Now that Ward Parkway has been repaved, we can drive at full speed. Winter slowed us down. Between the icy sidewalks, the sub-zero temps and the potholes, we were forced to pause. Spring brings a new urgency. We scurry to file our taxes. We till the soil, spread mulch and plant pansies. We coach children’s soccer. We wrap up the semester’s academic work before finals and graduations. We push to complete business projects before summer vacations scatter us.
In the midst of all our busyness, who has time for pondering the Resurrection? When Christmas rolls around, the whole culture pauses. But the date of Easter moves around based on the cycle of the moon and life charges ahead full speed. Other than Easter eggs on the shelf at the CVS, the culture pays little head to the miracle of new life. Everyone can relate to a baby in swaddling cloth but who can fathom an empty tomb?
So for me, one of the miracles, is that for just a few hours, last Sunday morning, we set aside all that beckons for our attention, and sang “Hallelujah…Hallelujah.” Bathed in the light of the blue stained glass and surrounded by the scent of fresh lilies we prayed for Christ to rise up in our own fragmented lives and our own messy world. We dared to listen to God’s relentless hope, resounding in the trumpets blast. We giggled as those sweet children gathered on the steps to hear that God’s love for them never fails. We paused. All at once, over 1,000 of us. For a moment.
When I hiked the Camino a few years back, I met an elderly Canadian woman hiking alone the entire 45-day route. She had faced both professional and health crises. The walk was her spiritual rebirth. She counseled my friends and me to “Listen to all of the life that lives inside you.” For years I thought of that as a very personal message. But this morning, as I look back at that image of all of you gathered on Easter morn, I realize it is also a message to our whole community. What if we listened to all the life that lives inside of us as a congregation? What might God be saying to us about resurrection and new life?
How might the breath of God arise in us?
Grace and peace,
Carla
