Rev. Sara’s piece in the Waltham News Tribune, April 18, 2014

Forty (or so) days ago, I wrote in this space about Ash Wednesday-for Christians, the beginning of a long Lenten journey culminating in the holy days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. This Lent has, in fact, felt very “Lenten”-Waltham has suffered from violence and pain in the shooting death of Tyler Zanco and the revelation of the connection between the Boston Marathon bombers and the homicides that happened in our city in 2011. We live in a world where profits win out over people and the vulnerable are often left with even less. We don’t need Good Friday to remind us that there is sin in the world. We can do that ourselves-no calendar or extra church attendance necessary.

What we can’t do all on our own is get out of it. That’s where the grace and transcendence of God comes in. As a Christian, I’m committed to the notion that there is a way out of all of this: that in the person of Jesus Christ God did something new in the world. Jesus forgave from the cross-betrayed and in pain, still he forgave. That’s where Easter comes from. Somehow-some mystical way-the world changed on that day.

In forgiveness, in love, in restorative justice-that’s where we are invited to be partners in God’s healing of the world. The Christian faith doesn’t have a monopoly on this-whether the Jewish idea of tikkun olam–repairing the world– or the freedom that comes from the Buddhist commitment to end suffering through transcendence of the self, there are plenty of examples of people of all different faiths doing this work. As a Christian, though, this is the language I speak, so it’s Easter I’m committed to.

Easter is wherever we offer love instead of hate. Easter is whenever we put someone else’s good above our own. Easter is when someone finds housing after having been out on the street. Easter is when someone has the courage to leave their abuser and begin a new life. Easter is money raised to pay for a funeral, Easter is the One fund, a scholarship for a child on the other side of the world. Easter happens in the State House when legislators find a way to work together, when human persons win over the influence of money and the desire for power. Easter is when the murderer is forgiven, when hungry people are fed. Easter is marriage equality coming state by state 45 years after Stonewall. Easter is when we meet another person exactly where they are, not wanting to change them but being willing to be changed.

Easter isn’t just a day-Easter is an action. Easter is a way of life. Easter isn’t just about the curious spiritual experience of some wandering disciples. That day showed us that the power of God is stronger than the power of hatred. No matter how we are divided from one another, no matter what evil we suffer, it doesn’t have the last word. Easter can be slow work, and we don’t always see it. But person by person, day by day, the heart of God is with us. Amen, Alleluia.