Children’s talk:

This morning I’ve read Davina Bell’s “Under the Love Umbrella”, which is a story that invites us to think of those who protect, shelter, and comfort us – like our family, friends, and communities. They are like a big umbrella, a love umbrella, when we are afraid, worried, when bad things happen, or when everything around us starts to shift and change. Or when life is going fast and we want to go slow. At times like these we need the safety of others, of acceptance and belonging. In the shelter of that love umbrella, and the confidence it gives, we can be strong and withstand anything.

In time too, we can be part of an umbrella for others.

Indeed,it’s nice to dream of a world where we are all part of a variety of umbrellas,protecting, sheltering and comforting others. We can be both under a love umbrella,and part of a love umbrella for others.

Easter can often seem like make-believe. Eggs that are made of chocolate, and rabbits made of the same. Dead people becoming alive again, as if death isn’t real.

But these things are symbols. Just like umbrellas are a symbol of sheltering and comforting. The eggs are symbols that new life hatches out, and rabbits are symbols of lots of new babies/new hope coming. And a dead person becoming alive again is a symbol that even the worst things, like death, are not to be feared.

That’s the magic of Easter. We are invited to be people who are unafraid because weare so full of life. We are invited to be people of the Spring. To bloom like flowers. To frolic like new lambs. We are invited to live our lives in such away that goodness is shared and celebrated, and we become a haven (an umbrella of love) for others.

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Easter is not a statement of metaphysical profundity; it’s a commitment to a way of living. To say ‘Jesus is risen’ is a commitment to a way of living. It is about celebrating that even though goodness can be killed, buried, and have a huge slab of impenetrable stone laid on top, in time cracks appear and, in defiance of all that seems logical, some little flowers break through and bloom.  

The appearance stories that we read in the Gospels about Jesus supposedly coming back to life mix four metaphorical models: “raised up”, “he has been seen”,“taken up”, and “exalted”. These models all derive from the cultural and historical context of 1^st century Judaism. In short, they all speak about vindication of the one who has been martyred, Jesus. None of them are about the afterlife or the immortality of the soul.

Without going into too much detail let me just say that biblical resurrection is always about justice, always a story, and always about the mystery of God.  

Firstly,justice. Elements of Judaism accepted the raising of the dead because the martyrdom of the pious ones violated their understanding of God’s justice, and the only way to restore that justice was by raising those martyrs up. This thinking drove the earliest understanding of Jesus’ death.  

Secondly,this thinking was expressed in stories – not stories to be taken literally -but stories that present a promise and a demand. Story imagines the way the world should and can be.  

And lastly, resurrection is about the mystery of God. It is not really about an invisible personal saviour Jesus who is hanging around wanting to be your friend (comforting though that may be). It is really about believing that the power of godding, the power of goodness, can and will overcome all that seeks to demean and destroy human mutuality and flourishing. Despite its seemingimpossibility.

Many people today feel ‘entombed’ by systems, circumstances, or attitudes. Large ‘stones’ or ‘rocks’ blocking ‘tombs’ are everywhere: the rocks of discrimination, insecurity, war, poverty, and fear. We’re often sealed in by the rocks of arrogance, prejudice, addiction, or indifference. Our eyes adjust to the darkness of the ‘tombs’ we are in. Almost anything that stands between a person, or a community, and the transforming presence of goodness can be seen as a stone in need of being rolled away.

So, here are 14 suggestions about how to practice resurrection as a way of life:

1.     Life is precious, and so are we. So be nice to yourself. Forgive yourself. Help create a climate of tolerance and gentleness in your family and amongst your friends and communities.

2.     Life is to be shared generously. We need to build communities and cultures of generosity.  Join with others, like us at St Luke’s, who want to make life better for those for whom it is not.

3.     Help someone who ishurting. Give the gift of yourself. Give a little of your time, your commitment, and your resources. Be part of a love umbrella.

4.     Ask questions and throughout life keep on asking questions, particularly around inequality and prejudice. Things don’t have to be how they’ve seemingly always been.

5.     Laugh at least twice a day. Laughter is both cleansing and subversive. Read funny books or watch comedians on-line. Laugh at your own foibles. Laugh at the powerful who think they deserve their power. There are plenty of examples.

6.     Plant a tree. Plant a thought. Plant a token of friendship. Then water them, nurture them.  

7.     Make a practice of giving flowers. When you do so you brighten up two people’s day.

8.     Fear is all around andwithin. Talk with it, but don’t be seduced by it. At the end of the conversation smile and wave. Fear, and those who feed on fear, hate people who smile and wave.

9.     Always be kind, even when critical. Political movements for justice will never achieve their goals if their methods are not laced with kindness. Who wants to be part of a utopia where purity of thought is all-important?

10.  Occasionally be outrageous; or more than occasionally if you like. We need the vibrant colours and ideas that outrageous people bring to the common landscape.

11.  Pray. Get in tune, find your way into tune, with the music that is in your soul, the music of all being.That will require you to be mostly still, mostly listening, mostly doing no-thing.

12.  Give away something you don't really need but occupies quite a lot of room in your life. Like possessions,regrets, and hurts.

13.  Sway your hips, tap your toes, shuffle those feet, and sing. Move and sing because you are free in your soul, if not in your body. Move, dance, and sing because they symbolize resurrection. Every major movement for social change has its movers, dancers,and singers, as had the Jesus movements.

14.  Joy is not something that magically arrives. It is something we make together by doing all the things I’ve listed above and more. Actions of goodness nourish the mind. If we want to experience Easter, we can, together, make it happen.

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