Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
8AM Edition
Original Manuscript:
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When I attended St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis, MD during my college years, it was going through a great deal of transition. Like us at St. Luke’s, they were going through an interim period, and the interim priest was… alright. He was a nice enough person, although I heard reports after I returned home for the summer that he gave an unfortunate sermon where he claimed the wheat and the chaff were both going to make it through fine, in direct confrontation with what Jesus actually says in the Scripture, not to mention he got one of the poorer reviews I have seen on the mystery worship section of the Ship of Fools website.
Unlike St. Luke’s, St. Anne’s didn’t allow the interim to be eligible for the rector position, something this interim really wanted. He helped push back the search process to the point he lost all favor with the parish, and they appealed to the Bishop to remove him. Within months, St. Anne’s found a new rector: Amy Rictor.
Amy came while I was gone for the summer, though I heard a lot of great things before I came back. My first experience of her in church was the Sunday of a big 5/10K in town, which she took part in. I remember seeing her after that race, hair still wet from the shower yet smiling and energetic. Having once gone to church after a 10K leg of a marathon relay, I can tell you how impressive that energetic part was, and why it has stuck with me. Amy has always been an enthusiastic and affirming person. She breathed new life into that parish. Not only was their sense of the Gospel renewed and restored, but thanks to her devotion to our Lord the church began to change lives. Her energy and love of Christ Jesus gave energy to the parish, which in turn spread that love and joy to all around. One classmate eventually left her own denomination to join The Episcopal Church due to the change in the parish and Amy’s mentorship. Another surprised us one Sunday when we saw her in the front of the church getting Baptized. She helped add a young adults program and got many of us at St. John’s involved in worship and outreach. While I was in D.C. serving in AmeriCorps, I made it a point to come once a month worship and serve because of how close I had come to the congregation.
Amy’s ministry was life-affirming and life-giving, as we all should aspire to be in ministry. Her energy was not her own, but came from the source of all truly transformative work in this world: Jesus. She used that to transform the life of the church, and the individuals around it.
Jesus’ transformation is what we celebrate this morning. Jesus not only transformed religion and Faith, He transformed life and death itself. Jesus’ death was not the end of His story; it was a new beginning for all of us in the world. Jesus’ Resurrection was so transformative that Mary Magdalene couldn’t even recognize Him at first glance.
Yet the change is not just in Him. The change that Jesus brings is now everywhere. Death itself no longer has the same effect, as we see in our readings. Death has been transformed so that no longer will people die, but live, and live unto the Lord.
Sin itself is no more. That thing which has kept us bound and captive away from God is removed. We can once again approach the Lord. Our relationship with God is renewed, transformed, and restored thanks to Jesus.
The Resurrection has brought something new to all of us. It has changed our lives. It has made us whole again. It has given us the energy to go out and do the work God has given us to do in a way we could not before.
If you are looking for something new and transformative in your lives, you have come to this place on the right day. Transformation is what today is all about. New life out of death is what our Lord experienced and gives to us. Renewed and restored purpose has been granted to us in the Faith passed down to us by the Apostles from our Lord Jesus Christ. Wholeness and strength are what our Lord has to offer.
As with all things new, we are required to tear down the old. We are called to put aside sin so that we can turn back around, the literally meaning of “repent”, to once again be with God and be restored in relationship to our Lord. Yet turn our back on the old is good. As I saw at St. Anne’s, the old ways are stale. They don’t lead anywhere. The new ways in our Lord Jesus Christ, whoever, grant us energy and perseverance to change our lives in order to serve God all the more.
My hope is that today will be a new start for you. My hope is that today invigorates you to better serve Christ Jesus our Lord. My hope is that you can put all other things aside in order to more fully life in the Resurrected Life, the new life, that comes from Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone. Only then can we be made whole. Only then can we be made free from sin and death. Only then can we truly be followers of God, the Creator of all that is, including our very selves. Only then can we be who God truly wants us to be.