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“Christ Has Been Raised”
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Easter Sunrise Service
April 8, 2007
Rejoice! Let
us Rejoice! Christ has Risen! Christ has risen indeed!
Have you ever thought about it?
Have you ever thought about what it would be like if Jesus Christ was in our
world as a human being today? I’ve tried to think of it myself, especially this
Holy Week; his being alive, his being present in the world and in the church,
his sinlessness, his humbleness as the flesh and blood in our midst!
And yet, Jesus is God, his
godlikeness; and this uniting of humanity and divinity completed only in the
resurrection of the dead. Today we think of Christ being raised in his human-ness
AND in his divine nature–we must keep that in mind when we think of who our God
is on this Easter morn. Our text in I Corinthians is the proclamation of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the living Christ. Today we worship Christ, alive,
our risen Lord! Hosanna; hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the
Name of the Lord!
I want to read a most gratifying
poem, it’s a prayer by one of my favorite old testament theologians, Walter
Brueggemann. I saw and heard him early on in my theological classes at Edgewood
(2000) and have many of his books for references. He recently wrote this Easter
prayer:
Christ is risen. He is risen
indeed!
You Easter one; you who stalk the earth with new life,
you who soar the heavens
with fresh governance,
you who traipse the seas
with odd authority
You life-giver, you a strange anomaly among us,
For everywhere are signs
of death:
...Benjamin taken in his
youth
our tax dollars at work
in Iraq,
endless diagnoses among
our friends
too much money and too
little health care
your church here and
there nearly consumed with anxiety for itself.
And yet you appear here and there, now and then:
you say, “Fear not,” and
we are comforted.
you say, “Peace I give to
you,” and we are less restless,
you say, “ Go and sin no
more,” and we glimpse a new innocence,
you say and we listen,
you act and we are
healed,
you ...and us,
you and life,
you and newness,
you for us,
you with us,
you, you, you,
and we are dazzled in our gratitude. AMEN.
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