Seven years ago I wrote to my patients that there is no longer anything to grieve at Easter.
Now, as we all sit separated by a world-wide quarantine, those words seem harder to swallow. From the perspective of what feels more like Good Friday, Easter Sunday is almost unimaginable. The cold hand of suffering has a tight grip as death tolls rise every day. But in fact, even in these dark hours, the light of Easter has not dimmed one bit.
It's true that the annual gatherings of family and friends after colorful religious services, a smell of lilies overwhelming cathedrals, sanctuaries and chapels, whole communities hunting for colored eggs, and children dressed in pretty outfits, have all been cancelled this year. We will miss those things. But we can live with that. Because, nothing can compete with what really shows up today. Simply put, the miracle of love we are given on Easter is that we don't have to live in perpetual fear of our last breath. No longer sentenced to an open grave, we have all been set free. This is pretty astounding. The words of poet and artist, Caryll Houselander ring so true during these times as she tells us;
When the world seems to be finished, given up to hatred and pride, secretly, in unimaginable humility, Love comes to life again. There is resurrection everywhere.”
Easter happens, not only as an event expected and fulfilled, but also as an ongoing process. It will not be shut down by hard times. This Easter is both liberating and life changing for us as individuals and for the community-at-large. The most important thing we can do to going forward is to fully engage with one another (even if at a safe distance for the moment).
“By becoming radically available, our dreams and hopes move from the backseat to the front. ”
Time is so fickle. We always think there will be plenty of it and find that it has slipped away. I clearly remember staring at the clock reading 2:47 at North Ridge Junior High School. It was attached to a master time keeper in the principal’s office so that each classroom would be governed by the same moment. The minute hand popped every sixty seconds from one number to the next rather than creeping toward its’ destination. It took DAYS for those thirteen pops to take us to the 3:00 dismissal bell.
Now, at age 69, I glance at a clock that might say 2:47 only to look back up in a matter of seconds and find that it reads 5:00. So, considering the nature of time, I think now is the best starting point for a renewed engagement. By becoming radically available, our dreams and hopes move from the backseat to the front.
Our limited time becomes limitless. No longer will we be prisoners of expectations and demands which constrict us to schedules set in stone. A definitive announcement will be made to the universe as a prayer to God and a shout out to all of those who are waiting for our helping hand, willing spirit and dream-starved heads, declaring; ‘Here I am’.
“No pandemic can diminish or limit the message of Easter. ”
Humankind, as the body of Christ, is fragile, broken and imperfect. No one special group has all the answers to theological issues. No one certain people or religion get a free pass to heaven while everyone else burns in hell. Our whole fragmented, earth-bound body gets to participate in the ultimate miracle experienced today. No pandemic can diminish or limit the message of Easter.
Light shines through the darkness of our isolation and cannot be dimmed. My opponents become my friends, my captors become my hosts, and past pain inflicted becomes a sacrifice for the sake of our mutual healing. Easter sets us free. Easter renews us. Easter brings us home.