Easter sermon

Here's my Easter Sermon. Let me know what you think.

“Seeing” - March 23, 2008 – Easter Scripture: John 20:1-18

The greatest thing that happens at the Resurrection, and by the greatest thing I mean the thing that changed my life for the best, is that Mary and the disciples see. Well the second greatest thing. Of course, it goes without saying that God raised Jesus of Nazareth from a tomb where he had been dead for three days and brought him back to life, not just the same life as before but eternal life, as in forever and ever. Amen. But what does that mean? What has that meant for me? What could that mean for you? For each of you and all of you and for all of creation?
For me, it all starts with Mary seeing. Over and over again Mary sees. She sees the stone removed from the tomb. The disciples come and see the linen wrappings rolled up in the tomb. Mary looks in and sees two angels sitting where Jesus had lain. She turns around and sees Jesus, although she thinks he is the gardener. Jesus calls her by name and then she sees that it is Jesus. And finally she runs to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
You may not think that seeing is all that exciting, that seeing is the greatest thing about the Resurrection. You may be wondering how seeing has changed my life for the best. Well, the Resurrection has helped me to lift my head up and look around. What? What's he talking about now? I'm talking about lifting my head up and really looking around and seeing. Whether you want to admit it or not, all of us have a hard time keeping our heads up and our eyes open. All of us have so many things happen in our personal lives that weigh us down, things that keep us from seeing more than one foot in front of the other. And then there is the world around us. Unless you are hopelessly myopic or willfully ignorant, you must have noticed the enormous energies which are all around us pushing our heads down and encouraging us to close our eyes: war, hunger, poverty, violence, disease, environmental concerns, disasters, threats to our health, our families, our selves, our sense of well being and happiness, our society, our world, all of which would tempt even the bravest of us to just bury our heads in the sand like ostriches and hope for the best.
But the Resurrection of Jesus Christ has raised my head and opened my eyes and do you know what I see? Sure I see all the bad things that I just mentioned and I feel their energy, but I also see that creation is beautiful and wonderful beyond description, that life is the most precious adventure to be lived, that each of us and all of us really are created in the image of God no matter how hard most of us try to distort that image. God really is God.
Do you know what else I see? I see hope, the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection in fact, that death is not the end. How do I see that? Here and there, sometimes in little glimpses and sometimes in glorious explosions, in my own life, in the lives of others, I see the New Creation in Christ: forgiveness offered and received, relationships reconciled, new communities coming to life, old communities finding new life, broken communities coming together, healing and new life. I see love creeping out, bubbling up and bursting forth, time and time again. Love really is stronger than death. In spite of all the energy resisting the fact, Jesus really is Lord of the world.
Do you know what else I see? I see the Spirit of Jesus powerfully at work in the world, moving ordinary people like you and like me investing their lives, their time, talent and wealth in justice, kindness, mercy, building peace, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, comforting the broken hearted, adding beauty, restoring God's good earth, and proclaiming the Good News. Transformation. God really did send the Holy Spirit, keeping the vision of God's Kingdom before our eyes, giving us the courage and wisdom to do what needs to be done and the perseverance to carry on in spite of all the energy resisting us.
Contrary to what many people think, the Resurrection is not about going to heaven to be with Jesus when we die. It is not about personal salvation of individual sinners, although that is part of it. No. It is God's answer to the prayer that Jesus taught us: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It is happening already, right here, right now. Jesus being raised from death to eternal life is just the first step, the first fulfillment of God's promise made to all creation over and over again in the Bible, the promise to restore the new and abundant life to creation that God intended from the beginning. In time, God's promise will be complete and his kingdom will be here on earth as it is now in heaven. Believing that, seeing the evidence all around me, I have a life to live with my head up and my eyes open. You may think I am just a foolish optimist or a wishful thinker. When someone asked the great teacher and pastor of the last century Bishop Lesslie Newbigin whether, as he looked to the future, he was optimistic or pessimistic, he answered, “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!”1 To which I can only say. Amen. This is the Good News of Jesus Christ! Christ is Risen! Praise God!
1N. T. Wright. Surprised by Hope. Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. Harper: New York. 2008. pp. 107-108.

Getting Started

I'm new to blogging, but I have a lot of things I think about and would like to talk about. I don't know exactly how that's going to work, but I'm just going to through it all out there and see who shows up. Two tings I really like to talk about is Christianity and fly fishing. I'll start with Christianity.