Trinity Church in the City of Boston
The Rev. Morgan S. Allen
April 5, 2026
Easter Sunday, Matthew 28:1-10
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity, I’ll sing on.1“What wondrous love is this.” The Hymnal 1982, The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1985, 439.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia.
A bunch of years ago now, my family made the decision to cut the cord and cancel our cable subscription and streaming services.2Don’t be too impressed: we have had many seasons of backsliding. However, less than we became principled heroes who consumed less media, we simply consumed the out-of-date, free TV one receives by antenna – de facto daily binges given that these stations broadcast the same shows over and over again. Without question, the best of these free channels remains NBC-owned “Cozi,” and its Little House on the Prairie became our A#1 favorite program.
When a show runs on a constant loop in our home – in the old days, after school and on Saturday mornings, and now when we leave our empty nest in the care of our dog [who, we tell ourselves, likes the company of the TV’s lights and sounds], those characters become part of our household: their settings, our places, and their lives, our stories. But, I gotta tell ya: welcoming the Ingalls into one’s living room proves perilous, for as soon as their good company fills your heart, their suffering threatens to break you in two.
As one example among a hundred: last week I got home from church just as Pa and Merlin Olsen’s character, Mr. Garvey, well they had caught good jobs installing telephone poles out of Minneapolis,3“The Godsister.” Little House On The Prairie, Characters and stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Directed by Michael Landon, Season 5, Episode 14, broadcast December 18, 1978, National Broadcasting Company. and, because Charles Ingalls is dadgum Charles Ingalls, he inspired the crew to work double-time, so that everyone would earn the 25% bonus (of $12.50) the company offered should they finish ahead of schedule. And, man, that bonus was theirs … until the horses pulling the trailer with the last poles broke their legs in a muddy spot on the road, only a couple miles from the final worksite.
The foreman, he told the fellas how sorry he was that they weren’t going to qualify for that bonus they’d already been counting, but there was nothing that could be done … except for what Pa could do – he didn’t give up! He organized a dozen men to hustle ahead of the crew. They pushed those dead horses out of the way, tied the reins to their own shoulders, and they pulled that trailer of telephone poles themselves! Raising the last lines by lantern light, you better believe they earned that bonus!
And here I am, watching all this while leaning against my kitchen counter and thinking I better not complain to Missy that my middle-aged back hurts, because Pa just pulled a trailer of trees out the mud with nothing but his country muscle!
Seemingly every episode of Little House endures a Good Friday, which provides clear relief for their attendant celebrations of Easter Sunday [$12.50 at a time]. Under the banner of “Don’t It Make Your Troubles Seem Small,” in fact, all troubles seem small compared to the Ingalls’ struggles: I get annoyed when I can’t find the Durkee’s4I have been told most don’t know what in the world Durkee’s is: it’s a “salad sauce” that better resembles homemade mayonnaise than Helman’s or what have you. During the dimmest days of the pandemic, Missy conjured a homemade version that saved the day. For the record, Missy would give Caroline Ingalls a run for her money. in the refrigerator, while the Ingalls nearly starve after a brutal hailstorm destroys their crops;5“100 Mile Walk.” Little House On The Prairie, Characters and stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Directed by William F. Claxton, Season 1, Episode 4, broadcast September 25, 1974, National Broadcasting Company. we complain about the difficulty of this last winter in Boston, while it got so bad in Walnut Grove they had to tie a lead rope between the back door and the barn to care for their sick livestock, scarcely knowing up from down because of the wind and snow;6“Blizzard.” Little House On The Prairie, Characters and stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Directed by William F. Claxton, Season 3, Episode 11, broadcast January 3, 1977, National Broadcasting Company. Ms. Beadle meant to do the right thing. and when Caroline and Charles must tell Mary she’s going blind7“I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away.” Little House On The Prairie, Characters and stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Directed by William F. Claxton, Season 4, Episodes 21 and 22, broadcast March 6 and March 13, 1978, National Broadcasting Company. Mary’s blindness, caused by Scarlet Fever, haunted me as a child, and haunts me even now as a parent/person who loves people. … Lord, have mercy, I can’t turn away that episode, though I know a good, long cry will follow.
In the games of comparative suffering, we cannot compete! The Ingalls have taken gold in The Suffering Olympics, and as a result, they have earned their Easter – Alleluia, they sing on, indeed, thanks be to God and good on them.
Likewise for the disciples: on Thursday, sin seeped into their fellowship. Brothers became betrayers, and by Friday, the friend and teacher who had loved them when they had long feared their struggles left them unloveable … the one they dared believe could save them, could lift them from their crushing station … that one died before the eyes of those who could bear to watch – and not just died, but killed, executed for convenience rather than cause, humiliated on the cross.
With their dreams turned to desolation, greed and gluttony once more seemed to triumph over gratitude, the unfairness of it all stealing the very air from their suffocating sobs. On Saturday, then, they ached not only for their companion Jesus, but for the loss of the hopes they had nurtured with him – hopes still delicate as a bee’s wing.8An image drawn from “Beeswing,” by the great Richard Thompson. The song originally appeared on 1994’s Mirror Blue, though I have come to prefer the version on Acoustic Classics collection, his 2014 album of acoustic re-recordings of his songs. Thompson also chose Beeswing for the title of his autobiography, as well as his personal label and publishing company. And then … the earth shook! The cosmos trembled! And on Sunday – on this day! – they greeted Resurrection. I mean, alleluia earned! They sing on, of course.
But, for me … for us? Well, just some Slightly-Better-Than-Average News, thank you. Pretty-Good News would be fine before brunch.
Knowing how good we’ve got it – like Ruby Turpin or Harriet Oleson: “Why, not as much as some, but better than most”9From “Revelation,” by Flannery O’Connor, of course: “The look that Mrs. Turpin and the pleasant lady exchanged indicated they both understood that you had to have certain things before you could know certain things.” I despise Ruby Turner and Harriet Oleson so much because I have known them so well. – we don’t want to risk our accounts by conspicuously receiving too much more. Accepting the social value of aggrievement, we sidle ourselves beside the offended [Come on, now, don’t tell me different! I know how it works …] – not to honor others’ experiences, but to protect what we have. We live a life of low expectations as a strategy to manage prospective disappointments. We curate a careful disposition of low-grade Good Friday, ready to pounce any insult against us or our sensibilities. And we declare this baseline of discontent righteous, the cost of grace. I mean, “Jesus Christ,” we make our appeal, “no wonder we’re all depressed!” We have made delight dangerous and insulting, fit only for the foolish and the oblivious, the vulgar and the entitled.
In these days, we fear joy more than death.
Well, friends, believe: there is only one Easter – One Easter! – and it is for you as much as it has been for anyone: for Nellie as much for Laura, for Judas as much as John, and for all of us in between, in all times and in all places. And if that can’t be true? Well, then none of it is.
For in this One Easter, God declares “that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and … all things [– all things –] are being brought to their perfection by [the one] through whom all things were made,”10From our Book of Common Prayer’s Holy Week and ordination rites: “O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” the one who “will be with [us] always, even to the end of the age.”11Matthew 28:20. In this One Easter, our lavish God does not mete Resurrection by merit – or need – or how well we have attempted to play both sides of those possibilities by publicly tempering our griefs and galls, gladnesses and good fortunes.
Unlike the stories in Mark and Luke, Matthew’s Gospel does not bother with hesitation: while in Mark the empty tomb “terrifies” the women, and they “say nothing to anyone, for they were afraid;”12Mark 16:8. and though in Luke, the disciples receive the women’s report “as an idle tale, and they [do] not believe them;”13Luke 24:11. in Matthew, the women leave with awe and joy, and no sooner than they rush for Galilee does Jesus meet them.14Matthew 28:8-9.
This immediacy of Jesus’ appearance challenges our self-protection from beliefs that might leave us looking fatuous or feeling naïve or worrying with proprieties. The immediacy of Jesus’ appearance breaks down our defenses, and delivers joy like lightning15Matthew 28:3. – swift and strong, bright and bold. And the disciples? The Ingalls and all those good people we claim we don’t want to offend with an Easter this grand? Well, they rightly assign foolishness to our declination of celebrating this, the better gift, the one we need only accept to receive.
Trinity Church, today we make the Matthean community’s Resurrection our Easter! We join ourselves to a joy that is not fleeting, but is forever – one that does not increase our vulnerability, but deepens our resilience. For this morning, we can dare let loose of fear and grief … dare celebrate God’s love for us and for all people … and inherit again the promise that God will be with us, always. Together, we then set ourselves to this Good News: that by our brokenness and our blessedness we experience God’s wholeness … that by our frailty and our strength we receive God’s mercy. Friends, we cannot win the world for Jesus by self-interested, feigned malingering! As a people of this one Easter, we win the world by free-making, wondrous Love.
Yes, when from death [we’re] free, [we’ll] sing and joyful be,
and through eternity, [we’ll] sing on, [we’ll] sing on,
and through eternity, [we’ll] sing on.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia.