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April 16, 2006 (Easter Sunrise Service) A parcel appeared in the mailbox two months back. I wonder what this could be, I said to myself excited to find something besides the usual bills and junk. No ordinary package, someone had taken a set of colored markers and with wild enthusiasm had drawn all over it--bright balloons, a cake with candles, butterflies and flowers and a cat peering out from behind them. "Happy Birthday, Karen" it shouted, in case I needed a clue. Even before I could open the box and discover what waited inside, I was gifted with joy. Simply knowing someone had thought of me and then that they had taken the time to add an extra flourish of fun made my heart grow huge. It really didn't matter what I found inside, the outside of the box made it plain: I was loved, even from afar. From afar this morning we, too, receive a love-inspired gift. From a land far off and a moment two thousand years passed comes this: the news that God has done a remarkable, unexpected, and glorious thing. God has raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. God has done the impossible, the unimaginable, even the unexplainable. God has returned Jesus to life. God has resurrected him. God has lifted our lifeless Jesus out of the grave and has breathed into him newness. He lives again, our Jesus does. He lives. This God has done for us. Which is why we are here so early today. We know our God to be generous and giving. And faithful. And so we gather to welcome into our lives the gift that God has given. But unlike my package that morning and unlike that Easter dawn so long ago, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior comes as no surprise. Indeed, for the entire length of Lent we've known this day would come. Since that first day in March, when in somber ash crosses were traced upon our foreheads, ever since then we have known and waited. As we have traveled these weeks with Jesus, learned from him, waved palms at him, witnessed his entry into Jerusalem's shadowed valleys, and have placed ourselves at the foot of his cross at Calvary, we have been waiting for this day to arrive. All this time we have been waiting for the bright colors and jubilant expressions that go with God's gift of Easter. We've come expecting this. This gift that God first gave to Peter, then to the disciples, then to the five hundred, and then eventually to Paul. At last this gift is given to us. And we've come expecting it. Expecting also that it is good--all good. All good and all glorious. And that it is God-sent, delivered especially for us. Gathering as we do, there is no doubt: our gift this morning is good and glorious and God-sent. How can our swelling hearts not feel as if they are going to burst? We're not alone in our rejoicing. Christina Rosetti expresses Easter's great gladness in her poem, entitled "A Birthday."
Recalling the package that appeared a while back, recalling also my delight in it--even before I knew what I'd find inside--I was struck by a new awareness. So thrilled was I to discover the box and then to open it that it did not occur to me how difficult it might have been for the sender to be absent from me, far away, when I opened it. The gift was sent in love. Certainly it was received in love. And yet neither of us were able to share love's full expression because we were separated by thousands of miles. The giver did not see the light in my eyes as I peered curiously inside the box. She did not see the look on my face when I discovered not just one gift inside but many, all thoughtful. I had no way to open my arms and embrace her, thanking her not only for her generosity but for the gift of her place in my life. As wonderful as the giving and the receiving was that day, our joy was not entirely complete. For that, we needed to be together. Let me circle back to Paul's letter to the church in Corinth for just a moment. He writes this, "For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all... he appeared also to me." Here we are with the gift of Easter in our very hands--and yet we may not enough realize what the gift really is. Our gift is not simply the knowledge of Jesus' resurrection, as marvelous and as remarkable as this is. Our gift is not merely knowing that God did not forsake God's son and our Savior but instead loved him back to life, although this is powerful news. Our gift goes beyond the affirmation of life and the assurance through Christ that we will never be separated from God's love, not even when our death comes. The gift we are being given today is even greater still. Do you know what it is? Do you know what waits inside this gift of Easter? Open it. Open it. Perhaps you already have... and so what I am about to say you already know. Inside this gift of Easter is more than the news of Jesus' resurrection, but indeed the Risen Christ himself. Easter's gift isn't one God intends for us to receive, us here and the Risen Christ far off there somewhere, as was the case with my birthday box. Easter's gift is the presence of the Living Christ, come to you now. This very morning. Present to you in a way you may not even understand but present nonetheless, here to love you with a love like none other. Through the Spirit Christ comes to us to be with us. To share with us himself the glorious good news of his rising. Not simply so that we will be informed. Not solely so that we will know this truth. But so that the very substance of our lives might be changed. Changed for good, because of his loving, living presence with us. Don't allow your citizenship in this modern age to deprive you of the wonder and mystery that is your birthright. Don't let your body convince you, or your mind for that matter, that what dwells within the realm of the spirit is not every bit as real as the pew you're sitting on or the delicious meal that awaits you in just a few moments. Here with us now, every bit as real, every bit as alive, every bit as wonderful is the One who appeared to Mary of Magdala in the early morning hours centuries ago. Every bit as present to us is the One who was drawn out of death and restored to life. He is here now. Here. Now. And he is overjoyed to offer himself to you, so that you might have more than knowledge of him but indeed that you might discover new life with him. As with my birthday gift, Easter's joy is not entirely complete until giver and receiver are able to enjoy each other's company. For this, for this time with you, our Lord endured Good Friday. Just for you. He's waited all this time to give you this gift. The gift of his unending, risen presence in your life. You tell me, do you know of a finer, more life-giving gift? Neither do I Alleluia! Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed! Amen. © Rev. Karen Winkel |
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." - Gracie Allen
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