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EASTER
Happy Easter! I hope you and everyone you know, everyone you encounter . . . in fact
everyone period . . . will reap all the hope and joy and reverence for our God who
overcame death that there is to be harvested from what this day means.
I have to confess that Im daunted at the prospect of having to preach about the
meaning of Easter . . . daunted and tempted not to even try . . . to just tell the story as
its told in the gospels and let the story speak for itself. Its the miraculous nature of
Easter that daunts me. In my arrogance, Im more comfortable dealing with other biblical
miracles - virgin births, walking on water, changing water into wine and the like. I deal
with them by quickly dismissing any literal interpretation of what they describe - by
relying on to my greater comfort with the discipline of science, on the observed,
catalogued and rigorously tested laws of nature. From that perspective, the choice we
have is to interpret biblical miracles as anything from some kind of scam to metaphors,
poetry, which transcends the limitations of a journalistic, noting-but-the-facts style of
reporting.
Im firmly in the camp of miracles as metaphor, open to an infinite, evolving number of
interpretations, and I suppose I . . . we could treat Easter, the resurrection, in exactly the
same way. Except I m not sure we can. I wonder if resurrection isnt something else . . .
not so much because theologians and other authorities give it such prominence
(although who am I or anyone to dismiss what they have to say too quickly?) but
because, unlike all the other biblical miracles, resurrection is all about us. It isnt just
about Christs absence from the tomb or gospel accounts of his appearing to the women
and disciples. Its about the death we all face . . . about the completely radical notion so
essential to the identity and validity of our faith - that death isnt the end but the
beginning, that we go on in some mysterious way as ourselves.
When Michael Wright, the rector of Grace Church in Charleston was out here as part of
our Lenten series about why faith matters, he spoke powerfully about the Resurrection.
Literal or symbolic readings, he pointed out, arent the only choices . . . the only way to
embrace the resurrection account. Look at context, he said, look at loss or tragedy or
facing our own death or that of someone dear to us. Consider how very much it matters
for those who confront dying and death in the context of faith in the resurrection as
opposed to those who dont. Look at history, he said. Look at the miraculous

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transformation of a bunch of dispirited disciples from dejection, confusion and
discouragement into a powerful, enduring, motivated force that has grown and spread
worldwide over two thousand years.
Sometimes we come up against our very human tendency to over-think things . . . we
get tied up in our own analyses and explanations. Theology is a particularly ripe field for
this. For example, take the sacrament of Holy Communion. Just this past Thursday we
memorialized the institution of the Eucharist at the last supper, at which Jesus invited
his disciples to carry on his work by taking him in - take this bread and eat it . . . take
this wine and drink it. This is my body and my blood. Do this as often as you partake of
it in remembrance of me. Familiar words. Words that have echoed down the centuries
with palpable resonance . . . words that resound still today, with perhaps as many
meanings attached to them as there are people hearing them.
But then along come the authorities and theologians to tell us what to think, in this
instance trying to conflate the realm of Gods spirit with the world of human science . . .
trying to demystify mystery . . . to sanitize the life and spirit right out of it. And so the
simple words of a parting supper and its commission arouse a mighty controversy. What
happens to the bread and wine? Transubstantiation? Doesnt the bread stop being
bread and become a different substance - the actual body of Christ? It may look like
bread and taste like bread, but it isnt any more. Its been changed. Well, maybe not.
How about consubstantiation? Its both - both bread and body. Trans, con, something
else . . . which is it? This has been grist for Roman Catholic mills for centuries, and any
number of other Christians have joined the fray. And by the way, how are we meant to
receive whatever it is were receiving? Are we meant to understand that its a kind of
spiritual medicine preserving our body and soul, or is it a token of remembrance
that Christ died for you? Over the almost 5 centuries of Anglican history, our prayer
books have bounced back and forth between preserving and remembering until, in
brilliant Anglican via media fashion, someone finally figured out we could just assign
both meanings to what were about at communion. And so, depending on the particular
leanings of the priest or chalice bearer, we might hear either meaning pronounced, or
both. Oy!
I mention all this not so much to trash theology or religious practice as to contextualize
the miraculous dimension of our faith by analogy . . . to try to make room for our own
evolving choices in believing what miracles mean. To paraphrase one of our formative
Anglican eucharistic theologians, Richard Hooker, Jesus said this is my body and

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blood. He didnt say how. What I like about that kind of formulation is how, instead of
trying to reduce miracles down to our level of understanding, he invites us to elevate
ourselves to the mystery of miracles.
As someone has said, turning the experience of failing a school test on its head, the
place of not-knowing is a high place. Its what we dont know more than what we do that
enriches us . . . that lifts us up, especially if we dont close our minds, if were open to
learning and growing.
What I take from that is that just as we each need to find our own way to hold the
mystery of the Eucharist, we each have to come to our own terms about believing in the
resurrection. Our participation in the body and blood of Christ and therefore in Christ
himself - in all he teaches and all he exemplifies and all he promises - our participation
is nothing if not authentic . . . if not real. And it cant maintain its authenticity if it doesnt
grow . . . doesnt evolve.
I should add that just because our participation in all that Easter means is intended to be
authentic and unique doesnt mean that its something we can only effectuate on our
own. In fact, quite the contrary, its beyond obvious that we need each other to realize
our faith. Whenever 2 or 3 are gathered together, Christ will be in the midst of them. As
we do unto the least of our sisters and brothers, we do unto Christ - in other words we
find the source of faith, Jesus himself, the earthly person of God, in the people around
us, and in our life of service, feeding his sheep.
Heres the indisputable, existential, miraculous truth of Gods ongoing presence in the
world and in us - God is love. Love us a mystery, but can anyone deny that its real? It
is real, and yet what it is today may not be what it is tomorrow. Its real, but it isnt
science.
I came across an account of one of those near death experiences that usually arouse
huge skepticism on my part, but for reasons that you might appreciate, reasons that
have nothing to do with proof and everything to do with faith, this one resonated. So let
me end with the words of one Dr. Eben Alexander, an atheistic Harvard-trained brain
surgeon after he emerged from a long coma in which no brain activity registered on his
monitor. He awoke no more Christian than when he entered but profoundly changed . . .
convinced of resurrection:

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This is what he said: Love is, without a doubt, the basis of everything. Not some
abstract, hard-to-fathom kind of love but the day-to-day kind that everyone knows - the
kind of love we feel when we look at our spouse and our children, or even our animals.
In its purest and most powerful form, this love is not jealous or selfish, but unconditional.
This is the reality of realities, the incomprehensibly glorious truth of truths that lives and
breaths at the core of everything that exists or will ever exist, and no remotely accurate
understanding of who and what we are can be achieved by anyone who does not know
it and embody it in all their actions.
The miracle of Easter is the miracle of life, affirmed forever by the miracle of Love.
Happy Easter. He is risen. Alleluia.
Amen.