Easter 2008

There’s a definition of a pessimist which says, ‘A pessimist is someone who can hardly wait for the future just so he can look back with regret.’ On the other hand there was a schoolboy who took a very optimistic view of life when he brought home his school report one day; It was an awful report, filled with poor grades. "What have you to say about this?" asked his father. "One thing for sure," the boy replied, "Dad, you can be proud of me. You know I haven't been cheating!"

In every area of life it seems there are pessimists and optimists, and the Church is obviously no different, but today offers us a very stark and powerful reminder that there is no place for pessimism as we follow Christ.

On Good Friday most of the disciples had left Jesus, they had run fearful for their own lives, disillusioned with the seeming collapse of their organisation – there would have been few who had any hint of optimism amongst the followers of Jesus… And who can really blame them.

On that first Good Friday, the person upon whom they had placed their hopes, the person they had given up so much to follow, the person who seemed to promise so much, was hanging on a cross, shortly to be placed dead inside a garden tomb…

Yes, they had reasons for being pessimistic, but soon, as we know, their misery was turned to joy, their despair to hope, their defeat to victory, and their fear to courage.

The victory that Jesus achieved on the cross was a wonderful turning point for the whole of history. The powers of evil and darkness couldn’t destroy him though they used everything they could find to try and do so – even the crucifixion to end his life once and for all.

But it wasn’t the end ! Jesus rose from the dead, to live for evermore, and to offer his people everywhere a share in that amazing new life…

And yet we so often are willing to live as pessimists rather than as optimists… There’s a story about a singing group called "The Resurrection" who were scheduled to sing at a church. When a big snowstorm postponed the performance, the Minister put up a notice saying, "Resurrection is postponed."

Sadly there are many that would think this if they look at our Churches at times… We talk as if we’re constantly fighting a losing battle, and very close to admitting defeat – attendances in our Church is down, well that’s not even true; attendances in the country are falling, well, that’s also not true ! People are no longer interested in God, well all of the evidence seems to suggest that isn’t true either… We need more young people, we need some middle aged people to take on more responsibility, we need some more elderly housebound people to take the harvest parcels to !!!

A lot of time it seems is taken up on knocking ourselves down, and today is the day when we are reminded that we have cause for optimism. We all have gifts, we all have talents, we all have many blessings in our lives – yes, there will be times when things don’t seem so good, but as Christians, today reminds us that we are never without hope, because we live our lives as part of a family whose head has even conquered death…

There is nothing that God cannot do. Someone once said, ‘Remember this: Easter is not just a holy event that happened almost 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. It is a little Easter on whatever day we discover our need for the love of God, and when we discover that all the Good Fridays of our lives cannot destroy the love God has for us.’

Last week I mentioned a Church in America called The Winners Church – I’m not sure I like the sound of it completely, but people are attracted because people are attracted to success stories – the bigger the Church, the more attractive it seems to many. It’s part of human nature – young football supporters don’t usually start supporting Accrington Stanley, they’ll support Liverpool or Manchester United or Arsenal – success breeds success.

And we are part of a family with success running right at the very core. Jesus spells success. He came down to earth as a relatively poor child in a struggling family, living in a country oppressed by foreign rule, and he rose to become the most famous figure in history. On the way he challenged authorities, he upset the religious rulers, he overthrew tables, he criticised important people, he ignored those who others bowed down to, and then he died….

But he rose again, and that is the message we preach today – Jesus crucified, but Jesus alive again. And he is as alive today as he was when he came out of the tomb 2000 years ago, and today he calls his people to shout that message out across the land, and across the world.

There is no place for pessimism in the Church... Jesus was dead, but he is alive !

2000 years ago lives were transformed by the appearance of the risen Christ. New journeys began for so many people, people who had followed him such as Peter, people who had persecuted him, people who may not even have ever heard of him before – today lives are still being transformed by the power of Christ…

Easter Day is the day when we celebrate resurrection, but we must not stop there – we must seek to live out the excitement, the challenge and the love of Christ amongst all the people we meet…

There’s a poem part of which I have included in the news sheet today, which reads,

‘Some of us stay at the cross, some of us wait at the tomb,
Quickened and raised with Christ yet lingering still in the gloom.
Some of us 'bide at the Passover feast with Pentecost all unknown,
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place that our Lord has made His own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross, His work had been incomplete.
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat,
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross and the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place where the risen Lord has gone.’

Every one of us has at some time or another I’m sure been guilty of pessimism, because that’s what we’re like, but let us pray that in the future we may put our hopes in the risen Christ, knowing that in and through him, we will conquer anything that comes our way, and proclaim his name and his power and his love, until our Churches are full, and our communities are resounding with his praise. AMEN