A Letter from the Rector - Easter 2008

Dear Friends,

None of us know what the world's future will bring. Will we respond to homelessness by providing housing for all? Will we reverse global warming? Will the technology of the west be focused on war or on bringing health and food to all? Everywhere we turn there is another threat to our safety. The outlook doesn't look very good.

Yet, in the midst of all that uncertainty, in the midst of the darkness following Good Friday, in the teeth of our own worry about the future, on Easter Day we will shout out, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!”

Our society doesn't know what to make of that. Do we have a secret plan which will get to the solution which that shout implies? No, we have no such plan. Do we see indications that all will turn out well in spite of our worries? No, we have no such indications. Do we think we have sufficient political clout that we can influence the public decisions which are needed for our long-term security? No, we don't think we have that kind of influence. Why then, the society asks, do we shout, “Alleluia!” if we have no solution to the world's uncertain future?

If our Easter proclamation is to be about more than just feeling good, we need to know what it means to shout “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!”

Each word expresses something extraordinary.

First, “Alleluia!” The word arose as an imitation of the sounds of speaking in tongues - “lalala lululu”. The sound expresses an ecstatic experience in which we feel taken out of ourselves, in which we have an experience so intense it is beyond words, beyond description, and beyond explanation. We have all had experiences like that, quiet or intense, in which we felt overwhelmed by awe or wonder or relief, in which we felt we were about to be burst open by a disturbing and wonderful energy.

Shouting “Alleluia!” at Easter shows that we don't understand the overwhelming experience of good that we are dealing with. The shout points to our sense that there is a strength, a force, a power, beyond any understanding, good and wonderful, which is the most real thing there is, and which lies beneath, behind, and is wrapped around, all of creation. If that is so, then the human race, and all creation, is blessed indeed. If that is not so, we are doomed.

Easter is the time to deliberately deepen our awareness of that goodness which wells up in every atom of our being. Make use of the Easter events, and especially the enacted liturgical events in Holy Week, to sensitize yourself to that deep reality underlying us all, so that on Easter Sunday we can shout with conviction, “Alleluia!” and really mean there is something wonderful beyond description beneath, and around, our lives.

Then “Christ”. That is the title given to Jesus by his early followers, and meant roughly “holy king.” Their experience was that Jesus, as a human, had actually enacted what humans were always intended to be – every one of us full of dignity, full of grace, full of life. In the face of the Roman empire's degradation, and of the Jewish leaders' exploitation, of people, Jesus insisted on calling a community of ordinary people to act with equality and inclusion for all. As the “Christ”, Jesus was the demonstration that any ordinary human can do the same – there is no biological, psychological or political law that says we cannot put justice and equality into practice at every moment.

In the past, we assumed that there was something about humanity that doomed us to failure. Jesus, as an ordinary human, demonstrates that such a life of mature humanity, filled with life and courage, is actually possible. If that is true, it makes all the difference in the world. No wonder we shout out “Christ” on Easter Day! It's the relief of knowing that nothing is stopping us from being the wonderful creation God intended.

Finally, “Risen!” Here's the verb, here's the action. Jesus might have been the full enactment of God's intention for humanity, but still have ended up dead, and so have been the ultimate illustration of human tragedy. But in shouting “He is Risen!” , we claim that his life, in which he enacted a community of justice and dignity of all, is permanent, and available to every single person today. For Christ to be “Risen!” means that the practical application of such a life is just as possible and present now as it was in his time. The alternative is for us to believe that Jesus was a great example for us to follow, but nobody else can do it, either because he was God, or because he is dead and gone in a world utterly unlike ours. What a void that would create. But if his life is just as available now as it was then, we have immense hope and confidence – and so we can't help shouting out, “Risen!”

So what's the future for our planet? “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!” That's the future. That's the present. We are insisting we are dealing with an experience so deep and significant it is beyond description. We insist we are dealing with a real opportunity for humanity to actually be the way we were created to be – living in justice and dignity with all. And we insist we are dealing with the fact that such a life is really available and present in the contemporary world.

No, we are not gazing into a secret crystal ball, able to see how everything will turn out. Our proclamation is not magic, it is fact. The fact is that God's world really can happen. It's up to us to do so, and we have the ability. If there once were reasons why humanity had to fail, those factors have been destroyed – no wonder we are overwhelmed by this good news – we can't help shouting, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!” It means we are all risen!

It is such a proclamation that society longs to hear from us. It's we who can insist, that despite all the messages to the contrary, human life can be lived in harmony and justice with all cultures, with all other life, and with all creation, and such a life is being offered to us at every moment. Yes, it will take sacrifice. Yes, it will take courage. Yes, it will take humility. Yes, it will take our whole self. But because “Christ is Risen!” we know it is possible, and, surprised by joy, we delight in whatever we can give to live such a fulfilled life, and so we shout, “Alleluia!”

Make good use of the Holy Week services and of Easter season to deepen your sense of hope and confidence in the risen Christ.

Bishop Cowan will be with us on May 11th to confirm and baptize. Any adults wishing to prepare for their commitment (or re-commitment) by confirmation, baptism, acceptance into the Anglican tradition, or renewal of baptismal vows to life in the risen life of Christ, please register with the office for the preparation course led by the clergy between Easter and Pentecost. Anyone interested in reviewing the Christian faith are very welcome to the preparation series.

Harry Eerkes will lead a 10-week discussion series based on Marcus Borg’s, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.

You will find attached a calendar of events in the seasons of Easter and Pentecost, and an envelope which you may wish to use to help St. John's proclaim the joy of the Risen Christ to all the world.

Sincerely,

Harold Munn

The Rev. Canon Dr. Harold Munn

Rector