Resurrection: the Essence of the Church

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31


“In a workshop with Paul Borden last year, someone asked him, “You are a natural leader in starting new churches. What is the main thing you look for in selecting new pastors?” Borden responded, “An Orthodox faith, a vivid belief in the Trinity, and of course, a sure faith in the resurrection.”

"Don’t you find that an amazing response? I thought Borden would say something managerial, “an entrepreneurial spirit,” something like that. Or, I thought he might cite some psychological configuration or organizational expertise in the pastor. No. Borden demands theology, faith in resurrection."

"It really makes a huge difference as we go about reaching a new generation of Christians, starting new churches, energizing established congregations, making disciples (our Conference priorities), if Jesus Christ has risen from the dead."

"If Easter is not true, then why bother? Since Jesus Christ is raised, let loose, invading a world, returning to the very people who betrayed him, then we work not alone. The risen Christ goes before us. We serve a God who lives to raise the dead--even us. Therefore, we work with hope--not hope in ourselves and our efforts, but with hope in Christ."

"A couple of years ago, a District Superintendent paid me one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received. He had told a pastor of our interest to move him to a different church. “I can’t do this,” responded the pastor. “That church is dead. It’s been dying for years and now I hear it’s really dead.” The DS replied, “I’ll tell the Bishop but let me warn you, this guy really believes that Easter is true. To tell him a pastor or a church is dead means nothing to him. He just sees death as an opportunity to see what Jesus can do.”

- UM Bishop Will Willimon (http://willimon.blogspot.com/2008/03/practical-organizational-relevance-of.html)


“IF Easter is not true, then why bother?”

Without a doubt and with more than a little surprise, this is probably one of the most profound yet simple observations as it pertains to who we are as Christians. It should come as no surprise that a “sure faith” in the Resurrection - that is to say, Life after death - is the essence of the Christian faith, yet over time we’ve become so complicated in our formulaic charts of what it takes to be a Christian, what prayers are appropriate, what doctrines and practices are sure and true, that we’ve all but lost the essential core of our spiritual being.

Not long ago I shared my thoughts on what I consider to be a theologically incompatible fear we Christians have of death. While we can allow that a certain fear of the unknown is perfectly understandable, it is nevertheless an unnatural response or emotion if there is any sense of fear within us as it pertains to death because if there is, then our faith is shaky and downright questionable. And if we have no faith, no sure faith, we have nothing.

In the reading from Acts, Peter quotes King David’s prayer in Psalm 16 perhaps in an effort to make the Resurrection story relevant to the Jews and appealing to them to come to understand the prophecy of King David who was clearly favored by the Lord God and is in the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth as “Son of David”. Notice the language in Acts 2:23 by the way Peter “accuses” them of complicity in the betrayal, crucifixion, and MURDER of Jesus: “… this Man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law”, of course referring to the Roman authorities to whom Jesus was handed over.

Peter is laying a foundation of that which we must rightly claim as the foundation of our faith, the very faith Bishop Willimon and Paul Borden both consider being at the heart of what we must believe if we claim the name “Christian”. The Crucifixion itself is mentioned by Peter in an accusatory fashion, telling the story but also reminding them of their part in the betrayal. By this I think Peter is at least partly removing the Crucifixion itself as part of the “glory story” maybe because of the close, personal friendship Peter seemed to enjoy with Jesus but also perhaps because the murder of Jesus itself was not an act of God. It was clearly by the hands and the hard hearts of man.

However, Acts 2:24 reveals the very heart of our faith: “But God raised Him up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

This, without doubt and without reservation, is clearly and exclusively the power and the glory of God. It seems also to be part of the experience that King David shared with us in understanding not only his immense failures as a servant of God but was also an intense and “sure faith” that the Lord’s faithful will not know Death. King David was a sinner, and he never denied his own failures before the Lord. David also paid a heavy price for what he had done, but he never wavered in his understanding – and sure faith - of the Lord God’s commitment to Life itself. This, in a nutshell, is the Resurrection story. It is our faith. Without it, ours is nothing more than a self-serving, lifeless, pagan religion – something we do only to please and suit ourselves.

I will also be the first to tell you that I am probably among the many who have come to accept the Resurrection as “incidental” (for lack of a better word) to the Church calendar. It is by far, I think, the holiest Day on the calendar, but I am afraid that it has been relegated to such a status that we don’t take seriously what it actually means to us. We may not doubt it, but do we EMBRACE it? It is a sure and faithful commitment on the part of the Holy Father Himself that His beloved will never taste Death. If we then come to believe this for what it really is, why do we fear Death at all?

None of this is to suggest that our time in worship, our sharing of the Holy Eucharist, our Sunday School lessons, our charitable giving are all in vain, but the good bishop calls us to account for why we do these things in the first place. It is a challenge to look deeply within ourselves to determine what lies beneath the surface, within the heart of our essence.

We gather together to bear witness to the Resurrection! We sign hymns because Jesus is resurrected from the dead! We offer prayers and gifts to the Lord God because Christ had died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again! It is who we are, and it defines what we do and why. Anything less is but a hollow shell easily cracked and soon destroyed at the first sign of distress.