Easter Message of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Lichtenberger, Presiding Bishop
Diocesan Press Service. February 13, 1964 [XVIII-15]
All men sin. All men die. These are inescapable facts of our existence. This is part of the darkness in which we stand--the darkness which is within us and around us. Most everyone is aware of this, even though we call sin by other names and try to deny the finality of death. We are threatened by the dark.
But in the darkness there is light. God's light shines in the darkness and cannot be put out. He has come into the world in Jesus Christ and has met the full force of sin and death and has won the victory. This is the heart of the Christian faith and the foundation of the Christian Church:
"The glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead; He has become the very first to rise of all who sleep the sleep of death... As members of a sinful race all men die; as members of the Christ of God all men shall be raised to life. "*
Every church building is a standing witness to this conviction; every Sunday is a remembrance of Easter Day. But the church building where we worship and the day we call Sunday are not simply reminders of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead some nineteen hundred years ago. , This strange thing which many find hard to believe is much more than a fact of history, although it is that. This is the wellspring of the Church's life. It is incredible foolishness to those who look at the Church from the outside. But to many .within, it is the clue to the meaning of life; it is the source of hope and joy.
This is the word of Easter. It is not, believe and you will be secure in this world and safe in the next, but rather, let the saving power of God which is for all men work in you and through you. Let this power give you faith and patience and courage; let it work in you to help bring unity and Justice and order to this land and to the world.
*Quotation from J.C. Phillips' The New Testament In Modern English, I Corinthians 15:20.