Sermon Delivered at Church of the Good Shepherd
Fort Lee, New Jersey,
Easter III, May 1, 2022, at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m.
By The Rev. Stephen Galleher
RESURRECTION
EVERYWHERE AND WHEN!
“Sing to the Lord, you servants of his…Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning. You have
turned my wailing into dancing; you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.”
(Psalm 30:4,6,12)
In the midst of persecutions and executions, there is healing. While death surrounded the early church as it
grappled with the news of Jesus’ appearances, there was also a sense of exhilaration and joy that something new
had burst, was bursting into our world. This is the paradox of our existence, isn’t it? That sometimes just at the
very worst time, the penny drops, the sun pierces through the clouds…and, yes, sometimes it happens just as we
close our eyes for the very last time.
Who can fathom this paradox? That out of despair, comes hope; out of hopelessness, comes a faithful
resignation that all is well and all manner of things shall be well.
2
This is probably part of the reason that so many of us hang in there. After all, the church doesn’t draw folks
in the way it did in previous generations, even a short while ago. Something fails to attract them. Something
doesn’t speak to the deepest part of them. For, make no mistake, there are dark shadows in each of our lives. There
are longings too deep for words, tears that are shed behind closed doors as folks are unable to open their eyes and
see the glory that shines all about them. The church is here to open our eyes, either for the first time or once
again—to shout that the Lord is risen, and you are risen with God. His divinity is engrafted into you by Baptism.
Remember in the old Milton Berle comedy hour when someone would run out on stage and take a big mitt of
powder and yell, “Makeup!” as he slapped Uncle Milty’s face. “Thanks,” I can hear us say, “We needed that.”
That’s why comedy is so special. It cuts through all the tragic narratives we keep repeating and invites us out to
play, even when the sky is full of clouds and Chicken Little seems in charge of our narrative.
Jesus appears to his disciples right where they are in their lives, on the seashore, at a meal. We don’t have to
work our way up to God, God leans over like a loving father and touches us right smack where we are!
3
I was musing the other day with a friend about just how very, very little I know about anything. It boggles
my mind. I was curious, I shared with him, as to whether the future comes to us or do we go towards the future?
What’s moving and where—we to the future or the future to us. My friend replied, amused, “Why should I care?
What difference does it make?”
Perhaps not much difference at all. But perhaps I like mental riddles. We speak of time “flying,” but where
does it fly from and where does it fly to? Does it move at all? We remember the famous line of King Macbeth in
the Shakespeare play, “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow/Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” I, for
one, wish it would creep a little slower.
And then I wonder do I really know who I am? I love the question, because no matter how much my mind
wants to tell me all about me, especially unkind things about me, I truly don’t really know. Do you know? Or, like
my friend again, “Why should we care?”
4
We should care, I suggest, because whatever we say about who we are, most of us paint a rather dim picture
of ourselves. Human nature is the great understater, the great underestimater of our true worth. I say “true worth”
as if I know for sure. But if God is God, then it just must be that we are glorious products of God’s handiwork.
How sad, and how irreverent, that we think less of ourselves than what God thinks of us. God doesn’t disparage or
dismiss God’s creation. On the contrary, he revels in it. Look at the glorification of Jesus. The story of Jesus is not
a sad story; it is a happy story, because it turns the very worst that could happen to a human being and declares it
ok. Spoiler alert: everything is going to be ok. This is our faith, our proclamation and this is our mission: to
proclaim this good news to every single living creature on earth.
Amen.