Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. 

Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed!! Hallelujah!! Needless to say this is so odd. I can't really tell if you are responding, or if you are responding with enthusiasm. I suppose you could text me with all caps and add few exclamation points. If you are in the parking lot listening there would also be the option of honking the horn as a response. 

A pandemic, a novel corona virus has killed more than 100,000 people around the globe and even though infections are beginning to taper off in some places the projection models show the peak has not yet arrived in many places, including here in South Dakota. In addition there is snow here in Rapid City. I am not sure what the total was this morning, but there is a good deal of snow out there. I sent an email to my colleagues in the downtown congregations, the ones with whom we normally celebrate Easter Sunrise in Main Street Square. I am saddened that we did not get to do that this year because of the pandemic. Although given the weather, my sadness has been greatly reduced. Although I know you faithful folks would have shown up in your snow boots and parkas, a couple of you might even have brought your snowshoes. 

In any case, despite all that, Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed!! Hallelujah!! That is the beauty of Easter. That is the joy and wonder of Easter. That is the amazing and marvelous and wonderful beyond degree. Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed!! The news is so marvelous and the news will not be stopped. This Eastertide reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas specials, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The Grinch of course was plotting and planning and working on how he could stop Christmas from coming. Spoiler alert, he couldn't. Neither will the celebration of Easter be stopped. It is not as it should be. It is not what we would like it to be. All those amazing altar guild ladies should have dressed the altar. The procession should have processed. The curtain in front of the cross should be pulled back. All the while the congregation would be singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” And Martha would get to pull out all the stops. 

Still it is Easter. Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed Hallelujah!! As I think about it though, those we have gathered here inside the building in order to lead worship over KOTA this morning would have outnumbered those first visitors to the tomb on that first Easter morning. Only two women went in Matthew's telling of the story. The disciples, the rest of that inner circle of the followers of Jesus, they had quarantined themselves. They were afraid that arrest and execution might be catching. That is what had been done to their leader, maybe they should lay as low as possible for as long as possible until all this blows over. Maybe they should keep as much distance between themselves and any who might accuse or arrest them. 

The fears or maybe the reasons are different, but the end is the same. What is going to happen? What will the days ahead be like? How will we get through the days ahead? Who else will be taken from us? Who will we have to say good-bye to? Some of the fears are actually quite the same. This Easter, as unusual as it is, may be a lot more like that first Easter than the ones we are used to. 

Does that make the promise of Easter ring truer, sound sweeter? I know, in the midst it is hard. There is so much disruption. When was the last time you hugged someone that you do not live with? When was the last time you were able to sit and have a cup of coffee in any of those fine establishments in our fair city? When was the last time you didn't make as much space as possible for the person passing you in the aisle at the grocery store? When was the last time you saw the shelves fully stocked with toilet paper? 

This virus, this pandemic has rocked our world. It has shaken to the core the rituals and the habits of daily life and death has done its work. There are now over 100,000 deaths that have been attributed to CO-VID 19. What is next? Who is next? That is the fear isn't it? That is the unknown, the uncertainty. This Easter is unlike any Easter I have ever experienced. It is certainly as needed as any I have ever experienced. It is Easter. Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed!! Hallelujah!! It may not be a shout today as all of what is happening swirls around us. Maybe it is only a whisper. Maybe the words do not come at all, so heavy do the days lay upon you. 

That is okay. That is why we are given the gift of each other. That is why there is the beautiful gift of congregation and fellowship and those others in Christ who hold you right now. In our prayers we do and will hold you. With our confession of He is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!! we will carry you until once more the confession is yours as well. 

I wonder, do you ever think we get confused about the promises which God makes. God has never promised that our worship services would always be grand, that our churches would overflow, that our economy will always be growing, that our health is guaranteed, or that our lives and future would unfold as we’d hoped and planned. God – in and through the incarnated, crucified, and risen Christ – has never promised any of that. Instead, at the heart of the Gospel is the promise that God is both with us and for us at all times and through all conditions. In sorrow or joy, triumph or tragedy, gain or loss, peace or fear, scarcity or plenty, God is present.

In the cross God promises that, while always available to us, God meets us especially where we most need God, and often least expect to find God, in hardship, struggle, loss, and death. Because of the cross, that is, no experience, no matter how difficult or awful, and no person, no matter how sinful or lost, is truly God forsaken, because God is always where we most need God to be. And in the resurrection, God promises that all the harsh realities of this life – hardship, struggle, loss, fear, disease, hunger, death – these realities – though painful they most certainly are – do not have the last word. Death does not have the last word. Rather the resurrection promises that God’s light is more powerful than darkness, that God’s love is stronger than hate, and that the life God offers through Christ prevails over all things, even death itself. Christ is Risen!! He is Risen Indeed!! Hallelujah!!

Christ prevails. Jesus wins. Death does not and will not and never will have the last word. The last word is not death's to speak. That belongs to Jesus, always that belongs to Jesus. The angel came and rolled away the stone, then took a break and sat down on it. Since it was early morning do you think there was a cup of coffee involved, or whatever similar beverage there would have been? The angel rolled away the stone so that Jesus could speak that last word. Death is not the end. Death does not win. The power of death often seems oh so strong, but death does not win. Jesus does. Jesus does and once out of the tomb he is out and loose in the world and calling us to come, come and meet him out there, out here in the world. 

For the disciples it was Galilee. For you, where are you to go to meet Jesus? Here's a little tip, it ain't that far. For Jesus is all around you in the friend, in the neighbor, in the one you love dearly and in the one who makes you crazy. As you care for them you are caring for Jesus. As you care for those who need you you are on the side of life, you are on the side of the one who beat death and walked out of the tomb. You are living the good life of an Easter person. We are Easter people and our confession is and always will be do your worst death, we know you do not win. You will never win. Jesus wins and because he wins we win. 

This morning we read Matthew's story. We could have also read John's story. You know it well of course also. John tells us of the encounter between Jesus and Mary. John tells us of Jesus calling Mary by name and in hearing her name she recognizes who he is. He simply calls her by name. “Mary,” he says, and suddenly she sees and believes and trusts and is brought to new life. At the heart of this story is the recognition that resurrection heralds not simply the defeat of death and promise of life – which are really, really big things!! – but also that God is accessible to us, that God will not abandon us, that God desires more than anything to be in relationship with us, that God continues to call us by name. Jesus continues to call us by name, calling us to new life. 

Called by name, have you ever been called by someone who loves you, no doubt about it? Have you ever had the gift of being called by name in such a way that you know exactly who you are? Jesus calls Mary and she knows who he is and she knows who she is. You are called by name so that you may know who you are, so that you may know exactly who you are child of God. You are called by the risen one. You are called by our savior. By name you are called by Jesus. You are called to life by the one death could not defeat. He is Risen!! He Is Risen Indeed!! Hallelujah!! and he calls you by name dear child of God.