Easter Day – morning
Sunday 21st April 2019
Easter Day – morning
Acts 10.34-43
Luke 24.1-12
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
It’s been an odd Holy Week for me. Losing my voice just two days in, has forced me to be quieter than usual. To weigh every word I have spoken, or tried to speak. And of course, I have not been able to sing a note since Joan’s funeral on Tuesday. (probably overdid it then if truth be told!) But that has had an unexpected benefit, as I have been able to focus particularly on the words as I have mimed my way through hymns, and been able to pray them with a different sort of intensity than when singing. Try it some time! (although please, not all at the same time, or I will have Greg complaining to me!)
Being rendered voiceless is an inconvenience for me (possibly a welcome rest for others!)
The women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning discovered something that initially rendered them speechless… but then drove them to tell the other disciples what they had discovered. The absence of the body they had been expecting. “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them”. How often does our scepticism get in the way of faith? How often does it make other people effectively voiceless? Robbed of the ability to spread the news they wish to?
Well sometimes pictures as they say, speak louder than words.
This week has also been extraordinary because of the dreadful fire that broke out on Monday evening and burned through the night. Those who entered the next morning, fearing the worst, were also struck dumb by the sight that greeted them. There, illuminated by the morning light, was the great golden crucifix and beneath it the remarkable statue of Mary receiving the body of her son, Jesus. Both works of art somehow surviving and relatively untouched by all the damage and debris around them.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Today we celebrate the reality of our risen Lord. Light shines again after the darkness of death and pain that is Good Friday.
The church is dressed in all its festal finery. The flowers have returned in all their glory. We are right to feel uplifted and cheerful. We are reminded that God has not abandoned us, he is still there, loving us and inviting us to love him back.
Today we celebrate with the baptism of two people into God’s church – Jamie and Javen. Two new members of our family who after today can hold their heads high with a new dignity, a new confidence that they – along with all of us, are beloved of God.
Not because of anything they have done, or not done. But just because they exist as do we all, and have come seeking to know something more of the One who saves and who shines out in the darkness. And because they wish to be prepared to guide and care for a little one – Theo, who will come for his own baptism in a few weeks.
This is their new beginning. Easter is all about new beginnings; about being restored to the family of the church; about finding our voice to proclaim with confidence, in a tone that can never be silenced – Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!