The Easter-ing Way

 

While the scent of the lilies still lingers on this day after Easter, while the leftovers from brunch still sit in our fridge, while there may even be a few jellybeans left over from yesterday, the invitation of Easter is not just one moment or one day but a way of life.  Easter is not a noun, but a verb.  We would be better to say we are an “Easter-ing” people, even though spell check will never stop underlining that word with red.  Easter-ing is about embodying and practicing a way of life that trusts brokenness is never the last word.  Easter-ing was already planted in the disciples’ hearts at the Last Supper ~ bread broken open symbolizing how Jesus broke open God’s love.  Then, a cup of wholeness, reconciliation, and healing was found in the sweet wine that lingered on the tip of their tongues.  Life is lived at the intersection of brokenness and beauty.  This was the truth of Ash Wednesdays: you are human and holy; you are dust and divine; you are scratched and sacred.  Both.  Not an either/or test to choose, but both as the place we live life each day.  Easter honors that Christ came back with the wounds of the crucifixion.  Both the pain and the possibility of God not being finished.  This week, we will explore and experiment with the Easter-ing way of life.  We seek out ways to partner with God’s resurrecting love in whatever way we can.  Here is a wonderful quote from Father Richard Rohr:

 

I often wonder why so much of human life seems so futile, so tragic, so short, and so sad. If Christ is risen, why do people die before they begin to truly live? Why has there been nonstop war? Why are so many people imprisoned unjustly? Why are the poor oppressed? Why do we destroy so many of our relationships? If Christ is risen, why is there so much suffering? What is God up to? It really doesn’t make any logical sense. Is the resurrection something that just happened once, in his body, but not in ours?   Father Richard Rohr

 

Let your soul today roam free in the wideness of God’s mercy/justice/love to practice resurrection.  Be seen as foolish by those who have only keyboard courage.  Be seen as weak by those who think only in terms of “might makes right”.  Be seen as loving by those whose hard hearts of pain can’t possibly practice this because they are trapped in their own cages of certainty.  Easter didn’t instantly and immediately make everything magically better.  Caesar still oppressed and openly hurt people.  People still struggled to live.  Pain and ache and death still happened.  And.  And (which is an important God-opening word), there was a new promise that such brokenness was never the last word.  Easter-ing is our way to live life in the beauty of such tension that is as true today as it was 2000 years ago.  May the Easter-ing God show up in glorious ways that defy gravity with a grace we need now more than ever.  Amen.