Glorious Easter...Snow?

I had to change my Easter outfit because it was so cold on Sunday. Sandals and a long skirt were not going to cut it, so instead it was back to heavy tights and a sweater. I mused about the number of green Christmases and then cold, snowy Easters we’ve had. It just doesn’t seem right.

And then Easter Monday and yesterday actual snow did come and try to accumulate. Winds whipped around, skies were grey at times, and it just didn’t feel very Easter-y. Several people have said on facebook that Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind what season it is. Yet, the more I think about it, the more it seems somehow appropriate.

The Easter accounts differ gospel to gospel, although they share key basic points. In none of them is what was happening immediately understood or celebrated with trumpets and mass choirs. There is hesitancy, doubt, grief, questioning and perplexity. In the numerous post-resurrection sightings of Jesus He often isn’t recognized at first. The disciples don’t trust what they’re seeing or what their Lord is telling them. It takes all the days until Jesus’ ascension and numerous face to face encounters for the joyful news to be fully absorbed. Even then, there are questions about what it will all mean once He’s gone.

How like that are we? We stumbled through another Holy Week in the pandemic, not knowing what new directions the church will be called into or what it will look like. We’re trying to see Jesus among us and to fully grasp the truth of His resurrection and its meaning for us in 2022. Like Mary, we may have even tried to hold on to Him in a holy encounter this past weekend, wishing that His clarity and all-knowing direction could stay with us and help guide us in a time of dramatic decline, confusion and anxiety.

I got to enjoy a choir cantata Easter Sunday and little people wandering up the aisles to look in wonder at all that was happening. I got to sit back and take in the story and was forced to acknowledge that my attention span has shrunk, whether due to Covid fog and fatigue or laziness or overwhelm. How much did I truly take in of what was right in front of me? Did Jesus come among us and I might have missed it, caught up in my own concerns?

We are now in the season of Easter. I thank God that we don’t just have a single Easter day in the calendar which, if we miss it we’re out of luck. We have weeks of contemplating Jesus’ resurrection and appearances to the disciples - weeks to figure out where we are in the story, weeks to work on the focus needed to see Him around us, weeks to celebrate in different ways rather than only on one high and holy day.

Jesus knows our lives so well and what struggles we face and what is weighing us down. We don’t have a one size fits all holiday or revelation but many. Like with those early disciples, Jesus will patiently show up again and again until we can truly see Him and hear and understand, touch and see that it actually is real. When we are ready and able to focus on Christ’s presence, He will turn up, though perhaps not in a way we expect. As the saying goes, “when the student is ready the teacher appears”.

May we offer ourselves the grace to rest and recover from the busyness of Holy week, with its added dimension of once again working around the pandemic. May we accept that Jesus loves us even though we may have trouble reflecting as we’d like on His gifts and presence. May we turn and open our eyes to new ways of seeing our risen Lord who challenges us to renew the church. May we not be fearful but living fully in God’s power and love that changed the world forever.