Sermon
Pascha
2009
In one of my many conversations with
people this Lent, someone shared a quote with me that was very profound: People crown success. God crowns effort. People measure success in terms of money,
accomplishments, looks, and talents. That’s
why not being liked makes people feel sad.
That’s why getting the short end of the stick makes them mad. That’s why in difficult times it makes us
fearful.
God crowns effort, with a measure that
only He knows. We will hear later in the
Homily of
It’s not what time one arrives that is
important in the eyes of God. It’s how
much effort that person gives once they arrive.
So even if one is really late in getting God into their lives, that’s
okay, provided they give a good and sincere effort. That is really a comforting thought. Each night of this year’s Holy Week we’ve
examined a one-word theme—we began last Palm Sunday night with the theme of
vigilance, and since then we’ve covered sincerity, repentance, healing,
sacrifice and love, which brings us to tonight’s theme, which is hope.
One of the greatest gifts God has given
to us is the opportunity for new beginnings.
I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to bed having had an awful
day, totally spent and sad, and yet the next day when I wake up, I am full of
hope for what the new day will bring.
Thank God life isn’t just one long day that never ends, but new days,
weeks, months, seasons and years provide us with ample opportunities for new
beginnings and new hope. Tonight is one
of those times where God again affords us a chance for a new spiritual
beginning, a chance for a renewed effort.
Many tears have been shed in this
church this week. Some of them tears of
repentance, and some of them tears of sorrow.
But in all of them, we still find the Lord. And as the Lord still found love, forgiveness
and strength even in His suffering, we can feel His presence, His peace, and
His love when we are suffering. It’s at
times like these that we have to take spiritual tools like vigilance,
sincerity, repentance, healing, sacrifice, love and hope and dig in to
fight. For as long as we fight on the
side of Christ, the challenges of life will never overcome us. The themes for tonight are joy and hope—joy
that Christ is Risen from the dead, joy that there is hope for each person who
believes, no matter who he or she is, a hope that overshadows even the worst of
times—one can lose a job, a friend, a loved one, but no one can ever take away
God from you, no one can ever take away hope from you.
The state of our world today hopefully
has made this Holy Week and Pascha even more meaningful, for if there is no
Resurrection, then there is no hope, and passage from this world is death, for
death is absence from God. And just as
Hades took the body of Christ and encountered God, and could not contain God,
so too when death encounters a person of God, it cannot consume that person,
who passes from earth and goes directly to God, precisely because death cannot
hold a Godly person. Our struggles, our
sorrows, our bad days will be short-lived if we live them with God. For with God, every bad day is made better,
every struggle is made easier, and when life on earth is over, it is but a
second in the span of eternity, and the one who has fought well, will enjoy the
spoils of victory forever and to the ages of ages. This is why we proclaim, O death where is
your sting? Hades, where is your
victory? Christ is Risen and you are
annihilated!
Our hope is based not on the economy,
or popularity, or riches, or good looks or life accomplishments. It is based on the saving work of Jesus
Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection from the dead and our sincere effort
making Jesus Christ the focal point of our lives.
In a moment, we will again receive the
Light of the Resurrected Christ. It will
again be a chance for us to make a new start.
For those who are in sorrow, receive the light with joy. For those lacking confidence, receive it with
re-assurance. For those who have come at the 11th hour, don’t take
the light and leave—start making an effort tonight to let that light burn
brightly in your life. For those who
train has gone off the tracks, here is your chance to get right back on. For those who are happily shining in the
light of God’s love, receive it with confidence. And for those who are still
not sure, receive the Light as a gift, and pledge to make an effort to try, to come
and to ask your questions, not because you owe God, but because you owe
yourself—it’s your eternal salvation that is at stake. Let all things now begin anew in the light of
the Resurrected Christ, and let us come and receive His light with a renewed enthusiasm
for fighting against the afflictions of the world and fighting for the things
of God. For with God, we can possess
nothing, but still have everything. Remember,
people crown success. God crowns effort.
At the foot of Christ’s cross, we cried
tears of sadness; tonight let our tears be tears of joy, and let us exclaim
with confidence, with power, with glory, with faith, with hope and in triumph,
that Christ is Risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death and to
those in the tombs He bestows life. Come
receive the Light from the everlasting Light and glorify Christ who is risen
from the dead.