Hello, beloved friends of the Diocese of Olympia.

A number of years ago now I attended a conference that included a talk from Peter Rollins, a progressive philosopher and theologian who grew up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. He recounted a time when he was invited to a conservative Christian college to be a part of a panel discussion. Near the end of that conversation, a student came up to the microphone at the center of the room and said to him, “Pete, just admit it. You deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” He was taken aback and he described how he sensed every eye in that gathering, focus squarely on him, including those of the other panelists. He looked at that person behind the microphone and responded, “You got me. I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ.”

He said there was an audible gasp of air, and I heard the same thing in our own gathering, and then he continued. “I deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed. Each day that I turn my back on the poor. I deny the resurrection when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.”

But Pete wasn’t finished yet. “However,” he said, “there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears to be shed.” I was stunned. Tears welled up in my eyes.

We are resurrection people, you and I. We are those who have chosen to follow this one who came to live among us and show us the way of God. Jesus proclaimed that he would bring good news to the poor and release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom from the oppressed, and to declare that year of Jubilee. He made it clear right from the beginning that his work would be resurrection work, that he would go about making things new and whole and full of life. And so that’s what he did. And that’s what he still does.

Far too often, we only half believe the resurrection. We hedge our bets, thinking that things might never really change. Certainly not in our lifetimes. We couch our belief. Deny is a bit too strong for us, because we’ve seen and experienced that chronic cynicism that’s in our world, and yet as disciples of Jesus, as people of the resurrection, we are asked to affirm his bursting from the tomb again and again. We’re invited to look into the worst of our world and see it as a place where love could dwell. We are encouraged to hope and trust and believe, and then go make a difference. We are called to affirm Jesus’ resurrection.

I hope you will join me in doing just that over these next 50 days of Eastertide, and then beyond.

May you come to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection in your own life and in our world because it so desperately needs it.

Hallelujah, Christ is risen. Our Lord is risen indeed. Amen.