EASTER SUNDAY – I love you
I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
The sermons over ‘the Three Days’ explore the sections of this prayer mantra. The characters in the passion story journey through scenes of repentance, forgiveness, gratitude, and love. Journeying though the passion narrative and the liturgies of the Three Days is a reminder of our broken relationships – with God, humans, and creation.
I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you – are phrases that carry the power to honour meaningful relationships and heal broken relationships. The Three Days take us into the very heart of relationship -the heart of God.
Not so many years ago, Tim and I visited Atlanta, Georgia, to go to a NASCAR race; an item on my bucket list. I was excited not just for the race, but, for a supper excursion I planned for the evening we arrived. On recommendation from a number of friends we went downtown to ‘Aunt Pittypat’s Porch.’ The restaurant was named after Scarlett’s aunt from the movie, Gone With the Wind; a character with great Southern hospitality for family and visitor alike. At Aunt Pittypat’s Porch, one is welcomed in to sit in large white-painted wooden rocking chairs. Around a bannister look off one is refreshed with various forms of peach-laden drinks. Escorted from the porch, one descends to the warmth of a homey Southern kitchen, to enjoy deep fried catfish, potato salad made from sweet potatoes and raisins, pickled watermelon rinds, and ooohhh the biscuits and cornbread. After dinner we stood outside in the warm twilight as the porch lights came on. In the air floated music from speakers on the lamp posts; the song – Louis Armstrong’s, It’s A Wonderful World. ... Here I broke into tears as Tim wrapped me in a big embrace.
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
In that moment I heard these words – I felt them- in the music.
What you need to know is that this piece of music was the father-daughter dance when Tim and I were married. You also need to know that my dad loved car racing; that our trip was planned, and we were encouraged to go, despite... --- you see, dad had died; the day before we were standing outside Aunt Pittypat’s Porch hearing the words... the colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people going by. I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do? They’re really saying, I love you...
And in that moment, death sunk into the depths of my heart while resurrection stirred the air. Death and life were hand-in-hand.
As day was dawning, the Mary’s went to the tomb. Amidst the extraordinary events: an earthquake, an angel – I see the women standing in the damp cool darkness of the tomb, surrounded by the smell of death. Death settles into their bones, into the depths of their hearts while resurrection stirs the air.
The body is not there.
As the sun rises, as light grows, do they hear God’s music in the sound of the waking birds in the garden, in the opening petals of the flowers, in the breeze rustling through olive branches, in the glow of the angel, in the after-trembling of the earth? Do they hear God’s whisper... I love you?
In Armstrong’s music, It’s A Wonderful World, I love you! is in trees of green, red roses too/bright sunny skies, dark sacred nights/in babies cry and how they grow... it’s a wonderful world. In every day life, in death’s depths resurrection stirs the air. God whispers, “I love you.”
Scripture says, the women leave the tomb in fear and great joy; a moment where death and life walk hand-in-hand.
Jesus greets the women as they leave the garden. Matthew has Jesus say, “Do not be afraid – go and tell my disciples.” Jesus is saying to the women’s hearts: I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. The women hear it, they feel it, and they go and tell it.
Although not an intentional Easter sermon, one of the best reflections I have read over the Three Days is that Julio Vincent Gambuto, an American writer and director. He speaks to us while we are standing in the damp cool tomb, surrounded by the smell of death. In this time death settles into our bones, into the depths of our hearts. He writes:
Well, the treadmill you’ve been on for decades just stopped. Bam! And that feeling you have right now is the same as if you’d been thrown off your Peloton bike and onto the ground: What the ... just happened?
I hope you might consider this: what happened is inexplicably incredible. It is the greatest gift ever unwrapped. Not the deaths, not the virus, but the Great Pause. Please don’t recoil from the bright light beaming through the window. I know it hurts your eyes. It hurts mine too. But the curtain is wide open. What the crisis has given us is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see ourselves and our country in the plainest of views. At no other time, ever in our lives, have we gotten the opportunity to see what would happen if the world simply stopped. Here it is. We’re in it.
Death ...while resurrection stirs the air.
As the Three Days have ended and we now celebrate Easter resurrection for 7 weeks, we remain in the Great Pause. We continue to live the reality of death and life being hand-in-hand.
What I hope is that our journey through Holy Week -from death to life- is as life-changing on a global scale as it has been in our own devotion. I would like nothing more than to recapture the moment on the street in Atlanta, where death sunk into the depths of my heart while resurrection stirred the air. I would love for us to hear God’s music being whispered- I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
By the power of the Great Pause, by resurrection to follow, I would love for death to be conquered: death to hunger and poverty, jealousy and war; competition, consumption, and pollution; exploitation and slavery.
At this moment, death and life are hand-in-hand. God is whispering to all of creation.... I love you.
Do not be afraid to walk out of the damp cool darkness of the tomb, leave the stink of death behind. Walk into the early dawning of light, soaking in the resurrection in the air. Hear God whispering – I love you – and because of this love embrace new life, a new world.
It’s a wonderful world, when inadequacies are seen and there is a striving for all people to have equal access to health care; when the homeless are sheltered in empty hotel rooms; when financial resources are shared with those who have lost their jobs or fallen between the cracks; when people pay attention to their neighbours, their health, their wellbeing, their needs; when the sky is no longer yellow smog but blue as blue can be; when priorities change from consumption of things to fostering relationships; when gratitude is simplified to matters of life and death; when news is not about war, it is about a struggle uniting the wills of people around the world.
This new life...this new world is possible...
Resurrection stirs in the air --- God is singing.
Do you hear God’s voice – a voice that has the power to move mountains, split trees, create great sea monsters; heal the blind, and raise the dead ---- a voice that has power to stir in us resurrection, new life, a new world. Be lost in the power of God’s music and may it change your life for real and for always.
God whispers to you: I’m sorry. Please forgive. Thank you. ... I love you!
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