In a
national news magazine last month, this interesting lead-in sentence caught my
eye: "There are many ways to shape time into meaningful compartments."2 The writer went on to note that "pop culture
tends to think in decades - the Roaring Twenties, the Swinging Sixties. Some
historians are satisfied by nothing less than … the centuries-long
unfolding of social and even geological change. In a faster-moving world, we
find ourselves thinking about days and the way that a single one - think D-day,
think 9/11--can have consequences that play out for decades. … Turning
points come in many forms. There are the easy calls. The attack on Pearl
Harbor, the fall of the Berlin Wall - these are moments that the world builds
monuments to or that we do individually, in our hearts and minds …" The
magazine goes on to devote a major section to its understanding of the eighty
days that changed the world during the past eighty years.
Tonight
you and I gather to commemorate the event by which Christians shape time.
First, we listened to a reading from Exodus, the central historical event of
the Old Testament, the account of Israel's deliverance and journey from
Egyptian captivity. This sequence of events includes the origins of the
Passover, the last meal in Egypt, eaten in preparation for the journey, while
God, passing over the houses of the Hebrews, was dealing severely with the
oppressive Egyptians. Then we heard Ezekiel the prophet telling of God's
promise of forgiveness and a renewal of God's Spirit within the people's
hearts. Soon in our worship tonight, we will be reminded by St. Paul of our
priorities.
Then,
the Gospel reading will gather up the central event of the New Testament, a
historical turning point for all humanity, the perspective within which all are
invited to live out a chosen identity as children of God. This is the testimony
of the Resurrection of Christ. Here we have the basis for the fundamental
Christian proclamation that Jesus is the Risen Lord and Messiah; here we have
the Creator's matchless affirmation that in Jesus the indestructible Word of
God was made flesh and lived among us. Here we have God's verification that in
Christ's life and ministry humanity has the basic representation of life's
meaning. Here we have God's master plan for each of us, that individually and
together we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and
strength, and that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
You may
know that my activities have included teaching and writing philosophy. I
relentlessly urge people to be skeptical and to choose carefully where and with
whom they put their trust. Gullibility, mindless faith and heartless
convictions are my adversaries. Nevertheless, I continue to be persuaded in my
heart and mind that the testimony of the biblical witnesses to Christ's
tangible presence following that first Easter Day is trustworthy. I am
persuaded that Jesus' life, ministry, and wisdom were validated by God in this
one-time Resurrection occurrence.
In our
best moments, you and I grow in the life of love he personified; we have the
Creator's stamp of approval on such living in the event by which Christians
shape time, a day having consequences that have played out for centuries, the
Day of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A Happy Easter to each of you
this night and always!
1. As permitted by Prayer Book rubrics (p.
288), two Readings are included: Exodus 14:10-15:1 and Ezekiel 36:24-28 plus
Colossians 3:1-4 and Matthew 28:1-10. No Baptisms or Confirmations.
2.
TIME (March 31, 2003), p. A4.