The Work of Easter Begins

One of my favorite Christmas prayers comes from Howard Thurman about the work of Christmas:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among people,

To make music in the heart.

It is a beautiful prayer, a charge really, which has gotten me thinking about "the work of Easter" in this resurrection season.

All too often, we place significant focus on Lent only to go back to life as normal after Easter Sunday. In Lent, certain foods are given up, additional practices of prayer, study and service are taken on, etc. Great emphasis is placed on our Lenten journey. And then, after big liturgical celebrations, life returns to its old rhythms. Rather then committing to fifty days of resurrection practices, we give thanks for another Lent completed. A good one to be sure, but done for now.   Really?!

What if we came to understand that Lent is but preparation for the season of Easter? What if we really sought to live as resurrection people? What if we took seriously the call to practice resurrection? Christine Valters Painter, Abbess of the Abbey of the Arts, invites us to consider making a pilgrimage of these fifty days:

"We arrive at Easter eager to celebrate the reality of new life out of death, but sometimes forget this is another, even longer season, rather than a single day of celebration. What does 50 days of practicing resurrection look like? What would it mean to embark upon another pilgrimage to the heart of our own creativity in collaboration with the Great Artist at work, the one who brings newness from the old and discarded?" (http://abbeyofthearts.com/abbey-blog/).

How is God calling you to practice resurrection?

Easter blessings!

Debbie Rundlett

General Presbyter

Holy Habit: Practicing Resurrection

Below is an ancient Easter hymn attributed to Hippolytus of Rome from the early third century. This week, each evening before bed, take time to pray through these ancient words and ponder the mystery of resurrection:

The shadows seized a body and found it was God.

They reached for earth and what they held was heaven.

They took what they could see; it was what no one sees.

Where is death's goad? Where is the shadow's victory?

Christ is risen; the world below is in ruins.

Christ is risen; the spirits of evil are fallen.

Christ is risen; the angels of God are rejoicing.

Christ is risen; the tombs are void of their dead.

Christ has indeed arisen from the dead; the first of those who sleep.

Glory and power are his for ever and ever. Amen.

Having saturated yourself in mystery, then take some time to ponder how God is calling you to practice resurrection through becoming a Godbearer. As Meister Eckhart writes:

We are all meant to be Godbearers.

What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son

takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself?

And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace?

What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son

if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?

This, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of Man is begotten in us.