Eastertide

Easter - not the ending we expect to the Gospel of Mark - but also Mark knows that his readers know that the silenced and fearful women are not the way the story ends…

Barb - Family Stories and a Family Meal

Ellery - Praying the Psalms during Eastertide - and finding the love that relentlessly pursues us… even through death into life; that strange paradox that victory comes through what looks like defeat.

Context

gathered for worship of the Triune God - the God who is Creator, Redeemer & Sustainer; Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Place

geographically - in Kamloops, on the unceded, traditional territory of the Secwepemc Nation - we name where we are, and we also name our geographical and historical place, always remembering that Reconciliation is our calling as followers of Jesus… and so we take seriously the way that intersects with Canadian history and present realities.

Time

historically: April 2024 - which matters. April 2020 was a very different moment than April 1985 (when Barb became mother to Marah, as she shared about a couple of weeks ago) or April 2009 (when I was a brand new mother). April 2024 - we may not yet even know all of what this moment is for ourselves let alone for one another, but it is a unique moment in our personal and collective histories.

but also liturgically: Eastertide - not a season I grew up celebrating, but one that I am coming to appreciate more and more.

Easter - the big day - cannot possibly contain all that the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth MEANS. Neither can a season of 50 days, but at least it gives us a bit of time and space every year to focus in on the “so what” questions.

“Easter is not one closing day at the end of a lengthy period of Lent. Easter is one extended rejoicing in the resurrection that more than exceeds in length the Lenten disciplines. …

Lawrence Hull Stookey: “The first day of the season, Easter Day, is the opening of a protracted celebration, even as the Resurrection is itself the opening to a vast new reality.”

Resurrection… what does it make you think of? (get answers!)

New life

Transformation

Hope

And so, let’s situate ourselves in this moment. But let’s also be honest about where we are - individually and collectively. (Don’t have to say these out loud)

What is still dead? What is feeling hopeless or pointless? Where are we with the women “trembling and afraid”?

(personal, family, community, church, city, provincial, Canadian, global, economic, mental health, systemic, etc…)

Image: in a rowboat/canoe/small vessel…

no proper motor or paddles

sometimes something on the horizon to aim for (and we sometimes try to get to it… we may give up when we realize we’re not making that much progress, or we may reach it only to discover that it’s not quite what we had hoped, assumed, …

Kate Bowler: But Christian hope is like an anchor that God tosses way out into the future and reels us toward it. Pulling us from the ache and drawing us all toward beauty and restoration and brightness.

What if the resurrection means that Jesus is in the future, reaching back to us in this present moment - present with us by His Spirit! - and drawing us towards a future in which He is making all things new?

1 Corinthians 15:20–28 CEB

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died. 21 Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. 22 In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. 23 Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest, then those who belong to Christ at his coming, 24 and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. 25 It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet.26 Death is the last enemy to be brought to an end, 27 since he has brought everything under control under his feet. When it says that everything has been brought under his control, this clearly means everything except for the one who placed everything under his control. 28 But when all things have been brought under his control, then the Son himself will also be under the control of the one who gave him control over everything so that God may be all in all.

Go back to that image of the rowboat.

Now imagine that there is a rope tied to the boat. And that rope is anchored in the future. An anchor that God has tossed into the future and is gently and continually pulling us towards Himself…. towards beauty and restoration and brightness. Towards all things made new.

Where does that leave all our attempts to move the boat 10 cm at a time?

Do we still try? Yes, of course!

But we trust that the real movement and momentum is from the One who is pulling us towards Himself.

Now can we trust this - for ourselves, family, community, church, city, provincial, Canadian, global, economic, mental health, systemic, etc…

Do we trust?

Prayers of the People