Midweek Faith Lift
April 3, 2024
“And Still I Rise!”- Easter Sunday
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
12-29-2022
Runway lights at the Deering Airport in Alaska were out of commission, so residents of the small town used their vehicles to light up the runway so a Medevac plane could land and pick up an infant patient. The lights from the town’s residents and the bravery of the Medevac pilots made it possible for the plane to land and take off again, and the moment took on a miraculous air when the Northern Lights came out.
“We obscure the power of God in the darkness. Unite with one another, and the light removes the darkness in an instant. The number of miracles that you are about is limitless.” – A Course in Miracles
Affirmative prayer: Infinite Presence, I am grateful for the points of light in the hearts and minds of all. For the goodwill, the encouragement, and the genuine miracles that we bring to each other’s lives. There is brightness everywhere. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.
This is a perfect story for Easter because it is a story of holding the light for a
miracle to unfold even in the darkness when there is no certainty of outcome. Last week on Palm Sunday, we explored the true power of Jesus to be fully present to what was happening and what was going to unfold during what we call holy week. I’m not sure Jesus would have called it that! More like “hell” week if we are to be honest about it. The true power of the story is that Jesus stayed the course and held the light despite the energy of hate, of making him the scapegoat and attempting to destroy the essence of light that this amazing human/divine being was able to hold and maintain throughout the experience! It was not possible and is not possible to extinguish that light as the Easter story tells us.
One of the most profound messages of the Easter story is that of Jesus’ solidarity as “scapegoat” with all those who were and are marginalized in society by those holding temporal or political power. The story was true then, and it is true now! In this profound human experience, Jesus is holding the light for all who suffer to awaken to the truth of their divinity, their essence, their true light and their resurrection. No matter how much temporal power individuals may hold, no matter how righteous they believe their cause, if it is not about love, it is not about God, and it is not the message of Jesus.
From the March 26, 2024 Blog of Richard Rohr, “Scapegoating Then and Now” we read:
As a Christian, I do believe that Jesus’ death was an historical breakthrough. It is no accident that Christians date history around his life. Afterward, we could never see things in the same way. The seeds of the gospel were forever planted into human history, but some followers of other religions seem to have “watered the seeds” more than many Christians….The central message of Jesus on love of enemies, forgiveness, and care for those at the bottom was supposed to make scapegoating virtually impossible and unthinkable.
Scapegoating depends upon a rather sophisticated, but easily learned, ability to compartmentalize, to separate, to divide the world into the pure and the impure. …..The religious genius of Jesus is that he utterly refuses all debt codes, purity codes, and the searching for sinners. He refuses to divide the world into the pure and the impure, much to the chagrin of almost everybody—then and now.
As we have noted before, the cross is a symbol of the reality, or truth of who we really are and the “trinity” of our true nature. Our human journey is the horizontal beam, our divinity is the vertical beam and we live at the intersection of these in that place of the “observer self” that is able to be present to what is truly there at whatever level of consciousness or “awakeness” we are capable of at any given moment in our lives. There is no judgment of where we are, just a continual invitation to “come up higher,” and to keep waking up! Don’t go back to sleep! The essence of the Easter story is to awaken and roll back the stone which blocks our light, our heart from shining it’s true light.
We read the story in the gospel of Mark 16:1-4
The Resurrection of Jesus
16 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Mag′dalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salo′me, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—it was very large.
The stone was rolled back! Friends that also has meaning for us. And then they discover that the body of Jesus is no longer there. The essence of the Easter story is about the divine nature of Jesus, and our divine nature. We have observed and experienced the very human pain of crucifixion, each of us has some sort of crucifixion story. Now we can roll back the stone and experience the full light of resurrection, or life after the crucifixion experience, because it will never be the same. Once you truly awaken, it is not possible to go back to sleep.
Unity minister, Cylvia Hayes describes it this way:
"Easter is not about the crucifixion. It’s not about the ones jabbing spears or pounding in the nails. The whole point is the resurrection. It’s all about the incredible strength and beauty that rises up because of the challenge. Jesus demonstrated that when we remember who we truly are, when we overcome our own sense of littleness and separation, when we stop crucifying others and ourselves, we too, can work wonders and spread healing and light in the world. Your resilience is your brilliance and Easter is every moment you choose to step into the truth of You." - Cylvia Hayes, cylviahayes.net
That is the true invitation of the story and life of Jesus. We are more than our limitations and our imperfections. Our human self does experience “crucifixion” every time our ego or sense of self-importance gets the better of us. The message of Jesus is one of love, no matter what, no matter who. Others can try to blame or scapegoat us. We can buy into that and attempt to blame and scapegoat ourselves, but that is never the end of the story. It may take us several lifetimes to “get it” but the truth of us is bigger than our just human story. We do live at the intersection of our human/divine selves and the true story of salvation is in learning how to do that every day.
How do we hold the light to see the runway, just like in the opening story, even when we are tired, weary and afraid and not sure how anything will turn out? How do we stay awake? All the great spiritual teachers challenge us to stay awake! I love this quotation from Rumi:
"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep." – Rumi
The door is round and open, the stone has been rolled back. Don’t try to push it back in place! We have survived our crucifixion experiences and let go of whatever attachments and obstacles that were blocking our light. We are ready to discover and embrace a new and better way of living. We are resilient, bright and beautiful, like a spring morning, fully experiencing our own resurrection. We have learned to let go and forgive ourselves and others. I want to share this Buddhist poem of forgiveness with you.
In our crucifixion experience of fully letting go we are free and empty like the tomb. We are free to fully claim that we are a divine/human expression of the fullness of God. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"You are an inlet and may become an outlet to all there is in God. All there is - not just "good enough," not just "making do," - but all there is. Let your Allness be revealed. Release you inner beauty, unleash your imprisoned splendor." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This Easter, the invitation and the experience is to fully embrace the resurrection experience as it is also our experience. We are and inlet and an outlet to all there is in God. And on this glorious Easter morning, may we release our inner beauty and unleash our imprisoned spendor!
Blessings on the Path,
Happy Easter!
Rev. Deb
