Beyond Easter.
we go singing.

Having been grabbed
by resurrections
we are full of tears and laughter.

The way ahead is unknown.
It will always be like that.

But having danced in the light
we will look for glory everywhere.

~Ruth Burgess

An interesting coincidence is that this year the Christian observance of Good Friday and the international observance of Earth Day fall on the same day. I have been thinking about how these particular observances might inform one another. For Christians, Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a somber day, one where introspection, repentance and penitence is offered. Earth Day was created to help us be reminded of the ways in which we humans who call Earth home do so in a daily act of interdependence. We do this not only with our fellow humans but with all living things…..animals, plants, water, air, soil. We are all connected in ways known and known to us.

For those who make their way to a worship service today, they will hear the scriptures of how Jesus entered Jerusalem only to be arrested, tried and sentenced to death. His ministry had been about building communities that were healing, compassionate, just and moved with hope. This work, his presence was a great threat to the power structures, structures which worked to keep people in need, under control, alienated from one another and from their own sense of power.

Our Earth home is being threatened by a mindset and systems that deny the innumerable ways we are bound together in our common life. There is killing off of clean water, healthy air, and nutrient rich soil. Our burning desire and addiction to fossil fuels continues to bring both economic and political hardship. The issues sometimes threaten to overwhelm the most rational among us. And so Earth Day also calls for introspection, repentance and penitence.

But what kept the disciples going and what can keep us going in the face of what sometimes seems nearly impossible to hold is the important fact that we have seen new life happen again and again and again. Even as the devastated Japanese people work to pull themselves out of the aftermath of an earthquake, they continue to show remarkable signs of hope as they reach out to one another and employ their immense creativity to solve huge problems. As a nation many among us are continuing to chip away at systems that do not take the Earth into consideration.Many are offering creative alternatives for living ‘with’ rather than simply ‘on’ the planet.

Like Jesus’ ministry, like the disciples work that followed and continues today, it is slow work. Work that is often misunderstood and threatening. But it is work that continues to lift before an often blind and battered people: We must depend on one another.We must take care for the good of all. It is what we were born to do, to be.

For me the sure way of reminding myself of this claim on my life is to ‘look for glory everywhere’ as the writer Ruth Burgess says. When I am attuned to the glory that comes to me as pure gift, I am reminded of my responsibility, of all the many invisible lines of connection that make up my life, my living. I travel this world with the story of Jesus planted deep within me. I also travel its whirling paths on a planet that continues to fill my lungs with air, nourish me with water and food. I travel with companions that delight and surprise me with beauty and wonder. Indeed, glory is everywhere when I have eyes to see.

Good Friday. Earth Day. So many connections to honor. So many opportunities to be a part of the on-going telling of goodness in the world. What a privilege. What a responsibility.

A blessed Easter to you all…….