Dear Christian friends:
We're past Easter, so now what? My mentor, Carl Braaten, published a sermon last year entitled, "After Easter, the Church!" He pointed out the paradox of those who profess to believe but shun the Church, and the marketing strategies of churches that profess to reach out to those for whom the Church is a problem, by offering them something that doesn't look much like Church.
Look around at All Saints; that's not our strategy. The altar is central, illumined by candle flames and beautified with flowers. It is flanked by the lectern, the place where the word is enthroned, and the tabernacle, where the consecrated sacrament is reserved. Above them, on the wall, a huge cross with a nimbus, or halo, reminds us that the cross is holy, because the event of the cross is our reconciliation with God. The cross is flanked by the Greek letters alpha and omega: God in Christ is first and last.
One might say: It's beautiful; so what? It is a witness to the cross and rising of Jesus Christ, that's what. As you look at the pictures that accompany these words, you can see that one of our stratagems to reconnect with the seekers in our midst is beauty that connects with the event of the cross and its vindication, the empty tomb.
Braaten writes, "If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, no church would have seen the light of day. The synagogue would have carried on business as usual." But the Jesus movement became, in the light of the resurrection, the apostolic Church. It's not a matter of religious or moralistic legalism; it's a proclamation that the life of love Christ lived was vindicated by his Father and breathed into our lives through the Holy Spirit.
And he writes: "May the Spirit of God grant us the freedom, insight, and inspiration to do whatever it takes to keep the faith and institutions of the church apostolic in these postmodern times." Amen.
Grace and peace,
Paul Bieber+, STS, Pastor