Sermons

The Resurrection of our Lord.

The celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ constitutes an essential element in Christian faith and practice. Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity!

The resurrection of Jesus provides a vision for not only of new life, but of a new world. St. Paul spoke of it this way: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." II Corinthians 5:17. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has emphasized in recent statement, the resurrection is not an appendage, a doctrine you can stick on to a Christianity that exists independently of it. The resurrection of Jesus is Christianity. This means that Easter becomes the starting point for all Christian thinking and living, challenging all other starting points. This is where the followers of Jesus must orient themselves clearly if they are to follow him truly.

As we participate in the celebration of the Resurrection, we should recommit and rededicate ourselves to live in the present as 'resurrection people'. In Colossians 3:15 St. Paul describes our way of life as 'resurrection people': "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above... (and) put to death... whatever in you is earthly." Resurrection people open their hearts and lives to the God who raised Jesus from the dead and allow His Holy Spirit to lead them to a deepen trust and faith, to look with a clear eye at the moral choices they face and to say 'no' even if it really hurts, when faced with subtle and powerful temptations.

If we travel this road, we will discover that God is mightily at work in all relationships, our emotions, our work and our varied endeavours, renewing and transforming us in the image and likeness of our risen Saviour and Lord. Above all else, we will discover that new life and world opened up before us, though they will be fulfilled in the life yet to come, begin here and now.

Let us gladly embrace this new life offered by the resurrection of Jesus and assist in bringing others into saving contact with the risen, glorified and ascended Lord of Lords and King of Kings.