Danville Congregational Church UCC
April 21, 2019

God who gives us life, walked through death, and rose in resurrection:

On this morning …
On this morning we remember:

We remember the horror of Good Friday.

We remember the brutal death of Jesus at the hands of the state and the deep grief of his family and companions.  
We acknowledge that so many people in the world right now are experiencing Good Fridays every day.

This morning we remember churches and people here in the US and now in Sri Lanka who have been attacked.

We think about those who are victims of racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia.

We think about mother earth, the skies, and the water and how scarred and mistreated they are.

We remember the unknowing and the doubt of Holy Saturday.

We imagine the sense of loss and disorientation felt by those who knew Jesus and who had received healing from him.

We ourselves know what it is like to be alone, to experience loss, to feel hopeless.

This morning we think about women, children, and men who are detained at our borders, many of them held in prisons, in cages under overpasses, in cold concrete rooms.

We think about people who are hungry have no home, no place to sleep, no place to get warm.

We think of those struggling with mental illness, grief, and hopelessness–especially gay and trans teenagers who are bullied because of who they are.

But always—and especially today—
Today, we remember the empty tomb.

We celebrate that when the women came, they found Jesus risen, just as he said–giving rise to sudden exhilaration and joy at the thought. Alleluia!

We proclaim that it is not death but the empty tomb that characterizes the very nature of you, oh God.

And always—always…

Love is stronger than death.

Holy God we ask that all peoples and the earth may experience this new life, may experience the joy of resurrection.

Alleluia! and Amen.

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