at the sunrise service- Midweek Musing 4/3/2024

I was talking with someone after the sunrise service and the commented on the birdsong throughout the park. I too had noticed them as well as the simple beauty of the morning. It led me to these words.

May you find Sabbath and renewal in this season.

Clay

at the sunrise service

We gathered early. Knowing this was the day.

Finally, Easter realized.

Words were spoken.

Scriptures read.

Songs sung.

Prayers offered.

The noise of worshippers who were already thinking what’s next.

But in a moment of surprising solitude, I discovered the sweetest sound I would hear in our worship was the praise of morning birds waking from their slumbers.

The sweetest smell - the spring morning dew.

All as the feel of the cool breeze moved through the air even as the morning sun warmed my face.

The new green leaves and budding flowers opening up to show the truth of resurrection that our words could never match.

Perhaps our sunrise worship should have included more silence and deep breaths and moments of reflection. Of Sabbath.

Perhaps the empty tomb is a call for us to empty our own being from all that weighs us down and keeps us from experiencing resurrection and life abundant that is all around us.

Perhaps it is when we take moments to appreciate renewal all around us, we discover that this is what being born again means.

Perhaps Easter is more about now than even the promised day to come than we might imagine.

So may we slow down…

For birdsong and crickets.

For leaves rustling and the sounds of the creek water running in the distance.

For sunsets in the west and the eastern sunrise.

To take in flowers in the field and green leaves exploding on once barren limbs. To soak in mountain vistas and dip our toes in foamy water lapping on the shoreline.

May we slow down to experience resurrection in all its wonder and beauty so our whole being is filled with the joys of alleluia.