Easter Sunrise Reflection

A Carried Away Church

Wow!  Well here we are – the crazy people once again on a cold beach huddled around a fire while all the rest of the world are still in their warm beds – some sleeping, some just lounging, some watching the kids scurrying around seeking out the goodies the Easter Bunny left behind.

What brings you here?  What motivated you this morning? All of you are here voluntarily – it is your choice to freeze your buns on this beach….

I remember my first sunrise service – it was in my early twenties – and I was a seeker, trying to figure out this God stuff and trying to determine if it had any meaning in my life – I read about the worship in a bulletin and decided to go not knowing what I was walking into – I walked into the church – it was warmer than here – although not much as the heat was not on – it was an earlier Easter that year, and the sun had not risen – it was in the grey of dawn that I joined those gathered around the communion table at the front of the church – it felt strange to be standing around the table as it was a place that I had never been to before – all of my church experience to that time I was in the pews – we stood through the prayers and the music and the reflection – and towards the end of the service the bread and cup were shared – and it was then that I first experienced communion in a more personal way as the bread was broken from a loaf that was handed from person to person – and as I looked around at this small gathering of faithful followers, I noticed that the sun had risen – and the eastern window that was parallel to the communion table was ablaze in the glow of orange and yellow.  The sun had risen – the son had risen – and it pierced my heart and I got it – and something shifted and a veil was lifted, and in that moment – Hallelujah – Christ is risen, he had risen indeed!

There have been many Easter sunrise services since the last one – and ever since I have been in ministry the services have moved in the great outdoors – So, on a shore such as this one, on the north shore of Lake Huron the good people of Blind River are worshiping there right now – and they will all go back to the church hall and have a lavish ham breakfast prepared by the local pharmacist and his family (that is there Easter tradition)  On the banks of the Sauble River, in Tara another crew of faith-filled folks have already finished for they gathered at 6:30 and I am sure that they are all back at the church warming up and sharing breakfast together.  And here we are, – on this beach around this fire – entering into the resurrection mystery one more time.  

On that first Easter morning – before anyone had any idea what Easter even meant, while it was still dark – some of Jesus beloved disciples went to his tomb – he had not been gone for long – a few short days, but they ache because of losing him in such a tortuous way –  such a sudden way was way beyond belief – they were still in shock – for just a week ago they had come in celebration with such high hopes into the city of Jerusalem and here and now – it was over – Jesus was dead – arrested, tried, nailed to a cross and his body place in a dark tomb – and there he lies – or does he?

In the dark, the disciples come – to a tomb that held darkness… In the dark the disciples came, not understanding that they were going to be witnesses to God at work in a way that God had never worked before…that they would be the first witnesses to God changing the way we understand the world.  Into the dark the disciples came…

Resurrection begins in the dark - but out of that darkness comes a glimmer of something more – a flash of newness, a spark of hope, a radiance that only can come from God – and so regular ordinary people such as Mary and Peter and John and James lives are transformed – are resurrected to new life – and regular ordinary folks like you and me are standing on this cold beach on 20^th of April – Easter Sunday 2014 – anticipating the resurrection moment when God gets in and death has been conquered, and light shines out of darkness.  

Clarence Jordan writes:  “The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb,
but the full hearts of his transformed disciples.
The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave,
but a spirit-filled fellowship.
Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”

We know that Jesus lives, that resurrection happened, that God triumphed over death not because the tomb was empty but because we are here – we showed up to this beach – we came out of the darkness to witness to the 2000 year old event – we know that Jesus lives and with God all things are possible and the light of God can penetrate even the darkest darkness not because the stone was rolled away, but because the people who first witnessed to these events were transformed and changed and their lives become about proclaiming this good news to the world.  We know that Jesus lives and God gets in and life comes from death not because an angel said so but because that the potential for transformation is as possible for us today as it was for Mary and Peter and John and James 2000 years ago.

This is Easter morning – and Jesus is alive – the resurrection happened – Thanks be to God.  Amen