The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Easter
Sunday, 2024
V. Alleluia! The Lord is risen!
R. The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!
What do
we say about Easter? What can we say about
it that hasn’t already been said?
What a
question. Let’s consider point of view “A”. Do we consider it as the most
important day of the Christian year, the very piece de resistance of
Christianity? Do we talk about it as the day Christ rose from the dead? Do we
see it as the very center of our Christian lives? If so, this is wonderful…
Now, let us consider point of view “B”. Do we
view Easter as a great time for families to come together? (Which it is…) Do we focus on the Easter Bunny, Easter
baskets, and Easter Egg hunts? Do we
relish it as a spring holiday, often with several days off from school or work? Do we have fond memories of new Easter
outfits when a child? We think that we might.
Both points
of view are valid. We will submit to you
that P.O.V “B” is valid because P.O.V. “A” is true. Easter is special because Christ rose
from the dead. Easter is special because
Christ defeated death on this day. Of course, the World, as usual, skates
across the Christan veneer of Easter in order to have the family gatherings,
the ham dinners, and Easter chocolate bunnies.
It is the same with Christmas, which allows the World to have parties,
gifts, trees, and a great time for families.
All the movies, TV shows and other Christmas activities, including the
merchandising, are on account of Christ’s birth.
Luckily
for us, the Western World still holds to a thin recognition of the real reason
behind holidays. Even the very word “holiday” as noted by pundits, has its
roots in the words “holy day.” Once
again, Christianity is the basis for much of Western civilization. In some
places, as in Europe, it is extremely weak, but there is still a little
fragment of Christianity there. This
trend is not new, of course. It started
in the early 1960’s, grew largely in the 70’s and ‘80’s, until it is where it
is today. For example, when my family attended Sunday services in York
Cathedral in 1965, the congregation was so small that it met in the choir
stalls! Taking a purely historical point of view, it is amazing to see Europe
at its current level of secularism. It
is also a bit sad, too.
Please
note that none of the secular or “holiday” activities are de facto bad. They are not.
Yet, as always, we should be on our guard against their dilution of the original
reasons for the seasons. We imagine this
is transparent to all of us here. We, of
the household of faith need to be aware of the corrupting influences of the
World, the Flesh and the Devil at all time.
Our
Enemy Below will always hold out counterfeits to the truth. Thus, we have Santa
Claus rather than St. Nicholas, the Easter Bunny rather than Jesus, and even
strange Day of the Dead celebrations instead of All Hallows Eve, the day before
All Saints Day. Interesting, isn’t it?
So,
beloved in Christ, let us come back to the day at hand, this glorious Day. As the old hymns says, “The Day of
Resurrection?! Earth, tell it out abroad!”[i]
This day is the most blessed day of the year because “Christ has died,
Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
This is
simple and beautiful. Today, and always,
it w should be the song in our hearts.
Today,
we, you and me, are victors in Jesus.
Death has no power over us. WE are free from our greatest fear and no
longer in thrall to our oldest Nemesis.
Praise be to God!
How do
we praise God enough for this day? We
simply cannot. Our major limitation is
that we “see through a glass, darkly.” In this muddy realm, we only get
glimpses of the true, ineffable, incredible Glory of God. When we see the colors of the sunset, or we
admire the colors in a flower, these are little hints of God’s greater glory.
When we look through a microscope and view the myriad world within us, we see
God’s Glory. When we watch a campfire
burn and view, unwittingly, the complex chemical reaction and dissolution that
is occurring before our very eyes, that is also God’s Glory.
Seeing
all this just by simple observation should bring us to our knees in humble
adoration. All Creation does indeed
speak to the Glory of God, doesn’t it?
It is
always puzzling to this priest why there is such a gap between Faith and
Science. We know that science works,
because of its applications, both good and bad.
God has allowed us to do this through our God-given intelligence and
sometimes, revelation. He has allowed us
to know more and more about His wonderful and infinite Creation., undergirded
by His incredible mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. He is the Chief
and Master of all these things. Yet, so
many cannot accept this, but choose through their own ego and arrogance, to
ignore the intelligent planning and structure underlying all things. If scientists, as a group, had the gift of
faith, this would be abundantly clear.
Enough.
Let us return to, and give thanks for, the greatest metaphysical act of all
time, the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus, as God,
created the rules of life. The first
Adam brought Death into the world by disobedience. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, restored
eternal life to Creation by obedience. Although it might seem that He violated
his own rules by putting aside Death, when it should have been permanent, He
actually restored all things to the original plan. Man was meant to live
forever in bliss with God. Jesus has
made that possible again.
Thus,
do we praise God today? Yes. Do we give
thanks to the eternal Trinity for our salvation today? Yes.
Finally,
do we have joy unquenchable today? Yes!
John 20:8 “Then
entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and
he saw, and believed.”
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