From your pastor…
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
– Luke 24: 5-6
What a weird month April has been? I mean, we’ve spent the entire month “sheltering in place.” This is not something I had on my calendar – not something any of us scheduled. I had school programs, festivals, JOY Club, Woldenberg nursing home worship, vacations, friends coming into town, and just plain ole’ regular living planned for April.
I feel like the only thing that I had on my calendar that remained on my calendar was Easter. And even that looked very different than I ever imagined.
Confession: I’ve actually been looking forward to March and April for a long time. It’s the best season in New Orleans – great weather, festivals, and crawfish. It doesn’t get better than that. But that’s not what April has looked like this year.
The words from our Easter text keep coming back to me. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5).” If I’m honest, I’ve been focusing on the dead in my life lately – mainly because it’s the easy thing to do, but also because I had expectations that were never really met. And admittedly, some things just feel dead right now.
But everything isn’t dead. So why do I keep focusing on that?
There is life all around us. There is joy all around us. From the flowers that are in bloom to the ducks waddling on the levee to the birds singing sweetly in the trees to the sound of laughter that floats over the fences in my neighborhood. Having the time to talk to friends and family. Taking the time to connect to those you have lost touch with over the years. There really is life all around us.
So turn off the news every once and a while and just breath. Learn to not only to keep a look out for the joy that is around us, but also to create space to breed joy – to tap into our souls. Step into our spiritual practices of reading scriptures, praying, and medicating. And through these things, together we will see that life is all around us.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Colleen
