Dear Friends
Christ is risen!
Our faithfulness to God is meaningless without the Resurrection; the Apostle Paul puts this in stark terms,
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
— First Corinthians 15:14
Not just disappointing, a let down nor failing to paint the whole picture: the Apostle tells us it is empty. But there is more to this verse. The Christians of Corinth were not struggling with Christ’s Resurrection—what Paul had been preaching throughout his journeys around the eastern Mediterranean and, perhaps even, as far west as Spain, what is essential to be a Christian—they struggled with our resurrection. Christ’s Resurrection means that our whole nature has been changed, that we are different and altered, that we will arise. As Death could not keep hold of Christ so too he cannot keep hold of you and he cannot keep hold of me; and even if we die, Death has not won.
And what should have a profound effect on my life does not. I still do charity so that I may be seen to do good, (Matthew 6:1) I still pray that I may be seen by others, (verse 5) I still fast with a sad countenance, (v. 16) I still lay up treasures on the earth, (v. 19) I still worry about my life, what I will eat, what I will drink, what I will wear. (v. 25) I still have not recognised that Christ’s Resurrection has an effect on me, on my life, on my future. And so Paul writes not only to the Christians of Corinth, he writes to me,
— First Corinthians 15:12–19
Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
For the Apostle, a faith where only Christ is risen, where you and I have no hope for ourselves, would be the most pitiable of all: it would turn Paul into a liar and the Gospel into nonsense. Because the two are immediately interlinked, Christ’s Resurrection and our own.
And I turn to myself and I am faced with my own hypocrisy—but the Church calls to me and tells me “turn away from yourself and towards the Lord.” And if I am willing to follow the call, if I am willing to turn towards the Lord, he will help me make this Resurrection of his my own, so that I may stare down Death on this day, on every day—even on the day of my dying unless the Lord appear first— and say, “You have lost.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: turn to the Lord. Let us, together, make this Resurrection our own that we may rejoice in receiving the Light which gives Life.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
I hope and pray you all had a joyful celebration of the Resurrection.
May the Light of the Resurrection shine in your hearts!
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Death caweth out from the Underworld,
“Make ready, O Hades, for I have brought thee another.
The dust of the race of men doth feed thee again
and our ruling powers make feast.
The one whom we saw could not withstand my onslaught.
Let us revel and be glad.”
“What hast thou done?” replieth Hades,
“For he was to be left untouched.
Thou hadst no claim over him
nor right to ensnare him.
Thou didst not capture him for he doth come willingly.
He approacheth—send him back!
For he cometh with great Light which my eye comprehendeth not.”
“Fear not him, say I, captured was he without fight.
The princes of Jerusalem and of Rome led him to me
And he cameth as the sheep led to the slaughter,
And as a lamb before its shearer
so openeth he not his mouth. Blameless
am I, yet now a bitter taste entereth my mouth.
He doth rush our gates, and his kinsman riseth to greet him.
Woe is me! A corpse took I yet he beareth Life,
Our prisoner would become our gaoler.
Let us hide, dear friend, from him,
perchance he passeth us by.”
And as they cower in fear,
The Liberator of the captives unjustly held
crieth unto Death, Hades and all their powers concealing themselves,
“Lift up your gates, O ye princes,
And be lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
And the King of Glory shall enter.”
With a whimper they reply, “Who is the King of Glory?”
“The Lord, strong and mighty,
The Lord, mighty in war.”
And as Judgment is brought
upon the princes of the Underworld and of this Age,
The Voice, heard before the foundation of the world is heard again,
“Lift up your heads, O ye princes,
And be lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
And the King of Glory shall enter.”
At a loss for all else, Death and Hades
muster the strength to reply in a whisper,
“Who is the King of Glory?”
“The Lord of Hosts,” cometh the response,
“He is the King of Glory.”
O Lord, who didst descend into the caverns and pits of the Earth and didst despoil the power of Hades and Death for my sake, glory to thee!
…
Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Death caweth out from the Underworld.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 21st April
Discussion on the Book of Numbers, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 22nd April
Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 23rd April
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, come and see.
Attending Church
We meet at St Francis’ Hall, Nightingale Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9JA. Come and See.
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With love in the risen Christ
Fr Alexander
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