The Earth Cries Out: Easter Sunday
By Codi Norred, Executive Director of Georgia Interfaith Power & Light
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Today’s reflection on care for God’s Creation celebrates Easter Sunday. The theme of our Lenten devotional series is “The Earth Cries Out: Reflections, Lamentations, and Prayers for the Injustices to Our Earth and Our Communities.”Each week contains a short reflection, discussion questions, and a prayer. We hope that you can utilize these devotions with your congregation, friends, and family.
Luke 24:1-12:
24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Meditation: In the early morning hours, as the dew hung on the grass, and the songbirds began to stir in the olive trees, the sun crept over the horizon to reveal the truth. Creation was the first witness. Within the rough cavernous tomb, the ground was bare and cold, as it had been for three days. Jesus, executed at the hands of the government for loving too deeply, lay cold.
What strikes me is how many people don’t want to believe that life is stronger than death. What I mean is that this is just one of many passages in which some combination of disciples have to be talked into believing that Jesus has risen. That death didn’t win. Despite the fact that they spent years of their lives with him and knowing the miracles that were possible from God, the disciples are hopeless after Jesus’ death. They resigned the possibilities of the future because of the terror of the present. Once death came to bind the hands of God, people gave up on whatever promises God had made, despite the fact that the very promise was of new life and resurrection to come.
They killed Jesus because he tried to show people it was possible to make a better world. There is a way to love God by loving your neighbor, by caring for the land, by creating patterns of life that perpetuate true justice, mercy, and love. They killed him for that. It is easy to lose hope when that happens. It is easy to believe that the powers of this world will always choose violence in response to loving-kindness.
When the empire tries to stamp out voices of justice crying out in the streets because of police brutality, or arrests the scientists currently protesting to bring attention to climate change, the days grow dark. As the planet becomes more and more unlivable despite all of our best efforts to care for the earth because our leaders lack the courage to do what is right, it is easy to despair. When the leaders of the world choose death by believing that the perpetuation of life lies in the destruction of every living thing, it is easy to lose hope.
And yet, the dealings of death pale in power to the promise of life. There is life to be had on the other side of the things that try to kill us. There is a new way of living on the other side of the systems that do their best to silence justice and truth. There is another way to live. There is a way to flourish.
Tell the truth. Death and injustice cannot keep the promise of life sealed away. The morning comes every day. Every day, life and truth emerges in the streets, in our pulpits, in our commitment to try to make this world more like the kingdom of God. Despite the fact that so many powers and principalities try to kill those efforts and try to silence the truth, they will never be able to. The morning comes again, and again, and again.
The promise is kept, the reality is proven; death and decay is never the final word. Go see for yourself, the tomb is empty. See and believe. Tell the truth. Life is the only way.
He is risen! Christ has risen indeed! May we all rise to meet him, may we continue in our work and struggle, for the patterns of death will be consumed by abundant life.
Prayer: Benediction 1 (from "All the Seasons of Mercy")
You are God’s servants
Gifted with dreams and visions
Upon you rests the grace of God
Like flames of fire
Love and serve the Lord
In the strength of the Spirit
May the deep peace of Christ be with you
The strong arms of God sustain you
And the power of the Holy Spirit
Strengthen you in every way
Amen.
Reflection Questions:
What is killing you?
What is bringing you back to life?
How will you push against violence and death today?