A sermon preached at Mattins on Easter Day at Guildford Cathedral. The texts were Genesis 1:1-5, 26-end and 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:2 . The curious thing about preaching at mattins is that unlike at Evensong/Eucharist, the lectionary doesn't set a text which tells of the woman confronting an empty tomb or one of the vivid and moving encounters with the risen Christ. Instead we are caught up in the movement from creation (Genesis) and new creation (in Paul). It is an opportunity to ponder the nature of the goodness for which we are made - and the hope of transformation. Resurrection is both an event and a lived reality.
Alleluia: Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed: alleluia!
‘What happens when children rewrite the house rules?’ asked an article yesterday’s Guardian Magazine.
No bedtime, no tidying up and no arguing; sweets for breakfast and pizza for supper; watching more TV...
In light-hearted way, the ‘experiment’ expresses the contradictions of our human nature: the use and misuse of our freedom; our needs versus our wants; the distractions and power struggles; our tendency to selfish and our longing to spend more time with those we love.
Participants name the addictiveness of sugar and technology; the frustration of chaos and the delight of playfulness.
They recognise the demands of responsibility, kindness, gratitude, self-control and forgiveness.
Perhaps we have our own relational epiphanies - at home for at work: of realising we’ve been so busy we’ve neglected to have fun; or that our unconstrained choices have been unhealthy for us.
In our corporate life too we experience the limitations and possibilities of our freedoms and desires, of rules and power. We long for something more: more sustainable, hopeful and compassionate.
Today, we are directed back to the fundamental goodness of creation and the potential of human life to be a blessing.
Alleluia!
Today, we celebrate the triumph of God’s love over suffering and death; resurrection renews creaturely goodness, potential and blessing.
Christ is risen!
We are a new creation. The future unfolding before us now is one of hope and of reconciliation; of being made one with God and each other.
Christ is risen indeed: alleluia!
Genesis reminds us that God calls the world into being: that creation is to be diverse, beautiful, fruitful and harmonious. From the first day until the sixth day, it’s a poetic vision of goodness.
We are called into being by a word; by a breath. God choses to make space for us in creation and invites us to listen, response and act.
We are one with creation, reflecting the likeness of God. We are commanded to care for the world whilst remaining dependent on its fragility. Obedience to one rule of love fulfils creation’s purpose: unity, beauty, playfulness and joy.
This love is risky: goodness and life given in freedom means that we can be like children making up our own rules, we do not always chose what is healthy. We fulfil our desires in self-indulgence; we grasp what we want; we exploit people, opportunities and resources.
But God doesn’t stop reaching out to us: in a generous, self-giving and powerful movement of love.
When the goodness of creation is distorted by our selfishness or when relationships are broken; when we face addiction, anxiety and conflict, God continues to call us back to his ways of love.
Alleluia!
The words of scripture echo with that call to compassionate and generous love: on the lips of prophets and exiles, in poets and rulers, in the grief-stricken and hopeful.
God so desires unity with us and goodness for us, that words of justice, mercy, peace and love are most eloquently revealed in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.
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In all that he said and did, Jesus reveals both who God is and who humankind is called to be. He meets the contradictions of our human nature. In our tears, laughter, shame and fulfilment; in our curiosity, hurts, playfulness and greed he loves us.
Alleluia!
He loves us in the chaos and beauty of our lives: he will not let us go - however big our dreams or failures; however small our hopes or anxieties. He loves us in all the stuff of life: in feasting, questioning, storms and suffering, from cross to grave and into new life.
Christ is risen!
And as we crack open our hollow chocolate Easter eggs, we are reminded afresh of an empty tomb and of the depth of that love. A love that reconciles all things. Restoring the goodness, unity and blessing of creation.
It’s a love which brings joy out of grief; hope out of despair; life out of death.
Alleluia!
God’s response to our human tendency to make our own rules to satisfy what we want, is to love us. To love us in a way which gives us all we need. Dying for all, that all might live. That we might live no longer for ourselves.
Alleluia!
God’s will for us is a life of generosity, humility, gratitude, justice, mercy, trust and a depth of relationship that is full of joy and delight.
This is goodness.
We are new creation.
Now is the day of salvation.
We are ambassadors.
Entrusted with a message of reconciliation.
Of new life.
Of deep love.
Alleluia: Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed: alleluia!
© Julie Gittoes 2018
