Easter: New Dawn. New Day. New Life.

Can you remember when...

· TikTok didn’t exist? Snapchat? Facebook? Myspace?

· COVID-19 wasn’t in our vocabulary?

· Working remotely wasn’t viable?

· Zoom meetings weren’t a thing?

· Streaming your movies and shows wasn’t an option?

· When your only way to watch your shows and movies was an arial antenna?

· TV’s were a new luxury item?

· Smartphones and tablets didn’t exist?

· Mobile phones were the size of bricks and only used by wealthy people?

· Telephones required cords?

· Telephones didn’t have buttons to push – only a dial?

· Bottled water only referred to those that sat upon a water cooler?

· Nobody gave a second thought to drinking from a garden hose?

· Your home didn’t have a flush toilet?

· You last saw Elvis?

Can you remember when...

· Very few churches broadcast their services on the radio or TV?

· Attending church was only possible in person?

· Most stores were closed on Sunday out of respect for Christian worship?

· Bibles were actual books people carried instead of on their phones?

· The only version of the Bible most people knew about was the King James Version?

· “In God We Trust” and one nation “under God” were not part of our currency or pledge of allegiance?

· Literally two thirds of the people in our country went to church on Sunday, and you were an outlier if you didn’t?

· The dominant teaching of the Church was that God created the heavens and earth and everything in it in six literal 24-hour days?

· The church was known more for its work championing the cause of fairness and safety for women and children than convincing people to believe as a means of guaranteeing heaven?

· Most religious authorities viewed God as a distant, almighty judge ready to smite the earth?

· Most human beings believed that the earth is flat?

· Most human beings believed that the sun revolved around the earth and not the other way around?

· There were three popes in power?

· The Church split over whether or not communion bread should contain yeast?

· The Church confidently declared that some people may suffer eternity in ?

· Religious leaders confidently declared there is no such thing as the afterlife for most people?

· Jesus’ disciples were hiding in fear that they would face a similar fate as Jesus?

· Jesus’ body could not be found in the tomb Easter morning?

· Jesus’ followers came out of hiding and boldly began proclaiming the Good News just like Jesus did?

Why was Easter so important to the earliest Jesus followers? Easter served to validate their hope that there was more than the life of flesh and blood, sourced in the presence of God that so clearly anointed Jesus. Easter also confirmed that the grace of God was extended to them –followers of the Jesus who was just executed by the joint effort of politics and religion. Everything before Easter suggested that Jesus was wrong (because he died), and that they were hopeless fools with little-to-no-chance of being welcomed by God. Their fate seemed sealed. The fact that they experienced Jesus alive in a beyond-flesh-and-blood way communicated to them that he was still being welcomed and empowered (blessed) by God. As his followers, they felt assured that they would be, too.

We live at a time and in a place where the overwhelming majority of people believe in God and, at least at funeral services, believe in a welcoming afterlife. This is new, historically speaking. We live at a time of great transition that will be studied as one of the massive shifts in the Church’s history that happens every 500 years or so. We’re somewhere in the middle of it, and the transition will outlive us. People in the United States are leaving the Church in unprecedented numbers. More shocking is the fact that they are also leaving the Christian faith itself, largely because of the poor reputation of the church being too dogmatic regarding its own positions, and far too critical, unbending, and even harmful regarding social issues deemed important today, like equality, fairness, opportunity and protection for women, children, immigrants, LGBTQ and BIPOC neighbors, plus being out of tune with the majority of the United States citizens regarding gun violence and reproductive rights. Sprinkle in the covering up of the sexual exploitation of children and adults by clergy, and, well, good grief – what’s not to love here?! Or maybe it is the Church’s demand that you sign off on a collection of books called the Bible as so heavily handed inspired that you must declare it to be without error and incapable of being wrong. Or the requirement to affirm the Virgin Birth, a six-day creation, a literal , and a golden ticket guaranteeing heaven because of the human sacrifice of Jesus that somehow means God forgives you 2,000 years later. Maybe you have considered leaving the faith, too. Yet, many people – millions, in fact – find great peace, hope, and strength in the same Church that is off-putting for millions more. How does that make sense?

Perhaps we should recognize that we are living in our time and space, with information our predecessors did not. They did the best they could, and with the best intentions, to understanding what is inherently beyond our full comprehension even if we can experience this Greater Other we call God in many ways. Maybe instead of walking away from the whole thing because of a binary that some have created is an overreaction. Maybe we should wonder anew about the wisdom of those whose writing has endured, appreciating their worldview without having to embrace it, and seeking the wisdom they gained from their experience.

The truth is that the early followers of Jesus experienced something that was beyond flesh and blood in such a way that it drove out their fear and cowardice; something so powerful that it gave them courage to risk martyrdom, so important that most of them were martyred – not due to their violence, but due to their radical pursuit of shalom and the inclusion it demands.

Their pursuit was like that of Jesus, who discovered fresh insights from the past that led to him proclaiming Good News that was also, simply, NEWS! – God is primarily known as the source of love. For everyone. For creation itself. Which changes absolutely everything for those with ears to hear.

Easter represents a new day for the disciples of old and calls us to embrace new days of discovery today. What do you really believe? Why? If the best faith has to offer is a more beautiful, more whole, more rooted, more connected, more unifying, more loving, more hopeful, more open, more gracious, more generous, more peaceful, more joyful, more patient, more kind, more of the qualities everyone wants – for everyone and everything – then isn’t it worth the effort and pursuit?

I invite you to join me on the journey for the next weeks ahead – and discussion midweek if you can make it. The study has helped many worldwide and many right here at CrossWalk to gain new insight, and to own and rebuild their faith. The invitation to go deeper extends from beyond me – may you hear the gentle, respectful wooing of the Spirit of God calling you to discover anew what you may have begun to walk away from.

The Lord’s Prayer is uttered globally every week, and several times a day by recovery groups in CrossWalk’s rooms. After learning more and more what Jesus was about, I attempted a paraphrase of that prayer, which I invite you to pray with me now:

Our loving, supportive, holy Abba

Who art here and everywhere,

Thy Divine Commonwealth come.

Thy will be done through us.

We are grateful for the gift of food

and work for all to eat their fill.

May we work for a world

where mutual grace and respect abound,

modeled after You.

Strengthen us for the work we’re called to.

Amen. May it be so.

John 20:1-18 MSG

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him."

Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.

But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"

"They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him.

Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?"

She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."

Jesus said, "Mary."

Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"

Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'"

Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.