Hi everyone,
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Welcome to worship for this Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026!
The bulletin can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service or you can also do so with the words on your screen. The sermon will be both in the bulletin as well as on this page below the video.
For a fuller online worship experience, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space for most of the service and extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable. Just be sure to have something small to eat and drink ready for the appropriate time of the service. Further instruction will be given then.
May the resurrection of Christ continually fill you with hope in the knowledge that you are dearly, wholly, and entirely loved!
Be with us, O God, as we navigate this world and remind us of the power of your love seen in the resurrection that fills us with faith, hope, and peace, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Or something like that.
I’m sure you’re all familiar with this saying or its many variations. You’ve probably heard it at least once or twice or likely more throughout your personal adventures. You might have even used it yourself when trying to reassure and comfort someone who had found themselves in fear of something apparently other than fear. And I’m not sure what the exact etymology of the saying is, as Google has a few different theories, but really? What do you mean there’s nothing to fear? Real life tells us that there’s a lot to fear.
Things like heights, the dark, or spiders just to name a few. Then there are things like serious illness, abandonment, or abuse. More broadly speaking, I think all of us have this unspoken fear of the unknown, the uncontrollable future, or breaking your perpetual streak in whatever game you’re playing on your phone or online *cough Wordle. Personally, I most afraid of the next Avengers movie being a flop, there’s so much hype around it and I’m honestly really looking forward to seeing it on opening night, so I’d be much disappointed if it doesn’t blow me away…
Of course, I have other fears as well, the Avengers thing is just my greatest fear at this exact moment, the others are a bit more superficial. Things like a fear that no one is listening to me, or a fear of going unrecognised for my major accomplishments, or a fear of just not being as cool I tell myself I am in my own head. And of course, like many others, I do have some deeper seated fears that revolve around loss, brokenness, and failure.
So really, the world does give us a lot to be afraid of, even if we admit to it or not. As brave as we try to be, each and every one of us have some kinds of fears. Be it superficial or deeper than that, there is something out there that scares the snot out of us, and no amounts of sayings, reassurances, and/or sermons would ever change that. So why am I still talking?
Well, for one, I’m also afraid of job security, so I should at least do my job at bare minimum. But it’s also Easter Sunday, one of the biggest Sundays of the church year and representative of the foundation of our faith and identity as God’s people in the world. So it wouldn’t really be an Easter Sunday without some kind of sermon. One that inspires, empowers, and invigorates our very core. No pressure or anything… talk about fears.
But also on this Easter Sunday, in the gospel reading we get for this Lectionary year, in this story of Jesus’ life, death, and apparent resurrection according to Matthew, we get a lot of talk about fear.
That tracks. I mean if we were the characters in this story from this period of time, especially the Israelites, we’d have a lot of fears as well. I mean the world as we know it was in turmoil. Our chosen leaders who brought promise and hope kept getting cancelled or even executed by the systems in place. Any attempt at any kind of progress was slammed into the wall of oppression.
Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?
Not in a way that our teacher, mentor, and friend had just been proven by a court of law to be a fraud. Not just because that verdict came with a death penalty. And that doesn’t sound familiar because we need to watch our backs just by our association with said teach. But because our world today tells us to be afraid as well. Afraid of the consequence of progressing forward from our archaic pasts. Afraid of calling out the wrongs and evils that keep popping up around us. Afraid of standing up for what is right, just, and true.
It seems to me that the world is divided because of these fears. Our communities are split because we can’t agree on which fear should be listened and given into. Families are torn apart because fear creeps in and supersedes logic, loyalty, and even love.
You know what I mean, don’t you? We live in a strange time when we are more connected than ever, but also the most isolated. We have all the modern conveniences we can think of, yet we don’t have time for anything. We live in one of the safest places in the world, yet we are still fearful of what has happened, what can happen, and even what very likely won’t ever happen.
We see things on the news and the horrors around the world and we internalize them and think that is something that must be possible to happen to us. We read things online around health and relationships that we identify with and then project them onto ourselves and our loved ones. It’s almost like we actively find reasons to fear.
Look at the readings and stories that we’ve had throughout the season of Lent. It starts with Ash Wednesday and the fear of not looking faithful enough. Then in the following Sundays we have Jesus tempted by the fear of not being enough, Nicodemus afraid of not understanding, the woman at the well afraid of what others think of her, the blind man’s parents afraid of the authorities, and of course everyone at Lazarus’ tomb afraid of death. Then last week on Palm/Passion Sunday, we had people afraid of change, religious leader afraid of being wrong, and Pilate afraid of losing face and so gave Jesus up to be crucified.
That is a lot of fear throughout a single season. A lot of fear that caused people to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. A lot of fear that perhaps speaks to us and sheds light on our motivations, our rationales, and our actions.
But that was Lent, ancient history. As I said, today is Easter. And while it was fear that controlled us, determined our actions, and led us to this day, what we hear on this Easter Sunday is “Do not be afraid”. That’s what the angels said to the women at the tomb, that’s what Jesus told them in the garden, that is what the resurrection empowers us to do.
Mind you, they weren’t told “don’t have fears,” as the Mary’s literally left the tomb right after with fear in them. But “do not be afraid” is different. You can have fear, but not afraid at the same time. Like you can have concern, but remain confident in who you are and who you are created to be. You can have worries and not let that overshadow your worthiness. You can be scared, but that doesn’t have to sway you to believe that you are anything less than a beloved child of God.
Because even in their fears, the women at the tomb became the first witnesses and proclaimers of the resurrection. Even in their fears, they stood up to societal norms of the day and did what was right. Even in their fears, they saw Jesus.
In the garden. In Galilee. In each other and their community. They went back into the world and into life, and the risen Christ was made apparent. Looking for him or not, and the resurrected Son of God, Prince of Peace, the Messiah and Saviour of us all, was surprisingly seen in and around their lives, not taking away their fears per se, but empowering them to be not afraid and controlled by those fears.
See this is the message of Easter and the resurrection. This is the theme that carries us through our lives in this world. This is the basis of our faith and the gospel that we proclaim. That even in fear we are made to be bold. Even in the unbelievable we can believe. Even in death there is life.
Not just a recusation of what once was, but a revitalisation of what could be. A place where the hurts and pains of life have not necessarily been abolished, but where joy can be found regardless of them. A place where love is known not just as a fleeting feeling, but as a long-standing relationship that we have with God and our community. A place where, in spite of what is happening in the world and in our lives, we can truly know the peace that surpasses understanding… a peace that reminds us and reassures us and resurrects us with Christ into the knowledge that we are and always will be beloved.
And nothing, not evil, not fears, not even death can take that away or change it.
So in this Easter season and beyond, may each and every one of us be confident in our position and identity as God’s people, that in spite of our fears we might be strong in our faith, bold in our service, and upright in our proclamation that Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, alleluia. Thanks be to God. Amen.
