Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Another Easter Story

Reverend Sean Parker Dennison
April 4, 2010
Palo Alto, CA

Easter is sometimes tricky for Unitarian Universalists. Some among us long to hear the story of Jesus that Dan told — the story of the women who found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty and who were ready to believe that Jesus lived again.

Some long to hear the story of the rebirth of the sun, the renewal of the year, a time of life and full of signs that the frozen ground will once again grow warm and eventually the harvest will come.

Some of us long to hear stories from many cultures, stories of a great journeys — journeys that lead from slavery to freedom, journeys that lead through the underworld and back into the land of the living, stories that have endured because people need hope in the face of loss, grief, and despair.

Some long to share the stories of their childhood, stories of rising before the sun to worship outside at dawn; stories of squeaky new shoes or Easter bonnets; stories of baskets full of colored eggs and chocolate before breakfast. Some just long to share joy and hope and love in a community that matters.

I believe that all of us need stories of liberation, stories of hope that surprises us by emerging from despair, life that endures in spite of death, Love that conquers pain and disappointment, and triumphs over hate. We need to be reminded that this season of rebirth and resurrection is not a fairy tale, that these stories have continued to be told because they are a powerful and necessary — an antidote to the inertia of despair.

Perhaps the story Dan told is the story you need this Easter morning. Or maybe the story from last night’s Seder dinner is the story you needed to hear. Or maybe it’s the story of the students at Gunn High School who met the bigotry and hatred of a visit from Fred Phelps with a beautiful outpouring of love, with singing and celebration and the power of community. Or maybe you need to hear about a goddess who makes sure that winter gives way and spring returns each year. Or maybe you need another story, one that is being written in your own life, one that will lead you out of slavery and into a new land, or be as surprising as finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.

Theologian, scholar and teacher Walter Bruegemann wrote: “Easter is not a ‘spiritual’ event, but a surging of power that touches all of life. The Easter question is not whether you can get your mind around the resurrection, because you cannot. Rather the question is whether you can permit in your horizon new healing power, new surging possibility, new gestures to the lame, new ways of power in an armed, fearful world, new risk, new life, leaping, dancing, singing, praising the powers beyond all our controlled powers.” (from “The Surge of Dangerous, Restless Power” in The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power and Weakness)

Take a moment and think about the story you need this morning. Let it be a story of Life! Let it be a story of Hope! Let it be a story of Love that will not stay in the tomb, but is alive again today. May each one of us find our Easter story and be open to the possibility of new life leaping, dancing, and singing in us.

Amen. Ashé. And Blessed Be.

 

Story: The Easter Story by Rev. Daniel Harper