Heaven Here on Earth

The Third Sunday of Easter
April 26, 2009

The Reverend Susan Beth Pinkerton

In the middle of Cambridge University in England is a small chapel that many people overlook or don’t even know exits. It is tucked away within the close of Westcott House, one of the theological colleges at Cambridge. As you enter through a large wooden door one is struck by the austerity of this space. Unlike the exquisite grandeur of the medieval chapels that are the hallmark of Cambridge, this chapel could not be more different. Its small wooden pews seat eighty people at the most. The windows along each side of the nave are clear glass. The walls are whitewashed with no adornment of any kind. A simple wooden table serves as the altar during services. There is no cross or crucifix or any religious ornamentation throughout the entire chapel expect for one item. There is an icon of Christ on the lefts side of the back wall. At night a small spotlight shines on it from overhead. In front is one small red votive candle that burns continually.

The icon shows Christ from the chest up, looking straight ahead with a somber, steady, penetrating look. His head is framed with a large golden halo. He holds an open book in the crook of his right arm and his left hand is extended toward the book, with two extended fingers, giving a blessing to all who enter. During the day the shifting light from the windows high in the nave seems to play tricks as it changes Christ’s appearance, sometimes casting deep shadows across his face. At night all shadows are erased as the lone spot light in the darkened chapel seems to lift Christ off the wall, bringing him closer into the nave.

I spent a great deal of time in this chapel, pondering and praying before this icon. Just as the image of Christ was transformed with the changing light, I questioned how my life was being formed and transformed as I prepared for my vocation as a priest. Luke’s account of the resurrection brings back these images of transformation. The resurrection story is not an easy part of the Christian story to understand. I struggle with the corporality of the Risen Christ. Luke’s account portrays a resurrected Christ that is fully human, bearing the marks of his crucifixion while having the ability to go through doors, engage in conversation and then sit down and eat a meal. Some may take all or part of this depiction of Christ literally or view it in a mythical, metaphorical sense. Either way, I believe that the essential core of this reading of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is:

Transformation

That first Easter morning, as the disciples were gathered in the crowded room, swapping wild tales of seeing Jesus alive, it became apparent that something changed. Things are not as they once were. Something was afoot.

Caught totally unaware, these frightened and confused disciples witness the advent of this new reality when the Incarnate Christ appears in the midst of them. The power of love displayed by Christ on the Cross has broken through and shattered the darkness of a broken and crippled world. As a result, a new universe, a new way of living and being is now possible.^[1] In some mysterious way His suffering and death resuscitated a decaying and dying Creation into a new Creation, the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

This Kingdom is here, with us today, not far off into the distant future. In this new life I believe that there is the hope and promise of a future where love and justice can override and nullify the destructive human behavior that has caused so much suffering and misery.

Archbishop Rowan Williams states in his most recent Easter message that with Christ’s resurrection, the resurrection of humanity has also begun.^[2] He continues that the central question surrounding Christ’s resurrection for most people is not whether one believes this to be true.^[3] Instead, he says people ask whether anyone can live like this - live lives in such a way that they are “healed of their miserable compulsion to fear and resent each other, clinging to their grievances and injuries?”^[4]

• Peter is a powerful example of how one person’s life is transformed through the compelling power of love. Peter, simple fishermen with very rough edges and little education, is transformed into a great leader of the early church. Remember this is the same disciple who ran away and denied Christ three times during his Passion. In time he heals and engages in theological debates with the high priests in the Jerusalem temple. He endures prison, hardship and finally succumbs to a martyr’s death because he experiences the transformative power of love through Christ’s resurrection.
  
  
• When I was a teenager living in Germany, I met several Holocaust survivors while attending a worship service Holland. The service was held in the home of a missionary couple who invited several people to worship with them who had endured hardships during World War II. Even after more than forty years, I have a vivid memory of a woman I met, whose crippled body was bound in a wheelchair. She spoke at length about her life in Auschwitz and how she was forced to march in the snow with hardly any strength to walk. When she fell down and could not get up, a guard began beating her with his rifle butt. He broke her spine, leaving her paralyzed but she survived somehow. For all the brutality, hatred and humiliation she endured, this woman was not bitter or broken. Instead, I recall her smile and how her face radiated hope and love, betraying her deformed body. Her once tragic life was transformed and made new by others who were compelled by love to reach out to her.
  
  

I remember the many changes that have occurred in other people’s lives I have known; one person’s resiliency in the face of tragedy; another’s resolve to let go of old wounds and despair while moving forward to a new way of being and living. These are all signs of the power of Christ’s love, transforming people’s lives as they live into the possibility of new life in a new world, living lives of greater depth, freedom and purpose where there was once only death.

When I recall the transformations that have occurred in my life since I left Cambridge, I imagine the icon of Christ on the chapel wall, giving his blessing to the entire world as it continues to be transformed and resurrected into a place where love, justice and hope prevail. Amen.

[1] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, The Archbishop’s Easter Sermon, Sunday, 12 April, 2009, www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2377.

[2] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, The Archbishop’s Easter Sermon, Sunday, 12 April, 2009, www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2377.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.