04/07/2026
Easter Sermon 2026
The Rev. Robin Razzino
In the Name of One God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit
I am sure you all have seen the gorgeous photos of earth that are coming in from the astronauts on the Artemis II mission. The earth looks so beautiful and so peaceful.
It is tempting to imagine that this is the view God has of the earth – especially if we have been led to believe that God abides in a heaven somehow disconnected from life here and now.
And it may be one view.
But as beautiful as it is and as much as we might want to view the world this way – as full of beauty, peace and love – we know that as our gaze narrows, and our view becomes more focused, we come to see that the beauty is too often marred by death and destruction.
Right now, in addition to the images that come to us from outer space, we see images coming from places of famine, of natural disasters, of war and conflict.
And when we see photos of bombed out buildings and mass graves, we must imagine another perspective that God has of the world – and that is the perspective of one who has been in the depths of those same graves and has come out of them.
The Easter point of view – is not from outer space as if this is where Jesus now lives with the father – but rather is from within the messiness of life as lived in a broken world.
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I can see out into the congregation and see how beautiful you all look today all dressed as you are in your Easter finest; and I can imagine that some of you may have come here simply for the annual reminder that Jesus triumphs over death (he does), or the opportunity to sing your favorite Easter hymns (we will), or to be with family members who - lets say - gently encouraged you to come.
I can imagine for some of us, it is a miracle that we are here at all (and if that is the case, for your presence I am truly grateful).
But I know some of us have come for something more than just the Easter affirmation that the Lord has risen indeed; or the hymns, the egg hunt or the photos.
Some of us need to spend some time in the story as told by Matthew in his Gospel – the one where God’s power to raise us to new life can only be captured with a story that begins in darkness, fear and trembling.
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In a post on her page this week, author Anne Lamott offered a Good Friday reflection, beginning with an exchange she had recently with a friend.
She writes, “I asked a hopeless friend recently, “What story would help you most? A story about God? A nice story about quirky miracles?”
“No, thank you,” she said.
“I’d like to hear the story about how we don’t know what’s going to happen, and how it all [stinks], and that we are scared to death, and we don’t know how we’re going to get through it.”
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I imagine Lamott’s friend is struggling in much the same way you and I are struggling with all we read in the news:
not only with war and conflict and environmental degradation, but with what is happening with Artificial Intelligence, or scandals amongst our leaders, or the price of gas, the continuing difficulties of the job market, or the day-to-day struggles of being a parent or grandparent.
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All of us need to meet an angel in the darkness who tells us not to be afraid – despite all we see and know.
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Well, this is certainly the story we get this morning. In fact, in Matthew’s account of the Resurrection we not only get the angel telling the women not to be afraid; moments later we hear Jesus saying the same thing.
God and God’s angels know – we are afraid. We don’t even need to say it ourselves. God knows.
God also knows the way out of our fear – like God knows the way out of the tomb:
Put one step in front of the other and lead with love.
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“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to the women, “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.”
Return to the place of my ministry and continue my life-saving work.
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Jesus’ answer to our fear is not only comfort - it IS that: “do not be afraid”
but it is more than that. Jesus gives us a way to move beyond our fear.
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Jesus’ answer to our fear, comes from the experience of his passion.
Jesus knows what it is to be terrified - of loneliness and abandonment, rejection and oppression, pain and death.
Jesus knows what it is to grieve.
And Jesus knows the way out of the pain, and fear and grief.
Jesus knows the way up from the pit of hell and out of the grave – because he has made that journey himself.
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I think part of what Lamott’s friend is after when she says she wants “to hear a story about how we don’t know what’s going to happen, and how it all [stinks], and that we are scared to death, and we don’t know how we’re going to get through it” is that she wants to hear a story she can trust – a story that captures the experience of living in a world that is deeply broken… of living in her world, in our world.
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I also imagine she wants to hear how we move beyond this fear, uncertainty and grief.
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Mostly though I think she wants to hear someone tell her a story that she is not alone.
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This is the story we have heard over the last week, the story of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Over the course of the services of Holy Week, we think about the this story from the perspective of Jesus as well as the men and women who followed him for three years - throughout Galilee and Judea - as he taught and preached and healed and fed - thousands upon thousands…
and who eventually followed him into a divided city fraught with tension, into the upper room,
and night time, and a garden,
into the courtyard of the governor,
and ultimately out to the garbage dump on the edge of the city, where they encountered the shadows of three crosses and the condemned men who hung from them.
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It’s a terribly sad story.
And as the story continues, Jesus’ followers return to their homes.
Jesus is laid in a tomb.
He descends to the dead.
All the way.
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But that is not the end of the story.
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The story continues with the curiosity and courage of two of Jesus’ followers.
And a new journey to the tomb and beyond.
The story continues with earthquakes and angels.
With hope.
And just enough Easter morning light to lead two women forward into a new story – or rather a new chapter of the story - written long before even they were conceived in the heart of God.
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The angel tells the frightened women that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead – as promised - by God – and that in fact he is just down the road … slightly ahead of them.
Their fear is tempered by a cautious joy.
Both emotions fighting for room in their hearts.
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Isn’t this how we live much of our lives?
Both scared…and hopeful?
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Jesus meets the women just down the road from the empty tomb; they see him and immediately fall at his feet, in worship and thanksgiving.
Jesus - having just come out from the depths of hell – reassures them: do not be afraid:
It’s all true – God has raised him from the dead and there is absolutely nothing left to fear – even when life is scary or violent and we don’t know where we are going or what we are doing or what will happen next.
“The resurrection demonstrates that God keeps promises,
that God’s mercy will prevail,
and that their’s is the kingdom of heaven (Long 323).”
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But…also… immediately upon comforting the women, Jesus gives them direction.
“Go.”
Go and tell.
There is work to do on this side of the empty tomb.
There is a world of people needing to hear the story that they are not alone. Needing to hear a story they can trust.
A story that they too, can enter into.
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So the women went…and we are invited to enter into the story.
We are invited to take our first steps into new life this morning.
Like baby steps, they may be tentative.
We may fall down again.
But our instructions are clear: just put one foot in front of the other and lead with love.
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And a new day will dawn…
And God will look on the earth God created and all whom God called good, very good…
And God will weep, and laugh, sing and mourn, reach out to us all – and lift us up…
And somehow the earth will spin and turn… and those lucky enough to look upon it from outer space will see nothing less than sheer possibility.
Alleluia. Amen.
