ELCA NEWS SERVICE March 4, 2005 ELCA Presiding Bishop's 2005 Easter Message "Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.'" (John 20:19) The risen Christ appears to his disciples on Easter evening. Behind locked doors, they are terrified. Is there a more apt description of our contemporary context than this? We are fearful people: frightened by the possibility of a terrorist attack, fearful of the stranger in our midst, worried about the future. The risen Christ stands before us today just as he stood before his frightened disciples. In the midst of our fear, he extends an ordinary greeting that becomes a most extraordinary gift: "Peace be with you." Theologian Joseph Sittler describes the peace of God as ". . . rest, whose gift is to have no anxiety about anything, fulfil[ling] itself in a peace of God as movement, which goes out with holy concern about everything." [Joseph Sittler, The Care of the Earth, and Other University Sermons (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1964), p. 39.] Yet the risen Christ offers not only the gift of peace, but also himself. He reveals the wounds of his crucifixion and then gives the surprising command, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21) Christ sends his followers, terrified as they are, right back into the world that crucified their leader. But they are not sent into the world on their own. "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" (John 20:22) In the community of Christ's Body, the Church, we are sent to proclaim Christ as risen for the healing of the world. Alleluia! The Rev. Mark S. Hanson Presiding Bishop Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Easter 2005 -- -- -- This year the ELCA and other Western Christian churches celebrate Easter on Sunday, March 27. Eastern or Orthodox Christian churches celebrate the Great and Holy Pascha on Sunday, May 1. The 2005 Easter message of Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson is also available at http://www.elca.org/bishop/m_easter2005.html on the ELCA Web site. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news