Reflection:
Easter Sunday 2024
Henri Nouwen wrote: "God’s presence is so much beyond the human experience of being together that it quite easily is perceived as absence. God’s absence, on the other hand, is often so deeply felt that it leads to a new sense of God’s presence." In this reflection we will explore the resurrection of Christ as an encounter of both presence and absence.
Opening music:
Listen to the following piece of music as an opening prayer.
Reflection Talk:
Reading:
Read the following through twice or three times, and listen for any word or phrase that seems to be inviting you to linger with it.
Reading 1: John 20:13-16
“They have taken my Lord away,” Mary said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”
Reading 2: I Am is everywhere
In the disaster lies the hope,
In the mystery lies the truth,
In the emptiness, the fullness,
In the nothingness, the essence,
In aloneness, the belonging,
In the “we are”, the “I AM”.
For “I AM” is everywhere!
~ Adapted from Bill Wallace
Reading 3: Mysteries, Yes
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds will
never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
~ Mary Oliver
Quiet Prayer
After spending some time with the readings, I invite you to open to this profound mystery now in a time of quiet prayer or meditation, letting goof known images, beliefs, expectations and assumptions, and opening to the indescribable mystery of the I Am presence of the risen Christ, with us, among us, within us.
End the time of quiet prayer by listening to the following song:
Lyrics:
I know that my redeemer liveth
And that he shall stand
At the latter day, upon the earth
I know that my redeemer liveth
And that he shall
At the latter day, upon the earth
Upon the earth
I know that my redeemer liveth
And he shall stand
Stand at the latter day, upon the earth
Upon the earth
And though worms destroy this body
Yet in my flesh shall I see God
Yet in my flesh shall I see God
I know that my redeemer liveth
For now is Christ risen from the dead
The first fruits of them that sleep
Of them that sleep
The first fruits of them that sleep
For now is Christ risen
For now is Christ risen from the dead
The first fruits of them that sleep
For further reflection:
Below are the readings from the talk for further reflection on this theme.
Henri Nouwen: "God is “beyond,” beyond our heart and mind, beyond our feelings and thoughts, beyond our expectations and desires, and beyond all the events and experiences that make up our life. Still, God is in the center of all of it. Here we touch the heart of prayer, since here it becomes manifest that in prayer the distinction between God’s presence and God’s absence no longer really distinguishes. In prayer, God’s presence is never separated from God’s absence and God’s absence is never separated from God’s presence. God’s presence is so much beyond the human experience of being together that it quite easily is perceived as absence. God’s absence, on the other hand, is often so deeply felt that it leads to a new sense of God’s presence."
John 8:58: Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Richard Rohr: "We so fell in love with this personal interface in Jesus that we forgot about the Eternal Christ, the Body of God, which is all of creation. ... When we believe in Jesus Christ, we’re believing in something much bigger than the historical incarnation that we call Jesus. Jesus is the visible map. The entire sweep of the meaning of the Anointed One, the Christ, includes us and all of creation since the beginning of time.”
Ending prayer:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;
this is the birthday of life and of love and wings:
and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
~ e e cummings
Ending music:
Lyrics:
1. Behold, I make all things new.
Behold, I make all things new.
Behold, I make all things new.
Let there be light, let there be light.
2. God unseen is taking form.
God unseen is taking form.
God unseen is taking form.
Let there be light, let there be light.
3. The first and last is surging forth.
The first and last is surging forth.
The first and last is surging forth.
Becoming light, becoming light.
4. Behold, I make all things new.
Behold, I make all things new.
Behold, I make all things new.
Let there be light, let there be light.
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