Easter Sunday 2024

I can’t believe it. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t have the words.  

May the peace of the Risen Christ be with you today.  

I have always struggled to feel the joy of Easter Sunday to the same degree that I feel the loss and suffering of the days that lead up to this glorious moment.  

St John Chrysostom’s (circa AD 400) great Easter sermon is worth reading in full, and I have often simply read it out on Easter day because it summarises so well what I struggle to put into words:  

O death, where is thy sting? 
O Hell, where is thy victory? 

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated! 
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down! 
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice! 
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated! 

Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; 
for Christ having risen from the dead, 
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen! 

My struggle with Easter day is about putting into words something that is so otherworldly; the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But perhaps this is okay. Perhaps the resurrection is something beyond words because it is something that happens at the very limits of our imagination. 

 

So, let’s go there – right to those limits. The power of today and world-changing-grace that is delivered today also address what is at the edges of our experience, and in the depths of our fears. Easter Sunday and resurrection of Jesus from the dead mean the end of the fear of death, that suffering is held and understood by God, that we are utterly acceptable, that we are loved beyond all measure. This sits at the very limits of our imagination.  

Easter Sunday doesn’t solve world suffering, nor even eradicate our separation from God and our propensity to sin; it doesn’t take away the reality of death. But, it does give us a new way to be in the world – acceptable, forgiven and loved – if we have the courage to believe that this is true. It is a matter of faith, but it is also a matter of choice.

Do you choose to believe this? Do you choose to live like this is true? Do you choose to live in the world with eyes open to the pain, but alive to the grace and love which Easter day delivers?  

If you choose this way to live, then pray for the courage of Jesus Christ. The courage to be in the world as it is, and the courage to live like you believe in the power of the resurrection.  

I am the LORD, your Holy One, 

the Creator of Israel, your King. 

Thus says the LORD, 

who makes a way in the sea, 

a path in the mighty waters, 

who brings out chariot and horse, 

army and warrior; 

they lie down, they cannot rise, 

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 

Do not remember the former things, 

or consider the things of old. 

I am about to do a new thing; 

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? 

Isaiah 43: 15-19 

Prayer  

God of surprises and grace,  

Help me to be drawn into the meaning of the resurrection today 

Empower me to choose courage 

To accept my acceptability 

To be alive to forgiveness and new starts 

To be in the world with all the glory and all the pain 

Give me the courage to be 

In your name 

Alleluia – Christ is risen today 

Let all people rejoice 

Amen.