Easter Day – 2007 preached by the Rev'd Canon John Ashe

Isaiah 65:17 – 25 Luke 24: 1 - 12

"Behold – I will make a new heaven and a new earth"

So said the prophet Isaiah in our first reading – and never more so than today have we needed that to be true.

As we see war and violence every day – we long for it to be true that "they will neither harm nor destroy" on this, God's earth.

We pray for it in the land we call Holy - for Israelis and Palestinians to live at peace.

We pray for the same in Iraq, in Zimbabwe, in Darfur – just to name a few.

and all this came home to our own community last week as 7 year-old Jethro was tragically murdered in Farncombe.

The world needs renewing – it needs a resurrection.

Isaiah wrote his words about 2500 years ago.

Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago.

and we are no nearer peace and harmony . . .

So – is resurrection just a pipe dream? Are the words of Isaiah's prophecy nothing but wishful thinking?

Is our celebration of Easter just to make us feel better for a day – before we slip back into the self-seeking patterns of behaviour which characterize most human relationships?

Well – of course you'd expect me to say a loud and clear 'NO' to that – and to affirm that Jesus' resurrection does make a difference!

But how does it – where does it?

For me, the only way to view Easter – and resurrection – as in any way meaningful – as having any chance of transforming the world – is to see it in the way which the introduction to this service explains –

to understand Easter – not as an isolated festival – but as an integral part of a pattern – which began in a stable – and journeyed to the cross.

That first Easter could not have happened without Bethlehem and Calvary

and that pattern of birth, death and new life – is always the process by which we will change the world for good.

In other words, we will never achieve peace and justice without involvement and pain.

The pattern is this – God looked down on our world and saw war and hatred and jealousy and greed.

And so God came down from heaven and shared at first hand that life of pain and conflict and darkness

and in every situation of human conflict which he encountered, Jesus modeled a different way – the way of love – until human greed and self-seeking could stand it no longer – and so we crucified him.

and still he loved.

and by raising Jesus from the dead – it's as though God is saying – when you love like that – then there will be hope - hope that something new will emerge.

As Christians, we are called to live by that same pattern.

It's a pattern which means that we don't set up an isolated community, separate from the world around us – a cosy, heavenly place where we all is sweetness and light

and anyway - you don't have to study the church for long to find that it is anything but sweetness and light!

On the contrary – to follow the pattern of Jesus will mean getting involved outside our immediate community – and not just with the nice bits of the world – but with the messy bits, the areas of conflict and pain and hatred.

and to get involved – even if it costs us – even if we suffer as a result.

for only as we absorb the pain of others – will we have any chance of discovering the last stage of God's pattern for this world – resurrection – new life!

Let me give an example . . .

Last week, in the middle of Holy Week, as we thought about Jesus' pattern of dying love, at a service in the Cathedral, Victor Stock, the Dean, told a story – about the pain of two Nigerian women – they had been attacked, simply for being lesbian.

One died as a result of her injuries. The other was so badly disfigured that she needed reconstruction surgery on her face – but of course was unable to pay for it.

A group of people in London heard of her plight – and were moved to pool their own resources to pay for her operation.

That is an example of allowing ourselves to be, as it were, born into someone else's experience – to be hurt by their pain – and to put love into action.

It did not bring her dead partner back to life – and she will always carry the scars of her attack. . . .

but the possibility of something new has been created out of the loving service of others.

Resurrection is the triumph of love over evil . . .

but it is not some magical, miraculous solution which will descend from heaven and make everything alright - if only we pray hard enough.

Resurrection comes today – as it did in Jesus' day –after sacrificial love

Resurrection will mean – as it did for Jesus –that the scars of suffering will remain –

the risen Jesus still had the marks of the nails on his hands and feet.

But it will open the door for something new.

and the only way for the church – and for individuals – to model the resurrection – is to show the same love which took God out of the comfort of heaven, into the hurting places of the world – to share that pain – and so open the possibility of something new – even if the scars remain.

Yes – Christ is risen!

Yes, we can shout "Alleluia!"

But the only way to make that resurrection more than mere words – is to travel the same road which Jesus took – the path of love – for the cost of that love will lead on to something new.

And because it is all too easy to forget this pattern – and to leave it to someone else to change the world – Jesus gave us a reminder – . . . . .

Holy Communion, bread and wine – they set before us this pattern of involvement, then of costly service – and then the possibility of new life.

The bread and wine assure us of God's love and involvement in our own lives – and they set before us his pattern of living so that others can share in that same new life.

In a few moments, we will admit 6 children to receive Holy Communion. Over the past weeks they have been learning about this pattern of life.

and as they – and we ourselves , make receiving these symbols of love a regular event in our lives – so we will instill that pattern into our lives . . . .

involvement, love and then new life

or

birth, death and then resurrection.