Sunday, April 15, 2007

Thomas story from the Resurrection season: more along the same lines

Bill Carroll of Anglican Resistance preached a fine sermon, quoting here from former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Frank Griswold:

Christ not only rises from the dead but destroys death—death in all its forms. And, as members of Christ’s risen body, we are called to trample down death.

What does it mean to trample down death? It means to confront all that is death-dealing: greed, disease, poverty, hunger, violence, war, oppression, neglect of the needy and vulnerable, pollution of our planet, disregard for the dignity of all people, and—yes—legalized executions carried out for the presumed good of society. All of these are within our human power to overcome. We, in virtue of the power of Christ’s Spirit at work within us, are able to be instruments of his death-destroying love. With this in mind, we keep the Easter feast.

Read the full sermon here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this.

I'd just like to point out that the entry here is quoted words of Frank Griswold, which the sermon does identify as such.

Jane R said...

Hi Bill -- Sorry to have missed that (bleary-eyed after too many Easter liturgies, no doubt). I'll post a correction in the body of the post.