“Hallelujahs All Day Long” – March 31st, 2024

Easter Sunday
Rev. Sophia preaching with Missy Shay, Judy Kamm, Holly Cachimuel, Charlyn Bethell, Guy Urban and our FPW Choir!

Easter’s symbolism invites us towards hope, blessed transformation and Hallelujahs all day long. While all of this is good and needed stuff, wisdom also teaches us that the dark night of the soul most often precedes the dawn. We will consider this and ask ourselves: what we might need to let go of, so that all things can be made new…Our choir will also be singing two beautiful pieces of music, and our sanctuary will be bursting with Easter flowers!

Reading: “The Humanist Speaks of Easter” by Kendyl Gibbons

There are only two things that we know for sure.
One, they stashed Jesus’s body in a tomb –
temporarily, until they could get a chance to bury it properly –
and when they came back, the tomb was empty.
Make of that what you will.

There are many possible explanations, some more likely than others.
I don’t believe that Jesus came back from the dead…
I don’t believe that the crucifixion is a story with happy ending,
or that it was a one-time event.

It happens over and over as the human journey unfolds.
It happens to us, and to the people we love;
It happens to the righteous, and the innocent.
Crucifixion happens, and it feels like the end of the world, every time.
It feels like nothing could matter any more, ever.

And then…
And then, inevitably and miraculously,
Something happens next.
Something happens. Of course it does. 
Because the world hasn’t ended, yet.
It’s not always an empty tomb – how trite would that become?
Mostly, the beloved bodies just lie right there, peacefully decomposing.
But something happens, and whether we want it or not, a new chapter begins.

Maybe the sun comes up, or the lilies do. Spring rolls around. That happens.
Or memories come. Or someone needs you. 
You eat food; that happens. You walk down the road, and share a recollection.
Life happens, keeps happening, 
The dead don’t rise – but we do.

One day, it happens; you take a breath, and it doesn’t hurt to breathe.
You start to see people again, really see them.
Hope rises. Community rises. You rise. We rise. Life rises.
Not because death isn’t real; crucifixion is not just pretend.
But something else is just as real, maybe even more real.
Something happens next –
That is the other thing we know for sure.
Life rises. Outrage rises. Love rises. Faith rises. Tears rise. Hope rises.

This, I do believe.