After Easter

On Easter, our family gathered. The night before the celebration, the Maine family came, three generations of people and a dog. Easter morning we went to church and I was filled with gratitude as I sat there with my son, my granddaughter, her partner, their two kids. We took up a whole pew. This was my familiar place. This was home away from home I felt indescribable inner joy as I worshipped with them.

Then, the near-by families came for Easter dinner. My joy was complete. We sang “Alleluia,” missing my husband, Tom’s voice, but glad for all the other voices around the table. We ate dinner, talked. We were together, and I embraced my retirement from managing the whole event as next generations took over. I still had plenty to do. All is as it is meant to be.

Easter is about life, about the indestructibility of Jesus and his message and the true power of God. It is about Jesus’ resurrection and the surprise and absolute amazement of it, and of God’s power over death, the power of life. Power that makes a mockery of all the empires and authorities of the world and their war machines.

My son and I each planted lavender seeds in a pota month ago and have been watching for them to come to life. One or two very fragile looking sprouts are emerging from the ground. Can these seeds ever become plants? It hardly seems likely. My son says,” life finds a way.” It’s a phrase from some movie or another. But I like thinking about it. Life finds a way. Easter is about life finding a way out of the tomb.

This year, even as our family was celebrating Easter in comfort, we were aware that some in our country are living in fear of ICE agents or are incarcerated. Across the world others are caught up in the ravages of war or genocide. The war on Iran was initiated by our country and Israel. We hate that fact.

Easter is about life finding a way. It is about following Jesus’ way of peace, and the prophets before hi. It is about living into a new creation, one that heals and builds up, that seeks justice for all. It is about protecting and nurturing the fragile blossoming of human life, our own and all peoples. You don’t have to be Christian or even religious to live into this new creation.

My prayer is that when any life on this precious planet ends, Sacred love abides for those moving on and it empowers those who live on. Resurrection, hope, the power that defies evil, in the beyond and now.