April 26, 2009
Acts 3:12-19; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
 
Peace with Purpose
“You are witness of these things.”  Luke 24:48

After the resurrection, the disciples gather together, trying to make sense of what has happened.  Maybe they thought they could get on with their lives.

Jesus appears
 
Everything is different.  It’s funny that he wishes them peace.  Those are his first words to them:  Peace be with you.  Peace.  Given that the last time they saw him he was dead – in fact, given that he was dead only 10-12 hours ago, it’s funny to hear him say peace.  Peace had to be very far from anything they were feeling.
 
Having the Egg Hunt as a central part of yesterday’s St. Mark day turned out to be brilliant, given the weather.  But some people – some of the kids at least – thought it a little strange to be having an Easter egg hunt two weeks after Easter.
 
But Easter isn’t just a day.  It is a season.  It is a way of life.  It is an identity:  Easter people.
 
Easter people don’t just appear on one day.  It’s not like we just hear about Jesus being raised from the tomb and that’s it.   We are becoming Easter people.
 
It is not an absolute thing.  The reality – that Jesus has started a new creation – that is absolute.  But our ability to live in that new creation is more fragile.
 
It is like  a seed....or maybe our identity in the  new creation is like....little ducks still inside the egg.  The mommy sits on the eggs in her nest day and night, occasionally taking a break to walk down to Ford Lake and eat, but somehow makes it back quickly.  She can’t be away long, because  the eggs need attention.  They need protection.  They need to be nurtured so that they can continue to grow.
 
The need to be nurtured continues even after the Easter people hatch.
 
"We are resurrection people, but in many ways we continue to live in the darkness of the tomb".  Ken Carter

ST. MARK DAY

“Augustine maintained that Mark, who was not one of the Twelve, was chosen by the Holy Spirit to demonstrate that the fountain of grace had not dried up with the twelve apostles.”
 
Disciples 2.0  We are the....well, I don’t know what  generation of disciples we are.
 
But we too are witnesses.
 
So how do we move out of the tomb’s darkness into the light of the new creation?
 
If we had one of those projector things, I would right now show the video of Susan Boyle.  She is the woman....actually, I’ll share this quote from the Scottish “Daily Herald”:   For those of you living in caves, let's summarize this quickly. Susan Boyle is a 47-year-old single Scotswoman who sang jolly well on ITV's Britain's Got Talent. She's since become an international sensation on You Tube, with over 93 million hits, and an almost nightly feature on our embarrassing Scottish news programs,
 
Anyway, Simon Cowell and the other two judges listened and as they listened these wonderful smiles broke out across their faces.
 
Some people look at Susan’s performance and say – if we were better people we would have been be excited about Susan Boyle even if she couldn’t sing.  Well, sure.  How could resurrection people argue with that?
 
But what I saw was three ‘perfect people’  listen to one real person, and be taken to a new place.  It was a ‘new creation moment’.
 
What does this have to do with our movement out of the tomb’s darkness into the light of the new creation?
 
Jesus was raised from death.  Jesus is alive.  The new creation is happening.  With some attention, with some internationality, nurturing God’s gift of faith we can see it, and we can be part of it.
 
You rolled away the stone, from the tomb.  Can you roll away the hardness of our hearts?
Jesus can.  And Jesus is.
We aren’t finished with Easter yet.  Actually, it’s not finished with us. You are witnesses of these things.
Amen