Throughout Eastertide, dear friends, we hear readings from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Book of Revelation. This makes a lot of sense because Acts, the second volume of Luke, is the continuation of his Gospel, the story of the post-Easter church. Odd, only Luke of all the Evangelists wrote a volume two. Only Luke continues to tell the story of what happens after Jesus' resurrection.

Today in the first reading from Acts we hear about one post-Easter happening. It's in the town of Joppa, today on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv. The story is about a woman named Tabitha or (in Greek) Dorcas. She is a disciple of Jesus, she becomes ill and she dies. She is by profession a seamstress, deeply loved and highly respected and was "devoted to good works and acts of charity." Her friends in their distress at her apparent death call for the apostle Peter, who happens to be staying in a nearby town, to come. He comes, enters her house and knees in prayer next to her body in the room upstairs. And then the totally unexpected happens. Tabitha- Dorcas is resuscitated. She hasn't died at all. Imagine the surprised reaction of her friends. This story parallels the story of the resuscitation of Jesus' friend, Lazarus. Both tell about instances of apparent death. Both involve resuscitation, no less miraculous than a healing of illness. But both are different from resurrection. Lazarus eventually died as did Tabitha- Dorcas. Resurrection means the end of death. It is very different from a resuscitation. And yet there is something similar here. Jesus, in his resurrection reality, cannot die again. As the Apostle Paul says: Death has no more dominion over him. For Tabitha-Dorcas, as for Lazarus, death is still something they must undergo before they can "follow Jesus" into his resurrection reality, where death is no more.

The book of Revelation, from which the second reading today is taken, despite all its problematic aspects contains sublime passages like the one we heard this morning. It is a poetic vision of the worship of heaven. It is an attempt to describe eternity in terms of time, to give expression to the hope of everlasting life. Its world is the realm of angels and saints, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. This reading from Revelation today is frequently read at funerals and at commemorations of the departed. "Who are these?" asks the visionary. "These are they, who have come out of the great ordeal . . ." he hears in reply. The book of Revelation was written at a time of great upheaval and violence, in particular violence against the small Christian community. It's no wonder that this threatened and oppressed community needed such words of comfort and hope.

Dear friends, these two readings today unfold aspects of resurrection faith: The God in whom we believe is a God of the Living, a God who creates life, sustains life and saves life. The God of Easter, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a God who has not only the will, but the power to shelter us, to guide us to springs of the water of life and, finally to wipe away every tear from their eyes. This God of Easter is, however, not just some cosmic smiley face, not just the figment of some wishfully thinking imagination. The God of Easter is the God who knows and experiences Good Friday, the God of life and the living is the same God who has experienced our suffering, our uncertainties and our death.

Easter is not a policy of avoidance of Good Friday, dear friends. Easter faith is not blind to the realities of our lives. Perhaps like me you also kept in your prayers this week the families of all those who lost their lives in the massacre at Virginia Tech. Perhaps like me you also kept in your prayers this week the families of the soldiers who died in Iraq. Perhaps like me you also still feel acutely an empty space in your life once occupied by a loved one. Easter faith does not deny these realities. Easter faith is not the futile attempt to talk ourselves into a smiley face. Also perhaps you like me can envision in heaven those who have died whom we knew and loved as well as those who have died whom we never met. Perhaps you like me find consolation and hope in the words of scripture and in resurrection faith.

The Resurrected One, dear friends, is the Good Shepherd, who is with us in every valley of the shadow of death, who sustains and protects us from every enemy, be it an enemy within or an enemy "out there." Eastertide is the time of year when we re-affirm the Good Shepherd who was first of all the Lamb of God, the Shepherd who is also the Lamb. What a marvelous combination of metaphors! Of course there are tears and there will continue to be reason for our tears, our mourning and our lament. Eastertide reminds us that the last word is not our tears; the last word is spoken by the God of Easter who wipes away every tear from our eyes. May it be so. Amen.