Test Driving Theology

L:  Christ is risen!  C:  Christ is risen indeed!

Alleluia! 

There are some words that carry immense power…words that we hear and they brighten our day…or they bring joy…or they change who we are.

• Words like “I love you.”  
• Words like “I do.”
• Words like “Your tests came back negative.”
• Or maybe, “I’d like to offer you the position.”
• Or, “Yes, we’ll accept your offer.”
• Or, it’s a girl…or a boy…

Think about the power of words. Throughout history, we’ve seen how words can inspire, motivate, and even shape nations. 

• Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “I have a dream,” and millions moved toward justice. 
• Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “A government of the people, by the people, for the people,” and redefined democracy. 
• Martin Luther said “Here I stand.  I can do no other.”  And the reformation was born…and we are inheritors of that legacy.

Words have power.  For the past six weeks, during the season of Lent, at Trinity, we have been focusing our time in worship on “Words that Change the World.”  The words and wisdom of Jesus that has affected our lives and our faith.  We talked about the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, the parables, the words at the Last Supper, and other important teachings of Jesus.

But the words we focus on today carry even greater power, for they are words of ultimate hope, eternal life, and unbreakable promise.  

Let’s think for just a moment about the women who approached Jesus’ tomb early that first Easter morning. They came in grief, expecting death, expecting to care for the lifeless body of their teacher and friend. But instead, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and two men, in dazzling white…presumably angels, who asked the women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” 

At that moment, their grief was transformed into awe, their tears into shouts of joy.  And I visualize these women running, not walking, but running, back to the other disciples to tell them this incredible news:  “Chris is risen!  Just like he promised!”  

And today, Christians around the globe, something like 2.38 billion of us, are all gathering in churches, like just like this one…to celebrate these words…words that were spoken first 2,000 years ago…words that are spoken today on Easter, and whenever people of faith gather.

Here are the words.  Are you ready?  Because we are going to do this together:

“Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!”

Friends, today we gather in joy and celebration. Because these words…they are the greatest…the most important words ever spoken…and they echo through our hearts and minds: “Christ has risen. Christ has risen indeed!” These simple, yet extraordinary words have changed everything. They have transformed despair into hope, shadow into light, and death into life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran pastor and theologian, once wrote from a Nazi prison cell, “God does not give us everything we want, but God does fulfill all promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to himself.” Easter is the proof of this promise fulfilled. Christ has risen indeed, and because of that, death no longer has the final word.  Death no longer has the final word.

This past week has been a hard week here…a very hard week for our community.  On Wednesday, we laid to rest Matthias Meester, the infant son of Pastor Chris, and his wife, Laurel, who also serves as a pastor in Blooming Prairie.

It was all so hard…so emotional, for all of us.  At the visitation on Tuesday night in our Fellowship Hall, I was just walking around, talking to people…checking in with them.  And one of our faithful Trinity elders…someone who had been a part of this congregation for…I don’t know… probably longer than I’ve been alive…came up to me, their eyes red from crying.  I could see her pain for Chris, for Laurel, for Eliora.  This woman took me by the arm and squeezed…and she said to me “I just don’t have words…I just don’t…all I can do is trust in Jesus and the resurrection.” 

The words of this faithful saint took my breath away.  “…All I can do is trust in Jesus and the resurrection.”  

Pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner famously wrote, “Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.” Let me say that again:  Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.

Friends, whatever burdens you carry, whatever grief you experience, whatever fears grip your heart, whatever darkness threatens your joy, know this: because Christ has risen, the worst thing will never be the final thing in your life. There is always hope. There is always resurrection.

Even in the brokenness and chaos of our world, these words echo boldly. In moments of tragedy and loss, we whisper them as prayerful hope. In moments of celebration and joy, we shout them as triumphant praise. Christ has risen. Christ has risen indeed! And in these words, we find courage, strength, and endless renewal.

The apostle Paul grasped this deeply. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he passionately proclaimed, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead” Paul knew firsthand how resurrection changes lives; his own life was transformed by encountering the risen Jesus. And through his writings…his wisdom…countless lives across generations have been changed, including ours today.

But resurrection and healing are not always these big events…these moments of lightning and thunder…these moments when the stone is rolled away.  Sometimes resurrection change is quieter…more subtle…more nuanced. 

I recently heard a story about a woman from the Twin Cities named Megan, who lost her husband in a car accident just before their daughter turned two. It was devastating. In the months that followed, she could barely get out of bed, let alone imagine a future. But over time, through therapy, prayer, journaling, and the quiet support of friends…Megan began to heal.

One day, a neighbor knocked on her door. Just two weeks earlier, his wife died from cancer, and he was feeling so lost. Megan invited him in. They talked for hours. 

That conversation turned into a friendship, and eventually, they started a small support group for young widows and widowers in their community.

What began in the raw ache of death grew into a space where others found connection and hope. Megan said, “I wouldn’t wish this journey on anyone, but if I can help someone else breathe through the pain, then something beautiful has come from the ashes.”

That’s resurrection, in its own quiet way…life, breaking through where there once was only grief.  Say it with me:  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  

So today, let these powerful words resonate within you. Say them…say the words.  

• When you feel lost, say the words. 
• When you feel sad, say the words.  
• When you feel grief, say the words.
• When you feel righteous anger over injustice, say the words. 
• And when you feel joy, say the words!  

Say the words:  Christ has risen. Christ has risen indeed!

They are words of promise and words of victory. They are words that proclaim to all creation that God’s love is stronger than death, stronger than hate, stronger than despair. 

Today, my friends, hope has arrived once again, fresh and vibrant. Today we are reminded that we live on this side of resurrection, on this side of God’s triumphant victory over the grave. And our call is to live boldly, confidently, and joyfully in the truth of those words that changed everything.  

These are words that changed the world! These are words that bring you new life!  Let them shape your days and guide your path. Let them embolden you to love generously, forgive readily, to seek justice, and to serve joyfully. Let them remind you, every single day, that you are part of a story far bigger and far more beautiful than you could ever imagine; a story written by a God who brings life from death and joy from sorrow.

So, let’s say it once more, together, boldly and joyfully, affirming the hope that shapes our lives:

Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed! Alleluia!

Thanks be to God!

Amen.