I conducted Easter Service at my little church. I tried to credit where appropriate:
Reading
Easter Story as told the New Testament:
On the first day of the week, at early dawn they came to the tomb, saying:
Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb?
They looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back, and on the right they saw a young man. They were alarmed. But the man said to them:
Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. [Mark 16]
READING Lisa Doege Unitarian Church South Bend
For me, the truth about Easter, and Passover, is simply this: the facts don’t matter. It doesn’t matter that Easter is layered on top of ancient pagan spring festivals, the symbols of which survive today. It doesn’t matter that the miracles of the Passover and Easter stories seem unlikely to twenty-first century empirical minds. It doesn’t matter that some of us want to celebrate the rebirth nature offers so generously this time of year, and some of us want to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and some of us want to celebrate the liberation from bondage that is the heart of Passover. The true story of Passover is this: the human journey brings us, each of us, again and again into slavery, and up from slavery, into the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
The true story of Easter is this: the human calendar is filled with Good Fridays and Easter mornings, days of death and days of resurrection.
The true message of is this: the human spirit is capable, in ways not short of miraculous, of triumphing against all odds, and indeed does so again and again, as long as we live upon this earth.
Meditation
In our faith tradition, you are the only person who decides which are the religious stories of your life, stories that sustain you, cheer you, and fill your spirit. You may find your wisdom and nourishment in the stories of Passover, of Easter, of our Mother Earth, of the Zen Master, or in the wisdom of learned scholars and scientists. Please join with me in silence as we remember those stories and the wisdom. [source: unknown]
SERMON
I’d like to begin by telling you a story about one special Easter of my childhood. When I was six, in the first grade. You could say I lived alone in a house of seven people. I was the imaginative, determined, the questioning, the reading, dancing child. I was also the believer – in possibilities and miracles.
I decided I was going to hatch a chicken out of an egg. I would make it happen, just like it happened in a book. It would be my miracle. I took an egg out of the refrigerator and put it in the dining room on the floor under the radiator, part of the heating system of our house. Everyday I would come home from school and check my egg for progress, holding it up to light to see if something was forming. Several weeks later, I came home from school, went into the dining room and checked under the radiator. Guess what I found? A brand new baby check, yellow and fluffy, along with broken egg shells. I was jubilant, thrilled, in wonder. It was a miracle. I had hatched a chicken from an egg.
I called that baby chick, Radiator. The family photo that Easter shows four girls and a little boy gathered around a 3 week old chicken. Radiator lived a pretty good life for a suburban chicken. She went to show and tell; she ate food out of the dog’s dish, laid double yolk eggs, and dressed at times in doll clothes. She was subjected to an occasional scientific experiment, such as being hypnotized by staring at a while chalk line on concrete. (Another thing I read in a book) A number of years later, Radiator died a natural death. I was sad, but not devastated... We solemnly buried Radiator in our back yard with a funeral service, and a tombstone.
That would have been the end of my miracle story except for what happened next. When I was thirteen I happened across a homework assignment written by my older sister. I noticed the word ‘radiator’. Being curious, I began to read. It was the story of Radiator alright. Only it wasn’t my Radiator miracle story. It was a story about my mother who had a little girl who thought she could hatch a chicken from a refrigerator egg. So my mother went to the poultry farm and bought a baby check. My mother replaced the rather battered egg with the baby chick along with broken eggshells. And the rest you know about.
I was devastated. Crushed. I didn’t want this story of radiator. I wanted my miracle story. I felt I had been tricked and betrayed about something I loved. The story of Radiator continued to be told at family gatherings. My mother told it as a big joke; I was just one of the characters, a bit foolish at that. And that is how I had lost my miracle story of radiator.
It wasn’t until many years later that I reclaimed the story for myself. It became more than hatching a chicken under a radiator. I recognize how much I honored that little girl who lived alone in a house of seven people. How much I delighted in her spirit, resilience, and creativity. I loved that little girl who on her own decided to hatch an egg. Alleluia! What a kid!
In some ways my experience with the Easter story is similar to my experience with the Radiator story. As I said before, as a child I was a believer in possibilities and miracles. I found the story of Easter full of great promise and hope. But as an adult, I began to question and doubt the story. If Easter wasn’t a true story then I had been tricked and betrayed about something I loved. So I turned away from a faith and I gave away the words Grace, Resurrection and Miracles because they seemed tied to lies.
As I was preparing this Sermon, I realized that I can and have reclaimed the words - Resurrection. Miracles and Grace. - the universal message of the Easter Story - My Easter story is based not on a literal resurrection. I believe that the followers of Jesus, who were full of despair, somehow were transformed with new hope and courage to carry their teacher’s message of love; I don’t know exactly how that happened.
But I think the most important message of is that resurrection is not resurrection from death, but from deadness – the things that prevent us from feeling alive – things like fear, cowardice, and lack of conviction or purpose; things like loneliness, grief, and depression, things that numb us to life. As eloquently expressed by Reverend Sarah York
It is as if parts of ourselves die and we stuff them away in a tomb of the soul. Within each of us there may be something that has died. It may be hope, joy or trust - that we have sealed away in the tomb with a great stone rolled across the entrance. Something happened in some Good Friday of the soul, and a part of us died
These are the words of Sarah York, please turn with me to Reading
And here is a more visceral description
The safety of the tomb
Having grown
Cold and lifeless
Roll
roll the stone
roll the stone away
from in front of your hearts…
scrape your elbows and knees
if you have to
walk out into a new life
unimagined
yet your own…
turn the hard brown earth
beneath your feet to mud
and allow your foundation to be softened
as you walk out into the light
choosing to love
instead of waiting to be loved
make your own sun
with the embers of life still glowing
deep within your souls.
You are the resurrection and the life.
[unknown source]
The possibility of resurrection and life exists in all of us. That possibility is part of our UU tradition. We believe the possibility of the renewal of the spirit. We are open to forces which create and uphold life. Earl Holt wrote Resurrection potentially present in all human life. It is a promise and a challenge, for it represents the possibility of radical change – transformation, based on a radical sense of hope.
This may happen in many ways – as our humanism heritage affirms that it is the nature of humanity to aim for the fullest possible development; to find wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies. The UU tradition also affirms the possibilities of change from direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder.
I believe that Unitarian Universalism resurrection is not a once-for-all flash of that saves us and guarantees happiness. We can’t just feel the spirit and say ‘I’ve been saved. Alleluia. This reminds me of two UU bumper stickers I’ve seen; the first: Born ok the first time. I like that - but I also like this one “born again and again and again” Ours is an ongoing renewal, resurrection. We cannot arrive in some new place, or some promised land, or surround ourselves with the chosen, like-minded people, and say ok, I found it, this is it. Done, We are challenged to use our minds to build foundations of wisdom for our new lives. We must have freedom on our journeys; next year I may center my spirituality on the earth. Or maybe not. But the possibility exists. And we are engaged to allow others to have those same possibilities. Where else would we go on Sunday morning where we could experience such freedom and possibilities?
Fred Muir, the minister at my former church wrote a book called Heretics Faith; Vocabulary for Religious liberals. Grace: consciousness of unity, sense of divine order. Regardless of the mistakes we make, regardless of what has happened in our lives, we are valued. Miracles: happenings that cannot be explained; moments of wonder.
When I look at my life, I feel it is full of grace and miracles. I don’t come from a family of readers of books and wisdom. To me my first library card was a miracle, opening up to me a written world; I discovered a whole new universe, way of feeling and way of thinking. In my life, I have experience the darkness and despair, I’ve sat in the tomb of my soul and asked why me
My genetic line does not include folks who are very articulate or appreciative about experiencing awe. A sunset is a sunset. That’s the way life is. But I am a mystic and I have been touched by transcending mystery. I have felt the light and hope. And so I ask again, why me? Why me? I don’t know. Some might call it Resilience But I will call it Grace. For reasons I do not understand that I have experienced miracles of connection and universal love and acceptance, experiences of transcending mystery and wonder. For this I am truly grateful – for resurrection of life, for grace and for wonder.
In this season of new life, may we be grateful for the call to life buried deep within each of us. We celebrate this life-force ever-: waiting to awaken. And we shout with joy that we have been blessed with springs of hope and courage and faithfulness. We give thanks: that this source of life sustains us in the face of adversity, tragedy and loss. We bless its power, the love and endurance that urge: us forth to new beginnings. We bless the power that sings of hope and brings us back to life… again and again and again.
SONG: Page # Song Lo, The Day of Days is Here #269
CLOSING WORDS are from a song by Van Morrison. The words are simple, not so good poetry. But they speak to this day – and I encourage you to listen – or sing – or dance - to the music after the bell.
We bless the coming of new life.
It is a brand new day
Ringing of the bell
When all the dark clouds roll away
And the sun begins to shine
See your freedom from across the way
And it comes right in on time
Well it shines so bright and it gives so much light
And it comes from the sky above
Makes you feel so free
makes you feel like you
And lights your life with love
And it seems like and it feels like
And it seems like
A brand new day,
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