My reflection this morning is inspired by the season of Easter and in particular, the collect for the third Sunday in Easter: “O God, whose blessed son made himself known through the breaking of bread, open the eyes of our faith….”
Spring has been well earned and long awaited this year. Mother nature played an April fools prank on us wishing us Merry Christmas on Easter. Following two weeks of “spring break” the schools reopened with snow on the ground.
Emerging from the intense focus of Holy Week always requires renewed strength, usually aided by the energy of warm sun. But an early Easter and stubborn winter has made this year’s transition unique and challenging. But here we are, immersed in the ethos of Easter. New life bursting from the tomb. Hope and joy breaking forth with every bud and blossom. Life winning over death. Light increasing darkness diminishing. The tide has changed, and we proclaim words like Hallelujah, The Lord is Risen! Peace Be With You.
The season of Easter is filled with visible manifestations of the invisible mysteries of faith. Life after death. New life emerging from the womb of the earth. Verdant green and glorious color filling the landscape of bare and brown. It is a season that beckons us to believe, to expect, to break forth from the slumber of our apathy and be busy again with the business of living life and cultivating love and hope in our world. Get up! Get out! And Get busy. This is the call of Spring, the message of Easter.
The third Sunday of Easter, we are reminded that the deep mysteries of God can be revealed to us through the simplest of images, the risen Christ made known to his disciples through the breaking of bread. A simple act, one that was familiar to his friends when they were together, yet opened their eyes to see that Jesus was raised from the dead.
Easter is the time to believe in the unbelievable, and to be aware of the little hints all around us that open our eyes and see faith, feel hope, experience love. Easter is the time when the spiritual world takes on the physical world. When flowers become angels. The sun becomes radiant savior. The earth gives birth and the sky brings holy water for the crops and reservoirs.
Easter is the time to come out from our places of hiding, from the prison cells of bitterness and disappointment. It is the time to forgive and rejoice that light has overcome the darkness, warmth thaws the cold hearts, our brokenness is mended, our sorrow lifted, our judgments become grace.
This is the message of Easter – that God is made known to us in the ordinary and wonderful all around us. Open the eyes of your faith and see, touch, hear, and taste the divine life of God.
Amen.