If I had a bell
I’d ring it in the morning
I’d ring it in the evening
all over this land.

Ted’s invitation to a reflection for Easter Sunday,
the Festival of Resurrection

OPENING IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANCIENTS
Excerpts from Psalm 118
From “Psalms for Praying”: Nan Merrill, Continuum Press, 2002

We give you thanks,
O Beloved,
for you are kind,
your steadfast love endures
forever!

Let every nation proclaim,
“Your steadfast love endures
forever.”
Let all the people cry,
“Your steadfast love endures
forever.”
Let those who reverence you sing,
“Your steadfast love endures
forever.”
Hearken to songs of victory,
to the music of my soul:
“You, O Loving Presence, have been
my strength,
You have stood beside me
in the darkness,
You have walked with me
into the light”

You opened the door leading
to new life.
Yes, you opened to me the gates
of truth and justice
that I might enter through them.

We give thanks to You, O Blessed One,
for you are kind;
your steadfast love endures
forever!

HYMN: “Never Ending Joy”, More Voices #40

SCRIPTURE: Mark 16:1-8
Each of the four New Testament Gospels ends with stories of the resurrection. It is the defining moment in the story of Jesus and in the founding of his continuing movement in history. Mark’s rendition, below, is the earliest known version. I particularly like it because it has little elaboration and retains some of the rawness of the experience for the first witnesses.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus’ body. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (New Revised Standard Version)

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church:
Thanks be to God.

TED’S REFLECTIONS
THE BELLS OF EASTER

Whatever actually happened on the Sunday following the Friday of Jesus’ crucifixion will always remain a mystery, it’s retelling blending a little bit of fact, a lot of legend, and centuries of interpretation. I resist taking a firm position on whether resurrection was an event or a metaphor – or both. My modern mind says that kind of thing simply doesn’t happen; my wondering mind says (with Shakespeare’s Hamlet) that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies. I recall a physician I knew in the States who had a mischievous way of expressing the dilemma of a modern seeker. He said that, as a scientist, he was skeptical and, as a physician, he had never seen it happen so, he concluded, “I don’t know if I believe in resurrection or not but I sure love hanging out with people who do!”
There is a difference, of course, between resurrection and resuscitation, and those two get kind of tangled together in the Jesus’ story itself and maybe in my American friend’s thinking as well. I want to make it clear that I am talking about resurrection today, not resuscitation. Now, if resurrection refers to dimensions of life beyond what we are tuned into between this birth and this death, then I am quite open to such additional frequencies and even eager to adjust my dial when the time (eternity?) comes. However, I also believe that resurrection speaks of a way of understanding and experiencing this life now and that is where my focus is today.
So without saying everything that could be said – and certainly not claiming anything like the final word on the subject – let me briefly suggest two affirmations and a call I hear ringing out from the Easter story.

First of all, resurrection affirms that life is good. There is a death in this story – and a particularly violent and gruesome one – but it is not the end of the story. In a surprising plot twist and dramatic conclusion, there is resurrection: life triumphs over death and has the final word. There is a stream in the teaching and practice of Christianity – one might even say a dominant stream – that is life denying. The world is evil, in this stream, or at least tainted, and participating in worldly stuff pollutes the purity of our being. Best shield ourselves from all of that – especially anything to do with the body and sexuality. Life is a trap, in this view, from which death releases us into a new world of purity. The Easter story counters such a negative view and affirms the goodness of this life and frees us to participate fully in it and to enjoy its opportunities and pleasures to the full. The realization of our human potential comes not from denying but from embracing life. In fact, the whole story of Jesus and not just its final chapter affirms life: the notion of incarnation, “becoming flesh”, that is essential to the Christian story begins with a birth that signals that divinity and humanity, spirit and matter, co-mingle to complete not to compete with each other. Easter is truly a festival which affirms that all life, every day, can be lived festively in freedom and abundant joy. It is good to be human and to celebrate the gift of life within the wonder and beauty of the whole natural order. Let’s go out there and enjoy life!

Secondly, resurrection affirms that there is hope. We do not live in a closed system of fixed circumstances. Not everything that we wish would happen will happen but, still, nothing can be definitively ruled out. Death might look like the end but resurrection not only contradicts that but signals that anything is possible in any situation life might wrap around us. We do not need to remain locked in a tomb of fatalism but, instead, we are empowered to roll away the stone that lets the light in and us out. I had a friend in university whose life motto at the time was echoed in this aphorism: “always expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed.” After many years I was reacquainted with him and found him to be a pretty happy fellow these days. I asked him recently what made the difference and he said, “Well, one day I just decided not to live that way anymore.” Whether or not he is a “Christian” – and I am pretty sure he wouldn’t claim that for himself – he chose the essence of faith over the illusion of fatalism and gradually his life unfolded in a different direction. It may not always be that easy and there are certainly no guarantees but resurrection affirms that change is possible. Let us dare to be hopeful and to choose to act accordingly.

Thirdly and finally – at least for now – resurrection sounds a call to us to be difference makers in the world. Behind what I have said so far lurks a very large BUT and it is time to face that but. BUT what about the suffering and cruelty and dangers and calamities in life? It is all well and good to talk about life being good and change being possible BUT there are many people – maybe even some of us – whose circumstances are far worse than anything the rest of us have ever had to face. Isn’t such talk of goodness and hope in life a bit idealistic and naively Pollyanna in the real world – maybe even insensitive? Well, when we look at the whole story of Jesus, we realize that any Easter affirmations are hard won in the midst of real world experience. Jesus took the harsh realities of life very seriously. He was driven by a combination of compassion and vision: compassion for those who suffer and a vision of what life free of illusions could be like. Because he loved life and dared to hope, he put his life on the line in solidarity with those who suffer and to confront the guardians of the status quo. The consequence of his stand was not only his own death but also the birth of an idea which, once voiced, could never again be silenced. His cause needs compassionate visionaries to work away at it in each generation, including ours. His conviction and courage call forth risk takers to follow in his footsteps here and now, extending a little further the long and winding freedom trail he blazed. Jesus had a very big idea which did not die with him. We are called to breathe life into that idea in our times.
Here is a little musical bonus for the occasion because Jesus’ song needs fresh voices to sing it in every time and place, including ours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2h_ETDoTys

For Further Reflection:

What does resurrection mean to you?

How does your understanding of resurrection affect the way you live?

What is the “big idea” that did not die with the crucified, buried, and risen Jesus?

Jesus is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!

How might any of your reflections or current concerns lead you into prayer
before you continue with what follows?

OUR DEDICATION
From the United Church of Canada’s Song of Faith

We sing praise to God incarnate. Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign—a commonwealth not of domination but of peace, justice, and reconciliation. He healed the sick and fed the hungry. He forgave sins and freed those held captive by all manner of demonic powers. He crossed barriers of race, class, culture, and gender. He preached and practised unconditional love—love of God, love of neighbour, love of friend, love of enemy—and he commanded his followers to love one another as he had loved them. Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution. He was crucified. But death was not the last word. God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope. We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah!

HYMN: “Dance with the Spirit”, More Voices #156

CONCLUDING BLESSING

A poem by e.e. cummings
from “100 Selected Poems”
Grove Press, 1959

I thank You God for most this amazing
day; for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky and for everything
with is natural which is infinite which is you

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Peace be with you
In the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit,
One with all Creation.
Ted