Reflections on Easter. al-Masīḥ qām!

Easter 2024: a mix of lament and redemption. It’s been a difficult year. I barely participated in this Lenten season. Everything was still a mess in my heart and I lacked a community to practice Lent with, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have the discipline to uphold a communal practice on my own. Public expression of Lenten practice did not occur until the end of Holy Week.

Free Palestine

On Good Friday morning, we decided to participate with others in a march/protest expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine. For months, a stream of horrors have come through my news feed. Some I could not stomach and others I reluctantly viewed in shock. Every time I heard news from Gaza I was reminded of the kindness and hospitality of the people who welcomed me into their home when I visited and the injustice and difficulties they experienced living under Israeli occupation; I can barely imagine what they’ve experienced since the bombings began.

I had attended this march without thinking about how much of it would overlap with Good Friday, but the realization came soon after we started walking and encountered hecklers. There were a handful of people who yelled at us and called us terrorist supporters. Others said, “How about the kidnapped Israelis?!” We had to explain to our kids why people were upset and why this subject stirs up strong emotions in people. I wanted to sit with them and talk but there would be no time and it’s unlikely that any fruit would come from conversation. While I could gently explain nuance to my kids, I doubted much could come from conversation with people who saw the world too simply. They wanted peace but they did not know that seeking the good of others is the way toward peace. “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Echoes of Calvary. “Forgive them for they know not what they do.”^[1] I wonder how they celebrated the resurrection this past weekend. With mournful undertones, !المسيح قام! حقا قام (al-Masīḥ qām! Ḥaqqan qām!)^[2]

Good Friday Service

I entered into this year’s Paschal observances with some anxiety. A friend, commenting on the upcoming holy week, had mentioned how he often thinks of me in this season; I had to remind him that last year’s services were among the most painful^[3] church services I ever led. Coming to church during this season felt… off. I had no services to plan for. No reflection on the cross nor a message on the meaning of the resurrection to prepare. But we entered that church space and saw a table with a feast laid out on it (I realized that for this church, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday observances were combined.) There was no sermon; at best any “talk” could be described as a series of short reflections. Between these reflections were scripture readings, songs that followed the themes, periods of reflection and contemplation. The scenes from the Calvary past were brought into the present.

In the middle of service, Stephanie whispered to me what was emerging in my heart, “This is what you wanted to do at King’s Cross but were never able to really do.” And it was true. How I had longed for so long that we would be able to bring beauty and the engagement of all our senses into our corporate worship. But it was too much an uphill climb. We would get glimpses but never anything sustained. Here, for the first time in a long time, I experienced the tragic beauty of the cross. Sorrow and love flowed mingled down. May I never lose the wonder of the cross. I needed to sit there at the cross.

Holy Saturday

Without a corporate observance, I admit my reflections on the day that Jesus spent in the grave were minimal. Perhaps next year I’ll engage in a more intentional practice to lament and remember what Jesus was doing in “the harrowing of hell.” I’ll just record here an hopeful lament by Aimee Byrd that I read that morning that had a repeated refrain. So with Aimee, I remember that Jesus has dealt with all the injustice and unrighteousness that we experience so that we can say: “Jesus is in the tomb with this.”

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was riding upon the positive turn I felt on Good Friday. Steph stayed up all night making dresses for the girls. All things new. All things new. We got dressed and made our way over to service. The girls were joining with the other children to sing a number of songs in different languages that spoke of the victory over the grave. We were also expecting friends who said they wanted to visit with us.

With Steph, I’m grateful that the service was one where we were happy to have friends visit. The message was actually good news; not about punishment or ransom or satisfied wrath, but one about the relentless pursuit of God. Love expressed over and over and over and the message of the cross is love. Afterwards I entertained some theological questions people had about the sermon because they (even some Christians) had not heard the gospel expressed this way before.^[4] I think I’ve talked about atonement theory more in the last month than I have in all my years of ministry. Maybe it warrants its own post. At the end of the day I was grateful that Jesus’ love was proclaimed and that the resurrection changes everything.

With the church through the ages that has sought to understanding the meaning of the cross, I enter into that same mystery while proclaiming with all the saints, in whatever ways we could comprehend, “He is risen. He is risen, indeed.”