Easter
Reading & sermon preached by Reverend Carolyn Patierno
April 8, 2007
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,
taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone
rolled away from the tomb but when they went in they did not find the
body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in
dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and
bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why
do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but
has risen.”
Now, on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus
about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all
these things that had happened. While they were talking, Jesus
himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They
were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He
said to them, “Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in
your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch
me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that
I have.”
Luke 24:1-5 & 36-39
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Thursday night several All Souls leaders and worker bees gathered to
do worker bee kinds of things. To start the conversation, we were
all invited to share our favorite thing about spring and as you would
imagine, the answers were glorious – every one them. Favorites
like first birdsong and flowers … the smell of the earth … the
sound of the peepers … baseball’s long awaited opening day … the
early morning walks around the garden to see what’s new since yesterday’s
walk … the prospect of planting the annuals. The affect
all the planting and anticipation has on our loved ones. The spectacular
sunset witnessed from the car crossing the Gold Star Bridge from Mystic
to New London. All of these were named and enjoyed by all.
I love all of these things and could have named any of one of them as
well. Yet what I did say is that my favorite thing about spring
is Easter. I didn’t even say it because I’m the minister. I
loved Easter even before I was ordained. I love the blending of
Pagan and Christian symbols in a rich and wonderful celebration of rebirth – both
of the Earth and in the story of a human life. And so we celebrate
these age-old themes and take notice of how the ancient story of Jesus’ triumph
over death circles back again and again each year that we gather together
to celebrate Easter.
Let’s consider the ancient story shared in Luke’s Gospel. In
this version of the story, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James,
Joanna and “the other women” who remain nameless are the
first witnesses to a most unusual occurrence. The stone has been
rolled away and Jesus’ body is gone. The women are approached
by two men – angels, presumably, in dazzling clothes – who
explain what has transpired, much to the women’s amazement. They
are terrified. They don’t believe the story.
Indeed, it is a hard story to believe on one level, that is, the level
that is literal. But once again this year, we have the blessed
opportunity to consider this story on another level, one that is essentially
primal. One of the reasons that this story has survived these two
thousand years is because it is archetypal. Consider the
story again.
The Easter story is birthed out of the Good Friday story. Jesus
has died in a most brutal manner. We know the story’s elements: trauma…devastation … injustice. All
of these make for the central story of the Christian tradition. And,
I would assert, these themes live in the central stories that make up
our lives.
We live and witness these stories all the days of our lives. Death
and rebirth cycle through our days every day in ways great and small. But
Easter, coming as it does at spring when the Earth awakens seemingly
against all odds, Easter offers a dramatic opportunity to consider the
human condition and its resilience.
Yesterday I officiated at Jonathan Hine’s graveside service. It
is one of the great honors of a minister’s vocation, serving as
companion to a family in the midst of such loss. Those of you who
knew Jonathan remember as I do his gentle and kind spirit which will
continue on in such stunning fashion in three of his sons, Jack, Charles,
and William. We see William here at All Souls quite frequently
as he lives in the neighborhood. Part of William’s beautiful
heart has been broken with the loss of his father. William was
having a very hard time through the service and especially through the
military ritual his father had earned as a veteran, so deeply moving
is the gun salute, the presentation of the flag, the lone horn playing
Taps, the ringing of the bell and finally, the sailors marching away. The
service came to a gentle end and then Jan, Jonathan’s wife, lover
of beauty, brought snow drop seedlings for all to plant at Jonathan’s
grave. Out came the shovels, up came the earth, and into the ground
went these lovely plants – among the first blooms of spring. It
was a resurrection moment. I witnessed its dazzle before my own
eyes.
William waited awhile to take a plant. Then he moved to a place
a bit off to the side and got down on his knees. Those of you
who know William know that he must move carefully and methodically, and
so he did. He bent toward the earth planting that snow drop and
while he did he spoke with his father, smiling. In the span of
20 minutes, William rose up in a most remarkable way. Which made
me wonder: Who will William be tomorrow?
This question was posed by Reynolds Price, a writer who years ago was
struck with a rare form of spinal cancer that left him paralyzed. In
an interview in the Oxford Review he said the following:
When you undergo huge traumas in middle life, everybody is in league
with us to deny that the old life has ended. Everybody is trying
to patch us up and get us back to who we were, when in fact what we need
to be told is, “You’re dead. Who are you going to be
tomorrow?”
On Easter Sunday, we turn away from the Good Friday story. The
focus lies elsewhere, after all. It lies in the resurrection. We
have each been traumatized by life. We know suffering and loss
through a thousand deaths those being loss of life itself, broken relationships,
dashed dreams, health crisis, employment crisis, crisis of faith. Often
these are not so much head on collisions as much as they are
collisions of the heart … collisions of the soul. They represent
and cause certain death and death demands our attention and transformation.
And the most peculiar thing happens. In the midst of this dying
the people around us, those we love dearly and most, they get a little
nervous. Remember your mother or your father or anyone who was
close to you … remember their panic when your spouse or your best
friend was dying … when your marriage was disintegrating … when
you decided to change your life. How might that experience have
been different if instead, their panic turned to something else … something
more practical and brave and instead they turned to you, with great love
and care and said, “Oh honey, I’m here to tell you; you’re
dead. Who are you going to be tomorrow?”
Or conversely, maybe it was you standing outside the tomb … the
rock rolled away … your friend, having sustained certain death,
now gone. Remember your own panic as you searched for the living
among the dead. Remember your fear of your friend’s transformation
- an inevitable transformation that followed the trauma he suffered,
his old self but a ghost…his spirit now resurrected in new form
to create his tomorrow – a tomorrow you will share.
Who will you be tomorrow? The question doesn’t necessarily
need to follow huge trauma, right? After all, each day we wake
up and must decide who we will be – how we will be in the world. From
the young boy, learning long held family secrets about identity and faith
to the aging grandmother determined to keep old ways. How will
our suffering define who we choose to become – everyday?
Who will you be tomorrow?
My Easter prayer for each of you is that you claim the strength that
flows through the ancient Easter story – the strength to triumph
through death. To offer the same strength to those you love as
they triumph over death and claim rebirth.
The hymn says:
Hearts are strong and voices sing … Alleluia!
Where O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high. Alleluia!
Sing ye heavens and earth reply!
Alleluia!
Happy Easter. Happy Spring.
Amen.
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