Easter Message
Rev. Dr. JC Park, President of the World Methodist Council
May the peace of the risen Jesus be with you, my sisters and brothers in Christ!
In times like this when we have to face social distancing and empty churches how can we preach
to the empty pews the message of the empty tomb? This question brings me back to the text of John
20. It begins with the story of the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene first discovered the tomb empty and
reported it to Simon Peter who also went to the empty tomb with John. But they did not understand
“the scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9).
Jesus appeared to Mary first, and later in the evening of the Easter he came to his disciples who were
forced to ‘social distance’ behind the locked doors of the house for fear of the Jews. Jesus stood
among them and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Jesus’ ‘Shalom!’ on Easter evening
resonates with his last words on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Thus, peace of reconciliation
and life is fulfilled in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Jesus’ ‘Shalom!’ is not so much a greeting of
everyday life but the most merciful and consoling invitation for those who have the sickness unto
death. We are ‘the patients’ who must willingly acknowledge our disease/sin and to receive with joy
the healing/salvation from the one who surely “took our infirmities and carried our sorrows”, and the
punishment upon him “brought us peace and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
We remember that Jesus’ second ‘Shalom!’ for his disciples was when he said to them,
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). This is rather a frightening call of the Lord
for his servants to leave the private space of beautiful solaces and to face again the public sphere
torn down by the empire of mammon. However, before they are called to be ‘the agents’ for the
Kingdom of God, i.e., the peacemakers or the ambassadors of Christ for reconciliation, they ought to
be poured on by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As Jesus sent his disciples “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John
20:22). Jesus breathes into each of us the breath of life to become a new creature. At the same time,
Jesus breathes into us all, as if we were those slain in Ezekiel 37. As the Jewish people in Exile whose
lands had turned into the graves, returned to their own by the quickening of the Spirit, we are called by
the authority of the Holy Spirit to be the Church, the body of Christ in the public sphere of our times.
Surely, I am not the only one who has been shocked by a recent photo of the inside of a refrigerated
truck full of the bags of the dead Americans. Indeed, we are now passing through the dark valley of
death in these trying times. Recollecting the tragic image of the corpses in my mind, I overhear the
challenging question of God: “Son of man, can these bones live” (Ezekiel 37:3a)? The prophet’s
answer, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3b), leads me into a profound insight that
the hope of the resurrection of body and life everlasting is not the inner-worldly possibility of
evolutionary process, but solely the eschatological grace of God’s sovereignty and His eternally
faithful love. Therefore, Paul boldly proclaims: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his
Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Do not be afraid of facing the rebellious world estranged from the
origin of life, our triune God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First and foremost, we need to
recover the fundamental sense of fear of God in the form of ‘public vigilance’ over the idolatry
of money in the name of free market which has thrown our healthcare system into shambles. Let’s
“lay the sick in the marketplaces” where the living Christ is present (Mark 6:56). We should be part of
‘a Great Reset’ after the storm of pandemic has passed in order to celebrate Easter in the public
sphere of our life.
Ironically, human social distancing has allowed birds to thrive and brought people together in love,
though separately clapping, singing, and dancing. Let’s repent our sins of self-interest, privatizing
every corner of public lives and services, as well as destroying the precious habitat of wild animals
which might have caused the spread of viruses unheard of previously. Resist cold xenophobia and hot racism blaming the innocent for the pandemic. Instead, let’s be in cool solidarity and remain with warm human bond in taking global ethical responsibility to stop the vicious cycle of pandemic spread from the global North to the global South and again to the global North and so on.
Finally, people called Methodists from everywhere to everywhere, do not forget the risen Christ’s
empowering admonition: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22b-23). If you believe that Jesus’
resurrection restores a dead person to life, take sin in deadly earnest and commit yourselves to the
evangelical ministry of forgiveness with all your heart and might for “a dead person can only be
raised, resurrected, and grave sin can only be forgiven.” (Karl Barth) Let’s praise God “for as by a
man came death, by a man also has come resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
Therefore, I solemnly ask you on behalf of the almighty God who raised Jesus from the dead to
witness to all people in fear and trembling: “Come from the four winds, spirit of life, and breathe on
these slain so that they come to life again” (Ezekiel 37:9). Let them come back to life and rise to their
feet, a mighty host.
Jesus is risen! Happy Easter!
Global Easter Worship to be April 13
Follow the link below:
Sacrament of Empty Hands
The Liturgy to this link follows the pattern of the Mass, Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, and allows for the absence of consecrated bread and wine/juice – while retaining familiar foundations, in uncertain times…
This is not a replacement for Gathering as God’s People, embodied in community, but provides a way of people gathering around stories of hope from despair and resurrection after death.
It is envisaged this material could be used for people in homes, possibly connected digitally or across distances. Some planned gathering in Australia will use the material over internet, by phone or from balconies across courtyards.
This liturgy is offered, as a gift of prayer and solidarity from God’s People in Australia to the rest of an anxious and hurting world. Together, may we be God’s Humanity.
http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/worship-and-liturgy/sacrament-of-empty-hands/
Setting:
- An empty cup or glass and An empty plate are place on a celebratory cloth (either white or many coloured).
- A handkerchief or tissue covers both the cup/glass and plate.
Any or all of the following symbols may be added from week to week, or you may build these up to a collection over time:
- Symbol 1 – An unlit candle is placed inside a glass or transparent vase or holder. It is also on the cloth or nearby.
- Symbol 2 – A symbol for prayer is placed alongside the other symbols. This may be a cross, a stone with a heart drawn on it, or a wooden heart.
- Symbol 3 – Photos of absent friends or loved ones or a regular place of worship.
- Symbol 4 – A Globe or small map of the world.
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Sources:
A Call to Worship for a Dispersed Community – © Craig Mitchell, 2020, Used with permission.
A Call to Worship for an Online Community – © Amelia Koh-Butler, 2020, Used with permission.
Sections of the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving (Sharing and Invocation) – Claire Wright, based on Uniting in Worship 2, Used with permission.
Suggested Song – Peace, Salaam, Shalom https://youtu.be/lBQ-KsGo_BI
(Emma’s Revolution. Note: several versions can be sourced on Youtube)
Scripture texts are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, © 1989, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Yarta Wandatha (The Land is Speaking. The People are Speaking), © 2014, Denise Champion and Rosemary Dewerse
Remaining Sections – © Amelia Koh-Butler, 2020, Used with permission.
Notes:
These resources are able to be used for Worship and Devotion, with appropriate acknowledgement.
Some communities may choose to reduce the test of the provided Prayer of Thanksgiving. It may be suitable to substitute the inclusion of the Nicene Creed as a way of proclaiming the Gospel story in words familiar to those who are then connecting with other faithful of many times and places.
A Resource: Worship and Devotion during Social Distancing
These attached guidelines and liturgies for worship and prayer during the pandemic are offered by a group of scholars, teachers, and worship leaders in The United Methodist Church. Click on the following link:
