'WE ARE CALLED TO BE AGENTS OF GOD'S NEW CREATION IN THE WORLD': ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN'S EASTER SERMON

Speaking in Christ Church Cathedral at 11 am today, Easter Sunday 8 April the Archbishop of Dublin told the congregation that “we are called to be agents of God’s new creation in the world.”

Continuing he said “In Ireland today, there are signs of hope, of new beginnings, but there is also so much that we tend to take for granted. There is a growing gap between rich and poor, which leads many to deep despair. There are elderly people terrified that they may become the victims of crime, or that they may fall ill and suffer neglect. There are young people trafficked from abroad who are abused in a hideous fashion. These are but a few examples of the world in which we are called to be messengers and agents of God’s new creation.”

Concluding, the Archbishop said “my prayer is that we may be drawn more fully ourselves into the experience of Resurrection in our daily lives – that the Risen Jesus will indeed make more and more real within us that new creation that is God’s way for us and for his creation, and so make us living signs of hope, of transformation for a world that is so often broken and sad.”

Full text of the address follows:

Sermon preached on Easter Day 2007
Sunday 8 April at 11.00am by
The Most Revd Dr John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin
in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

A fresh start, real hope and an exciting new venture are positive experiences for anybody. Easter points to each of these. It may well be that nostalgia and reminiscence are also part of the human consciousness, especially as we get older, but these are not anything like as dynamic or constructive as what we are celebrating today when we think of Resurrection.

It is Resurrection that is of the very nature of the God revealed to us in the life, death and rising of Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus in his earthly ministry spent much time encouraging people to move forwards, to see God and to see themselves, and also indeed to see other people in a new light. Jesus constantly broke free of the systems and the labels and the expectations that tied people down and imprisoned them.

The God of Jesus as revealed in the Old Testament is far too often pictured as being harsh and punishing, whereas the key words of scripture used to describe this God and his actions include mercy, loving kindness, forbearance, redemption, salvation and promise, The Easter message of Resurrection is indeed not contrary to what God has always revealed, it is rather at the very heart of God’s way for the whole of creation.

The Gospels have many accounts of the appearances of the Risen Jesus, to his closest friends and disciples. One striking feature of these accounts is that frequently Jesus is not immediately recognised. It is only through a characteristic gesture that he is suddenly recognised, perhaps the way a name is uttered, or a piece of bread broken and blessed, or as a figure standing as he often did before on the lakeshore. Resurrection is not simply resuscitation, it is transformation, it is change; it is even a new creation.

There is vital continuity between Jesus of Nazareth and the Risen Lord – he is one and the same. There is also dramatic change – for he is raised by God to new life, a life that transcends the limitations of the incarnation, but he still bears the marks of the nails and the wounded side of the Crucified one. Continuity and discontinuity merge in one person, the Risen Lord.

It is this revelation of God at work that brings us from an empty tomb one Sunday morning almost two thousand years ago to see not only Jesus, but also ourselves, and the world in a new light.

As the Apostle Paul reflected on the Resurrection of Jesus, he summed up so much of its significance for us in one sentence: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see everything has become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What does all this imply for you and me? What does it imply for the world in which we live, and what does it imply for Irish Society today? What does God say in each of these situations as we ponder again the message of Easter?

Surely if we are really listening to God we hear in the message of resurrection a call to come and share in something different, in a new creation, to look for signs of God’s constant renewal in the world – God’s transformation of people and situations.

The challenge is that we are often satisfied so much with the status quo that we fail to see the signs of Resurrection. We need to share far more of the good stories, of the hopeful things that occur and to encourage and pray for the transformation that is at the heart of God’s way for us and the world.

It is often the weight of nostalgia, sorrow or guilt that ties us down. It is from this that the Risen Lord would free us, as he did his disciples as one by one they came to see him Risen from the dead.

“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation…” These words have an application beyond the personal. We are called to be agents of God’s new creation in the world. In Ireland today, there are signs of hope, of new beginnings, but there is also so much that we tend to take for granted. There is a growing gap between rich and poor, which leads many to deep despair. There are elderly people terrified that they may become the victims of crime, or that they may fall ill and suffer neglect. There are young people trafficked from abroad who are abused in a hideous fashion. These are but a few examples of the world in which we are called to be messengers and agents of God’s new creation.

As we join in this festival of Easter, my prayer is that we may be drawn more fully ourselves into the experience of Resurrection in our daily lives – that the Risen Jesus will indeed make more and more real within us that new creation that is God’s way for us and for his creation, and so make us living signs of hope, of transformation for a world that is so often broken and sad.

“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see everything has become new.”

- ENDS –