The theme for this Easter Sunday is "TO BEAR THE RESURRECTIVE SPIRIT" .The texts are, from the prophet Isaiah: "On this mountain God will destroy the grave-shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations!'" From Paul's Letter to the Colossians: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" And, from the Gospel of Luke: "Two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening said to the women at the tomb, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here, but has risen!' And so the women told these words to the eleven-but their words seemed to them an idle tale!" Let us pray. . .

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And so it is that once again we have come to the day of Easter, the highest of holy days in the life of the Christian Church-the day when worshipers come out of the wood-work decked out in their Easter finest to celebrate the notion that Jesus has literally risen from the dead. Maundy Thursday's embarrassing and uncomfortable humility is over, the pain and persecution of Good Friday has past, and Easter's adulation and acclaim breaks forth around the world with clarity and with triumph! The music is magnificent, the liturgy is uplifting, and everything seems to be so right, and so well, and so CONFIDENTLY certain!

How interesting, then, that the characters in our Gospel lesson from Luke this morning are not so sure and steady when it comes to the topic of the literal, physical, BODILY resurrection of Jesus. Luke's introduction of Easter's "good news", if we listen closely, is odd, and, if the truth be told, rather ambiguous. For as Luke recounts, on the first day of the week a group of women go to Jesus' tomb, only to find that the massive stone which once blocked its entrance has been rolled away and the tomb is vacant and empty. The women, as Luke reports, are highly "perplexed" by this strange scene. Then two men in dazzling clothes appear to them, and the women, Luke asserts, are overcome with tremendous "terror!" In the end the women tell this news about an empty tomb to the disciples-but their tale, as Luke says, is deemed to be "an idle one"-not worthy of acceptance or acknowledgment. Even Peter, Jesus' most trustworthy follower, goes to the tomb himself just to check out all this nonsense, and, as Luke describes it, after seeing the scattered grave-cloths on the ground, leaves the scene "bewildered" and "confused".

And so the whole first section of Luke's resurrection account passes by without one single positive verb to describe the responses of Jesus' followers. Even later in Luke's story, when Jesus ethereally appears to the eleven, the only description of the disciples' reaction is that "they were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost!"

How ironic, then, that Luke's narrative presents, as my conservative brothers and sisters would say, the literal, physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus in such non-triumphant language! How strange that there is no talk of celebration but only of confusion, no reference to praise but only to puzzlement, no description of festivity but only of fear! Why, in God's name-when it comes to the most seminal and significant moment in Christian faith-would Luke have his characters be so fuzzy about their facts and so unclear in their understanding of this event? Why weren't they amazed, and joyful, and ecstatic? For you see, if they didn't "get it" then, how in God's name are we supposed to "get it" now?

It is the Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong who writes, "The literalization of the Easter event has become the defining heresy of traditional Protestant Christianity! What the mind cannot believe the heart can never finally embrace!" So if you have come this morning to have a literal interpretation of Jesus' resurrecetion confirmed by me, then you have come to hear the wrong preacher this Easter morn! But if you want to "get in on this Easter stuff"-if you want to become the bearer of Christ's ressurective spirit in a way where you don't have to shut off your mind--then hang in with me for just a little bit longer.

For you see, I want to argue that the author of Luke hoped that his readers would come to see and to sense that the story of Jesus' transformation was meant to become their story as well, a story meant to involve each of them in its resurrective story-line! For even though we might not be aware of it, Luke, through his non-triumphant recount of Jesus' rising, is attempting to elicit and evoke a response in us. Through his use of doubt in his narrative story-exemplified through the perplexed women, and the disbelieving disciples, and a skeptical and confused Peter-Luke thrusts us right into the text. Luke asks us to make a decision-the decision of whether we will follow Christ not only to his death but also into the new life God holds for us all! Will we, unlike the characters in Luke's Gospel, believe that God can truly transform death and despair-a promise that is given and granted to each of us if we are willing to vacate our own tombs of despondency and doubt, trepidation and fear? Can we, ourselves, be celebratory rather than confused when we hear the incredible news that Christ's presence is no longer to be found among the dead but rather he is now to be found among the living--not as a resuscitated body but as a resurrective Spirit? What will we say, here and now this Easter morn as progressive Christians, and how will our own lives, and the lives of those around us, be affected by such good and grace-filled news?

Sadly enough, I think it is far easier for us to remember and recount the Easter story than it is for us to really respond to it-and the author of Luke knows this quite well! As Christians we have long been taught to cope with sorrow, and to bear up under pressure, and to endure life's trials and tribulations. Such lessons are all part of Jesus' ministry and message-to be sure. But following Jesus not only into death but also into new life should move us further still--for when was the last time someone encouraged you to cope with gladness, or to bear up under ecstasy, or to endure peace and grace and love. Make no mistake about it! Joy, and exultation, praise and renewal, loss of fear and a full embrace of new life is also part of Jesus' message-a message confirmed and made real by God's resurrective act of grace which throws open every darkened tomb we would try to fabricate or construct.

So here is Easter's pointed and progressive question! -- In what tombs are we ourselves buried away and confined this day? Where have we clearly cut ourselves off from God's true light and life?

Maybe we are trapped in a tomb of deep pain and dark loneliness because we don't believe that anyone can like us, or love us, or care about who we really are? Maybe we are locked away in a tomb of self-hate and fear because we can't be open and honest about our deepest doubts and our darkest fears? Maybe we are hidden away in a tomb of insecurity or self-doubt because we can't believe and trust the gifts and graces God has given us to use in productive and not destructive ways? Maybe we are bound up in a tomb of depression and guilt because a marriage has failed, or a meaningful relationship has fallen apart, or because we have kept a secret we thought we could never share with others? Maybe we are sealed up in a tomb of cynicism because we can't believe we can change the destructive paths of our government's leaders or alter the world's raging and warring madness? "Where are we buried and entombed?", the Easter story asks us! "Where have we laid ourselves away?"

Don't forget this Easter morn that Luke makes us part of, and participants in, his Easter story-and we can doubt that, or dismiss that, or deem it to be an idle tale! But if you are willing to believe, as Luke's first readers believed, that the life of the Spirit=Person Jesus was a reflection of what we can Divinely become and be; if you are willing to believe, as Luke's first readers believed, that Jesus was the portrait of the destiny available to all who embrace the Holy Spirit; if you are willing to believe, as Luke's first readers believed, that even in the face of a brutal death at the hands of the Powers-That-Be, still Jesus' love and grace and peace manifests itself resurrectively in those who follow on his way; and if you believe, as Luke's first readers believed, that by embracing Christ's ressurrective Spirit, each and every one of us can come alive in a new way, then yes, you too can find the strength to leave the darkness of those tombs that bind you so tight and hold you so strong!

And if that sounds ludicrous to you-like some idle tale-it is only because God's grace is found most fully in the realm of the ridiculous. The very places inside us that we feel are the darkest and the most unlovable are the very places that the resurrective spirit of Jesus first embraces. For you see, if we are unwilling to let him into the darkest parts of our beings, we will never let him touch the rest of us! Don't forget that during his life Jesus dined with those who were outcast and despised. But in his resurrective Spirit he also dines with the outcast and the despised part within each one of us this day-calling us to arise and to awaken to a new life where we are freed from the restrictive grave-clothes of fear and failure, hate and hurt, pride and pain!

So do this for me this Easter morn! Take a moment and look around you at all of the lives that cross yours-family members, partners. close friends, and companions on the way. You did not choose these folk. Perhaps you would not choose them given half the chance! Yet they are the very ones to whom you are to go to have your tomb stones rolled away and your grave-cloths untied and cast aside. For you see, tombs are meant only to hold the dead, but the freeing act of resurrection happens in the care and context of Christ's radical community-among a body of Easter people who believe that tombs can in fact be vacated and left empty! And here is the amazing thing! Such a community of believers can go forth and tell the world that it is no idle tale to think that people can be healed of their hurts, or freed from their fears, or relieved of their pain. Such a community of believers can go forth and tell the world that it is no idle tale to believe that a person's race, or class, or gender, or sexual orientation will not always determine that person's future share of happiness and well being. It is no idle tale to believe that the Church can be broken open and freed of its non-inclusive prejudices and practices. It is no idle tale to believe that people, who have been too long divided because of class, or creed, or condition, can, and will, one day sit down together at the table of equity, and of love, and of justice. It is no idle tale to believe that sons can make up with their fathers and daughters can know again their mother's love. It is no idle tale that true peace can flourish and real hope can take root in places torn apart by war, and hate, and neglect.

And if you want to find your place in such a radical reality this day, and if you want to be part of such an incredible story, then there is no better place to begin than right here-right now- with the people God has placed before you in your life. Take the time, make the time to reach out to them-and let them reach out to you. Be strong for them when they are weak and bruised, and let them be strong for you when you are weary and broken. Be willing to let your Palo Alto guard down-putting away your arrogance and your anger once and for all. Be vulnerable and risk-as Jesus so taught and lived! And above all else, love-unashamedly and without fear! And guess what. When you live as such all that will be left will be empty tombs and discarded grave-cloths!

We are all children of God and bears of Christ's resurrective Spirit-so let our Easters begin today! AMEN