Sermon for April 18, 2021 – Third Sunday of Easter

“Continually being open to the new creation of the risen Christ – expecting to encounter Christ” 

Let us bow our heads in prayer. Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us, and in all of the places in which we gather this day. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day; and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

So today is the third Sunday of Easter. You might recall on that first Sunday, Easter day itself, we were confronted with the awe-inspiring resurrection of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. We were confronted with the reality of the Son of God as a human being overcoming death, initiating the new creation, and we were caught up in the glorious praise of that day. Last Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, the first disciples were coming to terms with the truth of this new reality – yes the crucified Jesus has indeed risen from the dead, and our fellowship with him is restored, as Jesus over and over says, “Peace be with you.” We are with God and God is with us forever. And in the second part of that Gospel reading, Thomas - who actually represents us – Thomas is challenging us to believe – to accept the reality of God’s new creation in the risen Christ; and that we have been adopted into that new creation as children of God – brothers and sisters with Christ, and that we have to intentionally and continuously choose to live in this new creation in Christ which coexists with the old reality around us. 

So now here we are this Sunday – the third Sunday of Easter – and now we start to grapple with making it all real in our lives. We face that kind of challenge in all sorts of ways.  For example, in our regular lives, if we decide that it’s time to become physically healthier – that we should be exercising more, that we should be caring more about what we eat, that we should be making sure that we have enough rest and sleep; we can reach that conclusion and we can make that decision in our heads as we did last week - making the decision to be part of this new creation in Christ. But then we have to make it real! The conscientious decision is great but then there has to be action!  We have to live it out. So back to the healthier lifestyle example – we have to actually start exercising regularly; we actually have to change the diet that we have, and we have to make sure we get enough sleep. We need to make a transformation in how we see ourselves and the world around us, in order to move into that kind of new creation. 

So this is exactly the case with intentionally living in God’s new creation of the risen Christ. The Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and some of the Epistles – especially those written by St. Paul, are actually accounts of how the early disciples wrestled with exactly that transformation – how, especially in Paul’s epistles, how theologically he works out what this new creation must mean – from his Damascus road experience. So in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 24 - it’s a little unfortunate the way the lectionary divides it up, because what we have today happens immediately after the Road to Emmaus story. So in other words, it describes what happens after the two disciples, whom the risen Christ joined on the road to Emmaus, undercover, and then reveals himself when he broke the bread with them over supper. They suddenly realize that their travel companion of these last few hours is, in fact, Jesus, and they rush back to the others in Jerusalem to tell them of their experience. And that is where today’s Gospel story of the risen Christ appearing again to the disciples begins. 

Now, in each of these stories, the disciples need to have their eyes opened, to realize again that Christ is indeed alive – to realize again that God has begun a new thing – a new creation. And then to realize what that means for them, and to make that transformation in their lives. And it’s very much not a once-for-all-time situation. They need, in ongoing encounters with the risen Christ, to keep opening their eyes to the new reality that they’re living in. So both today’s Collect Prayer, which we used at the beginning o the service, and the Prayer After Communion which will be near the end of today’s worship, state that the risen Lord made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread. The ritual meal that Jesus gave the first disciples, and continues to give us – this is what we are opening ourselves to when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist here together. Now the Collect Prayer prayed asking that the ‘eyes of our faith be opened’ to realize the presence of the risen Christ, and to ourselves, and our lives, and this new creation – to have our view of ourselves and our world transformed. This need not happen in some marvelous, supernatural experience. The risen Christ can act through the very ordinary things in our lives, as he did having supper with the two disciples in Emmaus. It’s not about seeing Christ literally. It’s about allowing ourselves to be transformed by Christ – to become conscious of the new creation we’ve been called to, and its potential and possibilities. 

Let me share with you a personal example about how this can happen in ordinary living, and not even necessarily in a kind of religious sense.   In my late 30s, like many people – young adults transitioning into middle-age - you become conscious of your need to look after yourself – to stay in, perhaps, a little better physical shape.  So when that happened to me I began attending group aerobic classes at the YM/YWCA in Regina. I liked exercising with music and the latest class that had just been introduced was called ‘step aerobics’. I really liked it. I seemed to do it quite well. On one occasion I was going to a class and I went back into the back room where the instructor sets up the microphone and so on, and where we collect our steps to do the class. And I got into a conversation with that evening’s instructor, and as I picked up by bench she asked me, “What class do you teach?” Well I was quite taken aback and I modestly replied that I was not an instructor, and took my place in the class. But in that moment my eyes were opened. The fact that she could see me potentially as an instructor opened me to a new reality – a new possibility. And sure enough, a few months later, I enrolled in their course to become an Instructor, was certified in November of 1994, and I have taught as a volunteer Instructor ever since until last March when we were shut down by Covid. I needed an encounter that opened my eyes to a new reality – a new possibility.

Now obviously, those encounters can happen anywhere but in particular, our coming to a celebration of Holy Eucharist is intentionally set up for us to encounter the risen Christ. And that can happen in receiving communion, in listening to Scripture and sermons, in singing and praying, in silent reflection, in the aesthetics of our building and its artistic windows and fixtures, and in our encounters with each other. This is why we are so intentional and so conscientious about how we worship together – what we sing and pray and listen to; how we move, how the readings and prayers are said – it’s all designed to help us authentically experience Christ – collectively and individually. And this is why the way we worship changes from time to time as we discern which traditions continue to authentically reveal Christ and Christ’s grace to us, and which have become, over time, opaque to his presence for us. Why do we need to do this?  Because we change as human beings, as a society, as culture. Ritual actions that were appropriate 50 or 100 years ago may or may not enable us to receive this transformative encounter with Christ. And even more challenging is the differences between each one of us. A gorgeous Bach chorale may open one person to a powerful divine encounter, and leave another person completely unaffected.  We’re going to explore this further in the next few months, but the central piece for us today is to participate in worship intentionally – expecting to experience the risen Christ in every celebration of the Holy Eucharist – opening ourselves to Christ’s transforming grace and love, and continually being ready to see ourselves and our world differently – to see the possibilities and the potential for each of us in God’s new creation in Christ.

So as we prayed in our opening Collect, “Oh God, your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread. Open the eyes of our faith that we may see him in his redeeming work.”

Amen.