Easter Reflections

As I look at my calendar, I find it jammed with events: tests, quizzes, meetings, field trips, and a soda bar for our Sparrow: a haircut, tax day, and knitting club! Our school never rests. You can drive by the school anytime and find cars in the parking lot.

 

Individually, many of us have arms full of personal issues: from hay fever or sick kids to new grandbabies and aging parents. Then, of course, are the memories that keep surfacing of lives gone by. 

 

Knit into this busy and complicated fabric of life, or perhaps actually framing it, are our deeper and more spiritual moments. These moments insist that we pause and offer our thanks, remember our ancestors in faith and their stories, and rebuild our hope in a new and better world. These moments insist that we do not drown in our own sorrows or duties but rather step back and take a bird 's-eye view of our lives and how we live. 

 

This week is such a time. Christians call it Holy Week; the week when Jesus came into Jerusalem to waving palms and glorious cries of 'Hosanna!', but by Friday at noon, cries of 'Crucify him!'  will leave him hanging on a cross until death.  The holiest Christian holiday then follows three days later: Easter. This week, churches will be filled with incense and chanting, the ceremonial washing of the feet and covering the cross with purple fabric, stations of the Cross, and reflections on the Seven Last Words.

 

This week is also a special time for the Jewish people. We are near the end of the of eight days of Passover, commemorating the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery to freedom in the Promised Land. Many of our students and colleagues will share Seder meals and stories.  

 

I always find that by tearing my gaze away from my calendar and allowing myself to be absorbed by these moments, I am awakened to so much in my life that might otherwise go unseen.  The sun shines a bit brighter, the full moon is more magical, and apple pie tastes even better (if possible). And, oh yes, the children and the flowers!

 

 "This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad!"

 

I hope that you all get the chance to reconnect with what is most important to you this weekend. Have a blessed Easter!