Easter

The Lord be with you, and also with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, unto you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

O God, for who our redemption gave your only begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy.

Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

A reading from Acts.

Peter began to speak to Cornelius and the other Gentiles.

I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ.

He is Lord of all.

That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

We are witnesses to all that he did, both in Judea and in Jerusalem.

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let Israel now proclaim the mercy of the Lord endures forever.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and has become my salvation.

There is a sound of exaltation and victory in the tents of the righteous.

The right hand of the Lord is triumphed, the right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of the Lord is triumphed.

I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

The Lord has punished me sorely, but did not hand me over to death.

Open for me the gates of righteousness, I will enter them, I will offer thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord, those who are righteous may enter.

I will give thanks to you, for you answered me, and have become my salvation.

The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

On this day the Lord has acted, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

A reading from Colossians.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

The word of the Lord.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.

Then Peter and the other disciples set out and went toward the tomb.

The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

And then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen wrappings there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Then he told the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.

And then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.

They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

She said to them, They've taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.

When she'd said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you looking for?

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary.

She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabuni, which means teacher.

Jesus said to her, Do not hold on to me because I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God.

Mary went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord.

And she told them that he had said these things to her.

The gospel of the Lord, praise to you, Lord Christ.

And so maybe it is worth hearing these details.

One is that two of Jesus' best friends, Peter and the disciple whom he loved, were completely surprised by Easter Sunday.

We have come to expect what's going to happen on Sunday so much that we often jump through the middle.

We jump through Good Friday and Holy Saturday because after all, there will be new life.

But please notice his friends, the people who knew him best, were surprised.

In fact, I want to suggest to you that part of what Easter represents for us is a reminder that the ending doesn't take away Friday and Saturday.

It just finishes the story.

And one thing, if there's nothing else to hear this morning, maybe it is that the grief, the anxiety, the loss of community, the slowdown of life that we're having right now, God is not just going to wash that away.

Instead, resurrection does something different.

Jesus shows up with new life, even though he has old wounds.

So God is not going to wipe the pain of these weeks away.

But one thing is for sure in the Easter message, God can surprise us with new life in the midst of the wounds we're feeling right now.

And it might be a surprise and it might be difficult.

But if we're not willing to wander through the pain and the rejection, the discomfort of Friday and Saturday, the new Easter light will not be very visible in our lives.

Because the more we hide the dark, the more we cannot see new light.

So new light and surprise.

In fact, when Mary comes, she's also surprised to hear that Jesus has risen from the dead.

She's been quarantined too, you see, because it was a Sabbath day, a holy day, the number of her steps were limited.

Her ability to come and mourn the body of her friend and teacher has been taken from her.

She's been quarantined in her home.

And now finally, on Sunday morning, she's able, with a little bit of permission, to go visit the tomb where the body has started to decay.

And she's surprised.

There's not the smell of death, but there's also no body.

There's two messengers.

She was looking for somebody, and she found no body.

In a moment of absolute confusion, she turns and she sees exactly the somebody she was looking for.

It's Jesus.

But she doesn't recognize him because he doesn't look the way he used to.

Now what's changed?

And maybe it's just the fact that he's up and walking.

She hears his voice and she still can't recognize him.

She says to the angels, to the messengers, Where'd you take the body?

Have you taken my Jesus?

Did you steal him?

And I have to say that this is certainly one of the things we're dealing with right now.

We're not physically proximal here on Easter Sunday, the highest, holiest Sunday of the year.

There's no one to see our bonnets or our dresses or the ability to go out and eat brunch with people.

Our Jesus, we might feel, has been taken from us because we can't gather together today physically proximally.

I don't know that this belongs in the Episcopal Church, but I'll tell you I wasn't always an Episcopalian.

And I was warned over and over and over again before I went to seminary that learning can often ruin good preachers.

Ruining, learning can ruin good Christians.

So whatever it is we study, however we open ourselves, we have to be careful that someone doesn't take our Jesus away from us.

And then Jesus shows up with new life, and Mary can't recognize him.

And maybe that's because Mary was looking for the dead Jesus, not for the living one.

When she holds on to him, Jesus says, the new, the living Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, in whom there is no more death, says, Let me go.

Do not hold on to me.

And this I think is a powerful reminder for us that the moment we think we've got our hands on Jesus, the moment we're living in the past, because the resurrected Jesus is always going ahead of us.

And maybe this Easter he's asking us to let go of being physically proximal on this day, to let go so we can see the resurrected Jesus somewhere else, like in moments of boredom, or being crammed into our family, or having to wash our hands over and over again, or facing the anxiety of whether we wear a mask or not.

Maybe the resurrected Jesus is in those places this year.

Now Mary sees the new one.

She knows it's a person, she thinks it's the gardener.

You know, the guy who comes and mows the grass, or in my chance, in my case, this is like four people.

They weed eat and they mow and they edge and they blow off the whole yard in about 15 minutes.

It would take me four hours.

Mary thinks the resurrected Jesus is the hired help.

She thinks the resurrected Jesus works for her and is there to do her bidding.

And Jesus says, Let me go.

Now I want to suggest to you that Jesus is always showing up in places and in people we thought he might never be.

Jesus is as much in St.

Thomas Sanctuary this morning as he is in the cashier at the HEB, as he is in the people who hold the cardboard signs that say need a little bit of help.

As he is in the people who are running for office and saying terrible things about one another, as he is with people who are wound up in social anxiety and those who are so cavalier, they're not observing any of the proper protocols.

The resurrected Jesus is in those people and places, and our question this Easter is how will we view and will we receive the light coming out from these people?

So are people at the cashier, are they objects who are just there to help us on our way so we can be on our phone the whole time and be distracted and ignore them?

People with cardboard signs asking for help.

Are they not worth the dignity to say, I don't have anything this time, God bless you?

Or, you know, I don't feel really comfortable giving you money.

Is there something I could give you?

Or here you go.

Could we take the time to make eye contact with another human being so that the light of Christ could enter instead of us closing our minds and hearts to the gardeners of our world?

I think the conviction we have this Easter, and we didn't ask for this, but what are we holding on to that is getting in the way of us receiving new life from Jesus?

Is it seasonal traditions?

Is it anxiety that has turned into fear, so much so that we find ourselves in a data dump loop?

Is it we don't have the time to be bothered with people who we don't want to be bothered with?

Is it broken relationships that we have totally written off the books?

Is it our own faults and we've written ourselves off the books?

The resurrected Jesus is asking us today to let go of our old ways, even some of the good ones, so that God can do something better if we'll just listen and follow.

Jesus tells Mary, I'm gonna go ahead of you.

And our task this Easter is to follow Jesus not on our way but on his.

We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The prayers of the people.

With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace from above, for the loving kindness of God, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the peace of the world, for the welfare of the whole Holy Church of God and for the unity of all peoples.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the people and clergy of the church, for bishops and other ministers, the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, our bishops, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kai, in the Diocean cycle of prayer, Holy Family, Houston, Lord of the Streets, Houston, and Northside Church, Plant, Houston, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin, and our presiding bishop, Michael.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For our parish and vestry, that the source of wisdom may guide us, the source of strength may support us, and the source of love may unify us.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For St.

Thomas the Apostle School, that those who teach and those who learn may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth, that we may teach our students to love whatever is just and true and good, and that we may be bearers of your grace to all who come through our doors.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For all who govern and hold authority in every nation, for the members of the armed forces throughout the world, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the sidens of your dominion everywhere.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For this city, for every city and community, and for those who live in them.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the good earth which God has given us.

And for the wisdom and will to conserve it.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and suffering.

Especially Chris, Britta, Jerry, Kirsten, and Maya, Sean, Jerome, Susie, and Ted.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

The congregation is invited to name your own celebrations or petitions silently or aloud.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have compassion.

For the poor and the oppressed, for the unemployed and the destitute, for prisoners and captives, and for all who remember and care for them.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have compassion.

For all those who have died in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have compassion.

For deliverance from all danger, violence, oppression, and degradation.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have compassion.

That we may end our lives in faith and hope without suffering and without reproach.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have compassion.

In the communion of Saint Thomas and of all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God.

And now the peace of the Lord be always with you and also with you.

Live into, grow into, rest in that peace today.

I hope you have a glorious, wonderful resurrection Sunday.

I'm grateful to report to you that we had a holy week in St.

Thomas just after week feeding more than 463 people with either fresh food or worn meals.

We were able to operate that way in compliance with the governor's orders.

And so we continue to try to do holy works here.

And uh grateful for your continued giving and your continued use of this property in order to feed those who are physically and spiritually hungry.

Continue to walk in that love.

As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

And I have to tell you, as your clergy person, I'm so grateful for your continuing to meet your pledge, for the generosity that you're showing, either by mailing checks here, dropping them in our gift box, or making donations online.

And there is the opportunity, you know, we're not doing Easter flowers, but to do dedications honoring those you love, and we will post those when we're able to get back together.

So thank you again for your generosity and faithfulness.

And now, as our Lord and Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

May God the Father, by whose life was raised from the dead, open to you who believe the gates of everlasting life.

Amen.

God the Son, who in bursting from the grave is won a glorious victory, give you joy as you share the Easter faith.

Amen.

God the Holy Spirit, who fill the disciples with the life of the risen Lord, empower you and fill you with Christ's peace.

Amen.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be among you this day and remain with you always.

Amen.

Thanks be to God.

Hallelujah.