Whenever one of us would be bummed over a lost game, a lost opportunity, a lost grade, a lost deer, a lost love (note: the last two mentions in the list would perhaps lead one to believe I misspelled dear...nope....I come from a family of hunters....I meant to write deer)....our mother would say, "Life goes on." The confidence with which she said those words was a comfort as well as evidence of the conviction of her faith.
Today is the exclamation point for we who access the Divine through the life and ministry of the Christ. Easter is the answer, the why, the reason, the foundation, the hope, the energy that drives our faith.
Like most holy days, the point is they are recognized in a 24-hour cycle yet the reason behind the celebration is to continue each day and cycle and season. To borrow a phrase from the poet and envrionmentalist, Wendell Berry, "practice resurrection."
Here in Pittsburgh following another "winter of our discontent" it does look like Spring has finally sprung. A day with bright sunshine, warm temperatures and buds about to burst --- practice resurrection.
The start of a new baseball season, that sport without a clock, a Pirates team seriously being mentioned as a World Series contender(!)....practice resurrection.
Birdsong in the morning...practice resurrection.
The yellow tips of the daffodils in the yard just needing a little more sun and then boom!....practice resurrection.
Kids on swings....practice resurrection.
Resurrection is liberation from all that binds us, blocks us, breaks us.
Faith is always in need of being renewed. I often say that I head the list of persons least likely to be ordained...yet, here I am...23 years this June. The president of my seminary said to the freshman gathered in his Systemic Theology class that one would've had a good seminary experience if one's views and thoughts were different, had changed when one graduated, evidence that one had wrestled and grown. I can say with that criterion, I had a good seminary experience.
What's true of individuals is true of the congregation, denomination and institution. We have always struggeled with who to let in...what to do with the Gentiles? The women? The blacks? The refugees? The undocumented? The gays and lesbians and bisexuals and transgendered? I think it's an easy answer: Love 'em. Welcome 'em. Include 'em.
In that spirit and in response to what went on this week in Indiana (not the Final Four...my bracket is officially blown), I quote the Easter Sunday sermon delivered by the priest finding his voice in the movie CHOCOLAT:
"Why do we choose to measure our goodness based on what we give up and who we exclude? Why? When we should measure our goodness by what we do and who we include. Christ is kindess, tolerance, life, love, joy!"
....practice resurrection;