From www.communityofjesus.org/easter-meditations/
a lovely meditation on what Easter means.
April 2, 2013
by Blue Heron
Sometimes the deepest understandings come without words. I was watching the children during Easter Vigil, wondering what they were taking in from all the actions of the service: the fire burning in the atrium, the darkness, the single candle sharing its flame until all the faces in the crowd were illuminated. I am not so different from the children…
During the Holy Saturday vigil, for just a few moments, we sit in total darkness and the congregation bangs on wooden blocks. It is a terrifying time, perhaps representing what life would be like if evil reigned and we were stuck in a world without Jesus. Even though I knew the sound was coming, I still jumped in my seat.
Jesus took all that on himself, the darkness, the evil lurking around him during those three days. There were the disciples sleeping in the garden, the kiss a betrayal, Peter’s denials, the trial and the raucous crowd demanding he be crucified. And then the beating and bloody whipping and the agony of the cross.
He gave until there was nothing left to give.
On Easter morn we experience hope rising in music, scent of flowers, light coming back into our world. Beyond the mystery–a reality. I feel ashamed that I have spent so much time in the shadows. It is time for new beginnings, new risks. Time to move out into the territory of lost causes! Time to reclaim some of the ground I have lost!
