EASTERTIDE

Brought Forth

shelliwilliams Easter, KINGDOM OF GOD

Genesis 1: 9-13

And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Rose of Sharon Bud And then God created all those things that we think of as “nature”.  So what does that have to do with Eastertide?  What does that have to do with Recreation?  Everything.  You see, God did this wonderful act of recreation that we call Easter for a purpose—to show us eternity, to show us what God intended for us, to show us the way it should be, and to invite us into the act of bringing the Kingdom of God into its fullness.

Recreated, baptized, commission to service, if you will..in the Name of God.  And now, we are called to bring forth, to yield, to bear fruit.  Nature is cyclical .  In essence, nature knows what it is here to do.  Perhaps part of its purpose is to teach us—to teach us unconditional fruit-bearing, unending connection with the rest of Creation, and to show us what holy dependence is.  We cannot exist alone.  God brought us together that we might love one another and so that we might see eternity in one another’s eyes.  Whenever we look into a fellow human’s eyes, whenever we embrace any of God’s Creation not out of what it can do for us but out of love because it is God’s, whenever we treat someone or something with caring and compassion, we get a glimpse of he Holy, a sacred view of how things should be, of how things will be when all the tombs of all the endings are rolled away, when the Kingdom of God in all its fullness and all its glory is finally brought forth.

And there was evening and there was morning the Third Day…

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

 

The Second Day

shelliwilliams CREATION, Easter

Genesis 1: 6-8

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Water Drop The second day…no grand processionals, no Hallelujah Chorus, no drama of a massive rock being rolled away to reveal an empty tomb.  What kind of follow-up can you expect after (Re) Creation?  What in the world could God have up the Divine sleeve, so to speak?  How in the world can you do better than Easter?

I think that’s our problem.  We celebrate the Easter as the pinnacle of our faith, as that thing that God DID for us.  The truth is, though, that God is always DOING for us.  In the second tier of Creation, once the relationship between heaven and earth was established, God separated the waters from the waters.  God made “Sky”.  When I was little, I was told that the universe was “infinite”.  Now to a child’s mind (and probably to most adult minds, although we don’t usually admit it), “infinite” is hard to grasp.  I used to look up at the sky and imagine it going on and on and on.  And then I knew it got beyond the cumulus clouds that I saw to the dark vastness of the solar system.  And then I knew it got beyond the solar system to the darker and more incredible vastness of the galaxy…then the universe…then….then….SURELY it had to stop somewhere.  Everything does.  But then what is beyond where it stops?  And then what is beyond that “whatever” when it stops?

On the second day, God made vastness; God made infinity; God made forever.  We Christians seem to think of eternity, of forever, as a Christian theological point (or a really bad theological point that claims its some sort of Divine reward for being good boys and girls).  No, it’s really a God-thing.  In fact, God IS eternity.  But God knew that we would never grasp that, no matter how hard we tried.

So God separated the waters into things that we could get.  And yet, they were all connected.  The smallest of waters leads to the vastness of eternity.  And so, to remember, God gave us water—just a tiny bit.  “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”…”Remember your baptism and be thankful.”  And with that little bit of water in which you are immersed, or that is poured on you, or even that tiny bit that is sprinkled into your life, God reminds you that you have entered the vastness and infinity of eternity, whether or not you understand it.

Now THAT was a pretty good follow-up to Easter.  God is full of surprises—unlimited and eternal ones!

Remember your baptism and be thankful!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

 

 

 

A New Creation

shelliwilliams CREATION, Easter, Transformation

Genesis:  1: 1-5
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

This is normally not a passage for Easter Day.  What happened to the empty tomb?  What happened to the dawn of the Eastern morn?  What happened to the Resurrected Christ?  I actually think it’s all there:  A formless void–nothingness, chaos, injustice, persecution, evil, death–is recreated into order while God’s Spirit sweeps across its being.  A light appears…a first light…a light that has never been before…a light separated from the darkness of death and despair and hell.  It is the dawn of the Light.  It is the first day of the New Creation.  Christ the Lord has Risen!  ALLELUIA!  ALLELUIA!  ALLELUIA!…

This thing that God has done…this turning despair into hope and death into life…is surely the greatest act of Creation!  God again took a formless void, an instrument of hopelessness and death, a manifestation of denial and betrayal, of injustice and evil, and there…there in the first light of this morning…we see glorious Light…we see hope…we see life as we’ve never seen it before.  There…there in the light of the dawn is our eternity!

Welcome, happy morning!  Age to age shall say: 
“Hell today is vanquished, Heaven is won today.”
Lo! the dead is living, God forevermore! 
Him, their true creator, All his works adore.
Earth with joy confesses, Clothing her for spring, 
All good gifts returned with her returning King,
Bloom in every meadow, leaves on every bough,
speak his sorrows ended; Hail his triumph now.
Thou, of life the author, Death didst undergo, 
Tread the path of darkness, saving strength to show;
Come then, true and faithful, now fulfill thy word; 
Tis thine own third morning, Rise, O buried Lord!
Welcome, happy morning!  Age to age shall say: 
“Hell today is vanquished, Heaven is won today!
Lo! the dead is living, God forevermore! 
Him, their true creator, All his works adore.
                                          (“Welcome Happy Morning”, hymn by Fortunatus (ca. 535-600), trans. by John Ellerton)   

Christ the Lord is Risen!  ALLELUIA!…And there was evening and there was morning the first day…

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Expecting Surprise

shelliwilliams Easter, Openness to God

This morning I was standing at the back of the sanctuary waiting to process for the last of the three services. The building was packed. Behind me in the Narthex amidst the sound of excited voices waiting for the service to start and some trying to set up chairs in the Narthex, was the rustling of the huge ribbon banners that are the first things in the Easter Festival Processional. There was a little girl standing on a chair in the very back. She turned around and saw the glorious white ribbons rustling in the breeze of the open doors and exclaimed, “Mommy, I think we’re having a party!”

Well, of course we’re having a party! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed!

Expectations are good things. They make us pay attention; they keep us awake; they keep us excited about life. But when expectations get in the way of our noticing and welcoming the unexpected, we need to let go of what we expected. The women who first encountered the tomb were expecting a tomb. They were not expecting it to be open, not expecting it to be empty, not expecting Jesus to be gone. Mary broke down, weeping over her loss, until Jesus surprised her. Jesus was present after all. The unexpected had happened. Christ was indeed Risen! She had expected anything but a party, but here it was happening anyway!

Easter is about encountering the unexpected. Everything that was expected, that was planned, has gone by the wayside. The Season of Lent prepared us for this by emptying us, by making room for what was aobut to happen. Now is the Season to embrace the unexpected and let it fill your life.

Well, of course we’re having a party! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed!

So go forth in this festival season and expect to be surprised!

Happy Easter!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli