Easter & Joy & Mourning Gladly

EASTER ALWAYS

We are Easter People. As I have often said, "Easter is just too grand, too glorious, and too wonderful to be limited to just one day!"  

The Church calendar seems to agree with me—the Season of Easter begins with Easter Sunday and then the season continues for fifty days! And so we have reflected on how Easter changes our lives through April and into May. Easter makes a difference! Not only does Easter make a difference, Easter makes all the difference in the world. Nothing will ever be the same.

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven

nevermore shall be the same.

Break the bread of new creation

where the world is still in pain.

Tell its grim, demonic chorus:

“Christ is risen! Get you gone!”

God the First and Last is with us,

sing hosanna, everyone!

BRIAN WREN, 1986

REJOICE ALWAYS

By the way, I’m writing these reflections for the June newsletter on April 30. Working ahead. Because when this June newsletter is coming out, I’ll be making the last-minute preparations for Luke’s graduation party. Yes, that means pulling my hair out—ha, ha, ha! Anyway, at least for today I’m patting myself on the back for “working ahead” as I sometimes did in school. Anyway, as I happily anticipate the May Day Breakfast at our church, and think about all that May will bring—including tulips in Pella, and think about June (which seems far away but will be here in just a moment and—for all of us reading this now, it’s indeed already arrived)… As I anticipate all this with a glad heart, part of me anxiously screams, “How will I get everything done?” Yet, even as I feel that hint of anxiety or stress, I cannot help but think of one of my grandfather’s favorite passages:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7).

MOURNING GLADLY ALWAYS

Does the idea of “mourning gladly” make you shake your head in confusion? Maybe you didn’t catch it, or maybe you even thought the caption was a typo!

And yet, perhaps… Maybe the idea of “mourning gladly” took your mind and heart to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, where he says,

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

May I tell you a funny story (a “confession”) in the midst of this thought? When I started “working ahead” on the June newsletter, I was simply going to share an essay from Lament for a Son, a little-and-profound book by Nicholas Wolterstorff. Sharing his essay would be an easy way to save me the time or “hassle” of writing some reflections myself. But then I started thinking of “mourning gladly” in the context of Easter. And then—if I can use a metaphor—I veered off Highway 92 and started exploring my mind’s gravel roads and before you know it was hanging out near a covered bridge. Which is exactly why I’m a pastor and not an accountant. And why I sometimes drive people crazy—whether it be my kids on vacation (when I literally take the scenic route “just because it was there”) or whether it be a Type A person during a committee meeting. Lol.

Anyway, I still want to share Nicholas Wolterstorff with you even if that means the newsletter is a little longer than usual.

More background… I pulled his book out this morning when I read a poem on Facebook—a beautiful poem written by a dear friend about her brother’s recent death and her grief. Only just moments ago did I recall, in addition to that first prod, that June 4 will be the ninth anniversary of my own Carolyn’s death.

Sitting under my metaphorical covered bridge, here is the thing I want tell you, dearly loved people of 1UPC—

We all experience loss and grief and sorrow at some point in our lives. At this point in this extended reflection I have tears in my eyes. Some of you do too. And that’s OK. And yet, at the same time, we are Easter People! We are people who mourn with gladness and hope in our hearts, because we not only share in Christ’s death but in his resurrection. We grieve—but not as those who have no hope! We are Easter people always. Rejoicing always. And even “mourning gladly” always!

            

Glad to be on the journey with you,

                        

Pastor Randy

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN…

A GUEST ESSAY BY NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF

From Lament for a Son, pp. 84-86

Standing on a hill in Galilee Jesus said to his disciples:

Blessed are those who mourn,For they shall be comforted. 

Blessings to those who mourn, cheers to those who weep, hail to those whose eyes are filled with tears, hats off to those who suffer, bottoms up to the grieving. How strange, how incredibly strange! 

When you and I are left to our own devices, it’s the smiling, successful ones of the world that we cheer, “Hail to the victors.” The histories we write of the odyssey of humanity on earth are the stories of the exulting ones—the nations that won the battle, the businesses that defeated their competition, the explorers who found a pass the Pacific, the scientists whose theories proved correct, the athletes who came in first, the politicians who won their campaigns. We turn away from the crying ones of the world. Our photographers tell us to smile. 

“Blessed are those who mourn.” What can it mean? One can understand why Jesus hails those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, why he hails the merciful, why he hails the pure in heart, why he hails the peacemakers, why he hails those who endure under persecution. These are qualities of character which belong to the life of the kingdom. But why does he hail the mourners of the world? Why cheer tears? It must be that mourning is also a quality of character that belongs to the life of his realm.

Who then are the mourners? The mourners are those who have caught a glimpse of God’s new day, who ache with all their being for that day’s coming, and who break out into tears when confronted with its absence. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm of peace there is no one blind and who ache whenever they see someone unseeing. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm there is no one falsely accused and who ache whenever they see someone imprisoned unjustly. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm there is no one who fails to see God and who ache whenever they see someone unbelieving. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm there is no one who suffers oppression and who ache whenever they see someone beat down. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm there is no one without dignity and who ache whenever they see someone treated with indignity. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm of peace there is neither death nor tears and who ache whenever they see someone crying tears over death. The mourners are aching visionaries.

Such people Jesus blesses; he hails them, he praises them, he salutes them. And he gives them the promise that the new day for whose absence they ache will come. They will be comforted. 

The Stoics of antiquity said: Be calm. Disengage yourself. Neither laugh nor weep. Jesus says: Be open to the wounds of the world. Mourn humanity’s mourning, weep over humanity’s weeping, be wounded by humanity’s wounds, be in agony over humanity’s agony. But do so in the good cheer that a day of peace is coming.

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