Dear family and friends of Christ Church,

 

As we turn the page into the month of April, we approach the end of Lent, the start of Holy Week and the coming of Easter Day. For many of us, the familiar rhythm of Holy Week provides an important tether to the central tenet of our faith: we believe in Christ, crucified and risen. We believe in a God who is present across the entire scope of this transitory life.

 

We began this march toward Easter Day by placing ashes on our foreheads. I shared a poem on Ash Wednesday that I has been part of my daily practice this Lent:

 

Marked by Ashes

Walter Brueggemann

 

We are able to ponder our ashness with

some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes

anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

 

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —

you Easter parade of newness.

Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

 

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

 

I love that Brueggemann uses Easter as not just a noun, but as a verb – as an action we engage. I love the reminder that Easter celebrates both a particular moment in history and an ever-present process of spiritual transformation. I love thinking about all the corners of my life and all the corners of our community where a bit of Eastering would be especially welcome. I love that this just scratches the surface of Holy Week’s message.