Easter 1997
Sermon given by
Valerie Ann Hart
At St.Alban's Episcopal Church
Alleluia,
Christ is Risen!
What
a glorious morning, a glorious time to celebrate resurrection, a glorious time
to acknowledge that through Christ’s resurrection each and every one of us has
been resurrected, made new, lifted up, healed.
Alleluia,
Christ is risen
Last
week I was at the grocery store about to buy some corn chips. Next to me was a
woman who lifted up a bag and replaced it and said, “no one will buy this bag,
it’s full of broken chips.” And indeed it was. I too passed it over in favor or
one with nice big whole unbroken chips. But since then I have been thinking
about what kind of chips Jesus would choose. What do you think?
The
Christian church is often described as a resurrection community. What does it mean
to be a resurrection community? What do we mean by resurrection? To resurrect
means to bring to life again that which has been dead, to lift up again that
which has fallen, it means the transformation of that which is broken into that
which is truly whole. It is taking something that is broken, dead, destroyed
and lifting it up to a state that is even better than what it was before it was
broken.
In
order for there to be resurrection, there must be a death of some kind. In
order for Christ to be resurrected he had to be broken. There is no Easter
without Good Friday. Before he could be resurrected Jesus had to be broken. We
are reminded of this each time we celebrate the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper.
The bread does not become for us Christ’s body until it has been broken.
Through the breaking of the bread it is transformed. In the same way Jesus had
to be broken in body, mind, and spirit - he had to die to who he was - he had
to lose his identity as the Galilean Rabbi named Jesus - he had to disappoint his
followers who each had some idea to who he ought to be - he had to resist all
the demands, inner and outer, for him to be anything other than who he truly
was - he had to die to it all in order for him to be resurrected as the Christ.
We
are a resurrection community, because we are a community of people who have
been broken. We come to Christ, we look to the resurrection, not because we are
already perfect, not because our lives are always wonderful, not because we
feel full and complete, but because we are broken, each in our own way. We know
that we are not perfect, that we are often in physical, emotional, or spiritual
pain. That sometimes we feel lost, abandoned, empty, and afraid. We come
because somehow we know, as Peter said, “I truly understand that God shows no
partiality.”
We
are like the community that surrounded Jesus - a group of men and women who
each had their own stories of brokenness. There were prostitutes, and tax
collectors, passionate fishermen whose uncontrolled anger had won them the nickname
“sons of thunder” and an insecure teacher who came to see Jesus at night. There
were those who were greedy, and those who were afraid. There were slaves and
army generals. There were those who had been diagnosed as crazy, possessed by
demons, and those who had been blind beggars. There were menopausal women and
epileptics. Each one had a story of brokenness. It is for this reason that I am
convinced that Jesus would have chosen the bag with the broken chips. He always
seemed less interested in those who were whole and sure of themselves and more
interested in those who knew themselves as broken.
And
with Jesus’ death this motley group became even more broken. They dispersed,
they denied their relationship with him and they hid in an upper room. Their
expectations about Jesus and his movement had been broken - shattered - by the
cross. Even the women who came to the grave responded not initially with joy,
but with fear to the knowledge of the resurrection. What was to become of this
community of broken people? The most amazing thing about the resurrection
stories is not that some of his followers claim to have seen him alive, but the
dramatic transformation that took place in these broken followers. Those who
were hiding and afraid became fearless speakers, telling the good news of
Christ. Peter who once denied he knew him found the courage and the voice to
speak eloquently of his love. The women who were afraid to tell anyone
eventually did and went on to share the gospel as far as Rome. This band of broken
people became a force that changed the world. These frightened people risked
their lives, and often lost them, in speaking out for what they believed. This
community of broken people was resurrected into a powerful force. Who says you
can’t use the broken chips?
Like
Jesus’ followers we are a community of people who have been broken, but we are
not just a broken community, we are a resurrection community. That means that
our brokenness leads to resurrection. Our brokenness leads to rising again to
something that is even better than before we were broken. Just as a doctor will
tell you that if you break a bone, after the bone has healed that point is
stronger than the rest of the bone. Through the healing it becomes stronger
than it was before the break.
Through
the healing of our brokenness we become more than we were before we were
broken. Through the healing of our wounds, we become resurrection people. We
have died to who we thought we were, died to our self-identity as victims, or
abusers, users or sinner, haters or lovers, insecure or self-absorbed. As
resurrection people we live into our wholeness. We are ready to die to that
which is broken in us, to let ourselves be healed, to let ourselves know
ourselves as resurrected people.
We
come to Christ as broken people, asking to be resurrected into something more,
something greater. Yet, you wouldn’t know that looking around. For some reason,
especially on Easter, we feel a need to present ourselves in the best possible
light when we come to church. We put on our best clothes, fix our hair, shave
or put on makeup. We want to look our best. And we bring our families and tell
our children to behave and our spouses to make a good impression. We hide our
brokenness from each other as if we believed that we are the only ones with a
story of pain and suffering, of doubt and fear, of abandonment and loneliness.
We forget, that this resurrection community is not about proving we are already
well, but seeking out healing, it is not about already being perfect, but about
being forgiven, it is not about being fearless, but learning to transform the
fear, the doubt, the pain. It is about the process of resurrection. And we come
together as a community to remember and celebrate Christ’s resurrection -
through which we are assured that there is more, much more, unimaginably more,
to life and death than we had ever dreamed. We celebrate that through his
resurrection we have the potential to be resurrected, to be lifted up, and to
become more. We are reassured that who we really are is so much more than the
broken, struggling human being we think we are. That who we really are is a
loved, resurrected, child of God, who is full of grace and joy and peace. And
all we have to do to know that is to die - to die to who we think we are, to
die to our pretensions of wholeness and admit our brokenness, to die to our
fears and doubts, to die to the illusion that we can do it on our own, to die
into the loving arms of Christ who will resurrect us from out current state
into a superior state - who will lift us up - who will show us what it means to
truly live.
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