Funny time for an Easter...
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Funny time for an Easter sermon. How can we possibly preach on resurrection when
winter beats at our doors and the cold cuts through us like a knife? Easter reminds us of
budding trees and singing birds and green grass and new beginnings. The early church
saw every first day of the week as a celebration of Easter. Paul turned his troubled friends
in Corinth toward the resurrection -- and once again told them the old, old story of how
Christ had come back from the dead and defeated even the greatest of their enemies.
Underneath his words, could Paul be telling them that even the difficulties of their lives
and their church could be touched by new life and new power? He gave them a new
understanding of Easter and resurrection. Death, any kind of death, is swallowed up in
victory (1 Corinthians 15:54). Easter, then, is not a day on the calendar. For the church at
Corinth or on that corner where you serve, Easter holds great promise on any given
Sunday. Albert Camus wrote: "In the midst of winter, I realized that deep within me there
lay an invincible summer." Faith holds on to Paul's great words like resurrection. Death is
not the end, evil does not have the last word. The apostle left them with a great challenge:
"Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the
Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
A February Easter can take it all.
