Dogwoods in the Snow

Today is Holy Saturday. Jesus is in his tomb.

Three-quarters an inch of snow blanketed our area this morning as nature's silent testimony. The dogwoods in my yard are a bit droopy but still beautiful in the cold.



















Saturday is a silent day. Mark records no activity on Saturday. Luke says they rested because it was the Sabbath. Matthew includes a story that the chief priests and Pharisees appealed to Pilate to have a guard placed at the tomb so that the disciples might not steal the body and proclaim that he rose from the dead. Matthew feels the need to counter a story that must have been circulating in his time that the disciples moved the body of Jesus from one tomb to another.

The Gospel of Peter expands this story and has Jesus descend into Hell on Saturday to preach to the dead. The Apostle's Creed reflects this tradition in its phrase, "he descended into Hell."

But according to Mark, Saturday is without words. It is a day for mourning.

Jim Dahlman of the Johnson City Press interviewed me for his column today, Easter is Really for Adults. I recommend it. He asked me about the Easter Egg Hunt for the children. Actually, we had our Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday! Go figure. He asked me if Easter Egg Hunts compromise the message of Easter. Here is his report of my response:

First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton held its egg hunt last Sunday, and Pastor John Shuck isn’t concerned about the pagan background either, but for different reasons.
“We already went down that path with (Roman emperor) Constantine,” he said, referring to a church council decision in the year 325 that separated the date of Easter from Passover, connecting it instead with the spring equinox and full moon. (That decision helped drive a wedge between Western and Eastern Christian traditions. This is one of the occasional years when Easter is celebrated on the same day, both East and West.)
“The church has a long history of integrating different cultures. There’s not so much wrong with that, as long as you’re coherent about the message,” Shuck said. “It’s a fun time to have joy and celebration. The ideas of spring, equinox, death, rebirth — it’s all part of the symbolism that can add to the story of understanding Jesus. The idea is to make the church fun for kids.”

Jim concludes his column:

But Easter — the Christian Easter — is more than that, to be honest about it. This story wasn’t handed down as a generic, pastel-tinted celebration of springtime renewal. It claims to be about a real person who really suffered, died and then came back to life.
Children are welcome, of course, but this is a holiday for grown-ups.

I agree with Jim. Easter is more than the celebration of Spring. But Easter is also more than Jesus rising from the dead. It is more than me getting to heaven when I die. Easter is God's reversal of the violence and injustice of this world. The resurrected body of Christ bears the wounds of Empire. Jesus didn't die of old age or get trampled by a runaway horse. He was executed by legitimate authority. He was crucified because the powers felt the world would get along better without him or his kind. God reversed that decision.

Easter is about a new consciousness and a new awareness. It is courageously awakening to God's kingdom on Earth. It is the power of love confronting the powers of violence and oppression. We are the resurrected body of Christ who bear Empire's wounds. We all bear the wounds that are the consequence of the ideology of peace through violence. The God revealed in Jesus is the God of peace through justice. Easter is the joyful celebration that the God of Jesus is alive in all of us. Easter is an invitation to awaken to God's kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven. That is a message for adults.

And, yes we have Easter Egg Hunts. They are fun. I make no apology for them. I want the church to be a place where children feel welcomed and loved. I want children to grow into adults who carry with them joyful memories of church. I hope they will experience a God who loves them and delights in them. The great reformer, Martin Luther said:

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

God has written the promise of resurrection in the joy of children, in bunnies and eggs as well. We adults had better take some notice of these children. They are the ones for whom we should be living. They are the ones who will inherit the world we leave them. So we had better darn well believe in Easter. We had better live and give our lives for a new consciousness that cares for Earth, that cares for the poor, that cares for peace, that cares for children.

See you on Sunday!