Rev. Lou Nyiri
Click here for Print Version Psalm 46, John 20:11-18 Amy Strauss Downey relays the following story in the closing article of the March/April 2021’s Penn Stater magazine, it is entitled “Hope Springs Eternal” It tells the story of their young family’s move from Happy Valley to the Lehigh Valley when relocating due to job opportunity. Their new house gave up a view of Mount Nittany & the sounds of Beaver Stadium cheers by Saturday football crowds. Their new house had a backyard big enough for two young daughters and a son on the way. It was a half-acre with mature flower beds, vegetable gardens, waterscapes, and wildlife. They were told the property was once a stop on the local garden tour. But when they moved in it was overgrown so much that they almost didn’t sign at settlement. Their first month was spent unpacking, renovating, and trying not to lose their kids. When their son was born – the doubt began to creep in. Were they too ambitious? / Could they handle this high-maintenance backyard? They spent the next summer digging out dead shrubs & deer grazed hostas (we all know what that looks like here in MI) / they unearthed rusted lawn ornaments / converted various beds into grass lawn. One day she found a sign “I was going to plant an herb garden, but didn’t have the thyme.” Each year she felt the cringe as daffodils broke ground – it was an omen of the labor filled months ahead. Downey recalls in her article how the previous spring was no different. Except…just as the green blades began to poke through the dirt – around mid-March – Pennsylvania (along with the rest of the globe) began shutting down to slow the spread of COVID-19. After a few days (weeks?) of isolating they’d finally emerge to clean up some sticks and leaves. They engaged in the spiritual disciplines of raking, weeding, mulching - & - took deep breaths in the fresh air. Yardwork – something once dreaded – became therapeutic. Yardwork became an escape from in-home schooling & Zoom calls. Their daughters began potting petunia & marigold seeds – their now toddler son watered them. The children climbed on the koi pond / swung on the hammock / built “rock hotels” for bugs. As Downey writes, “Shoes were dirty and spirits happy.” Downey concludes the article with these words, “[D]espite the world pausing, our property continued to bloom. The colors came so quickly that plant production felt like a production plant. We sniffed lilac and peony bouquets and watched as rhododendron buds grew into violet trusses. Our time spent outside was marked not by a day or month, but by the brilliant arrivals of sunny forsythia or flowery pink magnolias. It carried on like this into summer. Throughout the pandemic, I noticed other well-tended yards. At a time when we were told to distance ourselves – and for those of us who were fortunate to do so at home – here we all were, still connecting with living things in the most basic way. As for the upcoming spring, when our sleepy daffodils wake and shake loose from their buried bulbs, Downey writes, ‘’ll be ready and waiting.’” +++++ From our gospel text this morning, “…[S]upposing him to be the gardener, [Mary] said to [Jesus], ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’” +++++ Our 21st century hindsight offers us – the benefit of appreciating this anticipatory moment in John’s good news (gospel) book which tells the story of Jesus the Christ’s life, death, resurrection & ascension for not just people of faith … the WHOLE world. We know it’s Jesus. We know Mary doesn’t know it’s Jesus. We know Jesus is going to make the big reveal & Mary’s mourning (grieving) on that first Easter morning will turn to joy. But that’s not how life works – is it? We don’t know – when in the middle of it – that mourning will turn to joy – that sadness can morph one day into gladness – that darkness will cede itself to light – that the one who knows us by name is nearby … even in deeply pain-filled moments. That’s one of the things I like about this gospel account between Mary & Jesus – in the garden – it’s not so much about Easter as it is about life…more specifically it’s about faith in real life. What do we believe? / How does belief impact us? / Can life take root in what we deem to be death-like circumstance? These are the questions we ask when wandering in the “just before dawn” moments of life – those disconcerting and dissonance producing times “just before light (and hope) shine in. Like Mary – when in the middle of it all – we often don’t know what we believe – or – at the very least have difficulty putting our belief into words. And then something happens – we hear it – for Mary it was Jesus speaking her name – for us it might be the note, phone call, text message, email, impromptu plate of brownies or casserole from someone at just the right moment – letting us know we’re not alone… That’s what it is to be God’s people – Easter people – new life witness bearing people who – people committed to providing solidarity and solace and service in the midst of real-life circumstance…until... mourning turns to joy – sadness morphs into gladness – darkness cedes itself to light – Until we recognize – that the one who knows us by name is nearby – Mary entered that garden not expecting to find life…though when she discovered that she was not alone life took on new meaning. The question or statement of this discovery is:
Mary understood because of that encounter – like sleepy daffodils awaking and shaking loose from their buried bulbs – if one is ready and waiting – one might connect with living & life-giving things – and by God’s grace so will we. So. Will. We. The question or statement, then is: Will we? OR We will. Alleluia & Amen! Comments are closed.
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