Wellspring UMC; Third Sunday in Easter; April 6, 2008: “Do We Live Differently?”:

-Luke 24: 13-35

I was at a pastor’s meeting this week, and as is appropriate, we began with a devotional. As the leader went into the devotional, he said something that caught my attention and made me say to myself, “Hold on. That’s not right.” It was just a passing comment, something shared off the cuff, but it made me pause. He said, “We’ve just come through Easter and are moving toward the Ascension.” This is a true statement that Easter day has come and gone, Easter’s not over. Instead, we are living in the liturgical season of “the season of Easter” or “Eastertide.” You’ll notice on the front of the bulletin, this is the “Third Sunday IN Easter,” implying ‘in the season of Easter.

Often we think of Easter as a day. We think of it as the culmination to Lent and Holy Week, as the great celebration, and yet in the wisdom of the Church mothers and fathers, Easter is more than a day, it’s a season of 40 days (yes, ANOTHER 40 day season.). Easter day is actually the mid-point between Lenten reflection and the Ascension of Christ, but Easter is a season...a season meant to be savored...a season which reminds us that it takes time to reveal the Resurrection.

My father is a retired UM pastor, and when he was in the pulpit, one of the traditions he started was that on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday they’d end their worship outside. All would gather around a small hole that was dug in the ground, in which a box would be buried. In that box and placed their very deliberately during worship, was a banner which read “Alleluia!”

The congregation would end that last Sunday before Lent burying the Alleluia, a sign of what was to come, a reminder that the season of Lent is different. It is not filled with praise, but it is a time for introspection and contemplation. Thus, they buried the Alleluia and did not say or sing it for 40 days.

But then, Easter Sunrise began in the dark, in the cold, but all would gather again outside, only this time to dig that coffin up! They’d open the box and my father would say, “Christ is Risen!” To which the congregation responded, “He is risen indeed!” Then everyone, “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” It was as if they were hungry to say the word, to celebrate the Truth, to share the praise. They couldn’t say it enough, and throughout the next 40 days the Alleluias rang out among and from the people of God. In the liturgy, in the anthems and hymns, in scripture, sermon, prayers, there was an intentional sharing of that word, that Truth, that Hope – Alleluia. Not once on the big day, but day after day after day, a reminder that Easter doesn’t end. Instead it changes everything!

Our scripture passage is a popular one. It is the story of Jesus meeting Cleopas and the other disciple along the road to Emmaus. As we get into the story we realize that these disciples are forlorn over Christ’s death and that, despite the women sharing the Good News, they didn’t believe it. They didn’t get it. Even after Jesus explained it to them, they were clueless.

After His death, they lived differently, which is natural, for after any death, we live differently. The grief overwhelms. We realize that that person will never again be physically present in our lives, that they are no longer with us. We begin to realize the dreams that died with them or that the memories shared are now lived on only in us. We miss them, and it affects us to the core.

Walking along that road these disciples were living differently. After all, just a few days before they’d entered Jerusalem with the One hailed as King! They’d been with Him while performing miracles, they’d seen who he really was, but now... He was gone. They were living differently, and yet Jesus doesn’t give up on them. Instead, Jesus shared how God set the whole thing up for redemption.

They listened respectfully but it still didn’t register. However, they did invite Him to eat with them. They had learned something while He was alive, and He joined them for dinner. In the blessing and breaking of the bread, they saw. They knew. Alleluia! It was Him.

And that frame of mind which had taken them to the depths was suddenly abolished! The grief and dark disbelief was now usurped by ecstacy and bright amazement! That which had settled as a pall on their lives was released, and they were freed. And as quickly as the grief had come, so their joy was made complete. Alleluia! He was alive.

Then listen to what they did, “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and more, who were together praying and they said, ‘It is true! He is alive!’ Then they told what happened and how they saw Jesus when He broke the bread.” The news was so great, they had to tell it! Because of Easter, they were changed, and out of that change they lived differently...and so did those whose lives were touched through their story.

During this Easter season we are invited to join them – to live differently. We are invited to share the Alleluias and run to those who need to hear the news. We are invited to live into Easter, as Easter lives in us.

This past Wednesday I was blessed richly. I was in the gathering space catching up with the folks who attend the Wednesday morning Bible Study, when in the door walked two of our visitors from last Sunday’s worship service. I recognized them, even remembered that one of them was a youth pastor in Georgia, and I thanked them for worshiping with us. Then I asked, “How can I help you?”

They responded, “We’d simply like to speak with you for a few minutes.” So, we sat down in the library, and they said, “We were moved by the service here on Sunday, and we felt led to be here.” Then they proceeded to share with me how, just a few days before they came to Williamsburg, their pastor had announced that he would be moving as well. They were blown away that their story was so integrally connected with our story.

We talked for a long time, sharing how they were blessed by this congregation, even naming that they recognized that we live out God’s vision for us “to care as Jesus cares.” As time went on, in the back of my mind I wondered if there was anything else. Did they need anything or want anything, then they said, “Well before we go, we just want to pray for Wellspring and you. We felt God telling us to come by and pray, so could we?”

There in the library, three were gathered, and the Spirit of God that resides here alighted upon us. And in the words, in their actions, I was reminded of the power of the Resurrection. I thought about what a blessing it was that they followed that prompting, and I experienced first hand that they lived differently than most.

Instead of running from here to there while on vacation, instead of looking past the stranger, they were attuned to God’s voice and made their way to a stranger. They shared the Good News with me, and I was blessed. And what was wonderful was that I then felt a desire to share such blessings with others.

The Truth of the Gospel is realized in the Resurrection of Christ, but that’s not a one time event. Instead, Easter is constant. The Alleluias ring loud and clear every day, and as followers of the living God, what we are invite to do is live differently. Share the joy, remember the gift, and allow the Good News of Christ’s love to guide and direct all that we are and do.

Witnessing to the Truth of the Resurrection takes many forms, one of the most powerful is found around the communion table. Here we remember the sacrifice, recall that Last Supper, and look forward to the Heavenly Banquet at the end of time. But here we also live out that story which we have heard today. That as he sat down with the disciples at the table, He took the bread, blessed, and broke it, and their eyes were opened. They saw and believed. But even more powerfully, they couldn’t hold it back.

Instead they ran to tell the others, who then went out to tell the world. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

As we come to the table today, Christ meets us here, and we receive that which moves us to live differently, that which send us out to share the same with all we meet. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! May we proclaim that Truth in all we are and all we do. Amen.