 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Tuesday, May 3, 2022 Celebrating Easter in a world where so many in our country can’t see any new life   Why do we still celebrate Easter when the world is still so broken? One thing we do is to remember. We need to remember a couple of things. First – His followers misunderstood Jesus in his lifetime; some turned against him when he did not usher in the kingdom of God in the way that they expected. So it should not be very surprising if we continue to misunderstand him. For 2,000 years the Church has waited for Jesus to return, but the wise ones among us have also known that the risen Lord is among us right now – and that we are his presence, his hands and feet, his voice and his love – in the world. For each other. And for everyone. At every time. In every pace,Under every circumstance. In every suffering. Those who do, find him there in the midst of them. And we remember that he promised to be with us forever, but not to “fix” everything that humans – including Christians – have caused. Second – Although it is sometimes dissed or dismissed, we need to learn, and to embrace, the history of the church. We need to make the effort to study the whole church in every time and place. History always steadies me when I am anxious about what is happening in the church and in the world. Nothing is new. Old cruelties resurface every few years, become popular, and seem to threaten everything. But so does holiness in human lives, that turns the world right-side up again. Jews understand this better than we do. They keep their history alive. And we need to. There have been those who understood and followed the Lord Jesus in every culture and at every point in our history. And there have been those who used the church, and the gospel, for all kinds of other agendas. But the church does not die under pressure, political or social; it weakens itself, though, when it compromises with whatever current Caesar demands the church’s loyalty. And the other thing we do is to notice, carefully, what is happening around us and within the lives of others who are anxious and afraid. We bring bread and we see others do it, We wash each other’s feet and we see others serving, too. And we look not only to the past and the present – but in those things we see glimpses of the future – as we catch glimpses of the kingdom we pray to come on earth. What we see at first glance is not what we get. We receive more than we can see or imagine or expect – if we are willing. How to explain Ukrainians still carefully making their beautiful Easter eggs in the midst of shelling? How do we explain people still bringing baskets of eggs and bread and candles on Easter day while so many have been injured and killed?     I thought I would check in to see what is happening in Ukraine, a country of immense suffering and hopelessness. And what I found did not surprise me. But it seemed shocking to American journalists. Jews celebrated Passover. And Christians celebrated Holy Week and Easter. Faith stories are stories of defiant faith, against all odds, and in the face of what we might think to be hopelessness. In a village north of Kviv, the Russians made a direct strike on their 19th century church. Everything was destroyed except an icon of the prophet Elijah, which they found buried in the rubble. But instead of despairing, they built a small blue chapel out of scrap, and vowed to rebuild the church. And they were there with their priest to worship on Good Friday, and on Easter day. In hope. And even with joy, even in pain. A Ukrainian internet friend of my friend Jess Wiederholt, who serves the unhoused in Denver, sent money for groceries for a newly-housed, disabled man that Jess had mentioned in a recent post. In the midst of her own suffering, that woman gave. From Ukraine. And that is Easter. And as fighting rages on in the east of Ukraine, in Lviv, a city that has mostly been spared by Russia’s wrath, parishioners gathered for protection and reflection: a somber affair for many this year. “It’s less festive this year but we want to keep up our traditions and we want our kids to understand that God is with us,” said resident Larysa Kovalyk, “He helps us. We will win and in this big day, the victory will be ours.” Ignoring calls to stay home, young and old line up with their adorned food baskets for a blessing. Around the corner, kindness is shared with strangers. It’s an opportunity too for many Ukrainians to support the troops on the frontline with food donations and prayers. “I think I’ve never been this happy in my life,” said Anna Mariia Nykyforchyn, a Lviv resident. Anna left Ukraine for Poland when the war started. She was alone and 9-months pregnant carrying a world of worry on her shoulders.“When we were separated from each other, it put a huge burden psychologically on us,” said Anna. “We were constantly reading the news and the situation in Ukraine in general. We were very worried.” Without her husband or family by her side, and while her own country was being ripped apart by suffering, the 25-year old was in her own agony. But she gave birth to their little miracle, baby Marharyta. The gushing father couldn’t be happier to have his girls by his side.“I have realized that my wife is not just a woman, she is a hero,” said Nazar Nykyforchyn, “and that if I had been in her shoes, I wouldn’t be able to… I would’ve broken down.” The family is finally reunited in Lviv and counting their blessings this Easter in the long and dark shadow of war. |
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