A New Day Dawning – April 17, 2022, Easter Sunday!

Psalm 118:15-19, Luke 24:1-11
April 17, 2022, Easter Sunday

I want you to think about the moments that changed your life.  For many of us, that moment was the day our first child was born.  That’s a life changing experience, whether that means taking on the responsibility for a new human being, or whether it means having to deal with the many details of managing that new person’s life.

I remember when Jenny was “on her way,” and I told a pastor friend of mine about it.  He just looked at me and smiled, and said, “It will change your life!”  Not “Congratulations,” just “It will change your life!”  And I remember thinking, “What does that mean?  How can it be that different?”  But he was right!  It did!

So, think about the other moments that changed your life.  Was it a new job?  A big move?  A death in the family?  A marriage?  Sometimes I think of life as a stream flowing toward the sea.  And along the way there are many obstacles.  There are things like rocks, falls, islands – all kinds of things that change the path of that stream.  Sometimes the stream moves fast.  And sometimes the stream goes through a flat place, and it just meanders back and forth like the lower Mississippi River.  Life is like that sometimes, too.

I think of Easter as something that changed the course of all of our lives.  I borrowed the title of this sermon from the title of a painting by Thomas Kincade, if you’ve ever heard of him.  The painting was called “A New Day Dawning.”  And that’s what I think about when I think about Easter.  The Easter stories in the New Testament are mostly about what happened at dawn on that day.  And yes, there are a couple of stories that happened later that day, and we’ll be looking at them the next couple of weeks.  But even those are related to the fact that a New Day dawned that first Easter morning.  It was a watershed moment in all of history!  After that moment, the world would never be the same again!

So dawned the Age of Christianity.  So began the Age of the Church – which became the greatest influence in all of human history, and nothing else even comes close!  And it all started with these women going to the tomb of Jesus to complete his burial process.  We can picture them as they walked to the tomb, wondering how they were going to roll the great stone away from the entrance.  They hadn’t thought that one through very well, had they?!

But it didn’t matter!  The stone was rolled away.  In fact, the Gospel writers used a Greek word that meant “separated by a distance.”  That meant that the stone, that was so heavy the women couldn’t move it, was flung aside as the great moment of resurrection happened.  That showed us the power of what taken place!  It was like a great exclamation point to that event.  And it became an event that changed the course of human history!

And because it was “a new day dawning” for the world, it is also seen as a new day dawning for each believer!  Because it means that Jesus is who he said he is.  It’s not just words about redemption anymore.  Redemption has now come!  And it’s for us!  It’s not just words about the kingdom being in our midst!  The kingdom of God is now among us!

And yes, like that “stream of our lives,” the history of the church has taken many turns and encountered many things along the way that have changed its course.  Some would even say it has taken some wrong turns over the years.  But first and foremost, it has continued to remind us that Jesus was here, that he lived and died, and lived again, and that nothing can separate us from God’s love in him!

Easter is truly “A New Day Dawning.”  And so, I end today with my first thought.  What are the things that changed your life?  And how has this event, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ changed your life?  How is Easter “a new day dawning” for you?

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to go through this day thinking of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.  Help us to know how the event we celebrate today changed the world and changed our lives.  May the light of your love – the love you had for the world when you sent your Son – grow within us and shine brighter this Easter day and always.  For we pray in our Savior’s name, Amen.