Disciple: Easter: A Season of Repurposing

By the Rev. Canon Kathy Walker

Spring is undoubtedly my favorite season of the year. A new kind of energy is present. The number of layers required to go outside significantly dwindles. Coats are gone and boots are put away for another time. It is also time for some good spring cleaning. The sun is present longer each day, and I imagine I am going to get outside and walk more. Flowers begin to sprout once again, and beautiful colors start to dot the landscape. Admittedly, I don’t know the names of many of those beautiful flowers, but they are gorgeous, and many of them are extremely fragrant. They make me smile and feel joyous. Everything has a new-season smell. The Lord is risen and so is new vegetation. Yes, we encounter pollen as well, but it seems a small price to pay even for the sinus-challenged folks like me. Spring is a time of resurrection. This is a new season full of fresh possibilities.

When Mary Magdalene returned to Jesus’ tomb on that fateful Easter morning and found angels standing in the place where her lord had been laid, she was understandably bewildered, leaning towards frantic. She wondered what could have happened to Jesus. She wanted to hold on to him just a little longer. She imagined that she could return to the tomb several more times and care for her friend, her teacher and her Lord as she had in life. It was all a part of her grieving process. Somehow, adding spices to his decaying body kept him with her, even in death. She was not quite prepared for a final goodbye. She offered to go and retrieve Jesus if the man she believed to be the gardener would just tell her where he has been moved.

Once Jesus confronts her, she discovers what we now know: The tomb was never intended to be Jesus’ final resting place. The grave could not contain the Messiah. Indeed, Jesus was not finished with his people yet, and he needed all of his disciples, including Mary, to turn the grave loose and embrace the newness of life. Jesus had shown them that God keeps his word and fulfills his promises. Jesus tried to tell his community that his physical life was coming to an end, but he was not finished with us. The resurrected Jesus gave us all the promise of new life in the form of eternal salvation. With that commitment, we are encouraged to boldly break new ground and bring forth something spectacular. It is in that spirit that Jesus travels to see the disciples to reveal himself to them as they are holed up in an upper room. This is not a time for fear. Great courage is warranted by his students to share the good news that Jesus is alive! This is a time for celebrating.

During the season of Lent, there is an expectation that you spend time in the wilderness replenishing your energy after you have slowed down the hustle and bustle that characterizes the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. Lent offers an opportunity to collaborate closely with God about your work as a current-day disciple. The prayer is that as you emerge from Lent into the 50 days of Easter, you are renewed and refreshed for the work ahead. Like the season of winter for plants, Lent is a time for humans to experience a bit of lying dormant to produce something brand new.

WHERE THORNS ONCE GREW

In our diocese, we have begun a new season of telling informative and historical stories about our churches and the people who either were or are still a part of our communities. Telling stories compels us not only to lament the things about which we are not especially proud but also to reminisce about the good old days, including services, recitals, special occasions and fish fries—the ways in which the church celebrates its existence. It creates a time of remembrance and yet in no way asks parishioners to languish in the past. Recently, during the annual diocesan celebration of Absalom Jones, the first Black priest in The Episcopal Church, we shared a video full of stories of Black parishioners from across the diocese about their church experiences. They lauded their parents’ decisions to raise them in The Episcopal Church from infancy or their own conscious choices as adults to join their communities of faith. They spoke of struggles related to finances, formation, and bringing in new members while retaining the current ones. They spoke of being in a loving and caring community. They also spoke of the struggles of keeping permanent clergy and feelings of invisibility to the diocese and others. Those were their stories, a mix of good and bad, happy and poignant.

Truly, there is an understanding that some stories can be difficult to tell. Like any family, there may be some things you would rather not share again. You want to let the past be the past. Healing can never take place until all aspects of our lived experiences are acknowledged. Out of these amazing stories can come new flora. Now new seeds can be planted in place of the flowers of this past. Understanding the good and the bad ensures that new plantings need not be placed in bad soil ever again. Recall the Parable of the Sower in the Gospel of Matthew. Based on our learnings, this could be the season in which a bumper crop of goodwill and nurturing occurs if we choose to begin the process in better ground.

If there is a willingness to admit the ways in which in the past we have fallen short of being Christ-like in the world, we can begin again. After all, we serve a Lord who always permits right turns. During this new spring season, Jesus is beckoning us to come forward with boldness and to reorder things in a way in which new growth can come forth.

Just imagine if the plants of despair, inequity and systemic racism were permitted to die once and for all. For too long, they have been retrieved from amongst the thorns and allowed to continue blooming even though they were choking off pathways to true collaboration and healthy relationships. It did not seem possible for such growth to continue, and yet it did. It has caused a great deal of pain and needless suffering. It has surfaced in the church in the form of Black congregations rarely receiving the resources necessary to be given an equal opportunity for true growth and sustainability. From time to time, the blooms of discrimination were clipped, but unfortunately, the roots were allowed to remain. Thus, season after season, those blooms resurfaced.

In this new spring, utilizing better and richer soil based on new knowledge and reckoning, we can plant seeds of equality and respect for one another. We can rid ourselves of eyeing siblings with great suspicion. We can turn our backs on the intolerance permeating our public space through social media and television and instead adopt the lessons of love taught by Jesus.

With renewed excitement for the resurrection story, this can be the year in which our diocese and our church models for others what grace, mercy and compassion look like. Rather than taking a defensive stand and protecting our sacred spaces, let us be willing not only to open our doors but also to knock on the doors of sacred spaces that until now we have never entered. Enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit there as well. Jesus did not leave the tomb for any particular group of people. Jesus was raised from the dead to illustrate for all of humanity the depth of love God has for every living creature. It was clearly intended to be an equalizing experience. Instead, we have fallen short of God’s purpose for us. In this beautiful new Easter season that takes place in spring, may we be open to celebrating all the colors, hues, nationalities and ethnicities of our church.

As we study the history of our congregations, let us be willing to share our learnings with others. As we conclude our deep dives into the annals of history, let us proclaim never to plant seeds in bad soil again. Let us scoop up the good soil of the past and use it to invigorate future plantings to ensure that we are living our very best lives. Let us vow to cherish and respect the dignity of all humans. Let us insist on a new world no longer infatuated with the sins of the past but rather with a transformed spirit of love for all.

Happy planting. May beautiful new flowers blossom where thorns once resided.

The Rev. Canon Kathy Walker is the canon missioner for Black ministries for the Diocese of North Carolina.