HOLLOWELL 22 April 2006.  Sunday after Easter.
“That is all we could see.  But how many eagles and how many trumpets!
(And Easter Day we didn’t get to the country
So we took young Cyril to church. And they rang a bell
And he said right out loud “crumpets”)
 
Don’t throw away that sausage it’ll come in handy.  He’s artful.
Please, will you give us a light?
Light
Light
And the soldiers were drawn up in line. 
This comes from a passage of TS Eliot’s poem Triumphal March.  The trippers are watching the leader bring his troops into the town at dusk.  They are chatting about what they did the last time they had an outing. 
Mother’s remark shows that she took Cyril to church for no particular religious reason.  
He didn’t even know the meaning of the symbols Communion bell mistaken for the muffin man, who rang a bell in his back alley, and reacted accordingly. 
Light is used on two levels: cigarettes and religious illumination, the message of Easter, which seems missing in the family. 
Message of hope for all of us.   Light in our lives.
It is the most fundamental belief of the Christian church.  It doesn’t matter much – or so I would argue – if you find it hard to accept the Christmas story in its entirety, not least because it has certainly been embellished over the years. Or what about the temptations by the Devil?   Were these in the mind or did they really happen?   
But Easter is different.  Crucifixion a recorded historical fact.  After being taken down dead from the cross and laid in his tomb, Jesus rose from being dead, returned to earth and showed himself to his disciples.  It’s as simple and at the same time as challenging as that.  As St. Paul said, “If Christ be not risen then our faith is also in vain.”    So it’s fundamental.  Our religion stands or falls by that truth.
Survey.
The Archbishop of Canterbury was asked if he believed in the resurrection in a recent survey.
His assistant initially tried to duck the question by saying that we don’t take part in surveys.  But after further questioning the Assistant said “ Archbishop Rowan said put him firmly in the yes camp”    
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor no ifs or buts there. 
What you would expect of religious leaders? 
Politicians no such luck:  Tony Blair:  “I’m afraid the Prime Minister does not take part in surveys”.  
John Prescott’s office:  “ I am not going to be able to+ help you.  I’ll get a colleague to call you back”.   No call.
George Galloway.  Big Brother contestant and Respect Party MP.  
“Yes I believe in the Resurrection.  I believe that God restored the life of Jesus of Nazareth and took him to his bosom.  The example of suffering and sacrifice is central to my religious belief. “
Archbishop of York’s office passed the buck to the Bishop of Oxford.  With an “ I’m sure the speaks for all of us- Goodbye”
Others asked all except one, say Yes.
I believe it. I say so - and so do we all – in the Creed every Sunday.  And we are in good company.  It’s easier, as one of the respondents said, to say that Jesus rose from the dead in a spiritual or metaphorical sense…  But it also cowardly. 
My eggs in the resurrection basket.
But there are I admit some issues that we can’t duck about Jesus and his life and death.  
First, an awful lot of people don’t agree with us We know that, to take two other world religions, Jews and Muslims do not accept the truth of the resurrection and regard it as a misapprehension. 
We think Muslims have got it wrong and of course Jews got it wrong, who in former times were persecuted and reviled for what they did to Jesus. 
What Jesus stood for is a contradiction for the church to day.   A man who despised ritual; entered Jerusalem on a donkey. Therefore, he can’t be interested in incense; bells, silver cups and plate and vestments. 
No interest in politics: parties or the Third Way or a seat in the House of Lords.
Little reference to beauty except for the lilies of the field.   Yet the church is a great patron of the arts. 
Contemptuous of material values ; so can’t see him putting himself in charge of a church. Which commands great wealth.
Man of peace yet over the centuries the church waged war.
Then we criticise Norman Kember for acts of useless pacifism.  What would Jesus have thought of him?
We have to recognise that the Churches throughout the ages have made a terrible mess of Jesus’ teaching. 
So what does his light do?  It lights our otherwise meaningless, often drab, unfulfilled  lives as atoms and water.   The resurrection  lights a way for our own lives:  
Eight things to do:
1.  Poor in Spirit: Realise we can’t achieve salvation and our potential on our own.  Put trust in Jesus. Be humble.
2.  Mourn:
Not mourn for death, divorce or loneliness, but mourn for our sins and be repentant.  As Sty. Paul says they will find comfort.
3.  Meek:
Be strong and under control, submitting to the ways of the world, but to God seeing him our daily lives.
4.  Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness.
Stand up for what is morally right.  “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteousness deed and the upright shall see his face”  Psalm
5,  Merciful
 Go out of our way to make an effort to help.  For whatever mercy we desire from God we must first show to others.   Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us 
6 Pure in Heart
Must understand our own impurities.  God looks at our heart not at our social position, education or our ban balance. 
7.	Peacemaker
Not an appeaser but a reconciler.  Norman Kember in Iraq
Suffer Persecution
Being a Christian beings mockery, accusations of hypocrisy.  “We don’t do God” as Alistair Campbell said.
Teach us Good lord to serve thee as thou deservest. To give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds to toil and to ask for no reward save that of knowing that we do they will.  Give us light to do that.   
