No despair of ours can alter the reality of things,
nor stain the joy of the cosmic dance,
which is always there.
-Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Dear Community of Christians,
A blessed Easter to you all! Today we have come to the tomb and have found it empty. An angel tells us: He is not here. He is Risen!
Can we feel this right down to our bones? Are we ready to say it to the whole world?
It is may be easier to permeate ourselves the fact of Easter when we can gather together at the altar, covered with flowers and the brilliant red. When we can be carried along by the joyful prayers of Easter and the Act of Consecration culminating in Communion with the Risen One, we can feel the presence of the Risen One. Yes! And when we can gather all together for a great Easter brunch, standing in a circle to bless the meal and hold hands with our neighbors as we sing, and bustle into the line for our deviled eggs and grain salads and fresh Easter breads… Oh it will be a glorious day when we can get there again.
But we are in a different moment. We are being pressed into a different set of experiences. What shall we make of them?
The women who go to the tomb are completely shaken to find the stone rolled away; at not finding Him there; at being met by an Angel who knows what they have come for, who sends them on a whole different path to find Him—He is Risen! We too are shaken, trembling, amazed but also fearful. We do not know what this means!
Or do we? Throughout the Act of Consecration, a word rises to our consciousness… the word confess. In a Christian context, this word does not only mean to own up to the wrongs one has done. It also means to stand up for what and who one believes in. To confess, as Simon Peter did, that “You are the Christ.” The whole service itself begins with a statement of confession in the form of a prayer: We pray to fulfill this holy act through the fact of Christ Jesus’ ongoing revelation, and our reverence and mindfulness of Him. We confess Him, the being of Love! We confess to Love, who transforms a grave into an altar, who vanquishes death, who brings healing and breath and comfort to us and to the world. We praise Love! We call Christ Jesus, as Bearer of Love, the meaning of the earth.
During the Transubstantiation is expressed that unity is given to those who confess Him. Clearly this cannot mean only speaking words of confession but living them! Are we unified with ‘all true Christians who are born’? And who are they? Do we know? Do we live up to His words in John 13 when He says, Love one another as I have loved you…people will know you are my Disciples by your love for one another.?
When we can confess—that is, know into our heart of hearts, and act and speak and live with courage out of that knowing—and we lift up this confession to Christ, we pray to Him that He feel it as a blessing. Can WE bless Christ?
Think of the pure joy Christ expresses in the Gospels whenever someone confesses their faith in the healing power He bears forth. The Roman officer who says: But I am not worthy to have you come into my house, but just speak the word and my servant will be healed! (Matthew 8). Another example: the woman suffering twelve long years of hemorrhaging, who touches the edge of his garment that she might be healed (Luke 8). Woman, your faith has made you well!
How do we confess to Christ in our own lives? And as we struggle to make sense of this great event happening right now in our lives, can we steady ourselves in the great sea of unknowing with our faith in Him who holds all things? He, who after Easter speaks to humanity through the Disciples and says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matt 28:20)
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, expresses his confession in this way:
2: 2 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What is yours?
We follow the Risen One. We follow Him who makes all things new. We can think of the children’s song: He’s got the whole world in His hands. And though we cannot for the moment gather at His altar in our church and commune with Him through bread and wine, we can find communion with Him if we also try to hold the whole world in our hearts, and confess to all that is revealed through Him, who is Love, and turn ourselves in a movement for religious renewal to Love whose Word makes our souls whole.
He is risen! Hallelujah! Let us confess joyfully to His world-renewing Love!
Yes, so be it.
Your priest,
Rev. Liza Joy Marcato
Mark 16
The Resurrection
16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. 5 Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” 8 They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.11 When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.
12 After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.
The Disciples Commissioned
14 Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”