Philip R. Cousin - "Post-Easter Reflections" (April 9, 1972)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(lively organ music) | 0:04 | |
(choir singing) | 0:30 | |
(bells chiming) | 2:39 | |
(lively organ music) | 2:58 | |
(choir singing) | 3:08 | |
- | Let us offer unto God | 4:13 |
our responsive prayer of adoration | 4:16 | |
using Psalter number 579 | 4:21 | |
toward the close of the hymn book. | 4:26 | |
Let us pray. | 4:35 | |
How lovely is thy dwelling place. | 4:38 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 4:42 | |
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord. | 4:43 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 4:49 | |
Even the sparrow finds a home | 4:53 | |
and the swallow a nest for herself | 4:57 | |
where she may lay her young. | 5:00 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:04 | |
Blessed are those who dwell in thy house. | 5:09 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:13 | |
Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee. | 5:14 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:19 | |
Oh Lord God of hosts, | 5:22 | |
hear my prayer. | 5:25 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:27 | |
Behold our shield, oh God. | 5:29 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:33 | |
For a day in thy courts | 5:36 | |
is better than 1,000 elsewhere. | 5:37 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:42 | |
For the Lord God is a sun and shield. | 5:47 | |
He bestows favor and honor. | 5:51 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 5:55 | |
Oh Lord of hosts. | 6:00 | |
(congregation mumbling) | 6:03 | |
Amen. | 6:05 | |
And now let us offer unto God a prayer of confession. | 6:08 | |
Oh mighty God, who brought again | 6:14 | |
from the dead our Lord Jesus, | 6:16 | |
we acknowledge that we are unworthy | 6:19 | |
of thy redeeming grace. | 6:22 | |
We have not fully believed thy promises | 6:25 | |
nor trusted in our living, Lord. | 6:28 | |
Through worldliness of spirit, | 6:32 | |
our eyes have not always discerned his presence with us. | 6:34 | |
Through disappointment of mind | 6:41 | |
and dejection of spirit, | 6:43 | |
our hearts have not burned within us | 6:47 | |
as we have heard his word. | 6:49 | |
We have not always trusted in his redeeming power | 6:53 | |
and have been overcome of evil. | 6:57 | |
We have sometimes forgotten the glad tidings | 7:01 | |
of his victory over death | 7:04 | |
and have not really known the things | 7:08 | |
that belong to our peace. | 7:11 | |
Now, in penitence we come to thee, | 7:15 | |
His God and our God | 7:20 | |
asking for forgiveness. | 7:25 | |
Mercifully grant unto us absolution | 7:28 | |
from all our sins | 7:32 | |
and restore unto us the joy of thy salvation | 7:34 | |
for thy sake | 7:38 | |
and his sake | 7:41 | |
and our sake. | 7:44 | |
Amen. | 7:47 | |
And hear these words of the assurance of pardon. | 7:51 | |
And notice that they come from the Old Testament. | 7:56 | |
"As the heaven is high above the Earth, | 8:01 | |
"so great is God's mercy toward them that fear him. | 8:05 | |
"As far as the east is from the west, | 8:12 | |
"so far hath God removed our transgressions from us. | 8:17 | |
"Like as a Father pitiest his children, | 8:24 | |
"so the Lord pitith them | 8:28 | |
"that worship him. | 8:31 | |
"Therefore, be of good courage." | 8:34 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 8:47 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 10:28 | |
- | The scripture is taken from the 16th chapter | 16:09 |
of the Gospel according to Saint Mark, | 16:13 | |
beginning at the ninth verse. | 16:15 | |
"Now, when he rose early on the first day of the week, | 16:18 | |
"he appeared first to Mary Magdalene | 16:21 | |
"from whom he had cast out seven demons. | 16:24 | |
"She went and told those | 16:27 | |
"who had been with him as they mourned and wept. | 16:28 | |
"But when they heard that he was alive | 16:32 | |
"and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. | 16:34 | |
"After this, he appeared in another form to two of them | 16:38 | |
"as they were walking into the country | 16:41 | |
"and they went back and told the rest | 16:44 | |
"but they did not believe them. | 16:46 | |
"Afterward, he appeared to the 11 themselves | 16:49 | |
"as they sat at table | 16:51 | |
"and he upbraided them for their unbelief | 16:53 | |
"and hardness of heart | 16:55 | |
"because they had not believed those who had seen them | 16:57 | |
"after he had risen. | 17:00 | |
"And he said to them, | 17:02 | |
"go into all the world and preach the Gospel | 17:04 | |
"to the whole creation. | 17:07 | |
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved | 17:09 | |
"but he who does not believe will be condemned. | 17:12 | |
"And these signs will accompany those who believe. | 17:16 | |
"In my name they will cast out demons, | 17:19 | |
"they will speak in new tongues, | 17:22 | |
"they will pick up serpents | 17:24 | |
"and if they drink any deadly thing, | 17:26 | |
"it will not hurt them. | 17:28 | |
"They will lay their hands on the sick | 17:30 | |
"and they will recover. | 17:32 | |
"So then the Lord Jesus, | 17:34 | |
"after he had spoken to them, | 17:36 | |
"was taken up into Heaven | 17:37 | |
"and sat down at the right hand of God. | 17:39 | |
"And they went forth and preached everywhere, | 17:42 | |
"for the Lord worked with them | 17:44 | |
"and confirmed the message | 17:46 | |
"by the signs that attended it." | 17:47 | |
Amen. | 17:50 | |
(lively organ music) | 17:52 | |
(congregation singing) | 18:01 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 18:37 |
- | And also with you. | 18:40 |
- | Let us pray. | 18:41 |
Let us offer first a prayer of thanksgiving. | 18:48 | |
For the joy which is born of sympathy and sorrow, | 18:54 | |
for the joy of the lost soul finding love again | 19:00 | |
and for the joy of the angels over one sinner that repented. | 19:05 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 19:11 | |
For all pure comedy and laughter | 19:16 | |
and for the gift of humor and gaiety of heart, | 19:19 | |
glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 19:24 | |
For all who have consecrated myth | 19:28 | |
with the love of Christ. | 19:31 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 19:34 | |
For all singers and musicians | 19:37 | |
and bell ringers, | 19:41 | |
especially this morning for bell ringers | 19:44 | |
and for all who work in form and color | 19:48 | |
to increase the joy of life, | 19:51 | |
glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 19:54 | |
For poets and craftsmen | 19:58 | |
and for all who rejoice in their work | 20:01 | |
and make things well. | 20:04 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 20:07 | |
For all who have loved the common people | 20:10 | |
and borne their sorrows in their hearts. | 20:12 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord. | 20:16 | |
For prophets and reformers | 20:19 | |
who cry shame on all social wrong | 20:22 | |
and point the way to fairer life | 20:26 | |
for all the people. | 20:29 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord most high. | 20:32 | |
And let us offer a prayer of intercession | 20:40 | |
for all kinds of men. | 20:43 | |
Oh God who knittest us all together in mutual love | 20:47 | |
and responsibility for one another, | 20:50 | |
hear our prayer of intercession | 20:54 | |
for all kinds of folk. | 20:58 | |
In a time of international strive | 21:01 | |
and national division, | 21:03 | |
of racial tension and class struggle, | 21:06 | |
of political chaos | 21:11 | |
and academic bewilderment, | 21:13 | |
on behalf of all men, we pray for peace | 21:17 | |
but not without justice. | 21:21 | |
We pray for quiet, | 21:25 | |
but only if the issues | 21:27 | |
have honestly been faced and resolved. | 21:29 | |
We pray for honor rather than victory, | 21:34 | |
for understanding rather than mastery, | 21:39 | |
for sanity rather than success, | 21:43 | |
for the triumph of thy way | 21:48 | |
rather than ours. | 21:52 | |
For thou art the love which is goodwill, | 21:55 | |
the creator, sustainer and redeemer of all men. | 21:59 | |
And let us offer a prayer of supplication | 22:07 | |
that we may have a fuller knowledge | 22:09 | |
of Jesus the Christ. | 22:14 | |
Almighty God who has called us through Jesus Christ | 22:17 | |
to be thy sons and daughters, | 22:21 | |
give us to know Christ and his life | 22:24 | |
that the same mind which was in him | 22:28 | |
may be in us, | 22:31 | |
that we may be in the world | 22:34 | |
as he was in the world. | 22:36 | |
Give us so to know Christ and his death | 22:41 | |
that we may not glory, | 22:45 | |
save in his cross | 22:48 | |
whereby the world is crucified unto us | 22:51 | |
and we unto the world. | 22:54 | |
Give us so to know Christ | 22:58 | |
and the power of his resurrection | 23:00 | |
that like as he was raised from the dead | 23:03 | |
by thy glory, | 23:06 | |
we may also walk in newness of life | 23:08 | |
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. | 23:13 | |
And now as our Savior Christ hath taught us, | 23:19 | |
we humbly pray together. | 23:23 | |
Our Father, who art in Heaven, | 23:26 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 23:29 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 23:32 | |
on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 23:35 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 23:38 | |
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those | 23:42 | |
who trespass against us. | 23:46 | |
And lead us not into temptation | 23:48 | |
but deliver us from evil | 23:51 | |
for thine is the kingdom, | 23:54 | |
and the power and the glory forever. | 23:56 | |
Amen. | 24:00 | |
- | What normally attracts us, | 24:16 |
draws us, stimulates us, following a holiday? | 24:20 | |
What atmosphere surrounds us, | 24:26 | |
gives impetus to our living | 24:30 | |
following a holiday? | 24:34 | |
What states of depression grab us, hold us, | 24:37 | |
squeeze us, cause us to feel torn asunder | 24:44 | |
following a holiday? | 24:50 | |
Most of us have some reflections following the holidays. | 24:53 | |
Following Easter is a time | 25:00 | |
when more than often our reflections | 25:02 | |
are rather glossed over in a hasty kind of answer | 25:06 | |
that we usually give as a retort | 25:10 | |
when one would ask us how we're feeling. | 25:13 | |
For last Monday I asked one of my friends | 25:17 | |
how he was feeling | 25:19 | |
and he said "Well, now that Easter is over, | 25:20 | |
"things are back to normal. | 25:25 | |
"Now that the holiday is over, | 25:27 | |
"things are settling back to normal." | 25:30 | |
And so I imagine that in most of our churches | 25:33 | |
and in most of our homes | 25:36 | |
and in most of our intuitions, | 25:38 | |
things are now settling back to normal | 25:41 | |
and in our post-Easter reflections, | 25:44 | |
we find that normality now | 25:47 | |
is getting to be the thing, | 25:49 | |
we're back in the old groove, | 25:52 | |
we're back in the old rut, | 25:54 | |
we're back in the old grind. | 25:56 | |
But I wonder, perhaps we have the wrong slant | 26:00 | |
regarding what should happen | 26:05 | |
and how we should feel following the holidays, | 26:08 | |
especially following Easter. | 26:12 | |
For if things go back to normal, | 26:14 | |
what does this mean? | 26:17 | |
If, when Easter is over, things go back to normal, | 26:19 | |
what does back to normal signify for us? | 26:23 | |
When we see our world going back to normal, | 26:27 | |
means going back to Vietnam, | 26:30 | |
it means going back to the war in the East, | 26:33 | |
it means going back all of the unrest in the Middle East. | 26:36 | |
It means going back to the religious conflict in Ireland. | 26:39 | |
It means going back to all that tears | 26:42 | |
and pulls us apart. | 26:45 | |
This is going back to normal. | 26:47 | |
In our nation, going back to normal means going back | 26:49 | |
to the conflict that we see within the races | 26:53 | |
within our nation. | 26:55 | |
It means going back to the old argument | 26:57 | |
of to bus or not to bus, that is the question. | 26:59 | |
It means going back to the kind of conditions | 27:02 | |
which surround us, | 27:05 | |
the poor circumstances that surround us | 27:06 | |
in housing, in education, in government | 27:09 | |
and even in or churches. | 27:11 | |
This is back to normal. | 27:13 | |
Back to business as usual | 27:15 | |
where we're caught in the same old rut, | 27:18 | |
we're caught in the same old groove | 27:20 | |
and we're spinning our religious wheels going nowhere. | 27:23 | |
As I reflect after Easter, | 27:28 | |
I've come to the conclusion that perhaps we should return | 27:31 | |
to the abnormality of the Easter season | 27:35 | |
and leave the normality alone. | 27:37 | |
Perhaps it's better for us to remain in that kind | 27:40 | |
of abnormal state that Easter brings to us, | 27:45 | |
for when we can maintain this level of abnormality, | 27:48 | |
what does it do for us? | 27:53 | |
It brings, first of all, | 27:56 | |
the kind of relief | 27:57 | |
that removes the fears and the anxieties | 27:59 | |
that keeps us from doing the will of God. | 28:03 | |
For the abnormality of Easter is an abnormality | 28:06 | |
that removes fear. | 28:10 | |
It's a state, | 28:12 | |
it's a faith, | 28:14 | |
it's an inner drive | 28:16 | |
that removes the fear that keeps us | 28:18 | |
from becoming our best people. | 28:20 | |
It's the impetus that enables us to stand up | 28:24 | |
and to face the challenges that confront us. | 28:27 | |
And this abnormality is one that helps us live | 28:31 | |
without our fears conquering us | 28:35 | |
and all of us have our fears. | 28:38 | |
We grow up with our fears. | 28:40 | |
None of us can fully escape our fears, | 28:42 | |
the fears of our past, | 28:44 | |
the fears of our childhood, | 28:46 | |
the fears that linger in the backstreets of our minds, | 28:48 | |
that bother and pull and tug at us, | 28:51 | |
the fears of our mistakes, | 28:54 | |
the fears of our blunders, | 28:55 | |
the fears of our insecurities, | 28:57 | |
all of the fears that pull at us | 28:59 | |
and would cause us to become frightened persons. | 29:01 | |
The fears of our neglect of our brother. | 29:06 | |
The fears of having been too self-centered. | 29:12 | |
All of the fears that really pull at us, | 29:17 | |
these kind of fears. We find that the abnormality | 29:20 | |
of the Easter season removes these fears | 29:23 | |
from the disciples who were frightened, fearful men. | 29:26 | |
And so if Easter is a time of abnormality | 29:30 | |
as we reflect upon it, | 29:33 | |
perhaps this is better for us | 29:34 | |
for in this abnormal state | 29:36 | |
we are a people without fear, | 29:38 | |
we are people with conviction, | 29:40 | |
we are people with the kind of courage | 29:42 | |
that can stand and confront the challenges | 29:44 | |
which lie ahead of us. | 29:46 | |
Not only the fears of our past | 29:49 | |
but the fears of today. | 29:52 | |
Not only the fears of the mistakes that we have made | 29:58 | |
but the fears of the mistakes we shall make. | 30:02 | |
This, this sprit of Easter, | 30:07 | |
as we reflect upon it, helps us | 30:10 | |
to meet the challenge | 30:14 | |
of proclaiming the Gospel in our living | 30:16 | |
so that we can remove today the hindrances | 30:20 | |
that keep God's kingdom | 30:25 | |
from becoming a reality. | 30:27 | |
We can remove the hindrances that can keep us | 30:29 | |
from building and weaving a fabric | 30:32 | |
of society where we can wrap each other | 30:35 | |
in the goodness of God. | 30:38 | |
It keeps us from weaving a oneness in our communities | 30:40 | |
that can bring about an atmosphere | 30:43 | |
where children can grow and become | 30:45 | |
what they want to be. | 30:47 | |
This abnormality of the Easter season | 30:50 | |
is one that gives to us the kind of strength | 30:55 | |
that we can live today, | 30:58 | |
that we can live now. | 31:01 | |
We can live in the challenging times of 1972. | 31:04 | |
We can live amid all of the turmoil, | 31:10 | |
we can live amid all of the strife, | 31:12 | |
and we can face boldly our challenges | 31:14 | |
as did the transformed disciples face boldly | 31:17 | |
their challenges once they looked at Easter | 31:21 | |
in the kind of fashion we ought to see. | 31:24 | |
It gives to us some impetus and power | 31:26 | |
to lives that are wavering and unstable. | 31:29 | |
The abnormality of Easter is one | 31:34 | |
that changes people | 31:36 | |
and makes them live in a different way. | 31:38 | |
And all through the New Testament, | 31:41 | |
we see instances where people were changed | 31:44 | |
as a result of what happened. | 31:48 | |
And as I reflect, | 31:50 | |
as I reflect, wouldn't it be wonderful | 31:52 | |
if Christians now could live | 31:55 | |
in the glow of Easter and its hopes? | 31:59 | |
As I reflect upon Easter, | 32:03 | |
instead of going back to business as usual, | 32:05 | |
instead of going back to normal | 32:08 | |
now that Easter is over, | 32:09 | |
we're settling back down to normal, | 32:11 | |
wouldn't it be wonderful | 32:13 | |
if we could continue to live in the glow of the faith | 32:14 | |
and hope that Easter gives to us? | 32:18 | |
If we lived in this kind of glow, | 32:21 | |
if we lived in this kind of faith, | 32:23 | |
then we wouldn't give away so easily | 32:25 | |
to all that degrades and dehumanizes us. | 32:27 | |
For sometimes, we as Christians, | 32:30 | |
we as the so-called good people, | 32:33 | |
we as those who wear the hats of goodness, | 32:35 | |
we give away so easily | 32:37 | |
to all that threatens us and rather than put up a challenge, | 32:39 | |
we run and hide. | 32:42 | |
But living in the glow of Easter gives to us | 32:45 | |
a kind of courage that enables us to stand | 32:48 | |
and never run and hide | 32:51 | |
but to face our problems squarely, | 32:52 | |
whatever they are, wherever they are, | 32:54 | |
whatever the consequences might be. | 32:57 | |
For this, this peculiar something | 33:01 | |
of Easter as we reflect upon it, | 33:04 | |
this mystique that comes and gives to us | 33:09 | |
a kind of faith that enables us to be changed, | 33:13 | |
changes defeat into victory, | 33:18 | |
helps us to live for the things | 33:21 | |
that Jesus lived for. | 33:25 | |
It helps us to see his life | 33:29 | |
in a different perspective. | 33:31 | |
It helps us to see his mission in a different perspective. | 33:33 | |
So then we, too, can preach | 33:37 | |
for the release of the captives. | 33:39 | |
We can live for the release of those | 33:43 | |
who are held captive in our social order. | 33:46 | |
We can preach for the release | 33:50 | |
and live for the release of those | 33:53 | |
who are oppressed and bound | 33:55 | |
and we can become agents of service | 33:58 | |
so that we can bind up the brokenhearted. | 34:01 | |
This was the mission and message of Jesus. | 34:04 | |
To bind up the broken hearted, | 34:06 | |
to bring sight to the eyes that are blinded, | 34:08 | |
not necessarily the physical sight for us as much | 34:11 | |
but to bring some kind of illuminating spiritual sight | 34:14 | |
that will enable us to build | 34:17 | |
and live and shape and mold lives | 34:19 | |
in communities so that the scales | 34:22 | |
of prejudice, the scales of our own selves, | 34:24 | |
the scales of our own little petty differences | 34:27 | |
might be removed and we can see the world | 34:30 | |
as God wants us to see it. | 34:33 | |
This is giving sight to the blind. | 34:35 | |
We can proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. | 34:38 | |
And we can say, now is the time | 34:43 | |
when God's favor can be done. | 34:46 | |
Now is the time when God's will can be done. | 34:49 | |
This, this transforming power of the resurrection | 34:53 | |
as we reflect upon it after Easter gives to us | 34:57 | |
the kind of stability and gives to us the certainty | 35:00 | |
that we as people in this day and age need. | 35:04 | |
For as I reflect after Easter, | 35:08 | |
maybe, maybe Easter can do for us | 35:12 | |
what it did for the disciples. | 35:16 | |
Maybe there's a hope. | 35:19 | |
Maybe we'll never go back to business as usual. | 35:22 | |
Maybe we'll never go back to the old normality | 35:25 | |
which will cause us to perpetuate the old problems. | 35:28 | |
Maybe we can speak out against | 35:34 | |
and work actively to remove the moral irresponsibility | 35:38 | |
we see all around us. | 35:43 | |
The kind of irresponsibility we see in government, | 35:46 | |
the irresponsibility which leads us | 35:50 | |
to wonder, who can you believe? | 35:52 | |
Where is their trust? | 35:56 | |
In the White House? | 35:59 | |
In the courthouse? | 36:00 | |
Where is their trust? | 36:02 | |
Where is that integrity that we need? | 36:03 | |
Where can we find the kind of moral responsibility? | 36:06 | |
Will we speak out and will we strive | 36:11 | |
to bring about this moral responsibility? | 36:13 | |
In our institutions, | 36:19 | |
will we have the courage to speak out | 36:23 | |
and proclaim the kind of moral integrity | 36:28 | |
and responsibility that ought to be seen | 36:31 | |
in our institutions | 36:33 | |
so that our family life | 36:35 | |
will take on a different kind of hue? | 36:37 | |
So that family life now will become the center | 36:41 | |
of all that we do | 36:45 | |
so that children can see parents in action | 36:46 | |
as they relate to each other | 36:49 | |
and can see and begin to understand | 36:51 | |
what real love is as they see it | 36:53 | |
in the basic of all of our units: in the home. | 36:56 | |
Will it make a difference where we go to school | 36:59 | |
and how we teach each other and how we relate to each other? | 37:02 | |
Will it make a difference | 37:06 | |
in our churches whether we combine with [inaudible] | 37:08 | |
or however else we want to combine | 37:12 | |
or whether we'll stay separate? | 37:14 | |
Will it make a difference | 37:16 | |
in all of our ecumenical movements? | 37:18 | |
As we reflect on Easter, | 37:21 | |
maybe, maybe it can happen to us | 37:25 | |
as it happened to the disciples. | 37:29 | |
Maybe there's hope. | 37:32 | |
Maybe there is the hope | 37:34 | |
that we will never return to business as usual | 37:36 | |
and maybe we will never make that off-the-cuff retort again | 37:40 | |
that now that Easter is over, | 37:45 | |
things are back to normal. | 37:47 | |
Now that the holiday is over, | 37:50 | |
I'm settling back in the old groove, | 37:52 | |
I'm back in the old rut. | 37:54 | |
For to settle back in the old groove | 37:57 | |
and to settle back in the old rut, | 38:00 | |
means that business goes on as usual | 38:02 | |
and the violence in our system continues as usual. | 38:05 | |
It means that we will find people | 38:09 | |
who will continue to condone the injustices seen | 38:11 | |
in man's inhumanity to man. | 38:15 | |
It means that we will continue to give lip service | 38:18 | |
to the will and work of God, | 38:20 | |
rather than giving a full life commitment | 38:22 | |
to doing the will of God. | 38:25 | |
Perhaps as we reflect, | 38:29 | |
we should understand what Jesus said | 38:33 | |
to his disciples when he met them | 38:36 | |
in the room | 38:41 | |
and he chided them for their unwavering faith | 38:42 | |
and he chided them | 38:47 | |
for not having the courage to do what they ought to do. | 38:49 | |
And maybe that's what post-Easter reflections | 38:53 | |
ought to do for us-- | 38:55 | |
ought to chide us into some kind | 38:57 | |
of strong action so that we then can take a new turn | 38:59 | |
as we reflect upon Easter | 39:04 | |
and go out and proclaim in our living | 39:06 | |
the Gospel of Christ Jesus | 39:08 | |
so that what he was, we might be. | 39:10 | |
So as he was, we might become. | 39:13 | |
So that wherever we go, | 39:17 | |
the healing strength of him might be seen in us | 39:18 | |
and wherever we stop, the love | 39:22 | |
that was in him might be in us | 39:24 | |
and wherever we meet people | 39:26 | |
and greet people, the fellowship | 39:28 | |
that was his might be in us. | 39:30 | |
So somehow we might reach from | 39:32 | |
the inner recesses of our souls | 39:34 | |
and find that strong faith | 39:36 | |
that Easter gives to us | 39:39 | |
and as we reflect upon it, | 39:40 | |
it might feed us and nourish us and comfort us | 39:42 | |
and keep us. | 39:45 | |
So never again will we return to business as usual. | 39:47 | |
Never again will we return | 39:51 | |
to the normality that leads to destruction. | 39:55 | |
If Easter makes a difference in us, | 40:02 | |
it'll be seen in what we are. | 40:05 | |
And if business goes on as usual | 40:10 | |
in Duke and Durham and North Carolina | 40:13 | |
and the United States and in this world, | 40:17 | |
we won't have to take long to find out. | 40:19 | |
If we go back to business as usual, | 40:23 | |
destroying each other, | 40:26 | |
dehumanizing each other, | 40:29 | |
brutally assassinating each other, | 40:32 | |
finding ways to fragment each other's personality, | 40:35 | |
finding ways to bring divisiveness | 40:39 | |
in our communities, | 40:42 | |
finding ways to set at odds the will of God | 40:43 | |
with our will. | 40:48 | |
We won't have to wait long to find it. | 40:49 | |
It will be with us. | 40:52 | |
But in reflecting upon Easter, after Easter, | 40:54 | |
the hope still remains | 40:59 | |
that perhaps as the disciples were changed, | 41:02 | |
so can we be changed | 41:07 | |
and as Jesus chided them | 41:10 | |
to pick up your lives, | 41:14 | |
don't be afraid, | 41:18 | |
pick up the challenge, | 41:20 | |
don't be afraid. | 41:23 | |
Go out and preach and live | 41:25 | |
and teach and act | 41:29 | |
and do as Jesus did. | 41:31 | |
Where there is sorrow, bring joy. | 41:36 | |
Where there is fragmentation, bring the oneness | 41:41 | |
that only the love of God can bring. | 41:45 | |
Where there is injustice, come with the strong arm | 41:48 | |
of God's mercy and love and justice | 41:52 | |
and wrap up the broken hearted, | 41:55 | |
give sight to the blinded eyes | 41:57 | |
and free those who are oppressed | 41:59 | |
by breaking the shackles that systems | 42:01 | |
and institutions place upon them | 42:03 | |
so that never again when we reflect after Easter | 42:06 | |
will we say "business as usual." | 42:10 | |
Never again will we say to ourselves, | 42:14 | |
"going back to normal," | 42:16 | |
for normal can never be for us | 42:19 | |
until the kingdom of God | 42:21 | |
is a living reality | 42:23 | |
and so we constantly live | 42:25 | |
in a state of abnormality | 42:27 | |
because we are striving to bring that which we consider | 42:29 | |
to be our norm, the normality, | 42:33 | |
the kingdom here with us | 42:35 | |
and so we don't return back to business as usual | 42:37 | |
as we reflect upon Easter, | 42:40 | |
but we say to ourselves and to our friends | 42:42 | |
and to our families, | 42:45 | |
we will remain in this abnormal state, | 42:46 | |
this state of ecstasy, | 42:50 | |
this state of enthusiasm, this state of a motivated kind | 42:51 | |
of living that makes us challenge systems, | 42:55 | |
that makes us challenge people, | 42:58 | |
that makes us bring a moral integrity | 43:00 | |
where there is none | 43:03 | |
for this is what Easter means. | 43:04 | |
And as we reflect upon it, | 43:07 | |
as Jesus chided his disciples | 43:10 | |
for their unwavering faith, | 43:13 | |
so he chides us today for ours. | 43:15 | |
And as he spoke to them | 43:19 | |
and they left that room | 43:22 | |
and they went out different people, | 43:25 | |
so too let us, as we reflect upon Easter now, | 43:28 | |
remember the same chiding applies to us, | 43:33 | |
so that when we leave this place of worship, | 43:37 | |
we might go back into the byroads | 43:40 | |
and the back roads and the highways | 43:43 | |
and the homes and the classrooms | 43:45 | |
and the offices, wherever it happens to be | 43:47 | |
and we might remember that as they were changed, | 43:49 | |
so can we. | 43:53 | |
As they brought about a new social order, | 43:56 | |
so can we. | 44:01 | |
What do you think about after Easter? | 44:04 | |
What are your post-Easter reflections? | 44:07 | |
Business as usual, back to normal? | 44:10 | |
Or will you as Christians, | 44:15 | |
will you as those who are striving | 44:17 | |
to find the way of Christ, | 44:20 | |
will you say to yourselves | 44:22 | |
as you reflect after Easter, | 44:24 | |
"never again business as usual." | 44:26 | |
Never again back to normal | 44:29 | |
but for me, I must do the will of God | 44:32 | |
as I see it in Christ Jesus | 44:35 | |
to preach and live the Gospel, | 44:37 | |
to give sight to the blinded eyes, | 44:41 | |
to break the chains of oppression that bind us | 44:43 | |
and to bind up the brokenhearted | 44:47 | |
and to say that we don't have to wait any longer. | 44:49 | |
This is God's year when his kingdom can come. | 44:51 | |
Let us pray. | 44:57 | |
Almighty and everlasting Father, | 45:00 | |
thou who dost give to us strength, | 45:03 | |
help us as we reflect upon the season of Easter, | 45:06 | |
help us to remember | 45:11 | |
that the strength which the disciples found, | 45:13 | |
we too can find | 45:16 | |
so that no longer will we return to normal | 45:18 | |
and business as usual | 45:22 | |
but will be about the new business | 45:24 | |
of bringing God's kingdom | 45:27 | |
into living reality here on Earth. | 45:29 | |
Amen. | 45:33 | |
(lively organ music) | 45:37 | |
(congregation singing) | 45:59 |