Easter Day
CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us: * therefore let us keep the feast, Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; * but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7.
CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; * death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: * but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, * but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9.
CHRIST is risen from the dead, * and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, * by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, * even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 20
ALMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened
unto us the gate of
everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing [going
before] us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we
may bring the same to good
effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost
ever, one God, world
without end. Amen.
Easter Mass, Atlanta, 1864, 1st Irish, Co A, 35th Indiana Infantry
Colossians iii. 1.
IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory.
For every thing there is a season, and this is the season when Christians turn to ponder the
Resurrection.
It was the season for soldiers like Robert E. Lee, Leonidas Polk, JEB Stewart, William Hardee,
John B. Hood, and Joseph E. Johnston,
and those who worshipped with them, to have paused for special devotion even during the
years of the Late
Unpleasantness. They would have sung or said the scripture verses that opened this lesson
instead of the Venite (Psalm 95) at
Morning Prayer. They would have heard the passage from Colossians, as it was appointed for
the Holy Communion on
Easter Day.
It was the season to put on their best clothes (clean uniforms if they could), a tradition
that came from the fourth
century when the Christian Emperor Constantine ordered all to wear their best for this most
important feast. Why? Well
to honor the Risen Christ, offering to him the best that they had.
It was the season for some to have joined in a procession to church – the Easter Parade. It
was just beginning to be
observed in the states in 1860, but had its origins in the Early Church when the newly
baptized Christians were seen in
procession in their white baptismal tunics.
It was the season for families in both the North and the South to gather at church. Their
prayers were for peace. Their
thoughts were for their loved ones who were in harms way on the battlefields across the
Southland. Their thoughts
turned to their men who had fallen asleep in battle or by camp disease. I’ve no doubt that
they were comforted and
succored by the promise and hope of the Resurrection for all those who are in Christ.
It was the season for Holy Communion since the days of the Early Church. Communion on this day
was obligatory. This was
a day when Christians remembered the Last Supper. It was the Jewish Seder meal of the
Passover, that occurred on
Thursday, the day before the crucifixion. On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took
the unleavened bread, and
when he had given thanks he broke it, and gave it to his disciples (bread from the one loaf)
saying Take, eat, this
is my Body given for you; Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper, he took
the cup (Cup of
Thanksgiving), and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, (each drinking the festal wine
from the one cup as a
sign of unity and communion with him and one another). As Jesus gave the cup to them he said,
Drink this all of you,
for this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission
of sins. Do this, as oft
as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.
It was the season that Christians were reminded of the New Commandment that Jesus gave his
disciples at that Last Supper on Maundy (Commandment) Thursday. He said, 'A new commandment
I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another."[Jn 13:34].
It was the season when our ancestors thought upon Christ’s Resurrection, and their own
destiny. For some, it was a time
that they may have first embraced this promise of Salvation and the Resurrection, knowing that
they might not see
tomorrow.
You see, there is no more important day in the Church than Easter Day. There is no more
important event in the life of
Christ than the Resurrection. It is on this
day that our Lord Jesus Christ became the firstfruits of a new creation. It was on this day
that he overcame and
defeated death and the Prince of this World.
It is the season for you too my friends - no matter who you are, for it is a time of
regeneration.
First, a question: Do you have assurance of salvation? Are you sure that on the
Last Day you will be resurrected to heaven? You can be assured you know. The promise is for
you. If you’ve never been assured
that Christ is your savior, if you never felt you could measure up to the high calling of
surrendering all to Christ,
of picking up your cross, and of following him, but you want that peace and assurance, then go
to him in prayer now.
Confess your weaknesses. Confess your lack of faith. Ask him to help you. If you are sincere,
then I believe that you
will come to that assurance through the promise of our merciful Lord. We Christians believe,
as our Lord taught us, and
as the prayer appointed for Easter Day says, that God will send his Holy Ghost to his elect
preventing (going before)
them, to lead them to know Christ, and by and by, more and more, to strengthen their faith and
to convict them of their
eternal salvation in him. Likewise, the elect will be led by the same Spirit to seek and set
their affections on the
things that are above, as Paul says in today's epistle. As they do so, they will know the joy
of Christ's abiding
grace in their lives, and the assurance of his Salvation.
For those in Christ, it is a time of renewal. Just as we observe God renewing his Creation,
with the beautiful Redbuds adorning our Kentucky hills, God will refresh us in our faith in
Christ's Victory over death. In the same way that the Redbud stands out amongst all the other
trees in this season, the Resurrection stands out as the central event of our faith. May God
grant us his grace in our lives so that we show forth, like a Redbud on a barren hillside, a
witness to his promise and work in our lives. In the words of the Te Deum which would have
been said by these
soldiers in Morning Prayer on Easter Day: "When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death;
thou
didst opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers."
Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus as he spoke to Martha,
the sister of Lazarus whom he raised from the dead, to assure her.
I am the Resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live: and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?'
What do you truly believe this Easter Day?
AMEN
This Spring as you see the Redbuds on the hills, may you remember his promise
The scripture and hymns cited here were used by Christians of the era and are based on America's first Prayer Book of 1789, the Prayer Book of those listed above, which was in use throughout the States until 1892, and the Confederate Prayer Book which was adopted in 1862 and used in the Confederacy through the end of the war. It is available through a link on our Chaplains of the Confederacy.
Preached at Saint John Baptist Anglican Church
The Reverend Lt. Colonel
Mark Carroll,
Colonel
Ben Caudill Camp -
Easter Day - the Year of Our Lord 2007