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Sermon April 9, 2023
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Easter, Year A
https://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Easter/AEasterPrin_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__April_9__2023
Video: https://youtu.be/bWnJqltYdEk
They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. John 20:13-14
It’s been too many years now, but I think it was early in the time I’d moved to Washington DC, so probably 2007. I felt so drawn to church. I had made a big move, living in the largest city where I’d ever lived, working for a large organization. I loved my job and really loved the life I was living. Yet, I felt this amazing pull to be in church as much as possible.
I was in a volunteer choir at the Washington National Cathedral. We sang at the early service and I’d often stay for the later service. Then I’d go eat lunch at my favorite restaurant, sometimes with friends, and stay for the Evensong service.
One day I was in Resurrection Chapel. It’s an amazing chapel filled with walls of mosaics on the life of Jesus. As much as I loved everything about my life, it’s clear to me now that God was working on me and calling me to something new. I felt uneasy.
As I sat and looked at the beauty around me and thought about Jesus’ life, I heard “I will resurrect you.” There wasn’t anyone there and yet I knew that something was going to change and rise in my life.
So my question to you today is what in your life needs resurrection?
It is a tough question. Our somewhat short time of Lent, pulls us back into our lives to examine this question. The hard part about resurrection is that something needs to die first. What in your life needs to die so you can be alive?
Maybe it is an expectation of someone or even of an institution. Maybe it is the routine of your life. Maybe it is a long-held belief that undergirds your life. Maybe it is a judgment you’ve made about someone or something. Maybe it is a prejudice about others you have held for a long time.
What needs to die so you can be free? What needs to die so that you live the life that God created you to live?
Getting to resurrection is hard, isn’t it? We become set in our ways and in our thoughts and ideas, right. We think we cannot change another thing. I find as I get older and older I don’t necessarily want to learn new things or live in new ways. I’m tired and just want to keep living the way I’m living.
Lately, I’m wrestling with artificial intelligence and ChatGPT and Bard and all of the others popping up out there. I heard recently that just like we routinely use the internet to conduct our lives, we will be much better off using artificial intelligence in our lives. Do I have to learn one new thing? Do I have to change?
Jesus shows us the way. Jesus lived on this earth. Jesus experienced what it was like to be human. Jesus died an awful, cruel and brutal death. Jesus knows that getting us as humans to change is so very difficult and challenging. It might even get you killed.
Yet, today we are reminded once again that death did not win. Yes, Jesus is not physically with us, but Jesus’ words and teachings have carried down through the ages for thousands of years. We are just the most recent followers. The authorities and those threatened by Jesus did not have the last word. They could not kill the truth of what Jesus taught and lived.
That is our hope. When the challenge of change comes upon us, we can step out in confidence. We can get through the grief that comes from letting go of something and moving to a different place. We know Jesus understands and we know that Jesus is with us.
I will resurrect you, we hear. And we boldly take the next steps.
Amen
