anticipation, excitement. When it comes to Easter morning, we have to be here. So if you haven’t been here since Christmas, welcome back! Alleluia!
There is something alluring about Easter. Winter is past. There are signs of energy pouring into every blade of grass, every flower, bush and tree. The birds are singing, the sky is beginning to be filled with the warmth of the sun. All around us the earth is bringing plants and flowers back to life.
I continue to marvel at Mother Earth and her tenacious power for life. Though Mother Earth is suffering from global warming and pollution, she continues to push flowers from her ground, and we’ve brought some of those flowers today to transform the old rugged cross into beauty. But let’s not confuse springtime with the resurrection. They may coincide on the calendar, but they’re not the same at all. We expect the spring. Nobody expected the resurrection.
On Easter morn we proclaim "The Lord is risen indeed." We sing "Christ the Lord is risen TODAY. Alleluia!" With these words, we affirm the resurrection of Jesus, and we want to find out how the resurrection connects to our lives today. Resurrection is God’s No to the forces of violence and death. The early Christians prayed, "God, remove the deadness from our lives. Make us truly alive." Resurrection means re-connection to the life energies—God’s energies—that make us fully alive. The rush of energy at our Easter services is a dramatic enactment of God’s energy for new life pulsing through the hearts of God’s people. That’s why we sing "Made like him, like him WE RISE. Alleluia!" Jesus’ resurrection is a sign that God intends all of us to be resurrected—to move from deadness to fullness of life —today.
That’s what baptism is all about. Baptism is a resurrection event, an Easter event. Today we will baptize ten new Christians. Each of these people will rise from the water to begin a new life. Think of the symbolism. When we baptize, we immerse each person beneath the water—a kind of death to the old life. Paul says at baptism "we are buried with him in the likeness of his death, and we are risen with him in the likeness of his resurrection." So baptism is a large symbol of our rising—resurrecting—to new life.
Why are we here today? Some of us come to witness the baptism of our family member. Some are here because of Jesus’ teachings and the powerful influence of his life. But Mary Magdalene gives us a major clue when she comes to the tomb of Jesus. She meets there a man in the garden. At first she doesn’t know who he is. She thinks he’s the gardener. Then she recognizes that it’s Jesus. What happened there? She experienced Jesus’ risen presence in the garden. That experience sent her off to announce the good news: "I have seen the Lord." And don’t miss the fact here that the first preacher of the resurrection of Jesus was a woman! That’s worth a few "alleluias."
I submit that we believe in the resurrection because we too have experienced the presence of Jesus among us. There are times at the communion table when we experience his presence. When we go through a dreadful period in our life—struggle and grief—and we begin to feel alive again, we experience his presence. When we meet people among us who embody his spirit, we experience Jesus with us. And when that happens, we feel a new surge of vitality and aliveness.
We’ve come here today because we want this aliveness. Deep within us, we all want to be more caring, more loving, more gentle, less greedy, less compulsive, less self-centered—more compassionate, more concerned to reach out in service to "the least of these," the least privileged.
This past year various members of our church have visited with our sister church, Emmanuel Baptist Church in El Salvador. Oscar Romero, the archbishop of El Salvador in the late 1970’s, stood on the side of the poor and oppressed while the government and the wealthy elite sought to kill anyone who challenged their power. Romero preached every week over the radio, and people listened to his every word. He received many death threats, and finally he was assassinated as he stood at the altar presiding at Communion in a little hospital chapel. In his radio address a few weeks before they killed him, he said, "If they kill me, I will rise again in the hearts of my people." Today Romero’s picture hangs in nearly every home in El Salvador.
"If they kill me, I will rise again in the hearts of my people." So it is with Jesus. He was the great life-giver, and he rises again in our hearts—to give us hope, courage, and life-giving energy to continue his work. It’s resurrection work—removing poverty, violence, racism, and any form of oppression that prevents God’s children from living with fullness of life.
Christ is risen—and so are we! Our job as Easter people is to do all we can to extend Jesus’ work of bringing fullness of life, resurrected life, to all God’s children.
The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
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Discussion: The Power for Life |
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