First of all, let me welcome all of you here today to our Easter celebration. I want to emphasize how happy I am that each and every one of you is here with us today. Yes, even if you are not a usual member of our community I am very pleased that you made the decision to join us here today. Your presence here will make our celebration an even more joyful one.
The Resurrection of Jesus is the central event of all of human history. At that moment, the Risen Jesus took away the fear and finality of death. In its place, Jesus gave us hope that could never be put to death. He gave us a new vision for life. He abolished the threat of darkness and final destruction. Jesus Christ is risen and is with us even at this very moment. And he gives us the promise that we will become like he is - filled with life that will never come to an end. It's almost too much to take in, isn't it? Life that will never end. But that is precisely what the promise of the Resurrection means. Jesus is risen and you and I share in that risen life, here and hereafter.
This is the hope that is given by the resurrection - that the power of the resurrection of Christ can touch every part of our existence - every dark and despairing situation that we find ourselves immersed in. It can bring light into every experience of darkness that finds its way into our lives.
Let's be perfectly clear about this. I am not saying that we ignore the pain and suffering that is all around us. We are not to be like ostriches burying our heads in the sand, trying to escape from reality. Our model, Jesus, was not one who escaped from reality. In fact, his facing of the reality of his own particular situation was the cause of his suffering and death--and it could be the same for us also. No, we are not to be escapists.
But neither are we to be so caught up in the difficulties of life that we are not able to see anything else but darkness. As Christians with a Resurrection worldview, we can face the dark side of life, but always with the assurance that in the end, whether it is in this life or the next, life will win out. Christ's victory over death is one that will last for all eternity.
The Resurrection of Jesus is a promise of transformation -- a promise of deep and life-changing renewal, leading us out of our own personal deaths to personal experiences of new life. The last three days, we have been strongly reminded that suffering and death do not have the final word.
But this does not only refer to life after this life. We are also promised new life in this life. As we go through life, we know that we need to die to many things. If we don't, then we find ourselves stuck at some point in our lives, unable to move forward. As we grow older, we need to let go of our youth; when we marry, we need to let go of our singleness; when we decide to break a bad habit or an addiction, we must die to our old ways as we learn new ways of living.
The Risen Christ is offering us new life in all of these ways, if we only reach out to him in our need. He wants to see us thrive and burst with newness. He doesn't want to see us going through life shackled to dead promises or stuck in our past. The Resurrection of Christ is a promise of a future filled with hope and life. But we need to place our lives, both past and future, in his hands. We need to surrender an overly controlling attitude, pretending that we can do it all ourselves. In the first step in the twelve step program, we admit that we are powerless over whatever it is that is holding us back from life. Only after such an admission are we open enough to receive the life-giving grace that the Risen Christ wants to bring to us.
In just a few moments you will be asked to renew your baptismal promises. Through Baptism we were made one with the risen Christ. At that time we, either personally, or through our parents and godparents, promised God that we would reject the darkness of sin and live as liberated sons and daughters of God.
Since we made those original promises we may have, at times, not been true to them. But Christ doesn't keep track of our mistakes. His only concern is that we reject those past sins and begin again. I hope that our renewal of those promises will allow all of us to begin once again to live our lives in freedom and peace.
