Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw on Easter Sunday, 4/9/2023
Good morning and Happy Easter!
You know, working at this church, which is across the street from a liquor store that has a wide selection of candies, especially suckers, and having a four-year-old - whose brother was once asked if he had a sweet tooth, and replied, “Yes, all of them!”
This means me and the four-year-old and I have become good friends with the owner of that liquor store.
Now you may find it interesting that the 4-year-old and I refer to that establishment as a liquor store, but I explain it this way - it's a place to buy suckers that you lick, therefore the liquor store! He seems to be fine with that...
Anyway, on some occasions when we are over there, I will also stand in line for a couple of lottery tickets! I often buy one for my wife and one for the secretary.
It's not because I want either one of them to leave me, although I can't deny that possibility,
but it's because, perhaps like you, I like to engage in that occasional “What if?” kind of daydreaming!
As I walk back from that liquor store I will wonder:
What would I do if I had $10 million dollars?
What debt would I pay off?
What charity would I finance?
How many people could I silence with that kind of hush money?
(And of course, that is not veiled political commentary…)
But as we know, winning the big lottery is an almost impossible long shot - but it’s fun to think about. As the LOTTO advertisement says, ’Somebody’s got to win!'
And I wonder if that kind of imagining was what those first disciples were doing at the time Jesus died?
‘Hey, Jesus said he was going to come back after 3 days -
‘I wonder if that’s going to happen?’ 'Will he rise from the dead?'
Now I understand that that kind of thinking is considered blatant fantasy by a lot of science-minded people - C’mon, how could rising from the dead be possible?
And we hear this even among Christians -
Believing a human can literally be resurrected from the grave, is far-fetched - perhaps something for the small-minded, the ill-informed, and the UFO / InfoWars crowd…
And the Christian story is based not on Jesus’ good works, his marvelous teaching, or sterling example - but on this Easter event - the resurrection - of which St. Paul writes quite clearly, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” The resurrection is at the heart of it all.
But to look at this Easter story - is to also look at its impact:
2,000 years of history, and Christianity becoming the biggest, most influential religion the world has ever known, that has founded more schools, hospitals, social service agencies, and influenced more philanthropists, and charity groups than any other.
We look at the pious lives of saints, martyrs, and those who have given their lives to benefit the world, William Wilberforce, John Wesley, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it’s a huge list of people primarily motivated by the reality of a living Christ in their midst - the resurrected Jesus - this says something profound about the Easter miracle.
And to look at the Easter story and its impact is to also look at the personal, and intimate, at your life and mine. And all of the many, many stories you and I have of otherworldly encounters and personal interactions with the divine.
Some of you have heard me tell the story of one of our parishioners - who, as a young Mom, was working at the kitchen sink one day when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.
She turned around and a stranger was in her kitchen, pointing vigorously to the corner.
My friend looked to the corner, only to see her toddler, about to stick a house key into an electrical outlet.
My friend jumped into action, leapt across the room, and swept that little girls into her arms, then looked back toward where that stranger was standing in her kitchen - and he was gone.
Ew-eee-ewwww...
This story was told in the context of one of our Lenten presentations back in March -
The presenter, Jonathan, had asked the 25-or-so of us gathered if we’d ever had a personal, experiential, encounter that we credited to God or Jesus.
Arms shot up.
Not everyone, but enough people, to make you think. In fact, arms might shoot up here if the same question were posed...
And so, when we look at these things, the impact of the resurrection and a living Christ throughout history,
And the abundance of unexplainable, otherworldly encounters that exist, I wonder if it's not a stretch to say, as one theologian concluded, that on that first Easter morning, something, indeed happened.
And what I would like us to ponder - amidst all of the varied and various baggage you and I have carried into church this morning - is that "if something happened, anything can happen.”
That’s the title of this sermon, all compacted into a tweet-able size:
If something happened, anything can happen.
Because Easter is about possibility,
Easter is about hope,
Easter is about not giving up on that dream, that vision, that project, or that plan that we believe has come to us so that we can bring it into the world.
Easter is about you and me acting as agents of possibility, acting as if Resurrection is possible, that impossible things can be possible!
It's about you and me putting to death apathy, indifference, and the lackadaisical attitude toward persistent injustice that permeates our culture - and leaving this place with a renewed sense of the possible - because if something happened, anything can happen.
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One of England’s most beautiful cathedrals can be found in Salisbury, UK - where it nearly casts a shadow on Stonehenge - and still sports the tallest cathedral spire in the entire country.
Construction began in the year 1220. And the spire was finally completed in the year 1320.
Many people thought it could not be done.
When you consider the technology, geography, craftsmanship - let alone the cost - the naysayers were plenty. Workers spent their entire careers - their entire lives - chipping away at the stone - and most would die before the ribbon was cut.
100 years.
Par for the course when you build a cathedral.
Many of the dreams you and I have are cathedral dreams - aspirations that may take a while to see the results.
Putting an end to poverty.
Putting a stop to gun violence.
Arriving at racial equality, economic equality, gender equality, and climate integrity.
Then there are our personal cathedral dreams.
Healing relationships.
Reaching career goals.
Making peace with ailing bodies.
Whatever your impossible dream is - the Easter message encourages you and me to keep chipping away. Stay at it.
Renew your determination- because God is building a Cathedral - and it won’t be what it’s supposed to be without you and me.
Easter exudes possibility.
If something happened, anything can happen.
What is your Cathedral dream?
Is it that big?
Or much smaller?
What has God’s message been to you lately?
Today we reflect on the possibility that the impossible is possible because that’s just who God is.
As we sit down in a moment, think about that.
Possibility.
Hope.
If something happened, anything can happen.
Let us invite God more profoundly into our hopes and dreams -
If something happened, anything can happen.
Amen.