Resurrection of our Lord
Jennifer Marlor
March 26, 2016
Tomorrow we gather to celebrate the great Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord. We can once again say Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Maybe funeral directors don’t think people are strong enough to face the reality of “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” But Holy Week has hauled us through death, teaching us closely to follow Jesus as he prepared for his transfiguration on the cross. Baptism itself....is another such foray.
There is a death we die when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in the waters of baptism we are united to Jesus in death to be finally and irretrievably pulled from the tomb of mortal life into God’s dominion.
In our community we know both the reality of death and the unshakable promise of the empty tomb. It is not wise to stray too far from these profound truths, and so on each Sunday we evoke the empowering experience of our hope in water, bread, and wine.
The resurrection of Jesus has changed death. No longer can we look on death and see only death. Whether we whisper it in prayer before the darkness, or dive in to grasp hold of it and pull it forth like a man drowning, we proclaim, Christ is risen! Moreover, we are called to go forth with the women from the empty tomb to all the places of struggle, all the greened-up tombs our culture makes, there to witness to the power of God.
—Jeffrey A. Merkel [Jeffrey A. Merkel, in Homilies for the Christian People, pp. 454-55.]
Every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection. Thus each Sunday’s worship includes references to today’s readings. “On the third day he rose again,” we affirm in the Nicene Creed. “He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again,” says the Apostles’ Creed. “Christ has died, Christ is risen,” we call out during the eucharistic prayer. When we receive the dismissal, it is as if we are the women witnessing to the others: “Go in peace. Share the good news.”
There is a death we die when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in the waters of baptism we are united to Jesus in death to be finally and irretrievably pulled from the tomb of mortal life into God’s dominion.
In our community we know both the reality of death and the unshakable promise of the empty tomb. It is not wise to stray too far from these profound truths, and so on each Sunday we evoke the empowering experience of our hope in water, bread, and wine.
The resurrection of Jesus has changed death. No longer can we look on death and see only death. Whether we whisper it in prayer before the darkness, or dive in to grasp hold of it and pull it forth like a man drowning, we proclaim, Christ is risen! Moreover, we are called to go forth with the women from the empty tomb to all the places of struggle, all the greened-up tombs our culture makes, there to witness to the power of God.
—Jeffrey A. Merkel [Jeffrey A. Merkel, in Homilies for the Christian People, pp. 454-55.]
Every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection. Thus each Sunday’s worship includes references to today’s readings. “On the third day he rose again,” we affirm in the Nicene Creed. “He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again,” says the Apostles’ Creed. “Christ has died, Christ is risen,” we call out during the eucharistic prayer. When we receive the dismissal, it is as if we are the women witnessing to the others: “Go in peace. Share the good news.”
Come and hear the good news, come taste the sweet bread and the wine, come and be filled with the promise of the resurrection!