GOD'S DREAM IS STILL GOOD

GOD’S DREAM IS STILL GOOD
Homily presented at the 2025 Easter Vigil
St Vincent de Paul Church, Albany, NY

    This is the night. This is the night and there is a wonderful spirit in this place. Can I get an Amen? (The assembly responds loudly AMEN!)
    We have come to be with one another to first strike a new fire to obscure the darkness in our lives. In the glow of Christ the Light we heard the proclamation of Easter praising the unseen God. And we just listened to biblical stories about salvation after subjugation, trust against doubt, reconciliation instead of revenge, and then resurrection after death.
    In all of these passages we notice the challenges that faced our ancestors knowing that similar fears and anxieties surround us today. We witnessed their resolve to continue their search for a life uninhibited by ruthless regimes.
    Like our Jewish friends at Passover we retold the story of the Israelites’ emancipation. On the other side of the Reed Sea they turned to Moses and Miriam and asked: ”OK, now what? In our own time, we too struggle as we face the dangers that stop us and others from flourishing and making progress.
    And, like those impatient predecessors we want the promises of justice to become realities here and now, not later. To help us do so we are encouraged by the prophets not to stray away from the paths God laid out for us. If we try to follow our own paths we can get into trouble. What is that path God wants us to follow?
    Tonight we bless flowing water that can refresh us and cleanse our muddy pathways. We also use fire, oil, bread and wine — symbolic elements that help us engage with and grasp the significance of our Easter stories.
    Of course these sacred texts are not just about ancestral tribulations and victories. They offer us clues for which way to turn at every corner in our lives. We seek guidance from trustworthy guides who do not lead us astray into further danger. Maybe we need divine direction for these are not easy times.
    The legendary baseball player, Yogi Berra, is famous for his puzzling proverbs like this one: “If the world were perfect, it would not be.” The aphorism, of course, clashes with our genetic passion for unbridled perfection. We want to succeed at all costs — the best education, the best job, enough money to retire on.
    However, this pearl of wisdom is a powerful reminder. Although perfection is truly unattainable, the deficiencies we live with actually make the world a remarkable place. Just think if we were all perfect. We could not live with one another. I think Jesus knew this as he tried his best to make a difference in the world. He was killed not because he preached love but because he protested against corrupt government and religious leaders. Jesus did what he had to do. OK, now what?
    Many of us have the chance to make a difference. We will not forget that creation is founded on justice and that we have a moral responsibility to bring forth justice in these times. We cannot wait for others to do it. We can help others do so as well. My high school Latin and Greek teacher loved to tell us that “hardships are golden opportunities in work clothes.”
    In the biblical account describing creation, God looked at everything in the cosmos and on this planet and God found it to be very good. Obviously, God would have paid no attention to Yogi Berra’s philosophical wit about an imperfect world. 
    It sounds like God actually took delight in making a utopian paradise for us to live in. We have to be careful about those who promise to provide utopia and we end up in dystopia. Even when we mess things up God’s deliberate dream for humanity doe not end. It remains for us to pursue that dream with vigor, with hope, with conviction. This faith community is well known for its commitments to social actions. Do not let that commitment go. You are needed more than ever.
    We have a unique calling to participate in the unfinished act of creation by partnering with God and one another. The creator God is not done creating. God is still lingering with us, haunting us, nudging us. The redeemer God is still walking with us on our journeys. The Spirit God is like a gust of wind pushing us to do the honest thing.
    Because God most often communicates with us through one another we encourage each another to know the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and fiction. Finding ways to teach our children these same values is so important because manners and the rules of law do not seem to matter for many people.
    I imagine God does not want us to take delight only in what may bring us happiness but also to find ways to work for what is not yet finished on this fragile planet — justice and peace for all.
    Having confidence in our creed, our prayers and social actions, three people among us tonight are taking another step to energize their relationships with God and with us. With gratitude for their commitments we will confirm that the Holy Spirit God is moving in Sarah, Kelly and Tom charging them to use their gifts for the good of humanity. They are inspirations for you and for me. And we have to be inspirations to people who live in our communities.
    On this holy Easter night our ultimate contemplation, of course, focuses on the empty tomb. Like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and women named in other gospels, we are thrilled and astounded by the very thought that Jesus of Nazareth, that carpenter, the revolutionary Jew who caused trouble for the tyrannical and corrupt leaders, was transformed from death to a new life. If you and I believe that we too can conquer death.
    That eternal promised land, the completion of the kin-dom of God on earth, is ours to live in now. It needs work but it is a free range open to all. God’s domain has no borders, no fences, no beginning or end, no weapons, no corruption, no greed. In the vast realm of God no one is divided along lines of rank, wealth, power, race, class, or gender. The risen Christ stimulates the world in new ways everyday. So now what?
    By our collective resolve to overcome human sorrow and to generate happiness, fueled by the holy communion that binds us together, we continue our efforts, against all odds, to perfect an imperfect world. God's Dream is still good!