St David's Episcopal Church
  • Welcome
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our History >
      • 100 years
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our Facility >
      • Our Library
    • Building Rental
    • Testimonials
    • Leadership
    • Member Directory
    • Safe Church Policy
    • Episcopal Diocese of W Mass
    • Back to Basics
    • Vision for our Parish
  • Worship
    • Services
    • Services on YouTube >
      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • 2024 Services >
        • December 2024
        • November 2024
        • October 2024
        • September 2024
        • August 2024
        • July 2024
        • June 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • March 2024
        • February 2024
        • January 2024
      • 2023 Services >
        • December 2023
        • November 2023
        • October 2023
        • September 2023
        • August 2023
        • July 2023
        • June 2023
        • May 2023
        • April 2023
        • March 2023
        • February 2023
        • January 2023
      • 2022 Services >
        • December 2022
        • November 2022
        • October 2022
        • September 2022
        • August 2022
        • July 2022
        • June 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • March 2022
        • February 2022
        • January 2022
      • 2021 Services >
        • December 2021
        • November 2021
        • October 2021
        • September 2021
        • August 2021
        • July 2021
        • June 2021
        • May 2021
        • April 2021
        • March 2021
        • February 2021
        • January 2021
      • 2020 Services >
        • December 2020
        • November 2020
        • October 2020
        • September 2020
        • August 2020
        • July 2020
        • June 2020
        • May 2020
        • April 2020
    • Sermons
    • Holy Sacraments
    • Walk the Labyrinth
    • Parish Prayer Cycle
    • Country Prayer List
    • Bishop's Word
  • Events
    • Dove Tale Newsletter
    • Community Suppers
    • Episcopal Relief & Development
    • Fun & Fellowship
    • Photos
  • Ministries
    • Adult Education
    • Caregivers Ministry
    • Community Outreach
    • Creation Care Ministry
    • Healing Ministry
    • Veterans Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Wine Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Youth Ministry
  • Calendar
  • Contact

"He Has Been Raised": An Easter Sermon

4/9/2023

0 Comments

 
​Today we celebrate the very heart of the Christian Gospel.
Today we get the good news that is
the foundation of all the good news there is.
 
Our reading for this morning, our entire service this morning
all boils down to this:
The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia!!
 
But what does that mean?
The idea of a dead person coming back to life is amazing enough.
But Christ’s resurrection is a LOT bigger
than just coming back to life.
 
At no point in any of the Gospels is the resurrection itself described.
I mean the very moment when Christ crossed the line
from death back into life, eternal life never to die again.
Silence on the moment itself is as it should be.
Resurrection is a mystery too deep for words.
 
But what is described is dramatic enough.
 
It was dawn.
Roman soldiers are there, watching the tomb.
The two Marys show up.
And then things get interesting.
 
There’s a great earthquake.
An angel appears,
who looks like lightning, with clothes as white as snow.
The angel easily rolls away the enormous stone
blocking the entrance to Jesus’ tomb.
And then—I love this detail—the angel sits on the stone and waits.
 
Try to picture that in your heads.
Think about how you might react.
 
The first reaction Matthew describes is the soldiers’.
 
A few days before that first Easter morning,
the Roman Empire had killed Jesus.
Just to be on the safe side,
the Roman governor had stationed guards at Jesus’ tomb
to make sure that Jesus stayed dead
and that everyone knew Jesus had stayed dead.
It was supposed to be Rome’s decisive victory
over Christ and his movement.
 
But it didn’t work.
These soldiers, representing the most powerful empire on earth,
shook with fear and became like dead men
as soon as they saw the angel,
who was, remember, just Christ’s messenger,
the one charged with announcing the resurrection.
It’s a good thing the soldiers passed out when they did.
They would have literally died of fright
when Jesus himself showed up.
 
 
The two Marys were almost as shocked as the soldiers.
They had come to Christ’s tomb to grieve their dead friend,
and, if possible, to care for his dead body.
Instead of a quiet morning of mourning,
they got an earthquake and an angel.
 
But the Marys were braver than the Roman soldiers.
The Marys were scared.
We can tell that from how the angel greets them.
But the women didn’t shake with terror,
and they didn’t pass out.
The women were able to stand and hear the amazing message
the angel had come to deliver.
 
But something, or rather someone, considerably greater than the angel is here.
 
Jesus appears to the two Marys,
Jesus, their old friend and travelling companion.
But when they see Jesus alive again,
the two Marys don’t give him a hug.
No. A hug might have been appropriate
if Jesus had come back exactly the same as he was before his crucifixion.
But he didn’t.
 
It was still Jesus.
But more, too.
This was their risen Lord.
 
These women,
who could stand before an angel so terrifying
that Roman soldiers fainted at the very sight,
they fell at Jesus’ feet and worshipped him.
Here was power and glory beyond any earthquake or angel.
 
It turns out, Jesus really wasn’t just another street preacher
the empire could shut down at will.
Jesus was who he said he was.
Jesus was God incarnate.
 
 
Jesus’ opponents had refused to believe it,
and even his friends and disciples never really took it in.
But it was true.
And face to face with God, we rightly fall down and worship.
 
But there is still more to the resurrection.
The power on display in that place and time
was not limited to that place or time.
 
Christ had won a total victory over death.
And Christ’s victory over death exploded outward
like a shock wave of divine power and love,
changing the nature of creation itself.
 
Death had been the end of the story for all mortal creatures.
But after the resurrection,
death is no longer the end of the story for us
any more than it was for Jesus.
As we will pray in just a few minutes,
“By his rising to life again, Christ wins for us everlasting life.”
As Paul says in our reading,
“when [at the last day] Christ…is revealed,
then we also will be revealed with him in glory.”
 
That is the Easter good news, the good news of resurrection.
 
That’s good news for us especially when we are hurting,
when we have lost people we love,
as has been true for us here at Saint David’s
in the last few weeks and months.
We come together this morning to hear again that good news,
to let the good news of resurrection sink in and change us,
to help us become true resurrection people.
 
Back on Ash Wednesday,
at the beginning of Lent seven long weeks ago,
many of us were anointed with ashes,
and we heard the grim words,
“Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
It was a reminder that we will all die.
But the Ash Wednesday reminder of our mortality is incomplete without Easter,
without the good news of resurrection,
the good news that Christ died and rose again
so that we, too, might live.
 
So today, immediately following communion,
I invite you to linger for a moment at the altar rail
so that we can finish what we began on Ash Wednesday.
I will anoint you with holy oil
and bless you with the good news of this morning:
“God’s love is stronger than death,
and to God’s love you are returning.”
 
That’s a statement about our future, when we will rest in God’s love.
And it is a statement about our present, too.
God’s love is stronger than death, even now.
We are in the process of returning to God’s love, even now.
Christ is alive, and with us, always.
God’s love is revealed in our risen Lord, always.
God is at work bringing about resurrection and new life, always.
That is the good news of Easter.
 
On that first Easter morning,
Christ shared the good news of resurrection and divine power
with the two Marys.
And Christ told the two Marys
to share that good news with everybody else,
beginning with those closest to them.
 
The risen Lord is here this morning, too, with the same good news.
And so we bow down in worship.
We hold tightly to Christ’s promise of resurrection.
We strive to enter ever more fully into God’s love.
And we share the good news of resurrection with our world.
 
Thanks be to God. Amen. Alleluia! 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Rev. Harvey Hill
    Rector
    Rev. Dr. Harvey Hill
    Third Order Franciscan

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

Picture
Donate
EMAIL: [email protected]

Hours

M-F: 11:00am - 1:00pm

Telephone

413-786-6133
ADDRESS                 
​699 Springfield Street,
Feeding Hills MA 01030
  • Welcome
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our History >
      • 100 years
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our Facility >
      • Our Library
    • Building Rental
    • Testimonials
    • Leadership
    • Member Directory
    • Safe Church Policy
    • Episcopal Diocese of W Mass
    • Back to Basics
    • Vision for our Parish
  • Worship
    • Services
    • Services on YouTube >
      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • 2024 Services >
        • December 2024
        • November 2024
        • October 2024
        • September 2024
        • August 2024
        • July 2024
        • June 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • March 2024
        • February 2024
        • January 2024
      • 2023 Services >
        • December 2023
        • November 2023
        • October 2023
        • September 2023
        • August 2023
        • July 2023
        • June 2023
        • May 2023
        • April 2023
        • March 2023
        • February 2023
        • January 2023
      • 2022 Services >
        • December 2022
        • November 2022
        • October 2022
        • September 2022
        • August 2022
        • July 2022
        • June 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • March 2022
        • February 2022
        • January 2022
      • 2021 Services >
        • December 2021
        • November 2021
        • October 2021
        • September 2021
        • August 2021
        • July 2021
        • June 2021
        • May 2021
        • April 2021
        • March 2021
        • February 2021
        • January 2021
      • 2020 Services >
        • December 2020
        • November 2020
        • October 2020
        • September 2020
        • August 2020
        • July 2020
        • June 2020
        • May 2020
        • April 2020
    • Sermons
    • Holy Sacraments
    • Walk the Labyrinth
    • Parish Prayer Cycle
    • Country Prayer List
    • Bishop's Word
  • Events
    • Dove Tale Newsletter
    • Community Suppers
    • Episcopal Relief & Development
    • Fun & Fellowship
    • Photos
  • Ministries
    • Adult Education
    • Caregivers Ministry
    • Community Outreach
    • Creation Care Ministry
    • Healing Ministry
    • Veterans Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Wine Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Youth Ministry
  • Calendar
  • Contact