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A Sermon for Easter Sunday Rev. SAM DESSORDI

Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

This is how Christians have greeted each other for centuries during these days of Easter – all 50 days of Easter! It may seem a little strange nowadays, we often say “Happy Easter” or “Feliz Pascoa” (in Portuguese, my mother tongue) for a few hours around Easter Sunday, but then the greetings, and the sense of Easter disappears.

In the early Church, Christians greeted each other this way, and the most popular was done but in Greek (since it was a Hellenic society) – it was almost as a ‘code’ language to check if someone was really a fellow Christian. And it sounded like this:

Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!

Christos anesti! Alithos anesti! These were the first words shared on Easter on those days – and often with the first food was eaten after a long fast. For the first time in 40 days, Christians ate meat and eggs – and they started with eggs, which is where our tradition of Easter eggs begins. And they cracked the eggs – always painted red, the color of blood – against each other.

The eggs are cracked open, to symbolize the opening of the tomb – the unexpected, the shocking, the disturbing of the natural process of dying and death: “on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women came to the tomb with spices and they found that the stone had been removed.” What had been sealed up was now broken open – like our Easter eggs, like the tomb meant to hold death in and life outside. Now life came from inside the tomb, and the death in despair outside the tomb was raised to a new type of life.

Many of us have heard this same story many times, and the shock of what it means for us, here, today, can lose its impact. The women, like us, wanted the ‘normal’ to be there: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

That’s what we heard this morning in the Gospel.

They wanted at least to have the body so they could find the comfort in caring for their beloved Master. Instead, everything they knew as normal was turned upside down.

That’s the power of Jesus in our lives. There is no way of choosing to follow him and keeping our lives normal. In Christ, everything is renewed, everything is different, and for you and for me this eternal relationship will not be what you have been used to, or perhaps even what you wanted.

The New life in Christ is to shake up our normal lives and transform into something else. Just like what is represented by the butterflies that are behind me.

There is this beautiful quote by the poet, Annete Thomas, that says: “Just when the caterpillar thought “I am incapable of moving,” it became a butterfly.”

Quite often in our lives we are challenged by changes we didn’t expect. Rarely do we embrace those changes with a positive attitude. No surprise there, because we often comfortable in our ways.

But then life comes and messes up... sometimes… God comes and shake us.

The women were transformed at the tomb site, and because of their openness to the power of God, we are here together.

The community of followers who came after the experience of resurrection gave birth to us, the church.

As followers of Christ, we are called to be transformed as well. By the touch of God and by the metamorphosis imposed by our daily life.

At church we renewed some ancient traditions. For example, on Thursday night we washed each other’s feet, and became Christ for each other in love and service. We also celebrated the Eucharist just like at that Last Supper, setting in place a way of encountering the risen and ascended Christ - the same Christ who willingly suffered and died for us, so that we could always have this relationship with Him.

Then before the empty altar – stripped and prepared as a dead body ready for burial -- we renewed the devotions of the Holy Cross. We remembered his suffering and we experience the holy burial through the devotions of the Burial of the Icon.

In this journey, we became Jesus friends and family, a suffering that many people in the world share in on a daily basis.

Today, we have our eyes opened by the bright light of the angels who say: He is not here.

Now, Look around, he is among you.

Do you see Christ here? In the face of your brother, in the face of your sister?

To make this experience is more profound, our diocesan bishop, is also introducing an ancient church tradition. The tradition of the fermentum.

Last Tuesday, dozens of clergy members gathered for communion with bishop Jennifer at the cathedral. She consecrated bread and wine.

From that eucharistic table, the bread hosts were distributed to the clergy, to be brought back to our local church communities.

The consecrated bread will be placed inside of the wine we will share today.

The practice of fermentum is to reaffirm that we are all connected under the power of the risen Christ.

You are not alone in your sufferings of Christ. We, your followers, are suffering with you when your Gospel is denied.

And Christ says back to us: “I am not alone in the glorious joy of new life. I am with you. Enter my glory, share my victory over death.”

The journey through suffering, death, the descent into hell, and the resurrection has begun again. And today we remember that death will not win if you are aware that Christ is living in the person who is sitting next to you.

May the next 50 days of Easter become an open door for the risen Christ to meet you in the face of the others.

And when you recognize Jesus in the face of the others, you will say: “I have seen the risen Lord… you too, come and see.”!

ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, TEMPE, ARIZONA
Created By
Fr. Sam Dessordi
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Credits:

Created with an image by lightofchairat - "Butterfly eating pollen of flower, outdoor Chiangmai Thailand", and photo of Church of England procession by Susan Jones.