Easter Sunday A April 16,
2017
Acts 10:34-43 Psalm118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10
Lectionary Link
Alleluia Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
We have fasted from Alleluia for the entire season of Lent so let us get some Alleluia practice. It is good finally to come off our Alleluia fast. And Easter gives us the occasion. The empty tomb gives us the occasion. The post-resurrection appearances of Christ give us a profound narrative for the hope that lives in our hearts but often that hope gets beat down by the harsh realities of loss, death and limitations of life.
We live in an age of scorn for our resurrection beliefs. We live in an age of skepticism about religious beliefs and practices. We live in the age of modern science and some have used science as reason to discount religious belief. Some think that the weak minded use religion as a crutch. Have you been made to feel a little embarrassed about your resurrection beliefs?
Some people may believe that we gather here as a sort of resurrection 12 step program. RA, Resurrection Anonymous. Hi, my name is Phil and I believe in the resurrection and it's been two seconds since I last expressed my belief in the resurrection.
Dear ones, is the resurrection only an irrational expression and acting out an irrational addictive religious behavior? Are we to be pitied? Is this an organic problem? Are we genetically inclined to hold such beliefs?
We can be so intimidated by people who have let science limit their understanding of true meanings. We can begin to treat the religious and hopeful aspect of our personality as a weakness. Persons like Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins and other atheists can note how badly some religious people act and think and then consign us all to the loony bin. And we might be so intimidated that we might want to hide our belief so as not to be ostracized.
I'm here to tell you that in the age of science we have no reason to be intimidated by people about the resurrection. People in the age of science have only decided to deny the resurrection and replace it with many resurrection surrogates. These surrogates started to appear long ago. Bram Stoker's Dracula. Vampires that drink blood and live forever. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Reanimated life from body parts with a directed strike of lightning. Houdini and séances with the dead. Edgar Cayce and Astral projection. Ghostbusters, Ghost whisperers, Zombies, Walking Dead and then we also have the ultimate belief in afterlife and futurism, the entire genre of science fiction which posits going back to the future, time travel, teleporting of bodies and time warps. All people have to deal with the mystery of the afterlife; many choose to whistle as they pass the graveyard with zombie and vampire stories. I believe the entertainment expression of the afterlife arose as a revolt against people being limited to the scientific method being the only valid and supreme truth.
Those who tell people of the resurrection that they are crazy, literally fill their lives with endless surrogates for the resurrection. Why the obsession with all of these surrogates of the resurrection while at the same time scorning people who still find the resurrection to be a functional narrative for the hope in their lives. Why can't they just say? "Well I don't choose the resurrection as my afterlife narrative. I choose vampires and werewolves. And I choose to go to the church of the Trekkie Conventioneers." Our world is full of so many space cadets who are obsessed with narratives much more fanciful than our resurrection narratives. And some of us here may be such space cadets for entertainment purposes; it's just that we can embrace being both resurrection space cadets and have other entertainment imaginations for the great mysteries of life too.
People who have addiction discover that they are genetically inclined to be addicts. My friends, you and I are genetically and spiritually addicted to have this incredible force of hope implanted within us. Hope can be diminished by being expressed as unmanaged desires which lead us into harmful addiction; or hope can be the realization that God's eternal Spirit is hidden within us. We are not fully pleased until we discover God's eternal life in us which gives us this eternal hope and eternal confidence that something in us is so profound that it can be a self-guarantee that we will be preserved in a glorious reconstituted way long after our bodies die.
Easter Day is really about hope attaining a believable narrative about our afterlife. Can a person know herself to be the same person after she has died? And can a person know the other people who have been in her life after she has died? The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus give us an affirmative answer to both of these questions.
We can know our continuing selves after we have died. We can and will know other continuing selves after they have died. And this is the perfect narrative for the hope which is the spiritual DNA of our lives.
Today, we are not members of a 12 Step Program of Resurrection Anonymous. We have nothing to be ashamed of with our preferred narrative of hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This narrative of hope actually functions quite well for the hope that we feel within ourselves.
Our hope has implanted within us dreams, wishes and ideals that we will never be able to actually complete given the limitations of what we can do in our bodies over our life time. Are we to be embarrassed by this hope? Am I to be shamed because I have not been able to attain the fullness of friendship relationships with people who have died and gone? Is the hope planted within my heart to be or become more than what I will ever be able to become, given to me to just torture me with what I can never be?
I believe that you and I have been given hope within the center of our being because it means we will always have a future and we will continue to have a future in personal ways even after we die. I think that the gift of the Resurrection of Christ is the gift that God has given to humanity to accept the fact that we are created by hope and that we are made in the image of an eternal hope.
Science fiction and other genres of the afterlife can be entertainment, but I want a narrative which is truly honest to the hope that I feel my life is made of. And it is very easy for me to choose the resurrection as the most believable and adequate expression of hope.
Let us not be forced by all the modern people who gorge themselves upon resurrection surrogates to feel inferior and addicted to the resurrection of Christ. We are not a gathering of a group of Resurrection Anonymous. We gather to be in the loving tradition that derives from Jesus Christ, an actual unique person in history. Those who scorn us can have their zombies and walking dead; we are happy to be in this resurrection tradition which derived from the one and only unique life of Jesus Christ.
We are a gathering today of the openly hopeful and alleluia is our shout, because the resurrection is our story, and we're sticking to it.
Alleluia. Christ is Risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.
Acts 10:34-43 Psalm118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10
Lectionary Link
Alleluia Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
We have fasted from Alleluia for the entire season of Lent so let us get some Alleluia practice. It is good finally to come off our Alleluia fast. And Easter gives us the occasion. The empty tomb gives us the occasion. The post-resurrection appearances of Christ give us a profound narrative for the hope that lives in our hearts but often that hope gets beat down by the harsh realities of loss, death and limitations of life.
We live in an age of scorn for our resurrection beliefs. We live in an age of skepticism about religious beliefs and practices. We live in the age of modern science and some have used science as reason to discount religious belief. Some think that the weak minded use religion as a crutch. Have you been made to feel a little embarrassed about your resurrection beliefs?
Some people may believe that we gather here as a sort of resurrection 12 step program. RA, Resurrection Anonymous. Hi, my name is Phil and I believe in the resurrection and it's been two seconds since I last expressed my belief in the resurrection.
Dear ones, is the resurrection only an irrational expression and acting out an irrational addictive religious behavior? Are we to be pitied? Is this an organic problem? Are we genetically inclined to hold such beliefs?
We can be so intimidated by people who have let science limit their understanding of true meanings. We can begin to treat the religious and hopeful aspect of our personality as a weakness. Persons like Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins and other atheists can note how badly some religious people act and think and then consign us all to the loony bin. And we might be so intimidated that we might want to hide our belief so as not to be ostracized.
I'm here to tell you that in the age of science we have no reason to be intimidated by people about the resurrection. People in the age of science have only decided to deny the resurrection and replace it with many resurrection surrogates. These surrogates started to appear long ago. Bram Stoker's Dracula. Vampires that drink blood and live forever. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Reanimated life from body parts with a directed strike of lightning. Houdini and séances with the dead. Edgar Cayce and Astral projection. Ghostbusters, Ghost whisperers, Zombies, Walking Dead and then we also have the ultimate belief in afterlife and futurism, the entire genre of science fiction which posits going back to the future, time travel, teleporting of bodies and time warps. All people have to deal with the mystery of the afterlife; many choose to whistle as they pass the graveyard with zombie and vampire stories. I believe the entertainment expression of the afterlife arose as a revolt against people being limited to the scientific method being the only valid and supreme truth.
Those who tell people of the resurrection that they are crazy, literally fill their lives with endless surrogates for the resurrection. Why the obsession with all of these surrogates of the resurrection while at the same time scorning people who still find the resurrection to be a functional narrative for the hope in their lives. Why can't they just say? "Well I don't choose the resurrection as my afterlife narrative. I choose vampires and werewolves. And I choose to go to the church of the Trekkie Conventioneers." Our world is full of so many space cadets who are obsessed with narratives much more fanciful than our resurrection narratives. And some of us here may be such space cadets for entertainment purposes; it's just that we can embrace being both resurrection space cadets and have other entertainment imaginations for the great mysteries of life too.
People who have addiction discover that they are genetically inclined to be addicts. My friends, you and I are genetically and spiritually addicted to have this incredible force of hope implanted within us. Hope can be diminished by being expressed as unmanaged desires which lead us into harmful addiction; or hope can be the realization that God's eternal Spirit is hidden within us. We are not fully pleased until we discover God's eternal life in us which gives us this eternal hope and eternal confidence that something in us is so profound that it can be a self-guarantee that we will be preserved in a glorious reconstituted way long after our bodies die.
Easter Day is really about hope attaining a believable narrative about our afterlife. Can a person know herself to be the same person after she has died? And can a person know the other people who have been in her life after she has died? The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus give us an affirmative answer to both of these questions.
We can know our continuing selves after we have died. We can and will know other continuing selves after they have died. And this is the perfect narrative for the hope which is the spiritual DNA of our lives.
Today, we are not members of a 12 Step Program of Resurrection Anonymous. We have nothing to be ashamed of with our preferred narrative of hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This narrative of hope actually functions quite well for the hope that we feel within ourselves.
Our hope has implanted within us dreams, wishes and ideals that we will never be able to actually complete given the limitations of what we can do in our bodies over our life time. Are we to be embarrassed by this hope? Am I to be shamed because I have not been able to attain the fullness of friendship relationships with people who have died and gone? Is the hope planted within my heart to be or become more than what I will ever be able to become, given to me to just torture me with what I can never be?
I believe that you and I have been given hope within the center of our being because it means we will always have a future and we will continue to have a future in personal ways even after we die. I think that the gift of the Resurrection of Christ is the gift that God has given to humanity to accept the fact that we are created by hope and that we are made in the image of an eternal hope.
Science fiction and other genres of the afterlife can be entertainment, but I want a narrative which is truly honest to the hope that I feel my life is made of. And it is very easy for me to choose the resurrection as the most believable and adequate expression of hope.
Let us not be forced by all the modern people who gorge themselves upon resurrection surrogates to feel inferior and addicted to the resurrection of Christ. We are not a gathering of a group of Resurrection Anonymous. We gather to be in the loving tradition that derives from Jesus Christ, an actual unique person in history. Those who scorn us can have their zombies and walking dead; we are happy to be in this resurrection tradition which derived from the one and only unique life of Jesus Christ.
We are a gathering today of the openly hopeful and alleluia is our shout, because the resurrection is our story, and we're sticking to it.
Alleluia. Christ is Risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.
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