Worship Guide - Easter Sunday, Year W

​Now faith is the essence of things hoped for, the conviction of that which is not seen. 2 By faith, indeed, were our ancestors approved.
~Hebrews 11:1-2
 
We celebrate, we lean on and lean in to what we do not see. Faith and science are by no means enemies, but they are different “animals”, gathered, as it were, in a sustainable, verdant, and peaceable kin-dom that at its best allows for the flourishing of life. We do not believe in science as much as we observe it (or do our best to do so), and test it.
 
Faith is about belief, about trust and commitment. Faith too we test, but perhaps in a more functional way, like art. Memory and storytelling, the wonder-filled search through the ages for truth, meaning, and significance, for what is reliable and what endures and makes for flourishing, the essence of a thing—these are the practices, the disciplines, and the outcomes of faith which traffics in the ineffable.
 
Mary and the other disciples with her seek faith at the tomb in John’s telling (John 20:1-18). There is no certainty; little can be authenticated here from a scientific perspective. But there is much to be done of the work of faith, and, with fear and trembling, they are about it. And they look across the ages to invite us in.
 
The writer to the Hebrews expands the notion that our story is seeded by the inspired and faithful actions of others who gave of themselves to what is not seen with outcomes that demonstrably renewed life for many. Life begetting life. New life from death. Resurrection, as it were—even and especially in this time. Thanks be to God!

Readings: Easter Day—Principal Service: Isaiah 49:1–13 † Psalm 18:2–11, 16–19 † Hebrews 11:1–2, 23–24, 28–39 † John 20:1–18

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