"Christ is risen!"  [He is risen indeed!]  This morning we join with Christians all over the world in sharing those words.  The annual Christian spring Celebration draws us together with believers of all ages because it is Christ's resurrection that gives us our faith.  As Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." (1 Corinthians 15:14)   But, in fact, today we reaffirm once again that Jesus Christ has been raised from death by the power of God the Father.  So we meet together today to sing, to pray, to hear the story once again and to share our joy.

          This passage from Luke 24 is fascinating.  It joins together two important ideas: first that the women were looking in the wrong place for the risen Christ, and second, that they didn't remember what Jesus had said about His coming death and resurrection.

          But who can blame the women for forgetting?  Shocking experiences often lead to memory loss.  They had witnessed the terrible and cruel death of their leader and their hope for the future was shattered beyond belief.  Their men-folk had already gone underground.  No wonder the presence of two angels at the tomb of Jesus surprised and frightened them.

          But then, we are told, "They remembered His words."  And it is on the act of remembering that I want to focus our thoughts this morning.  You see, what happened that first Easter Day reshaped their memory and all of the world's history.

          Of course, if questioned, the women could have recalled a little that Jesus had said about His coming death.  They knew He had hinted at terrible and disturbing things to come.  But they would not have recalled all the things He said at that time.  Like many of us, they suffered from amnesia of the moment.  Nothing connected; they were confused and disoriented.

          Like the couple standing in line at the airport.  Said she, "I wish I'd have brought the nightstand along."  "Why?" he said.  "What would we ever need with a nightstand?  We've already got 12 suitcases."  "Because the plane tickets are on the nightstand," said she.  I knew of an old guy who always brushes his teeth before bed.  But sometimes he forgets whether he's done it or not.  So he checks his toothbrush.  If it's dry, he still needs to brush them.  That old guy is me.

          We all know how our memories affect us.  They give us an interpretative map of our lives, and when we lose part of that memory, it is a disorienting and frightening experience.  Author Oliver Sacks wrote a book entitled, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for His Hat, and in it he tells the story of a professional musician who came, one day, to see his doctor.  Initially, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the man, and his music performance was still excellent.  But when the doctor picked up a glove and asked him what it was, his patient said, "it looks like a coin container for five different types of coin."  His memory of a glove was gone, and it left him bewildered.

          Think of other examples where memory plays a crucial role in how we live.  When going on a trip, how often have we realized, just a few hours away from home, all the things we forgot to take?  Forget an important appointment, or worse yet, forget your wife's birthday or your wedding anniversary, and you will suffer the consequences.  Or, on the other hand, good memories are a rich blessing.  When we remember that we love someone, we are drawn to that person once again.  Many of us are here just because we have good memories of worship with the family on Easter.  Even those suffering loss can find blessing in good memories.  I often get a bit choked up when I think of a loved one who is now with the Lord.  Or we remember our loved one by that old cap he wore, or the way he laughed, or the way she looked in the morning.  Yes, memories are very important, because they go to the heart of what we value.  As one man said, "Blessed are those who give without remembering, and blessed are those who receive without forgetting."

          We can't fault the women for forgetting what Jesus said.  But more importantly, Luke said they did remember what Jesus said.  It just took them a little while.  The angels just had to jog their memories a little.  "Remember how He said to you," the angels told them.  In other words, "Remember the clues He left around?  Remember His miracles?  Remember Him feeding the 5,000?  Remember how He said He and the Father were one?  Remember how He raised that little girl from the dead?"

          Then they did remember.  Yes, they were looking for Jesus in the wrong place, but they later found Him in the right place.  That's why we can say, Christ is risen!

          "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"  That question is a challenge for us all.  Why look for meaning in life among those who don't know God?  Why look for God among the godless?  The search for meaning and fulfillment in life is a waste of time if we seek it apart from Jesus.  The church will fail if it preaches a "gospel" of justice or fulfillment of human need.

          As we move further into this new Millennium, one of the most worrying problems for the Church in our land is our nation's collective loss of memory of its Christian past.  If memory loss is a mark of old age, then America is becoming old and senile.  The farther away we get from Christ's resurrection, the greater our danger of losing our memory of Christ, who He is and what He has done for us.

          We must never stop studying the Bible, or we will forget what it says.  We receive His body and blood for forgiveness, but all "in remembrance of Him."  We need our memories constantly "jogged" by Word and Sacrament lest we forget what God has done for us.

          The Church must ever remember the Good News of the risen Christ.  We must never stop going to Christ in prayer.  We must never stop seeking ways to serve him and other people.  By faith, we must ever keep Christ in mind as we make friends, or make our decisions, and learn to value things in life.  Trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ is what truly matters.  All the rest is secondary.

          The resurrection of Jesus is not an old idea.  It is new and changes lives every day.  C. S. Lewis, the author of the "Narnia" series, was a remarkable Christian, but he was not always a Christian.  His struggle to find faith led him to experience three stages of thinking:  (1) from atheism to a shaky belief;  (2) from a shaky belief to realization that arguments for God were stronger than unbelief;  and (3) from realization to full Christian faith in Jesus Christ as His Savior.

          He described the final step in these words:  "I was driving to the zoo one sunny morning.  When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but when we reached the zoo, I did.  Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought.  Nor in great emotion.  I just arrive there a believer."  That's the Holy Spirit at work, giving us faith.  The resurrection of Jesus became real to Lewis that morning, just as it became real to those women who went to the tomb on that first Easter morning.

          It was May Day, 1990, in Moscow, the last May Day of its kind.  People lined in Red Square for the great parade.  "Is it straight, Father?" one Orthodox priest asked another, shifting the heavy, eight-foot crucifix on his shoulder.  "Yes," said the other, and together the two priests, along with a group of parishioners holding ropes that steadied the huge cross, walked the parade route.  They were bringing up the rear in the parade, and before them had passed the official might of the Soviet Union - tanks, missiles, troops, and salutes to the Communist party.  And a huge crowd of protesters, shouted up at Mikhail Gorbachev.  "Bread!...Freedom!...Truth!"  As the throng passed directly in front of the Soviet leader, the priests held their cross as high as possible.  And the figure of Jesus Christ obscured for a moment the giant poster faces of Marx, Engels, and Lenin posted behind Gorbachev's reviewing stand.  "Mikhail Gorbachev!" one of the priests shouted, his deep voice drowning out the protesters and aimed right at the Soviet leader.  "Mikhail Gorbachev!" he said again very loudly, "Christ is risen!"

          We who believe in Jesus Christ and His resurrection have so much to remember, and also so much to look forward to.  We recall His love and mercy and we look forward to the joy of eternal life with God.  Last Friday I watched a short interview with two daughters of Ruth and Billy Graham, who have been married now 62 years.  Their daughter Anne said she once asked her mother how she could deal with sitting all day long, now that she can't walk due to arthritis and can barely see because of macular degeneration.  Ruth Graham told her daughter, "I have so many wonderful memories and so much to look forward to."

          So do we, dear friends.  We too have wonderful memories, not just of life, but all of what our Lord has done for us.  And because of what He has done, we have so much to look forward to.

          And so we say today, "Christ is risen!"  That's the message of the angels, the message we must always remember.  Remember what He said.  Remember what He did.  Read that He loves us, and pray to Him your prayers of thankfulness.  And may God give us all here today a very Happy Easter, in the name of our Risen Savior, amen.

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.