Christ Is Risen!
John 20:1-18
March 27, 2005
Pastor Currie Burris
Tell the Good News to all the earth! Let it ring across every nation, to every city, town and village, to man, woman and child: Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Today we proclaim to the whole world the universal truth for all to hear: love has triumphed over sin and death, evil is defeated once and for all, the outcome of the great drama of creation is assured. Today there is hope, today there is joy, today life begins again!
Let evil and malice do all it can. Let the arrows fly; let the bombs fall; let the violence strike; let the blows wound. Let it do all it will. Yet it will not win. Death has lost its sting. Death is not the passage into the great abyss of nothingness, but only the transition into new life with God. We are safe. We are redeemed. We are all held in God’s life. Emptiness and meaninglessness, which threatens to envelope us, is an illusion, a lie. God is with us and will not let us go. Have faith in God through the love of Jesus Christ—and live.
The world we live in today is a difficult and uncertain place. It has changed radically from just a year ago. We are all struggling to find our way, to make ends meet, to find work, to keep our income coming in, to pay bills, to find security. How do we provide for medical care? How do we find insurance, food, housing? What is happening to the economy? Is it shrinking or growing? Will the price of gasoline go even higher? Is education possible for our children? Are they safe in their schools? Shootings? Poisonings? Drugs? Gangs?
Is the earth we live in a safe place? Is our environment warming irreversible? Are the waters rising? Are the skies darkening? Is there lead and mercury in our water, in our food? With whole species of birds, plants and animals going extinct every day, is the web of life broken?
We live in the time of global war,
a war against terrorism, a war of the clash of cultures, values and visions of
life and community. How do we find peace? How many more will be listed in the
roles of the fallen? How long until our soldiers come home? Will they ever come
home again? Is it a yellow, orange or red alert?
I look into the eyes of each of you here today. You all have worries and anxieties: youth straining to grow up, young people struggling for an education, looking for work, longing to find someone to love. People in their middle years, baby-boomers, are worrying about keeping a job, worrying about retirement, worrying about their children, about their grand children. Older folks are wondering if social security will be enough. Can they pay their medical bills, will they have to move out of their home, will their health last, what will they do if it doesn’t?
New arrivals to this country are worried about jobs, houses, and schools. Will they find a place to make a home? What about the ones left behind?
Many of us carry the burden of the loss of a loved one. Many have an ongoing health crisis. For some it is a struggle with heart disease, or cancer. Others battle with mental illness, depression or addiction.
We all ask: who am I? What do I really want in life? What do I do with myself?
In the midst of all this change and uncertainty, into the breach of loss and grief, into the heart of fear and terror, into longing for meaning and truth, into our lives, comes the proclamation: Christ is risen! It is not a reminder of a claim made 2000 years ago. It is not reassertion of a theological justification of a religious dogma. It is not a ritual or liturgical rite. It is an unabashed and audacious declaration of today’s truth, of today’s reality. Christ is risen today. Death is defeated today! Evil is conquered today! God is alive today! Love reigns supreme today. I can live, today. I can carry on, today. The sunshine of life is today! It is great to be alive, today! Christ is with me today: inside of me, in front of me, behind me, beside me, today! Christ lives today.
Whoever or wherever you are in the history of the earth, yesterday, today or tomorrow, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the truth of it all. The resurrection is the inexhaustible dynamic of renewal, the eternal engine of transformation. The chains of the past are broken, sins have been released, the burden of pain and grief is lifted. Today is a time of new beginnings, new life and hope. The new shalom, the new peace of God breaks out today.
Therefore declare to the whole world the great good news: Christ is risen!
To the makers of war and violence, the destroyers, the torturers, the pillagers, the rapists and the thugs: Christ is Risen! Your end is near.
To the purveyors of hatred and bigotry, racism and fear, to those who divide and oppress, who exploit color, tribe, sexual orientation, nationality and difference: Christ is risen! Your day is over.
To the makers of terror and to those who have terror in your hearts: Christ is risen! We have no fear.
To the predators of the world who exploit weakness to destroy and dominate: Christ is risen! Cease and desist. You have no power.
To the ideologues and bureaucrats who forget that people matter, not systems, that lives matter, to those who put profits over people, who care nothing for human need: Christ is risen! Today is God’s day. Close your doors.
To the poor of the world, the oppressed and exploited who live without hope, pressed down and broken: Christ is risen! Your hope is here.
To the weak and sick gasping for breath, struggling for life: Christ is risen! You are not alone. Christ is with you.
To the broken hearted, to the empty and the lost: Christ is risen! Your savior is alive.
To the despised, the shut out and rejected: Christ is risen! You are loved and welcomed into the family of God.
To the overworked, overstressed, those living at your wits end: Christ is risen! Your strength is here.
To Silver Spring Presbyterian Church, wondering, worrying about your future, asking what is our mission, who are we as a church, who are we as a people: Christ is risen! The path is laid out: be faithful, be loving, tell the good news, live the Good News, serve God together as one people.
To each of you gathered here this day: look into your hearts, lay open your need, confess your faith. Christ is risen! Hope is here. Joy is yours. New life is yours.
To all the world: Christ is risen! Let it ring out as a clarion call to all the lost and broken, to every human heart and every city, town and village. Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!