April 5: “Once”
Reflection for Easter Sunday - Day of Resurrection
by Rev. Sandra Nixon
Once there was a Word,
a creative, energetic
calling and responsive impulse
that causes everything we know of to be:
Whales and wildebeests,
Oceans and onions,
Sandpipers and stars.
Once there was a man who walked among us
Who said and did amazing and wondrous things.
Sometimes he did baffling things,
like speak to foreign women
and heal on the sabbath
and tell strange stories.
Nevertheless, people began to follow him.
One day, they asked him who he was, and he said:
“I am the Light of the world.”
He was also the Word.
Once - and more than once
there was a protester and justice seeker arrested
and a sham trial
and someone died and people grieved
Once - and more than once -
Despair, division and alienation have ruled the day
And the temple has been torn in two,
Once there was a people who left this sanctuary two days ago,
a sanctuary shrouded in black,
with only stones left to bear witness.
Who then arrived back here this morning
to sublime transformation:
the beauty of spring blooms and blossoms,
the sound of laughter and music and alleluias
the smell of lilies and fresh coffee…
Who knew then that God is in all of it
Who knew that what we do here in this community,
in our worship, in all of it
is sacramental - an outward, visible sign
of the mysterious power of God working within:
Working the soil deep within us, in those intractable, barren,
fearful and grief stricken places within us
and within all the intractable, chaotic, barren, fear-filled
and grief-stricken places and people in the world.
Once - and always
there was, and is, and will be - love:
Love…
Brooding over the waters
Creating something out of nothing,
Drawing forth life out of chaos
Love…
Coaxing the caterpillar to die
And the imaginal cells to activate
and the butterfly to emerge
Love…
Drying tears
Making well
Giving sight
Breaking bread with the ruined
Blessing little ones
Love…
Disrupting the status quo when it harms
Refusing to condemn
Refusing to hate
Refusing to divide
Refusing to coerce or compel
Forgiving the tormentors
Loving the unloveable
Creating community and communion
Love…
Shedding grave cloths
Speaking our names
Preparing breakfast on the beach
Love…
Dwelling in us
Going ahead of us
Urging us toward the holy “Mystery beyond our intellect” *
Beckoning us from an unformed future to take our next best step*
Doing more through us and our acts of love
than we can ask or imagine
Welcoming us into the creative, energetic,
eternal Word:
The community of God’s redemptive story.
Alleluia. Amen.
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* With thanks to B. Sanguin for this image
* B. Sanguin, “If Darwin Prayed”, p.67