"Easter people!"
By the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
the Passover of gladness,
the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
from earth unto the sky,
our Christ hath brought us over
with hymns of victory.The words of joy and celebration from this great hymn of praise (#210) proclaim the Good News of Easter: In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has won for us the victory of eternal life. Recalling God’s liberating action in the Exodus, we are called to proclaim a new Passover of God—the Passover of gladness—by which we share in the Risen Life of Christ. Having come through the pain of suffering of Holy Week, we are brought into the light of resurrection and invited to share its joy as Easter people.
Easter people! That is what we are called and invited by God to be. Nothing we have done, or can do, makes God’s Easter victory possible. We cannot control it, we cannot change it, and we cannot stop it. We can only rejoice in it—or not. When we rejoice in it, when we participate in the joy of Christ’s resurrected life, we become a brilliant source of God’s light and love for each other and for the whole world.
God invites us to share the joy of this great victory not only in our life as the Church gathered, but even more so in our life as the Church scattered, disbursed, sent into the world. It is in our daily living—not just in Church on Sunday—that we are invited to be disciples (followers) and apostles (witnesses) of Jesus, the Christ. At home, at work, at school, at play—wherever we find ourselves—is where we are called to be God’s Easter people.
Easter people are people of hope, people of expectation, people of joy, people of grace. It is not that we are always happy in some artificial, contrived, sentimental way, oblivious to the pain, hurt and need that is all around us and within us. It is, instead, that we have the capacity to hear and to speak God’s word of love and hope in the midst of that pain, hurt and need.
As Easter people, we proclaim the Good News of God’s great reconciling love for the whole world. We proclaim the promise of resurrection faith—that in death life is not ended, it is changed. We proclaim the triumph of Easter—that there is no grave, no tomb, no place of darkness, despair, or disbelief where God’s love cannot reach and bring forth life.
My hope for you, my hope for myself, my hope for the people, congregations and institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, is that we will live as the Easter people God calls us to be. Key to living as an Easter people is remaining constant in our commitment to participate in the reconciling mission of God: praying the prayer of Christ, learning the mind of Christ, and doing the deeds of Christ.
Nothing must distract us from this mission. Everything must be seen in relationship to this mission—God’s mission. The mission is what matters. In Baptism we are joined to that mission, marked as Christ’s own forever, and commissioned as ministers of its joy, hope, expectation, grace and new life.
Make this Easter a time of new and renewed commitment to the ministry of being an Easter person and an Easter people. Arise to new life with God in Christ! Tell it out! Alleluia!
Now let the heavens be joyful,
let earth her song begin,
the round world keep high
triumph,
and all that is therein;
let all things seen and unseen
their notes together blend,
for Christ the Lord is risen,
our joy that hath no end.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Tom
Copyright ® 2001, The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. All rights Reserved.