When I was about 25 or so I moved with my family to California.We lived in a suburb of Los Angeles.Now I had spent my entire life for the most part in three states, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.I had driven through a couple of others, but that hardly counts.To say the least my world experience was limited.In my small world everyone went to church every week.In fact that was really all there was to do for entertainment.We didn’t think much about why we went to church or why we believed in God, why we accepted Jesus as Lord – it was just the way it was.Interfaith dialogues were unheard of and Sunday morning soccer games were against the law. About two months after arriving in California, we joined a small church near our home.It was one of those California open air buildings.We shared the building with a couple of other congregations in order to pay for the upkeep.I took on the responsibility of teaching a 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class.My first class, I came in with a brief case full of historical notes on the Holy Land and theological arguments for the Gospel stories – and all of it neatly tied up in current event applications.Now there were the usual disturbances of giggles, spit balls, and broken pencils, what really made me question whether or not I had what it took to shepherd these young seekers to Jesus was this glassy eyed look they had when I began to lecture.It wasn’t long before they began to nod off.I was crushed.All of my preparation had gone for naught.I reached nary a one of them.That night I called my older sister, Anne, and asked her, “What should I do?What should I do?”Anne’s response was almost immediate – she said, “Jane, you sound like you think this is your message.This is God’s story.Get out of the way!” On Easter morning, all I have to do is get out of the way because the message is unmistakable – because God raised this man Jesus from the grave, my sinfulness, my human frailty, my weakness does not trap me in the mire of death either.Because God chose to share in my weakness, I can share in God’s joy, God’s love, God’s glory.Because God acted, my life is forever changed.And so is yours.Our lives are not changed because we decided to get up this morning and come to church.Our lives are not changed because we gave up tickets to opening day in order to be with the family.Our lives are not changed because of anything we have said or done – our lives are changed because God has acted in bringing new life to that which was dead and for us that means that each day we get up there is the possibility of new life for us also.The part we play is in opening our hearts to let God in. I love this reading from Acts where Peter preaches a sermon to a group of Gentiles who were gathered at the home of a Roman centurion named Cornelius.Peter is a pretty impulsive guy.You might remember some of the stories about him.He is the one who left a good job on a fishing boat to wander around the countryside with the new young rabbi.And he is the one who Jesus had to pull from the water when he began to sink for his lack of faith.He is the one first refused to let Jesus wash his feet and then wanted to be washed all over instead.He is the disciple who denied knowing Jesus three times and he is the disciple on whose faith Jesus would build the church.Faith was a journey for Peter to say the least. A few days before, Peter had been visiting a buddy named Simon who lived on the Mediterranean.One afternoon he went up on the roof to take a nap and he had a dream about animals and sheets and eating.This dream brought Peter to the realization that God’s love and compassion, expressed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was not limited to a small Jewish sect in Palestine, was not limited by what family you were born into or what kind of job you had.God’s love is for everybody.And so when two Roman soldiers came to the door and invited Peter to come, he went.He went because his relationship with Jesus during those long days of walking from town to town, listening to the stories about good Samaritans and Prodigal sons, - his relationship with Jesus had changed his life.And so we get this witness of Peter that we just heard. Peter says: “I truly understand that whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever your life has been like…God is your creator, God loves you, and God wants your love in return.”He tells them, “You know the story – he was baptized by John and filled with the Spirit of God, he spoke truth to the power magnates and he welcomed children and women and tax collectors and lepers to his circle of friends.He taught about forgiving others as God forgives us and he healed those who were sick.”And then Peter tells the sad part of the story, the journey we have just walked through Holy Week – he says – “but we rejected him, we had him put to death, but God changed that.God raised him from that grave and made it possible for us to see, hear, and touch him again.Then Jesus told us that we are to be the messengers now.We are to witness to God’s great action.We are, through our actions and our words, to help others to know Jesus too.” Peter gave a wonderful sermon, but it was after the sermon was preached that the real change happened.While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered Gentiles and all who saw it were amazed.What I hear when I read this story is that through the willingness of Peter to tell these people whom he had never met about his experience of knowing Jesus, they too came to know Jesus in a very special and personal way – and their lives were changed too. In Luke’s Gospel we hear of others whose lives were changed by Jesus too.When Mary Magdalene and the other women came to the tomb and found it empty they didn’t understand.They bowed their heads in terrified submission, when God’s messengers spoke to them, not wanting to face the uncertain future.But then they remembered what Jesus had told them – and became – just as Peter did – unstoppable messengers of God’s salvation.It mattered not whether they convinced anyone – what mattered was that the witness of these women brought others, including Peter, to experience the Risen Christ for themselves.And lives were changed. I think that one of the reasons young people today find less and less reason to get out of bed on Sunday morning and come to church is because they see this story that we just heard as something to think about in the future.Maybe as a kind of cheap Grace that when one gets old and feeble they can repent of their sins and have the promise of some magical place to live after death.Or perhaps it comes across as just one more criticism from a controlling parent about what they should or should not do, one more task to be crowded into the only day of the week that they can spend with family and friends.But that is NOT what this story is about.The Easter message is not about an end of life message, it is Not about shame and judgment or faith statements and death bed confessions, it is not about following some prescribed Sunday morning ritual that wears down the vitality.The Easter message is for right now.It is about joy, and love, and forgiveness.It is about God loving us right where we are in our lives and acting on that love by changing what we thought was dead into a dynamic, life changing, reality.The Resurrection changes lives here and now. The angels tell Mary and the others, “Remember those days in Galilee?Remember what he taught you, how he fed you, how he healed you…Remember what he did when he was with you?...Remember how he loved you?The memory connects that empty tomb with the living Jesus who had first shown them the face of God.The memory grounds the mystery of the Resurrection in the everyday of our world. So that is what I want to preach today.If you don’t take away anything else today here is the kernel.The wonder of the empty tomb, God’s gift of new life in Jesus cannot – CANNOT be separated from the teachings and actions of Jesus in his ministry and this miracle, this mystery, this resurrection is an invitation to us to be disciples, to live as Jesus lived, loving all whom we meet.Resurrection changes us.Resurrection lifts our bowed heads, dusts off the dirt and grime of our sins, and sends us out into the world to spread the word with joy.It just doesn’t get any better than that. Now we are going to do three things that will support us in this mission of Resurrection…First we are going to remember our baptismal promises as we recite our creedal statements and are sprinkled with the waters of baptism,Then after we have remembered who we are as children of God, we will come together at this Table to share our first Eucharist this Easter morning.God’s people, God’s family, remembering who and whose we are and celebrating together as one Body.And then we are going to go out from here into the world, renewed, restored, resurrected - living our lives as Jesus has taught us so that through us, others will see God.Amen