The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day, Year A.

Mary Magdalene tearfully exclaimed at the tomb, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  Contained within this exclamation is the universal cry, “Where is my Lord?”  It is a cry for hope.  A longing for the realm of God to confront ordinary reality.  

To some degree we all come this morning looking for our Lord.  Looking for a savior, looking for God.  To some degree, like Mary, we wonder where God is.  

This day more than any other says that God’s realm is not just a footnote to every day reality, but a dimension of life that empowers and transforms.  This day above all others gives us hope.  Hope that we, too, are graced by that eternal, compassionate presence for which we long.  Hope that this world, even in brokenness, is embraced by God.

The Easter experience teaches us how to be Easter people.  How to live into the hope we celebrate today.  Easter is about transformation.  Death is transformed into life, despair into hope, and sorrow into joy.  

In order to live into Easter, we are called to be transformed by the living Christ.  A life of transformation is about turning from death-oriented choices and being raised to life-giving choices. It is a life-long process.

Last night at the great Vigil of Easter three people formally proclaimed their intention to live into Easter as they were baptized and marked as Christ’s own forever.  

The rite of Holy Baptism is similar to that of Holy Matrimony.  Both ceremonies are initiations into life long processes.  In baptism and in marriage, the liturgical ceremonies give shape and meaning to the way of life they proclaim.  Therefore as Christians we live into our baptism.  And the markers for doing that are contained in the baptism covenant.

To live into Easter is to live into our baptism.  To be an Easter people is to be a people of the baptismal covenant.  

Consider Mary Magdalene as she wept at Jesus’ tomb.  She had been on a journey of faith with Jesus.  Her life was very much in transformation.  So even as her heart broke over Jesus’ death, there was already at work within her a vision of hope.  He heart, her eyes, her ears, her mind were prepared to embrace new life even in the midst of death.  

That same grace is at work within us, calling us to new life and transforming despair into hope.  

There at the tomb of Jesus, Mary’s Easter transformation enabled her to receive new life.  Slowly, hesitantly at first because that is what happens sometimes when we find ourselves in the realm of grace; we’re not sure what is happening. But Mary remained faithful until she confidently announced to the other disciples, “I have seen the Lord”.  

The Easter experience for Mary was revealed in her spiritual journey from the tearful statement of not knowing where Jesus was to her joyful exclamation of having seen the risen Christ.  This transformation was supported by her commitment to the Jesus covenant.  A covenant of God’s love revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
    
Less than two weeks ago, parishioner Ed Buckley and I traveled to Haiti to check on the clean water wells Holy Trinity is providing through the ministry of Food for the Poor.  Going to Haiti in many ways is like going to the tomb in the dark of night.  It reveals suffering and hopelessness.  Ordinary reality sees Haiti as little more than a wasteland.  One can easily ask, “Where is the Lord?”  “Where is God in such a place of suffering?”  

Easter transforms our perspective.  It opens our eyes to see the living Christ in seemingly hopeless situations.  And it invites us to partner with hope, to let the risen Christ transform us into servants of grace.  On this trip I could see this happening so clearly in Ed Buckley.  Ed is not simply a bearer of clean drinking water but a passionate bearer of hope for the people of Haiti.  

And here at Holy Trinity I have seen that transformation at work at this community.  God is transforming us more and more into an Easter people in many ways.  Through the grace of our baptismal covenant, we are beholding more of God’s wonder, discovering more of God’s love and proclaiming with more and more integrity, “We have seen the Lord.”

Easter is such a glorious feast day because it speaks so magnificently to our deepest longings, both our fears and hopes.  But remember just as a grand wedding does not necessarily make a good marriage, so this celebration calls us to live daily into the Easter transformation.  

Easter invites us to let hope grow within us by the way we live, by the way relate to God, others and ourselves.  As we take the Easter experience into our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our communities, our politics, our stewardship, our prayers, we, like Mary, will be transformed.  We, too, may find ourselves proclaiming, “I have seen the Lord.”

Look around you for signs of hope.  Examine your lives to see what kinds of choices you are making.  Take to heart the covenant of Holy Baptism.  In these ways and in countless others, we are being transformed.  We are here today because God has called us to be an Easter people, to live in the wideness of grace and to embrace the redemption of the world.  To remember that the love of God is so much broader than the measure of ordinary reality.  

Today we celebrate the amazing grace found at the tomb of Jesus.  Grace that continues to invite us into the transformation promised in Holy Baptism.  And grace that shouts for all the world to hear, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!”


The Very Reverend William Thomas Deneke
Rector