It is not always easy for me to think and write about Easter. This Holy Day comes with a great deal of emotion attached for me. Someone I loved a great deal died one Easter morning a long time ago so personally it is difficult to reflect on all that Easter includes. I do want to say, with no disrespect towards anyone from my past, Easter is about the opportunities that come with the future. And I am in love with the future!
Easter is about the resurrection, the new life that comes after a tragic end, the butterfly emerging from the cocoon, the flower from the seed, the music from the reed. It is about tomorrow. It is an all too difficult truth to face but much of the time one thing has to die, for another to take on life and new meaning. We can probably all reflect on jobs or relationships lost which seemed to be devastating only to have a new opportunity present itself, one that never would have come to be without the first ending, sad as it seemed at the time.
I love where I am, the people I am in relationship with today, the church where I minister, the hope that is ahead for Peggy and I, and the progressive nature of the Christ message that I have the opportunity to share here in these writings, at church, and in this community. There is great opportunity ahead for compassion and justice and equality. There is an opportunity for all of us to be the voice that brings the new age of respect and understanding among people of faith, all faiths.
Today on the news there is great uproar about the law in Indiana that gives people the “right” to discriminate against individuals born different from themselves if they claim it is against their religion to be born that way themselves. It is beyond my ability to understand how people who call themselves Christian, that is following the teachings of Jesus, who ate and drank and walked with all manner of people, can use that same teaching to discriminate. That is a Christianity that I would love to see die so a new form of Christianity can come alive in all its fullness.
Perhaps what we need is another Good Friday and another Easter. Perhaps what we need is the death of something long considered beautiful and allow the birth of spirituality that respects all faith traditions and realizes our great cultural diversity, one which is as rich in its differences as the foods from around the world. No one would stand today and claim that the only food for the body there is has its roots European traditions (some of it is quite boring). Why claim the same for the spiritual food that feeds people around the world. We are nourished in body and spirit by a great variety of beneficial ingredients.
I am nourished today by the death of Jesus and the teachings that came to life afterward. I am nourished by the death of a love lost and I am nourished by the love shared with my wife of nearly sixteen years and the many friends that are part of Hope Church.
There is much to live for that lies ahead for us all. Look to the future, look to the emerging truth that feeds our spirits and avoid the toxicity of language that strives to separate and divide. There is great joy in the morning when life is alive with bells that ring in celebration of the new life. Sing an Easter song of joy!
Blessings Friends!
