The Easter Sermon at St. Matthias on April 1, 2018

Every Sunday at St. Matthias, I record my sermon.  This started about a year ago when I wondered how my sermon sounded.  I know what I write.  Every sermon is preapproved by Phyllis and I know how it sounds at home when I practice.

Now I don't remember why I wondered what the sermon sounded like from the pulpit, but I did.  The drive from St. Matthias back to our house in Birmingham takes about 55 minutes.  It is a good opportunity to listen and think about if what I preach sounded how I anticipated it would sound.  Sometimes it does.  Sometimes I am surprised.  It has been a good exercise.

From time to time I am asked for copies of my sermon.  This seems like a good way to offer both the text and the recording.  Just so you know, I will start with the Easter Sermon and then next will be the sermon from the Fourth Sunday of Easter.  We were in Argentina visiting our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter for the two weeks after Easter.  The picture above is from the Straits of Magellan in Chile where we visited on this trip. 

Easter Sunday, Year B

Mark 16:1-8

St. Matthias

April 1, 2018

What will happen next?  This has to be what Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome were thinking on that first Easter morning.  They went to the tomb – the stone was rolled away – and an angel said to them – Do not be alarmed.  I don’t know about you, but just seeing an angel would alarm me.  But then the angel said those words we proclaim this morning – He is Risen!  Christ is Risen!

And from that moment - and that place - and those 3 women – the message of the Resurrection has spread to millions and millions so that today we join with Christians around the world and celebrate.  In parts of northern Europe, large bonfires – called Easter Fires – will be lit recalling how the light of the Resurrection shines and drives away the darkness of the long winter.  In Poland on Easter, you might get drenched with a bucket of water in a tradition that goes back to the baptism of a Polish Prince at Easter in the year 966.  Legend has it that girls who are soaked will marry within the year.  In Bermuda – churches celebrate by flying kites – a practice first begun when a British Army officer flew a kite in the shape of a cross to illustrate to local children – the meaning of the Resurrection.    And even here at St. Matthias, we celebrate with our favorite - the Easter Egg hunt continuing a Lutheran Tradition begun in Germany where the Rabbit is a symbol of the Resurrection.  And whether we are in Poland or Bermuda, or Tuscaloosa – we celebrate Easter remembering that in the Resurrection - Life has overcome death – the joy of an empty tomb has overcome the darkness of the cross – and love always overcomes hate.   And we celebrate a risen Savior who is here with us this morning.  The most important meaning behind the Resurrection is that it didn’t end with that empty tomb.  THIS was not just another historical event that we simply observe like it was any other holiday.  This is so much more than just HISTORY.  No – today we celebrate that Christ is Risen and lives even today.  We celebrate a new life that each of us has been given in our baptisms.  Resurrection continues and happens again and again each time we gather in faith as St. Matthias and come to this altar rail and receive the bread and wine that become to us the body and blood of the risen Savior.  Easter reminds us that God loves us – right here and right now – and we are Resurrected.  And on an Easter Sunday morning we must ask ourselves – WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

What happens next in the Gospel of Mark is that the story just stops.  It doesn’t end – there is no AMEN or “They all lived happily ever after”.  In the other Gospels there are stories of Jesus appearing.  In the Gospel of John - Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room where Thomas and the others believe that truly Christ has risen.  Jesus later appears beside the Sea of Galilee and eats breakfast with the Apostles.  I particularly like the way the Gospel of John ends.  It says in chapter 21 verse 25, “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”  Now that is the way to end a Gospel! 

BUT Mark is different – Mary and Mary Magdalene and Salome run to tell the disciples that Christ is Risen – or at least that is what the Angel said - and then it is as if Mark just forgot to say

“To be Continued….” 

Because it was….  

That’s the story of the rest of the New Testament and the whole of the Christian Faith.  The message of Easter spreads.
We see WHAT HAPPENS NEXT around here all the time.  Anyone who is here when we give away the Easter food boxes or bags of beans and rice knows What Happens Next!  We see WHAT HAPPENS NEXT around here all the time.  Anyone who is here when we give away the Easter food boxes or bags of beans and rice knows What Happens Next!  At The Abbey in Birmingham – you can go and drink a cup of coffee and see the Rev. Katie Rengers spread the love of God to homeless men twice her size and know WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!  Go down to the Black Belt – to Greensboro and watch as the poorest children of our State are taught the Love of God at Sawyerville!  Go up to Camp McDowell and spend the day.  Sing in the choir, read the bible, pray for someone and for yourself and you will KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!  Every day – all around the world – from Poland to Bermuda to Tuscaloosa – God works through plain, ordinary people like you and me who gather together and proclaim WE BELIEVE!  WE BELIEVE that Christ is Risen and we have been given a new way of living so that we Love God and Love our Neighbors in thought and word and deed every day.  WE BELIEVE that Christ lives in us.  And when we do we will see WHAT HAPPENS NEXT for we will see God working through you and me.  We will come to know that Easter is really all about HOPE.  For when WE BELIEVE and live in this new life of the Resurrection then the world begins to BELIEVE, and the Gospel spreads and people discover there is HOPE found in a RISEN SAVIOR right here at St. Matthias.  THAT’s WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! That’s why we celebrate EASTER.  So search for an Easter Egg and share some HOPE.  Fly a kite and proclaim Christ is Risen!  And if you find yourself in Poland on an Easter Sunday morning, be careful you just might get wet.  AMEN.