REVerberations   (April 2008)

(The following includes excerpts from the Easter Sunday sermon for further reflection.  The full text of the sermon is reprinted under "sermons" under the tab labeled "congregation info" which is accessible from the homepage of this website.)

What do you see when you look at the cross?  Does the cross symbolize death, or new life?  Is it a symbol of sorrow, or joy?  Does it represent human frailty, or God's almighty power?  Does the cross stir in you images of destruction and defeat, or of victory and triumph?  Does it evoke your doubt, or firm up what you know you already know?

In truth, the cross affirms all of those things, and it holds them together in dynamic tension.  Death and life.  Sorrow and joy.  Human and divine.  Defeat and victory.  Doubt and certainty.  It is in the cross that all those dimensions of the Easter experience - all those dimensions of life - intersect.  Therein lies the miracle of Easter and the blessing of our faith.

The cross represents the breadth and depth and height and width of our Christian faith, and it rightly claims its place as the essential symbol of Christianity.  Indeed it holds together the breadth and depth and height and width of life itself.

The cross, now empty, would just be pieces of wood had it not once held Jesus' lifeless body.  The cross, once empty, is now filled with meaning because it bears the promise of new life.  It reminds us that gain requires loss, and that there is no Easter without Good Friday.  Those statements are not just idle rambling.  They tell a truth without which our faith would lack meaning and relevance.  Easter fills the emptiness of Good Friday.

So much of our faith emerges out of emptiness - the formless void, the empty cross, the empty tomb, discovered on that first Easter morning by women whose mourning turned to fear and whose fear gave way to great joy as they encountered the risen Christ for the first time.  God filled the emptiness.
God fills our emptiness too, brings life out of death, offers companionship in loneliness and comfort in sorrow.  And it is in those moments that Easter Hope is made real in our lives, when resurrection comes and new life dawns.

Even when we can do no more than join our voices with Jesus' voice in declaring that, "It is finished," Easter reminds us that in real ways God still declares, "But it has only just begun."

            May we know the joy and hope and all of the blessings of Easter all through the year.
 
Blessings,
Marty

Pastor Marty may be reached by telephone at the church office: (410) 848-5975 or e-mail to pastor@stpauls-ucc.org.