EASTER MEDITATION AT HOLY TRINITY,
RINGWOOD EAST
March 26th, 1989
It was but a
few days ago that I attempted to grapple with the tragedy of Good Friday. At
the heart of all the agony and despair of Good Friday there is Good News. There
is the news that God is not impartial or uncaring. There is the news that God
is not “out there,” neither merely a “Higher Power” nor a “Grand Architect.”
Much, much
more. He is the God who is lonely with the lonely and who dies with the dying.
He is the God of darkness. And that is Good News.
Where is God
when it hurts? God is hurting, suffering, dying too.
But there is
more, much more. God is not merely a God who identifies with and enters into
the suffering of creation. God is the God who breathes hope into human despair.
God is the God of Easter.
When we were baptised into
Christ Jesus, we were baptised into his death. So by our baptism into his death
we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the
Father’s glorious power, we too should begin a new life. If we have been joined
to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his … we
believe that, if we died with Christ, then we shall live with him too.
It is normal
in the church for baptisms to take place on Easter day. As it is we today could
find no candidates for baptism, but we shall all renew our baptismal vows.
Baptism is the sign and seal of faith in Christ. Today is the birthday of faith
and hope in Christ.
Death, where is your victory?
Death where is your sting?
(1
Cor. 15:55).
Today we all
burst forth out of the waters of baptism, we all burst out of the tomb – we all
burst forth out of the womb of death and proclaim,
“Jesus is Lord”
King of kings and Lord of Lords.
And he shall reign forever and ever.
Hallelujah!
This does
not mean that we shall not die. It does not mean we shall not suffer. It does
not mean that we shall not at times doubt the very existence of God. It does
not mean we shall not catch colds, or cancer. We are human. We may even fear
death: our fears make no difference to the great Christian belief,
Christ is risen, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah!
So shall we
all, in the twinkling of an eye, in the passing of our life, be transformed and
resurrected into his resurrection life.
And the
scientific world seeks proof. I ask for proof of love. For proof of beauty.
There is no
proof. Christ is risen. The testimony of the church is our proof, the faith of
the saints our proof. Christ is risen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
The waters of the sea will vanish,
The rivers stop
flowing and run dry:
a human being, once laid to rest,
will never rise
again,
the heavens will wear out
before he wakes
up
or before he is roused from his sleep.
(Job
14:11-12)
Such is the
wisdom of Job. Even the wisest and most pious human being cannot logically make
the leap to belief in the resurrection – that is the realm of faith. “I believe,
Lord, helpest thou my unbelief.”
So what is
this resurrection that the Easter faith asks us to believe in? I guess the
answer is that we do not know. The gospels seemed to be asking us to believe in
more than merely the immortality of the soul, and certainly more than
reincarnation. They seem to be telling us that we will again be flesh and blood.
“We shall be raised,” says Paul, “incorruptible.” The hows and whats, too, belong
to the realm of faith and mystery.
Faith
fade, and mortal trash
Fall
to the residuary worm; world’s wildfire, leave but ash:
in
a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am
all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond
is immortal diamond.
The Easter faith is that you and I are immortal diamond. We shall die, but as Christ rose from
the tomb, as one baptised rises from the waters, so shall we mortals be raised
immortal from the grave, and dine with the risen Christ at the Great Banquet. You
are immortal diamond.
Christ is
risen, Hallelujah.
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