Hi everyone,
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Welcome to worship for this Easter Sunday, landing on April 20, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service as it includes the order and words of the liturgy, scripture readings, and full sermon manuscript. Alternatively, all the words you need to know will appear on your screen, and the sermon is also included on this page below the video.
If you’d like to enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a candle in your space, which can be lit when the candles in the video are lit (during the opening hymn) and then extinguished near the end of the service when the altar candles are extinguished after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink ready for the appropriate time. Further instruction will be given then.
May the joy of the resurrection fill you with peace and hope, this day and always!
God of hope and new life, send your Spirit to shine on us the light of this day, that the stone blocking us from seeing the risen Christ be removed and our hearts be opened to hear you, see you, and feel you loving us in this changing world, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
I can’t believe it’s Easter already. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset about it or anything, I mean of course not, as who would be upset during such a joyous but extremely busy and stressful time like Easter? Not I, that’s for sure. And it’ll be even better tomorrow when today is over.
Seriously though, what I mean is that time seems to be just flying by. I know that Easter is on a different date every year, but it really feels like we just celebrated it, and now we’re at it again. Heck, we’re already like a quarter of the way through 2025 but to me It feels like we just started 2024.
It’s like time is going at an uncomfortable and almost alarming rate, at least for me. And admittedly, it’s kind of weird. I remember having time to enjoy the holidays. I remember looking forward to days like Easter that would take forever to come, and when they were finally here I was able to really revel in the moment of the day. I remember feeling lost in this sea of time that never seemed to run out. Until it did, that is.
I guess it makes sense? As we know, the older we get, the faster time seems to go. And don’t let all this youthfulness fool you, I’m no spring chicken. The longer we live, the more we experience. The more we experience, the more memories we’ll make that are worthy of holding on to and cherishing. And the more warm and feel good memories we have, well… we just might be more resistant to change.
We might not go full blown “live only in the past” and label anything new or innovative or different as evil, but we might take a few more steps to keep things roughly the same. I can think of a few examples of this throughout my life. Like when I was a kid, I remember I couldn’t stand it when the radio played a song that was more than a year or two old. Now, I don’t want to even listen to music that was made later than like 2006. When I was a teenager, I had to have an entirely new wardrobe at the start of every school year. Now, I don’t even want to tell you when I bought this clerical shirt (because I don’t remember, it was so long ago). When I was in my 20s, I was super embarrassed to drive a 10-year-old car. Now, my car is like 15 years old and I still think it’s the coolest one in the lot. Then when I was in my 30s, I remember thinking that it would be awesome if the seminary where I trained to be all this before you today, would move to a newer and more user friendly building. And now I learned that their building is set to be demolished, and I find myself saddened at the thought.
Change, you see, is inevitable.
Love it or not, it will happen. Resist and push back as hard as you want, it won’t be stopped. Deny it even, but we’ll just end up disappointed.
Now, I’m not talking about a change in my vocation or anything like that in case you were wondering (or hoping). But I’m talking about just the natural changes that happen in our surroundings and society throughout time. I’m talking about our bodies not able to do the things they once were able to. I’m talking about how the good ol’ days are just gone and aren’t coming back. At least, not in the same exact way.
This dread, or resistance, and perhaps even a bit of fear toward change is present even in our Easter story, isn’t it? I mean during the Passion story of course, we see that, but also in the Resurrection account, especially the part we get out of Luke for today. See Jesus’ friends were rightfully distraught over their loss, they were still very shaken up by how their world had just fallen apart, perhaps a little disappointed in themselves for not having been able to stop it all from taking place, and then what happens? Some of the most trusted women in their group uncharacteristically tell them an idle tale of an empty tomb and some men dressed in dazzling white told them that Jesus is risen.
I mean, that has to be an idle tale, right? There’s no way what they said happened could have actually happened in the way they say it happened, right? It just can’t be. It’s implausible. They just couldn’t believe it, no one could. I mean, they’re still reeling from the events of the past few days, they aren’t ready for more change. Not now. Maybe not ever. But certainly not now.
But impetuous Peter jumps up and runs an undetermined distance to verify the idle tale and found that it actually was no idle tale at all. It was true. The tomb was empty. The corpse was not there. Things yet again, are changing. And it feels like it’s just too much.
I know, we’ll never face a situation exactly like this. If we hear about a loved one’s body missing, we’d likely not run to the tomb and check it out. But even if we did and verified it to be true, we probably wouldn’t just go home and be amazed. We’d probably call the cops.
But we probably have felt like we were at the end of our ropes before. We have likely felt distressed, distraught, and disillusioned at some point in our lives. We all have, if you’re anything like me, we wished that time would just slow down and that things would just go back to how they were when they were good, and then perhaps felt the sting of disappointment when we come to grips with the fact that those days are just gone.
Maybe you had this feeling with the loss of a loved one due to death or relocation or the end of a relationship. Maybe it was a mistake that you made that altered the trajectory of your life and you’re filled with regret and remorse. Maybe it is just in stepping back and taking a long hard look at this broken world, full of hate and greed, with people pointing fingers and hurling accusations and insults harder than you have ever witnessed before.
Whatever it was that made us feel that way, know that you aren’t alone. We’ve all been there. Maybe some of us are there now. Perhaps not in the exact way or exact circumstance, but in those same emotions, those same hurts, that same distaste for the change.
But.
At the same time, while we’ve all felt that same pain in the change that happens that is out of our control, so do are we given the joy of resurrection.
Mind you, resurrection doesn’t mean that our loved ones come back to life, but it does mean that we can see how they live on in us, who we are, and in the community around us. Resurrection doesn’t mean that we get a redo of all our mistakes and their consequences are wiped away, but it does mean that even in that shame we can find reconciliation and resortation. Resurrection doesn’t mean that we can or should relive the good ol’ days, but it does mean that these days, although different and changing at an alarming rate, don’t have to be all that bad, but can still be good.
They can be good because we can still see how we are blessed in them. They will be good because we can see how our lives are actually full of relationship and love. They are good because these are the days that God has made, and by God’s grace we can rejoice and be glad in them. See, resurrection isn’t necessarily about bringing someone back from the dead, but it is about injecting life in the places where it may have seemed there was only death.
So even in our hurts, even in our disappointments, even in the change, there is life. Life that we are blessed with by God. Life that joins us with each other in community and relationship. Life that reveals to us that we are worth it, and we are loved. Life that truly is life.
And this, to me, is the point of the Easter story. That while we might feel buried under our troubles, stresses, and unwanted changes, the stone that was holding us in is rolled away, freeing us to be God’s people in the world: full of life, love, and resurrection.
So on this Easter Sunday and this Easter season and beyond, may we always see the joy and blessing in each and every day that God has created and given to us, that we might be glad in embracing the grace and mercy that draws us to God, to each other, and to the empty cross that reminds us of who we are as God’s people. Thanks and praise be to God. Alleluia. Amen.