I never used to think Easter as an interfaith celebration. I always thought of Easter as the Christian holiday. And yet Easter truly is an ancient interfaith holiday. Easter is this wild mix of religious traditions -- pagan, Christian, Jewish.
As the early Christian movement spread across the Mediterranean world and beyond, the story of Jesus coming back to life after his crucified became intertwined with other stories. Once Christianity broke away from being just a Jewish sect, new Christians from different cultures combined their new religion with their traditional practices.
We have inherited these practices. When we think of Easter we think about flowers, colored eggs, and bunnies. And, like people everywhere, we have added our own little twists -- things like chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs. Imagine Easter today without chocolate! Unthinkable.
So this Easter, like every Easter, we will celebrate the renewal of life. After the service children will hunt for eggs. Their parents and other adults watching will enjoy it as much as children. For religious liberals like us, Easter is a lighthearted celebration. We like Easter, but we don’t take it very seriously.
Of course, for millions upon millions of Christians, Easter is the foundation of their faith. This morning millions of Christians who rarely go to church are packing sanctuaries. For them, Easter is the day that Jesus literally came back to life after his brutal execution on the cross. Easter contains the promise of eternal life -- life after death.
Not all Christians take the Bible stories literally. A lot of progressive Christians see the story of the resurrection as a myth, not as history. A myth is a story that is both true and not true. A myth is a story that is not factually true, but a story that has truth in it. This is how human beings have created meaning since the dawn of language. They created stories that could be retold thousands of times. Sometimes we religious liberals make the mistake of rejecting a story because it is not factually true. When we do this we miss the truth that is contained within the story. The Easter story about the resurrection of Jesus is a myth that expresses profound meaning.
In a deep sense the ancient pagan stories about the return of life in the spring and the Christian story about Jesus coming back to life are a variation on the same story. So, too, is the modern retelling of the story in the Harry Potter novels as the Phoenix comes back to life and saves Harry. All of these stories are a way of expressing hope and joy. All of these stories are about coming back to life, about life after death. They are about triumph and possibility.
This morning I would have us consider the deep truth is in the Easter story. More importantly, I would have us make this story our story once more.
When I was a young boy I believed that the story of Jesus’ resurrection was true. As a young man I stopped believing the story because I no longer thought it was factually true. Now I have come to realize that the Easter story is true, but not factual. Jesus really did come back to life. Or, better said, in a very real sense Jesus never died. After his crucifixion on Mount Calvary, everything Jesus had taught, everything he stood for, lived on. All of his teachings about compassion and forgiveness lived on. Jesus had preached that everyone is precious and that we are supposed to care for one another. All of this lived on. His followers, speaking in the language of myth, created a story of his resurrection.
Just as Jesus came back to life, so to did the Buddha, so to did Muhammad, so to did Martin Luther King, Jr., so too did Gandhi. Everything they stood for, everything they taught, refused to die.
In the same way, all of the ancient myths about goddesses and gods bringing back the sun after a cold dark winter, are stories about life that will not be suppressed, life that can never be extinguished.
When you and I open ourselves to the meaning contained within these stories, we come to realize that these myths are not just about life out there, but about each one of our lives. Every one of us experiences hundreds of deaths and rebirths in our own lives.
In her touching chalice lighting this morning, Sara Mellen told of a spiritual and emotional death and resurrection in her own life. Think about your own life for a moment. Think about all the times that you have experienced loss. Think about your own disappointments in life, about relationships that ended, about lost opportunities, about injuries you have suffered. Every single life is made up of hundreds of small deaths and hundreds of resurrections.
Some of the small deaths that we face in life are inevitable. The real, physical, deaths of people we love cannot be prevented. As we age we will lose physical ability.
Sadly, some of our disappointments in life we bring on ourselves. Too often we don’t pay attention to what really and truly matters in life. We lose precious relationships because we do not nurture them. We lose wonderful opportunities because we are afraid or timid. We let ourselves get distracted and spend our energy on things that don’t matter -- things that do not enhance life.
Life is full of little good Fridays.
And, happily, we are blessed with hundreds upon hundreds of Easters. Life will not leave us alone. We come back to life.
What is it that brings you back to life? What is it that fills your heart with joy? When your soul lies dead as though it were in a tomb, what is it that rolls away the stone?
It can be many things. Life has many ways of calling out to us. In my own life I find that what is precious in life can only touch me, can only get through to me, if I close my mouth and open my senses. Life can reach out and touch me when I open myself. Walking in the mountains or along a creek, opening my eyes and ears and sense of smell to all of that is around me, brings me back to life. Music, especially music with no words, brings me back to life. People, too, bring me back. I realize, when I really pay attention, that I am loved. I have a wonderful family, good friends, and good colleagues. It is easy to forget that.
Actually, all of the great religions teach some variation on what I just said. That is why every religion teaches us to shut up and pay attention. This is what prayer, meditation, and spiritual retreats are all about.
All religions also teach us that we need one another. We bring each other back to life. This is what meeting in small groups is all about. And this is what coming together to worship is all about.
The most important question each one of us can ask ourselves today is this: what is it that brings us back to life? What do you need to do to come back to life and to let life come back to you? Do you need a regular practice of reflection and meditation? Do you need to be with others in a way that is authentic and safe and deep? Do you need to join hands with others to do important work to help heal our world?
Deep down every one of us knows what he or she needs. Our challenge is to overcome our fear, our crazy busy schedules, our attachment to things that don’t really matter.
This is what our religious community is for. We exist to celebrate life, to help one another come back to life, and to share life with others. You and I can experience life after death today. Right now. Together you and I can help one another come back to life. This is another truth taught by all the great religions: we need one another. No one is alone. The spirit of life and love, which is called God and also called many other names, lives within us and among us.
Let this Easter Sunday be a celebration of life after death. Feel the life within you. Feel all of the lives around you. Live the story. Be the Easter story. Choose life.
May this be a joyous and blessed Easter.Amen.