Easter at First Unitarian is usually such a celebratory time. Big music. All the choirs. The Halleluiah hymns. Every seat filled. Some years, Standing Room Only.
Every year, I ponder the power that Easter has for liberal religious folks…for us…and for me. The rejection of the Christian miracles was a central part of the creation of our Unitarian faith. Yet, in a normal year, more folks gather in our sanctuary on Easter morning than any other morning in the year. More than any other time…except Christmas Eve, of course.
Every year, I conclude that there is simply a human need to celebrate the spring, the rebirth in the earth, and our own human yearning to begin again. To be “reborn”… one more time. A reading we sometimes use on Easter speaks of our need “to crack our own hard … December husks and push life out of inner tombs and outer pain.”
Every year, I conclude that I don’t have to have this all figured out. There remains mystery even for those of us called to ministry. Religious life is both simpler and far more complex than the holidays and holy days we celebrate. I don’t consider myself to be a Christian but I cannot deny the power that this season holds for me and for us.
Every year, I end up giving myself over to this season. That will be no different this year. I can tell. Today, I find myself drawn into both the suffering symbolized by Good Friday and the hope promised by Easter morning. I find myself trusting the power of community symbolized by that Passover Seder when Jesus instructed us to “love one another.”
Easter worship will be on line this year…of course. Our virtual services have been so well “attended.” I think that is the right language. “Viewed” doesn’t feel right. Thanks to Google Analytics we know where the computers that sign on are located. Though most are here in Oregon, we have had attendance from Africa, Europe, Asia and all over the US. Our virtual ministry is reaching so far beyond the walls of the sanctuary from which it is livestreamed. I expect the virtual congregation will be even bigger on Sunday.
The tone needs to be a little less triumphant this year. We need to acknowledge the suffering in the world, the isolation which has been required of us and the uncertainty about a post-virus world. It will be harder to get to full-throated halleluiahs…at least at first.
But we will still speak of rebirth and renewal. We will read the gospel story of Easter morning and hear the story of the Phoenix, rising from the ashes. Our outstanding Praise Singers will even sing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
This will be a different Easter in a different spring, but I hope you will put on whatever Easter outfit makes you feel good and join us. Good Friday will not be our final word. We will, together, look toward hope and allow ourselves to rise. And by the end, we will offer our praise and thanks for the life emerging around us and within us.
We will get to Halleluiah!
“See” you in church.
Bill