We Are Witnesses - Easter message from Bishop Lanette Plambeck
Transcript of video:
Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!
Hello, beloved friends in Christ. Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Today we stand together in the joy of resurrection. Christ is risen, and because Christ is risen, everything has changed.
In Acts 10, we hear a powerful Easter sermon- not from the pulpit, but from a living room in the home of Cornelius.
Peter, once hesitant and unsure, now speaks with clarity and boldness. He tells the gathered household, “We are witnesses.” Peter is giving a testimony, not just to an empty tomb, but to a living Christ who walked with them, who healed the broken, who was crucified and raised by God, and who now calls them to a new way of life. And it's that calling I want to focus on with you today, because Peter doesn't just say, “We saw it.”
He says, “Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God” (that's verse 42).
There it is. We– you and I – have a role to play in resurrection. Easter, you see, is not just a private experience. It's not just something to feel in our hearts or celebrate in our sanctuaries. It's something we embody in the world. Jesus commanded us.
It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't an invitation. And it wasn't mere encouragement. But Jesus commanded us to bear witness. To preach, if you will, with our lives. To testify. To hope. To show up where despair threatens to have final word and to proclaim, “There is more than this. Love lives.”
That word, "witness", means more than just seeing something. It means standing in the truth of what you've seen, even when it costs you something. In the original Greek, the word for witness– martyria (that's where the word “martyr” comes from), that word tells us something. Being a witness means you've been changed by what you've seen. And– and this is critical– You can't keep silent about it.
Peter has seen the risen Christ. He had shared meals with him. He had received forgiveness and reinstatement after denying him. And now, he's testifying not only with words, but with his entire life. He's now standing in the home of a Gentile, something he would have never done before. Because resurrection expands the boundaries of who belongs.
“God shows no partiality,” Peter says. That's how he begins his sermon. And it sets the tone for everything else. Friends, Easter is personal, but it's never private. If Christ is truly risen, then the world should be able to tell– not just by what we say in church, but by how we live when we leave it. The resurrection is real when it moves us toward courage, toward reconciliation, toward justice, toward mercy.
In verse 43, Peter says, “All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Everyone. Not just those who have it all together. Not just those who think like us or vote like us, or worship exactly the same. Everyone. That's the kind of message we've been commanded to share.
So, I want to ask you this Easter morning:
What are you witnessing to?
What story is your life telling?
In a world marked by division, violence, fear, and despair, are we bold enough to bear witness to something different? Are we willing to preach– not just with our words, but with our actions– that death does not get the last word, that peace is possible, that forgiveness is real, and that Jesus indeed is Lord of all?
This Easter let's not just remember resurrection– let's live it. Let's be the kind of people who make the world stop and wonder, “What happened to them?” “What have they seen?” And the answer will be, “We have seen the risen Lord. We are witnesses. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!
Now, friends, go! Preach! Testify! and Live! Because the world is watching and depending on us and what we do next is part of the resurrection story.
Blessings to you, across the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area, every United Methodist, every neighbor outside.
And I wish you a very Happy and Blessed Easter.
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
Bishop Lanette Plambeck
Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area
The United Methodist Church
April 10, 2025
