Alleluia – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Matthew 28:1-10
The year was 1922. The place Kiev, in the Soviet Union. There was to be a great anti-religious rally to be addressed by the revered Soviet politician and orator Nikolai Bukharin. Thousands had arrived to listen to his words. He stood up and spoke for over an hour – preaching atheism, pouring scorn on those who believed in God. Finally he sat down, and the chairman asked if there were any questions. There was silence.
But then, a man stood up near the back. He was elderly, with a beard, and dressed in the robes of an Orthodox monk. Slowly he made his way to the front, passing row upon row of people, until he reached the front, and climbed up slowly onto the stage, and turned to the silent, expectant crowd.
He raised his arms, and in a loud, confident voice cried out, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!” and at once, the huge crowd rose to its feet and thundered out, “The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!”
Resurrection was in the spiritual DNA of those people. However much they were told the opposite, however much they were forced to live as if there were no God, the seeds of hope lay deep in their souls, latent, waiting, watching – and those ancient words ‘Christ is Risen’ brought the seeds suddenly to life – he is risen indeed, Alleluia! No surprise perhaps, that the Russian word for Sunday – Voskreseniye – is also the Russian word for resurrection.
And the same seeds of hope are placed deep in our own hearts – and we are here today – this Sunday, this Day of Resurrection – this Voskreseniye – to cry out with joy, with all of creation – Christ is Risen, Alleluia!
How do we allow those seeds of hope and resurrection deep within us to burst out into new life? One way is to open our eyes and see the signs of resurrection all around us. In our Gospel today from Matthew, the word see is repeated again and again. After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. As the day dawned, their eyes were opened to see the miracle of resurrection. The angel says, I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He’s not here – he’s been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. He has been raised from the dead! Go to Galilee – you will see him there. And then suddenly they see Jesus. And he tells them – tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.
Open your eyes and see that resurrection is written into the very fabric of life. The whole of creation has been transformed by Christ’s victory over death – if we but have eyes to see it. C. S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe loved that idea. After the children discover with joy that Aslan is alive, suddenly the whole dead frozen land of Narnia begins to melt. “All around them there were streams chattering, bubbling and splashing. Edmund noticed a dozen crocuses growing around the foot of an old tree – gold and purple and white. And his heart gave a great leap – when he realized that the frost was over.”
Lewis writes, of how his own cold heart had been warmed by the love of God, and he saw the effects of death and resurrection mirrored in nature. The winter cold was like the death blow of evil in human lives, and springtime mirrored the signs of personal transformation and the redemption of the whole human race.
I love all those places in Scripture where God’s creation shares in the joy of resurrection and new life. In our Psalm today (Psalm 114) – ‘the mountains skipped like rams – and the little hills like young sheep.’ And in Isaiah 55 those wonderful words: “You shall go out with joy and be led back in peace: The mountains and hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!” Go out and look! Open your eyes and see in nature that life, new life is breaking out all around – that life is stronger than death, that hope is stronger than despair. If we really look, God’s very creation will point the way.
God’s creation spoke to me in a powerful way many years ago. I had been ordained two years, and I helped lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We spent a whole day walking through the desert from Jerusalem down to Jericho. Everything was dry and seemed quite dead. Just sand and rocks, and more rocks. As we walked, we saw that by the roadside ran a small aqueduct taking water, by gravity, all the way down to Jericho. And then I noticed, at one point there was a tiny leak and the water dripped out. Where the water had fallen into the sand, there was a riot of beautiful flowers – bursting out of the desert. It struck me that in that apparently dead wilderness were countless seeds of life, lying in the ground, dormant, waiting, watching, just waiting for water so that they could burst into life.
The precious and wonderful life of God is planted in each one of us. Resurrection, new life, is written into the very fabric of our lives – part of our spiritual DNA. Easter Day is the day to bring them to life.
I wonder what seeds are lying within you – perhaps deeply buried, but latent, and potent, waiting and watching – longing to be brought to life. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived – what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)
What would it be like if you allowed those seeds to come to life? What is stopping them coming to life? Perhaps fear, perhaps a besetting or unacknowledged sin – perhaps you are not sure if you can trust God.
On this day of resurrection God longs to pour the sunshine of his love and the water of his grace into your hearts, that those seeds may burst into life to God’s glory. What would that be like?
On this Easter Day – everything is possible. Death has been overcome by life – new life is breaking out everywhere. Come to him, the Risen One, put out your hand to receive his life in bread and wine.
Come alive in Christ. Alleluia, Christ is Risen.
The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!
Unfortunately the internet was “down” in the apartment building I live in in Camden, Maine for over the entire Holy Week. But, my television was working and I was able to watch and follow all of the services of Holy Week on TV by The Roman Catholic Church. Many services were celebrated by several different Priests and some Nun’s, and then the Easter Vigil was celebrated by the Pope himself. I was so pleased to watch the many celebrations even though they were from the Roman Catholic Faith. So much was almost exactly as we celebrate that I almost felt at home.
I said the prayers for the SSJE as I always do on a daily basis and remember the wonderful days that I and my dear friend The Rev. Ernest O Kenyon, O.I.W. used to visit the Monastery about four times a year for retreats back in the 1950’s and 60’s.I will never forget the day I was Admitted as an Associate to The SSJE on May 31, 1960 by The Rev. Granville M. Williams, Sup, SSJE. What a wonderful day that was and the celebration following was unforgettable also.
I am now 86 yrs. of age and unable to go to Mass anymore. However, I am so thankful to our Lord for the many blessings bestowed upon me ever since I felt His calling me to the church at the age of 19. I always wanted to be ordained to the Priesthood but because of the lack of education and money needed for college etc. it never came to pass. I have held every office allowed by a lay person and can still smell the incense and the words “The Lord is Risen Alleulia, The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleulia.”
I thank God for my relationship with SSJE and ask for your prayers in my old and failing age.
May we too, in these days where truth is twisted to serve our own agendas of power and comfort….may we rise up each morning with the greatest lie-shattering gift we will ever receive on our lips and in our hearts …Alleluja! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed!
This sermon is just great! Alleluia! The Lord is risen!
The Soviet Union story is one I shall keep in my heart and remember. What courage from the old monk!
Thank you, Br. Geoffrey for such a wonderful Easter sermon to remember and to live today and every day of the year.
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…water again? Yes!!!
And, there on Iona, the old stone walls, created years and years ago with rocks from the island, made even more beautiful with the tiny, tiny blue petals of flowers whose seeds must have been blown from somewhere. God’s astounding creation.
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Thank you Br.Curtis for these words at a very frightning time but I also want to thank all the Brothers for helping me to look at the Gospels with fresh eyes and to help me see how many things I have missed just because they were so familiar or because I had not dug as deep as I should have. Margaret D.
Thank-you Br (?) Geoffrey for your evocative words. Indeed nature points to God’s’ nature (of hope and renewal).
An aside: hyper-links to the scriptuire reading would greatly enhance the value of the reflections. Thank-you for considering my request.
The Ladies in White, in Cuba, are a current version of this story
Oh what are soothing words of hope?Hmm…so alive and real.So soothing like healing Balm of Gilead.I bless the The Lord with all my soul; bless His holy name for evermore!
I feel so refreshed, so joyous, so good.Thank you Jesus for this message and this messanger of hope and goodnews.Christ is risen indeed!Alleluia.
Great series! Please do it again next year!
Very good stories, beautifully told.
At this time, resurrection–anyone’s– has been far from my mind. 12 friends have died in 3 years; health problems seeming worse; financial problems ditto. First time in my life, have not looked forward to Easter. This was a good glimmer of hope.
God is in our , “Spiritual DNA,” WHAT a wonderful thought. That tells me there is hope for everyone! I follow you with emails and what a powerful part your words play in my life. Thank you, thank you! What a beautiful image, flowers in the desert. Even there my Lord is alive and shines. Nature is alive with the love and invitation of our Lord. May all experience a relationship with him. I so pray for those who are so lost and hearts are cold. I was once lost and dead, but God lifted me out of Hell here on earth. He is Alive!!
Yes He is alive.I was also like you lost in the world, but I thank God He found me and called me to propagate His goodnews.Alleluia.
It was Volgograd in the Soviet Union. Three of us visiting Canadian clergymen, part of a peace delegation, had asked to visit a Protestant church. We sat on the platform behind the lectern where the pastor was preaching to his congregation of a hundred Baptist Volgograders.
Our atheist translator had been up all night studying all the Christian words she might have to translate for us. She had a terrible headache. Facing her in the front row sat the frowning Soviet official who had delivered us to the Baptist compound at the extreme northern edge of the city. As she translated, she nervously fingered a necklace of tiny blue beads.
The pastor’s theme was “Jesus Christ is the only true source of peace in the universe”, and he punctuated his sermon with it over and over. Liudmila had to translate the sentence over and over, twisting her necklace. Suddenly the necklace broke. A hundred tiny blue beds were scattered around our feet. The pastor kept talking. Liudmila did not miss a beat. She kept translating. For the last ten minutes of the sermon the three of us were bent down, picking up little blue beads and placing them in her outstretched hand.
The Lord is Risen indeed! A blessed Easter to you and all the brethren! I love the Kiev story.
Of course, they’d have had to have arrested the whole crowd, which perhaps he was counting on as ballast. Sometimes making public statements are pragmatically wiser, and so even more important, from that perspective.
Do we know what happened to the old monk AFTER the meeting?
I’m hoping he didn’t get arrested! Great story!
I was thinking the same thing. That was something bold and courageous to do in that particular setting at that particular time.