Today is Easter Sunday for the majority of the world’s 2.4 billion Christians (most Orthodox Christians will wait until May 1st to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus). After the long penitential season of Lent, Christians are greeting each other with joyful exclamations of “He is risen,” and hearing in glad response, “He is risen indeed, hallelujah!”
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The phrase “moveable feast,” while popularized by Ernest Hemingway’s memoir, refers primarily to the holidays surrounding Passover and Easter. Although “Easter” is not a biblical word, Passover is a major holiday in the Jewish calendar. The origins of the festival, while disputed among scholars, are narrated in the biblical texts in Exodus 12–13
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Nine or so months ago, Dr. Nicole Duran quietly slipped into her role as a transitional minister for my own St. John's Presbyterian Church and—without overt fanfare—changed the lives of many. She never gave the expected sermon. She brought intelligence to history and now to the stories of then. She found an old stone baptismal font long wasting away on the church property and installed it to its proper glory—simply, almost matter of fact. Nicole engaged the young with words and seeds, felt boards and icons. She visited those who had fallen ill, spoke eloquently and with genuine emotion at funerals, inquired after others, attended to small fractures and bigger ones, and listened. Nicole Duran is not an overt entertainer; she doesn't need to be. She is, instead, a quiet, never self-congratulatory innovator, someone who has something to say, and how I have loved paying attention to the connections her fine mind makes, how I have loved the resonant power of her messages—relevant, real, and searching.
Today Nicole gave an extraordinary, alive, personal Easter Sunday sermon—looked at us through the thick black frames of her glasses and said precisely what she thought about religion today, the role of a holy place in our lives, the difference between seeking out the familiar for familiarity's sake and finding faith in the changing and new. And then, during communion, she invited every person in that quiet church to take a single flower from so many flower-filled vases and lace it into the netting of a large wooden cross she'd had built for us. Tulips, roses, carnations, twizzlers of blue and red, striped petals—one by one we laced our flowers in, and when we were done, that cross was alive, the dark day was bright, and we had lived Easter.
People touch our lives. Sometimes they don't know just how much they do, or why. I will never forget Nicole Duran—transitional but not temporary—nor this particular Easter day. She is a woman walking a stone wall in a simple dress, lifting her hopes—for us—to the sky.
Allow me to get religious for a moment. Easter is this Sunday, and we all know the Bible-based Easter story. Oh, wait, you don’t? Okay, let me tell you about it.
There was this Jesus guy. (You know, the dude born on Christmas?) According to scripture, he grew up to be an awesome preacher/prophet/healer. The chief priests and scribes didn’t care for him much. They thought he was a fraud, so they wanted him dead. They talked Jesus’ pal, Judas, into betraying Jesus for thirty stinkin’ pieces of silver. I’m sure that was a lot of money back in Bible times, but still, how rude. Thanks to Judas, Jesus was arrested.
They accused him of religious treason, since people claimed he was the Messiah. “Messiah” refers to a spiritual savior, redeemer, and in the case of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus was brought before Pilate—a Roman prefect and judge. Now, Pilate’s wife was a smart lady. She’d had a dream the night before about some Jesus guy, and she warned her husband to steer clear. Of course, being a politician, Pilate just had to get involved. He gave the people a choice: release Jesus or release a psycho murderer named Barabbas. In true angry mob fashion, the crowd chose to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus.
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead. Uh, gross, right? Jesus being Jesus knew this was coming. He’d prayed about it the night before on the Mount of Olives: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Thankfully, Jesus was a big picture kind of guy … He was nailed to a cross, yet even in his agony, he said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And the mob didn’t know, did they? They thought they were executing a liar or lunatic. They didn’t realize they were slaughtering the Son of God.
Then, Jesus died. The sky turned black, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. I imagine the weather resembled those post-nuclear apocalypse skies you see in movies—the clouds black, red, and boiling. I imagine the priests and scribes looked at each other and thought, “Uh-oh,” because I imagine in that moment, they finally got it. They understood what they had done … and that Jesus had already forgiven them for it. But that’s hardly the end of the story.
The tomb is empty!
Days after his death, women came to tend to Jesus’ body and tomb. However, upon their arrival, they found the tomb had been opened. Jesus’ body was gone. In its place were two men in dazzling clothes. No, not drag queens—ANGELS!! Angels were waiting for Jesus’ followers so that they could say, “He is not here, but has risen!” I bet the angels did a little jig when they said it. I wouldn’t have been able to contain my joy. What great news! Jesus appeared to many after his resurrection, showing the nail marks in his hands and performing miracles among the masses. Then, finally, he ascended into Heaven, where he got to hang with good old Dad with a capital “D.”
So what does Easter mean to us? It means we’re saved. Jesus died for you. He died for me. We’re sinners, and we needed His help to get to Heaven. By His blood, we have been redeemed. Today is the day He died. Sunday is the day when He rose from the dead. What will you do in remembrance of Him? You can start by listening t
Not particularly interesting sketching views - lovely Easter service however.
Amen.
Sounds like a beautiful service.
Nicole Duran's wonderful Easter Sunday sermon is available for listening (MP3) and reading (PDF) on the Sermons page of the St. John's website at www.stjohnsdevon.com/sermons.htm
It seems that many of us at St. John's share in Beth's sincere appreciation of Nicole's remarkable qualities and are grateful for her time with us.