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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
23 March 2008Mt. 28 - Easter“The Easter Spirit”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
At Christmas time, we often talk about the "Christmas spirit." We remember the message of the angels to the shepherds on the first Christmas Eve; we hope there will be "peace and good will" in the spirit of the Christ Child.
Now if we were to talk in the same way about an "Easter Spirit," we might begin with another angelic message. The angel who greets the two women who come to the tomb of Jesus begins his address to them with the words, "Do not be afraid."
In this admonition, the angel seems to be saying, "You don't need to fear me. I'm not a ghost; I am a messenger of the Living God."
Later in the story, when the two women encounter Jesus himself, he says the same words. Jesus tells them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
Jesus, like the angel, seems to be trying to reassure his followers that he isn't a ghost, that he is really present with them. But as the disciples meditated on these words, and as they worked to put the teachings of Jesus into practice in their lives and they told others about the truths they had found — the disciples came to realize that the Risen Christ could help them to get beyond all of their fears.
So the Easter Spirit brings the assurance that we need no longer be afraid. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. This unique act in history demonstrates the power of God over the greatest threat to human beings: their mortality. Because we need no longer fear death, we need no longer fear anything.
This became the heart of the Christian message, as the followers of Christ established their new religion.
Of course, they continued to display the Christmas spirit of peace and good will. They never tried to force people to become part of their fellowship.
But as the first Christians also proclaimed their Easter message that Christ had risen from the dead, they soon discovered that their message was considerably less popular with their rulers than it was with the common people.
Here we should remember that the Roman Emperors at that time were so concerned about establishing their authority that they called themselves, "sons of God." Caesar Augustus even had this title stamped alongside his portrait on coins that were minted by the Roman government and used throughout his vast empire.
But these pretend "sons of God" weren't posturing in order to help and protect their subjects. No, the Roman Emperors only survived by scaring their own citizens.
It was this empire of fear that put Jesus to death. And it was within this culture of terror that Christ appeared on Easter morning.
Fortunately, once the first Christians got used to the idea that their leader had returned to life, they applied his words to their lives. So in the face of persecution, they weren't afraid.
The disciples of Jesus stood up to their Roman oppressors and witnessed to their faith. They offered themselves on the cross. They faced the lions in the Roman Coliseum, singing hymns to the true Son of God.
That is the Easter Spirit. But precisely because it is so much more costly than the Christmas spirit of being friendly — because it is so much more costly, the Easter spirit can be hard to catch.
After all, Christians, like everyone else, continue to have fears.
The Presbyterian novelist Frederick Buechner speaks in a memoir of his chronic anxiousness. Whatever he tried, he couldn't overcome his worries about the future.
In his memoir, he writes, "I always tended to imagine the worst in such killing detail that I mar even the fairest of my days with pointless worrying."
The Risen Christ comes to us to help us confront just such fears. He says to us, "Do not be afraid."
But again, the Easter spirit isn't easy to catch. At Christmas, we can spread good will by giving presents. What can we do to pick up the Easter spirit?
Well, we can begin by imagining that we met Jesus, outside his tomb on Easter Day. If he were to greet us now, and tell us not to be afraid, what would that mean?
What fears would Christ want us to let go? Anxieties about not being successful in our chosen careers? About watching others get ahead, while we stay behind?
Or are we afraid of losing someone we love? Do we dread feeling lonely?
Young or old, do we feel the burdens that come from living in imperfect, vulnerable human bodies?
If we have these feelings, then we need to remind ourselves that Christ knew all of them himself, when he lived in the flesh.
More important still, we need to remind ourselves that Christ has already gone through the worst. He went through physical and mental suffering and mortal death. And out of his passion, he brings us a promise of new life that no earthly power and no bad luck can take away.
Frederick Buechner mentions in another book of his that he often feels a "floating sense of doom." And surely he isn't the only human being to have his good times invaded by a floating sense of doom. Most of us here today know what that feels like!
But Frederick Beuchner also found that, he says, "more than a few times in my life I have been raised from death — death of the spirit, death of the heart." Buechner experienced what he called "the healing power" brought to him by the living Christ.
This is the essence of the Christian message. This is the true Easter Spirit.
The Easter spirit that says, "Do not be afraid, for God is with you." God in Christ has tasted the worst. No anxiety we have will equal the hope and the confidence Christ can give us when we offer ourselves to share his Risen life.
As the hymn says, "Jesus lives — no terrors now! ... Alleluia!"
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.