*This sermon was used adaptively for both the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday morning.
Easter Sunday
Easter Vigil
Phew! What a night it has been!
What stories we have heard!
What mysteries are in the air!
I brought another with me. (Raise up purple bag)
Hmmm... what is in this bag?
Purple is the color of royalty.
It can also be a kind of dark and sad color.
I wonder which you think this bag signifies. Or maybe both.
Let’s see what we have inside.
Hmmm I wonder what this could be.
Look, hmm, here’s another odd looking piece.
Could I have some volunteers to come hold these things up?
Here’s another one.
And another one.
What do they look like?
Okay, how many do we have?
Hmm... what is special about the number six?
Hmmm... since these six are purple, I wonder if they could symbolize the six weeks of Lent. The six weeks of preparation for the mystery of Easter.
By themselves they don’t look like much.
I wonder if they go together somehow.
Can you put them all together?
Look at that! A cross. A purple cross.
The cross was a sad event. Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday.
We wear crosses and put them in our churches and our homes to remind us of the story of Jesus dying on the cross.
However, today
Today we celebrate the mystery of Easter.
The mystery of Easter is resurrection. Jesus does not stay on the cross. Jesus rises from the dead.
What is on the back of those pieces?
How about you all turn them around?
We have a white cross! For Easter.
How can purple become white?
White is a color of purity and hope, truth and new beginnings.
Easter is a time of new beginnings. It is a time of truth and hope.
The mystery of Easter is resurrection.
Thank you all for volunteering! I have a gift for you. Here is a holding cross.
(Give cross handouts)
I have more holding crosses for anyone who wants one.
Easter really is quite the mystery.
I always love reading the stories of what happened on Easter morning, because you can totally tell that the people in the stories are gobsmacked. They are so surprised. They are pondering a great mystery. They aren’t sure what is true.
In the Gospel passage from Luke, we hear that the women get up early.
In the semi-light of dawn, they gather what they need to take care of a dead loved one, spices and oils. They gather together, as a community of care.
Yet, when they arrive at the tomb, they find the stone rolled away, they find the tomb empty. They are perplexed. What is going on?
“Suddenly two men in dazzling clothes” are standing beside them, asking them questions! They want answers not questions.
The dazzling beings do give answers, but not easy answers. Mysterious answers.
But they remember Jesus said something... something about this.
So they go and tell the others.
The others, they are not convinced. They did not see the dazzling beings. They did not see the empty tomb. Except Peter, who runs, runs, to the tomb.
I’ve been in the Holy Land, that is not a nice flat run. Everywhere you go is hilly and rocky. Not a great run. Yet, the surprise and perplexity needs resolution. Peter runs.
Upon seeing the empty tomb with the linen wrappings, Peter is so amazed that he doesn’t even go back to the group.
The way the translation has it, he goes home instead. In the Greek, it gives the sense that Peter gets stuck in a wandering, wondering daze.
He is pondering the mystery of Easter, of what Jesus has done, of life after death, of resurrection.
Two thousand plus years later, we are still pondering the mystery of Easter.
It is a sacred mystery. One that defies explanation in every direction.
A sacred mystery which draws us in and in the midst of its paradox, gives us the gift of new life.
The mystery of Easter is resurrection.
Today, we might think, we have plenty of confusion and chaos in our lives, we do not need any more. I totally agree. I also know that confusion, chaos, and mystery are different things. Confusion is a lack of clarity. A lack of communication, whether intentional or not. Chaos is disorder, is a state of disarray.
A mystery is something unknown. Confusion can be cleared. Chaos can, for the most part, be ordered. A true mystery requires a different set of skills.
Anyone who has read a mystery novel or two, or hundreds of them perhaps... can tell you that the only way to find out what is unknown is to go on a journey. A mystery requires a journey of uncovering new things. New ideas, new people, new thoughts, new perspectives. Mysteries lead us towards change. Whether for good or not is up to the kind of mystery we are pursuing.
In the church we call this journey towards the sacred mysteries the spiritual journey. The spiritual journey is different for everyone, and yet, there are paths and guides that can help us. Our stories tonight have been guiding us along this journey. They point to the full arc of human history, the ongoing journey towards the mystery of God.
Every time we search for truth, every time we search for justice. Every time we search for love in this world. Every time we struggle to figure out what is the right thing, for us, for our families, for our loved ones, for ourselves, we are on this journey towards the mystery of God.
[Now, you maybe thinking, I didn’t come this morning for a mystery to solve or to be sent on a journey! Some of you are probably only here because someone in your family insisted. I am sorry to tell you, you are already on the journey, whether you know it or not.]
The mystery of Easter is for everyone. It welcomes us in. Paradoxically, it is a mystery of unknowns and great knowns. We know that God is love, that God loves us, that God through Jesus came to Earth and died on a cross because of love. And we also have no idea why or how or where or what God is.
Love is like that.
Today we celebrate this mystery. The mystery of God who came to Earth and loves us so much that Jesus was willing to be crucified and conquer death to be with us forever. It makes no sense. Yet it is true. It is a mystery which calls us further along the journey. Thanks be to God we do not go on the journey by ourselves. We have each other, along with all our ancestors and saints who have gone on this journey before us.
Today is a new day. A new life. A resurrected life in Christ. It is a mystery and it is a joy. Happy Easter! Alleluia!