Nailed it!
Incarnate love was poured
out for the world – all creation connected - heart to heart with the Source of
All Being.
Whether it was the
experience of the earthquake, the sky turning dark, the spectacle, the suffering,
the dying, the grieving, or the burying.
… maybe it was in the
silence that followed …
I invite you to hold your
colour patch.
This morning, what is the
colour of your heart? Your spirit? What colour describes how you feel?
As the first day of the week
was dawning, Mary and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
… amid the screeching of
bombs, obliterated streetscapes, grey mounds of rubble, clouds of dust,
scorching fire, shaking of the ground, wails of the people, and never-ending
prayers …
Earlier this morning in the
Old City of Jerusalem, amid the grey of violence and the colourlessness of
fear, there was a faithful remnant whose hearts and spirits coloured over,
around, and in the ashes. Palestinian siblings gathered in community, sang
joyous hymns, dressed sanctuaries, heard the Word, declared Christ’s resurrection,
and proclaimed good news --- resurrecting hearts and spirits, and hope through
vibrant colourful alleluias.
Wednesday night a group of
us joined for Bible Study, Raised from Dead. We explored four
resurrection stories.
In an upper room, the dead
on their bed, the bystanders sent out, Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, and Peter…cried
out to God and life was restored. God breathed life – raising the dead- through
an array of people and over a great expanse of time, God’s breath raised the
dead. The colourful stories are set in colourless times; times of famine,
drought, foreign occupation, and persecution.
The Bible Study group noticed
similarities and patterns in the raised-from-dead stories. There was a hope
that coloured us as we saw instances of continued presence and connection with
the Source of All Being.
Just the simple hearing and
talking about the stories was uplifting, happy, and hopeful for us. We left the
session brighter.
Hearing the Word changed the colour of our
being.
This morning what is the
colour of your heart? Your spirit? What colour describes how you feel?
I entered the Three Days – in
a mix of grey and colourlessness –
Gloomy skies and dusty lungs.
The draining of colour with every act of aggression, posture of war, and
civilian with nowhere to go. I felt covered in the grey wash of the world’s
sadness and grief.
This morning, although my
heart was not fully invested, I dared to venture out and come here – to face an
open tomb.
The Word of an open tomb
doesn’t immediately spark joy or have me jump to talk of resurrection; to
celebrate that all is made new and all will be okay. But over the morning, in
the gathering of community, the aroma of breakfast, the hearing of the Word,
the fullness and joy of the singing, the decorations, the declaration of
Christ’s resurrection, the expectation of the effervescence of the Eucharist,
and the proclamation of the good news ---- I am growing in colour.
The colour of my heart and
my spirit is not one colour. It is a swirl, a little bit of colour from each of
you, colour from the ambiance and everything here that is twinkling – sharing an
expression of glory. It’s the bits and pieces, the scraps of colour, never-ending
prayers, resistance and defiance to colour over the grey, that speak to me of
resurrection – a collage put together to breath life into a colour-draining
world.
This morning dawns with
steaks of colour growing stronger as the woman encounter the angel, embrace
Christ, and proclaim resurrection to the other disciples.
Last Sunday and again in
worship on Thurs and Fri we heard colour-filled words by Oscar Romero. This
morning he colours our hearts and spirits with words to breath colour – bring
Christ’s resurrection- into the places where colour has and is being drained.
Oscar Romero wrote in the
poem: A Future Not Our Own
We plant seeds that one day
will grow.
We water seeds already
planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will
need further development.
We provide yeast that produces
effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and
there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do
something, and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a
step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
I invite you to take the
sandpaper heart and the nail from the past two days. The heart has been pierced
by the nail. -incarnational love poured out for the world – piercing our own
heart. We long for colour and resurrection as we push the nail through the
centre of our cross-flower shaped colour patch.
From ash – sand and grit –
From the cruelty and
violence of the cross – death-
Colour is breathed into the
world to blossom – into love, into hope;
Flower blossoms are coloured
hearts and spirits – resurrected in Christ, empowered and enabled to do
something, and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a
step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
May this be so. Amen.
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