Sermon at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Clay Center, Kansas
Easter Day – April 20, 2014
“Chosen”
“To us who were chosen by God,” writes the author of The Acts of the Apostles, God allowed Jesus to appear after his resurrection. “To us… to us who have been chosen.”
Today, in Christian churches around the world, we celebrate Jesus’s rising to new life. We celebrate the power of God’s love to defeat death and sin, the powerto repair a broken and fallen world. We celebrate new life… new growth… new possibilities. We celebrate God’s gifts of faith and hope, no matter how much darkness may sometimes enfold us. God continues to call us,always offering us a new day, just like the dawn when Jesus, the Christ, threw off the burial cloths, walked out of the cave-like tomb, and surprised Mary Magdalene in the garden. Simon Peter and one of the other disciples were also at the tomb, because Mary told them where Jesus’s body had been laid. They peeked in the cave, but saw no one there.
But, Mary… Mary was chosen. She was chosen by Jesus to hear the greeting in his familiar voice. Do you wonder why? Why her? Was it because Jesus knew she had the faith to believe in the possibility of resurrection? Maybe because she had had the faith and devotion to stay at the foot of the cross? Mary was chosen to be the first witness of, and a witness for, the risen Christ.
I wonder how often – if ever – we may pause to consider that we, too, have been chosen. Chosen by God to hear the Word. Chosen by Jesus to take up his work in the world. Chosen to be really, truly members of Christ’s body.
In a few minutes, we’re going to baptize two people into the Body of Christ, which is the Church – a baby, and his dad. Isn’t that just great? And I wonder, as the Bloomfield and Canfield families, and a lot of other families, have gathered here to celebrate this happy occasion – Baptism, and Easter – do we realize the magnificent gift of being chosen?
We are special to God. Each one of us. God came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to show us – first-hand! – how very special we are, and to call us into intimate relationship with the Divine. God gives us the freedom to say “no,” to reject that closeness. But God also gives us the freedom to say, “Yes!” And, at times, God plants within us the growing desire to say that, “Yes.” Sometimes, it takes a certain set of circumstances to draw us to God.
For Brett and Trenton, the birth of their delightful son has brought them to this place… and to this font. In the water of Baptism, Coyer and Trent will be buried with Christ in his death, andreborn by the Holy Spirit, so that they may share in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior. Today, they become members of the Body of Christ.
Our God – who is love – acts through this sacrament, to bestow new life on Coyer and Trent, bringing them into the Christian community. Today, we know and celebrate that Coyer and Trent have been chosen for this, just as each one of us also has been called to follow Jesus. Called to serve others, called to a life of faith and hope, called to spread the good news of God’s kingdom… and, called to love others as Christ has loved us.
As the Psalmist writes: “On this day the LORD has acted. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Alleluia!
Let all the people say “Amen!”