LI clergy's Easter messages to offer hope

The Rev. Janet Porcher settled on an unconventional title for her final Easter Sunday sermon at First United Methodist Church in Oceanside: "Let's Dance."

"There is so much turmoil and tragedy and disasters, like in Japan, and the earthquakes and floods all over the world," she said as she prepared the 30th Easter sermon of her ministry, and her 18th in Oceanside.

"There are a lot of people who seem to be struggling emotionally due to a lot of the world changing," she said. "I want to bring to them a sense of hope, and that they are not alone, and that there is joy to be found in every single day.

"I think we need to celebrate every day of our lives because each day is a gift," Porcher said. "Each time we awake from a night's sleep, it's a resurrection . . . We have to leave the confines of the tombs we make in our own lives, the way we get bogged down by what comes our way."

A county and a denomination away, the Rev. Edward Kealey, 74, of St. Sylvester's Church, a Roman Catholic church in Medford, said he grappled with his final Easter sermon after 23 years in the priesthood.

"What I like to do at Easter time is take something from the history of the church and use that," Kealey said.

This year, the history comes from his own church, in the form of a glass jar of wood shavings a female parishioner collected recently while the building was being renovated and expanded.

"She saw in the shavings the full beam, and in the beam the full church, and in the church the work of God. The message is that in the tiniest of things, you see greatness," Kealey said.

Kealey, who became a priest late in life, is reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and will be leaving in June.

Porcher will be reassigned in June. "God's calling me into a hospice ministry here on the Island," she said.

Kealey, Porcher and several other clergy members said they try to vary their Easter sermons from year to year, but the Resurrection of Christ is such a core of Christian theology that it dominates their annual messages on the holiday.

A farm across from Baiting Hollow-Calverton Congregational Church on Sound Avenue provided the inspiration this year for the Rev. Stan Knavel, senior pastor of the United Church of Christ congregation in Calverton, as he watched a farmer working after a late February thaw.

"We're still an agricultural corridor along Sound Avenue. Now I'm seeing green popping up. Under all that was strawberry plants," he said. "We look at things that are dormant, and behold: You go out the front door of the church and you have resurrection in everyday life."

The Rev. Chuck Cary, pastor at Westhampton Presbyterian Church in Westhampton Beach, said he sometimes mentions current events in his Sunday sermons, but he sticks close to Scripture at Easter.

"Like someone said, I preach the Gospel with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other," he said. "But that won't the driving force this Sunday. The conclusion I reach is that God is not finished with the world, and Easter is a sign of new life."

"We try and wrestle with the sermon every year to make it new and fresh," he said. "This year the title is: 'Easter Is Here: Let The Party Begin.' It is an outstanding event we're talking about. It ought to make us happy and joyful."

The Rev. George Gaffga, pastor of Mattituck Presbyterian Church, said he "wants to keep Easter very real . . . that in death you can find life, as in the cross."

"When people are suffering in this life, I want them to believe that suffering and something that is coming can go together, so we say that we understand despair, but we don't try to deny the suffering. That's true of this life. Hope is true," Gaffga said.

OTHER EASTER SERMONS

THE REV. JOHN VLAHOS / Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection, Brookville:

"I think that the message of Christianity is truly a message of joy, and joy is something each of us is craving because we have so many struggles in this world: the economy, our health. The message of joy is something that has to come through, and ultimately that joy comes through overcoming our suffering. The message of Easter is not to bypass suffering, but rather through our faith in the Lord -- he helps us overcome the challenges of our lives. Hence, the idea of no resurrection without crucifixion."

THE REV. THOMAS NOWAK / Calvary Lutheran Church, East Meadow:

"I will basically be emphasizing that Jesus rose from the dead, and how that gave us confidence to know that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice and his Son is risen. I'll be giving some good, down-home examples, but I'm still working on that. I always try to incorporate the Resurrection. It helps us through or difficulty. He was not just God, he was also man."

THE REV. ALLAN RAMIREZ / Brookville Reformed Church, Brookville:

"I am actually speaking about new life for old congregations. The idea being that for the last several years, I have been working with an interfaith community made up of Jewish and Christian parents and I have seen in this community a thirst for spiritual development -- one I don't see in the old mainline Christian communities."

THE REV. MACK SMITH / Trinity Lutheran Church, Wyandanch:

"I will be preaching the 'Tomb God.' Jesus Christ was the only God placed in a tomb, and the only God to be resurrected . . . His return is a sign to us of resurrection and salvation for all."