**SERMON** "Risen!!" Easter sermon 4 April 2021

There is a wilderness of sorts across Roosevelt Street from the Rectory.  A year ago I noticed the wilderness was home to a wood chuck, or a groundhog.  This groundhog would come into the yard and even come up on the Rectory steps.  I loved my “Chuckie” sightings and anticipated them with great joy. 

Chuckie’s visits brought me comfort and hope during some of the toughest days of the pandemic.  Seeing Chuckie was the highlight of my day, like I was seeing an old friend.  So, I was crestfallen when I came home in the fall to see what I thought was a lifeless Chuckie in the neighbor’s yard.

Imagine my utter delight and amazement the other week.  I happened to look out across the street and saw a welcome sight.  There was Chuckie!!  Chuckie had not met a horrible end.  Chuckie was alive!!  I have almost never been so overjoyed in my life.

Now, I am sure you are wondering where this is going.  After all, it is Easter and NOT Groundhog’s Day.  You may even think I have gone half-baked.  Not to worry.

My experience with Chuckie has given me fresh insight into how Jesus’ friends must have felt.  For three years they have been with Jesus.  They have seen him heal.  They have heard him teach.  No doubt Jesus is a source of comfort and hope for them.

 Then, on Good Friday, all that is torn away from them.  Their friend, their Teacher is dead.  Those Good Friday hours must have been filled with the deepest despair.  The disciples never expect in their wildest dreams to see Jesus again.  It would take a miracle. 

Fortunately, God deals in miracles.  The stone is rolled away.  The tomb is empty.  Jesus is raised from the dead.  Later, that first Easter, Jesus Himself stands before them.  The words of the women and the angels are true— Jesus is alive!

Jesus’ followers must have been so overjoyed to see their friend again.  Their joy must have surpassed my own at seeing Chuckie again.  A true cause for celebration and rejoicing.  That joy, that celebration is something you and I can experience.

Easter is not just something that happened a long time ago in a place far, far away.  Jesus’ resurrection is something in which we actively share.  There is a wonderful Greek word for this active remembering—anamnesis.

Anamnesis is more than recalling dates from history, like early July 1776.  The kind of active remembering of anamnesis puts us in Independence Hall.  We are there with John Adams and Ben Franklin as the Declaration of Independence is signed.  No longer are we passive recipients of their gift of freedom.  We become active participants in our nation’s birth.

In the same way, anamnesis puts us there at the cross on Good Friday.  We are there with the women at the tomb.  You and I are there in the upper room.  The good news is not just to remember but to actively participate in.  Like the women, like the disciples we cannot stay where we are.  Jesus calls us, too, to go into the world in witness to God’s love that bursts forth into the joy of the promise of new and unending life.

“Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”