P.O.P. 4/23/06 “The Difference Easter Makes”, I John 1:1-2:2; Acts 4:32-35

The Difference Easter Makes

          In preacher circles today is often jokingly referred to as “low Sunday”.  After the high of Easter attendance dwindles and if you are in a multi-staff church you can be certain that someone other than the senior pastor is preaching.  The party is over, the candy eaten and the fancy clothing is back in the closet and things return to the routine. 

          Except today we receive fourteen young Christians into the membership of the church and the building is filled once again!  Perhaps we can make this an annual event?  But then what will happen next week? And the week after that? Unlike his older brother and sister Darrell hadn’t attended Sunday school much but decided at age 14 he needed to be baptized.  He joined confirmation class and began attending worship. On Easter he and three other young people joined church.  The others came on reaffirmation of faith; Darrell alone was baptized.  It was a joyous occasion and he smiled broadly.

          By the time I left Huntington to come to Pickerington Darrell had graduated from High School, gotten married and divorced and was serving in the military in Europe.  In those nine years he never set foot back in the church, except for the wedding that took place in the bride’s parents’ congregation.  Why was he so intent on getting baptized?  What did baptism mean for him?  While in jail for stealing from the store where he worked, I visited and we talked about his life. After his short stay in detention he really turned his life around; however, he never spoke of his faith and only reaffirmed that getting baptized was important to him.  What difference does baptism make?  What difference has Easter made – in your life?

          After the first Easter life never returned to normal for those who followed Jesus.  Even when the disciples returned to Galilee and went back to fishing, Jesus would not let them alone and called them from their nets and challenged Peter to “feed my sheep”.  To celebrate Easter is to proclaim with the church through history that evil has been defeated, that the light of God has shone upon us and continues to shine upon us and that we have nothing left to fear – not even the last enemy death! 

          I said to those here last week: “Easter makes demands on the lives of believers; challenges us to new ways of living: we must go the second mile, forgive others repeatedly, and be willing to die for what we believe!  If you accept the title Christian, if you are truly an Easter person, then much is required of you!  The world’s ways are no longer your ways.  You will be different: following where Christ leads and helping to bring a hurting world back to wholeness.”

          A song from the 1960’s declared, “Every morning is Easter morning from now on; Everyday is resurrection day, the past is finished and gone!”  The early church, both those who had seen the risen Lord and those who believed in the risen Lord because of the witness of others, manifested a new way of living.  Perhaps the most radical aspect of that new Easter life is seen in the text Dorothy read: believers “were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.”  What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine – the aim being that no one suffer, that all share in the oneness of life in Christ.  At the start of the Bible story, Cain, one of Adam and Eve’s two sons, is jealous of his brother Abel and kills him.  When God confronts him, “where is your brother?” Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Easter declares that the answer to Cain’s question is yes!  Chelsea you are to care for your brother in Christ Drew; and Peter, you are to care for your sister in Christ Madison; Megan, you care for your brother in Christ Klaas and Chickie is to care for her sister in Christ Norma!  From the start this was God’s intention for creation: the Easter community sought to live it out by sharing goods; we are called to live it out with compassionate concern for all! 

          But there is more to the Easter life: fisherman Peter became a great preacher, persecutor Paul an evangelist and doubting Thomas a missionary to India.  They were called to a new way of living.  John began his first letter celebrating the transformation brought about by experiencing God’s great love in the presence and victory of Jesus.  His enthusiasm is evident in Peterson’s translation: “We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too.  Your joy will double our joy!”

          How can anyone resume the routine after experiencing the joy of Easter?  But we do!  John wrote: “God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.”  But there is plenty of darkness in the world: from school bullies to international terror, from abusive homes to brutal genocide, from violent crime to the horror of war: all around we find fear and grief, brokenness and desire for revenge.  2 billion of God’s children live on under $200 per year while multimillionaires dictate government policies.  Hospitals are filled with the sick and the dying, nursing homes and lonely apartments with oft forgotten aged.  A high divorce rate bears witness to broken dreams and high alcoholism rates to despairing millions.  God invites us to walk in his light, but the darkness draws us to it and we need help to resist.

          John urged the Easter people to reject sin and darkness and come to the light; however, he also recognized sin’s hold on humankind and thus assured us of God’s love and mercy, of Christ’s sacrifice not only for us but also for the world.  In a few minutes I will ask the confirmation class four questions: the same ones most of you answered on joining the church.  We begin, as John began, promising to turn from sin and renounce evil and its power in the world.  We then affirm Jesus as Lord and Savior.  You can’t say yes to the first question without then affirming the second.  For we know no matter how sincere the vow and how hard we try we will fail to keep the first promise; we will sin!  We need a Savior; we need that high priest who gave his life that we might be dead to sin and alive to all that is good.  For such a sacrifice we can only respond with gratitude and obedience! 

          The one who is Savior is also Lord!  God in Christ assumes command over our lives! That is the ultimate demand of Easter and the real meaning of baptism: we belong to Christ!  A few weeks ago several of us attended a talk by Jim Wallis at St. John’s Arena.  In his first book, The Call to Conversion, Jim wrote of the totality of God’s claim on our lives.  He wrote: “If we believe the Bible, every part of our lives belongs to the God who created us and intends to redeem us.  No part of us stands apart from God’s boundless love; no aspect of our lives remains untouched by the conversion that is God’s call and God’s gift to us.  Biblically, conversion means to surrender ourselves to God in every sphere of human existence: the personal and social, the spiritual and economic, the psychological and political.”  For you young folk it means that God rules even in the classroom, in the hockey rink, or on the volleyball court; God rules over how you make your money and how you spend it.

But this too is very difficult.  “Why do we find it so hard to believe?” wrote G.K. Chesterton. “Because it so hard to obey!”  To resist the power of evil in the world and to live in obedience to Christ’s claim on our lives we need help!  So we come to the final question: “Will you be a faithful member of this congregation?”  Jesus never expected us to live Easter on our own.  The disciples’ experience is corporate – they had each other!  Jesus gave the world not just his life but also his church, and God in Christ then gave the church his Holy Spirit, the mark of his presence.  We are not alone!  We have each other and God is with us! 

Today we welcome fourteen young people to the new life that is ours in Christ – a life of gratitude, of obedience, a life in community.  This is not the end of a class, but a new beginning.  Together we are Easter people!  Life can never be the same.  With joy we welcome you to the joy of new life in God’s wonderful light.  Walk in his light and delight in his ways!  Alleluia!  Amen!