Sermon preached at St. Albans, Spirit Lake, by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on March 23, 2008
(Easter Day, Year A, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts: Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:14-29
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-18

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia! Here we are at the pinnacle of the Christian year, that which all of Holy Week points to; the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. This is the celebration of the Passover of Christ from death into life. It is also the celebration of our own passover in Holy Baptism, in which “we were buried with Christ in his death and raised with him.”

Remember that the Passover is the Jewish celebration of being delivered from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Moses tried to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go free by showing him signs of the greatness of God by means of a series of plagues. But Pharaoh was a stubborn cuss and would not release the Hebrews. So the Hebrews were instructed to be ready to move quickly when the last sign was given: the Angel of Death would sweep through Egypt and take the firstborn of everything in the land. The Hebrews were instructed to kill an unblemished lamb in a particular manner, roast it in a particular manner, and to take the blood of the lamb and paint the lintel and posts of their doors so that the Angel of Death would see the blood and pass over their homes sparing the firstborn of the Hebrews.

So it is with Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us so that by his blood we are delivered from the bondage of sin and therefore no longer subject to death, being passed over and given life eternal in the kingdom of God. Through water and the Holy Spirit we are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, being baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ thus being initiated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and no longer subject to eternal separation from God.

Now last night at the Great Vigil we had no one to be baptized. Therefore we renewed our baptismal vows remembering our own birth into the body of Christ. I then sprinkled water on the congregation as a physical reminder of that baptism, once again making the hope of the Resurrection new in our midst.

Now the word “hope” does not mean, “I hope the Cubs win the World Series” or “I hope I win the lottery.” That kind of hope is based on fantasy, random chance or even impossible odds. When the Church talks about hope as in the “hope of the resurrection,” it means that we can live with confidence and surety that this will indeed happen because God has made us the promise and he doesn’t go back on His Word. As St. Paul says, through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. It is a tangible thing!

It is through the conviction of the Holy Spirit working in us that empowers us with hope that we will never be separated from God, in this world and in the next.

So it could be rightly said that our baptismal waters are the Waters of Hope, and isn’t that a coincidence. Right now at the beginning of Easter and through the fifty days until Pentecost, we as a Church and a Diocese are trying to find creative ways to raise money for the Waters of Hope project. The goal of the Waters of Hope is to provide funding for clean water projects in Swaziland or the Sudan or any other place where providing clean water will make a difference to its inhabitants. This coming October, a group of people from the Diocese of Iowa will be traveling to Swaziland to help them celebrate their 40^th anniversary of being a diocese. But we also hope, and I say that with conviction, to take as many portable water purifiers as we can pack in our luggage. By getting these purifiers into the hands of the people we will be doing our part in reducing disease, poverty, and infant mortality as well as supporting our fellow Christians in our companion diocese.

At the end of the service today, on behalf of our Sunday school children, you will be given a bottle of water to take home and drink. If you look at the label of the bottle, you will notice one or more children who are real children from St. Augustine’s school in our companion diocese of Swaziland. After you have consumed the water, don’t throw away the bottle but place it near your water source. Every time you get a drink of water, put a quarter in the bottle. If you don’t have quarters, put in a raisin or chocolate chip or a toothpick or something easy to count. Then in fifty days, on Pentecost Sunday, bring in your bottle full of quarters and we will bless them and send them to the Waters of Hope project. If you used items other than quarters, count those items and multiply by .25 or higher and write a check for that amount and slip it into the bottle and bring it in on Pentecost Sunday. The kids are trying to raise enough money to buy at least three portable water purifiers.

The lesson that we are trying to teach is that just as the Power of the Holy Spirit has given us hope through the waters of our baptism that our lives will be transformed on earth and in the world to come, so will the Power of the Holy Spirit through the Waters of Hope be able to transform bottles full of coins into water purifiers that in turn will transform the lives of many children in Swaziland into health and wholeness. This is a wonderful illustration of how we are able to discern God’s will for us in this world. Do this faithfully and I guarantee that you will never look at water quite the same again, and you will certainly not take it for granted.

As you partake in this Easter discipline, grow in your appreciation of the water that you drink and grow in appreciation of the baptismal water by which you were given a new and transformed life in Christ. Someday I hope to have holy water stoops placed by each door entering into the church so that we may continually remind ourselves of our baptisms every time we enter and leave the church knowing with confidence and certainty that we will be resurrected and given new bodies on the Last Day.

Let us bow our heads and pray: O God, pour out on us the water of life that we may quench our thirst and draw our strength from you. Help us to stand alongside those who struggle daily for clean water so that all may be refreshed and renewed by your love. We ask this through your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit, live and reign together as One God, now and for ever. Amen.