Year A
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 28:1-10

Easter Sunday

During the forty days of Lent… we did not sing or say Alleluia… our joy was replaced by waiting… during the forty days of Lent… we reflected on our brokenness… and we bore the ashes of… and remembered our mortality… during the forty days of Lent… we sought our cross and how to bear it… remembering that Christ’s yoke is easy and his burden is light… during the forty days of Lent… we anticipated our new lives in Christ…

But we are living in a kind of imposed diaspora… choosing physical distancing to protect each other… so there was no Easter Vigil last evening… no new fire… no lighting of the Paschal candle… there was no chanting the Exsultet… there is no Alleluia banner… or white Alleluia frontal on the Table from which we make Eucharist… no Easter lilies placed around it… and both how things are… and how they are not… feel not only unfamiliar… but uncomfortable… though we may take some Wisdom… some solace… from a question in the Passover Hagaddah… which the youngest child asks during the evening Seder… mah-neesh-tahnah… ha-lie-la-hazeh… mee-kahl-ha-lay-lote… Why is this night… different from all other nights…

Tonight will be the fifth night of Passover… and those of you who were here eight years ago may remember me talking about my family’s Passover Seders… that at our celebrations… we sang a song called Dayanu… which recounted the things God had done for us… there are fifteen stanzas… five about leaving slavery… five about miracles… and five about being with God… if God had brought us out of Egypt… Dayanu… if God had executed justice upon the Egyptians… Dayanu… had executed justice upon their gods… had slain their first born… had given to us their health and wealth… had split the sea for us… had led us through on dry land… had drowned our oppressors… had provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years… had fed us manna… had given us Shabbat… had led us to Mount Sinai… had given us the Torah… had brought us into the Land of Israel… had built the Temple for us…

And the singers proclaim Dayanu… after each stanza… and Dayanu means… it would have been enough… if God had done just that first thing… it would have been enough… if God had done just the first two… or the first three… it would have been enough… if God had done NO more than that… it would have been enough… man… talk about not taking God’s gifts for granted…

And when Paul wrote Ephesians 1:3-14… he didn’t have this song to go by… because it’s only about one-thousand years old… but Paul can’t help himself either… but recount all the things that God has done for us Christians… blessed us in Christ… chose us before the foundation of the world… destined us for adoption… forgave our trespasses… made the mystery of his will known to us… gave us an inheritance… marked us with the seal of the Holy Spirit… and redeemed us through his blood as his own…

Laurel Mathewson… co-vicar at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in San Diego… wrote… in the reading from Acts… Peter’s wonder that gentiles could be accepted without first adopting Jewish practices… is worth trying to translate… this is the pivotal awakening to a church that is for every nation… the repercussions of this moment… and the insistent advocacy of Paul… give birth to Christianity as a faith where you do not have to [ first become someone you’re not… ethnically… culturally… or linguistically… to be at peace… with the God known first… by the people of Israel…

What is disconcerting… but understandable too… is how this pandemic has taken the wind out of some of our sails… it has given us the need to be reminded of the words in scripture… words which are offered over and over again… Be not afraid…

It’s what the Angel Gabriel said to Mary at the Annunciation… and when Jesus was born… there were no artificial douglas firs… no ornaments… no garlands of lights… but it was still Christmas… for those who remember their baptisms… it may not have felt like much… but you were still grafted on to the body of Christ… men and women are ordained to the priesthood… and may feel no different… those who practice Centering Prayer may not have flashy experiences…

But it’s not about how we feel… it’s about what God does in us… it’s about the sacrament… the sacred moment… and it may not feel like Easter in all the ways we’re used to… but that doesn’t matter… what matters… is what God has done for us in Christ…

Why then do we question… that the God from whom… and through whom… and in whom… life comes… ex nihilo… out of nothing… why do we doubt that this same God can bring life out of death… which at least is something… God set the Israelites free not only from the tyranny of slavery… but in Christ Jesus God sets us free from the tyranny of death… in our funeral eucharist… we proclaim… life is changed… not ended… and when our mortal body lies in death… there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens…

Let’s remember… the two Marys came to the tomb while it was still dark… while the first day of the week was still dawning… intending to fulfill all righteousness… but also… maybe… without realizing it… looking for hope… the Angel told the women that Jesus had been raised and was going ahead to Galilee… so they ran to tell his disciples the Good News… and Jesus met them… and told them not to be afraid… it is Easter… and we can again say… Alleluia! Christ is risen!… because that’s what Easter people do…

So let’s remember… during the forty days of Lent… we did not sing or say Alleluia… but this morning… God has done the heavy lifting… God has turned the world upside down by destroying death…  and there is new life bursting outside… and hope remains deep in our hearts… our church is empty this morning… but so was the tomb… and whatever we do today… whoever we’re with… however we celebrate… whatever we eat… whatever we have or don’t have… (like chocolate bunnies or yellow peeps)… however these FaceBook Live liturgies are… however many watch them… it will be Dayanu… it will be enough… Amen…