That We All May Be One

It is sunrise on Easter morning. The sky is pinkening in the east and soon the sun will filter brightly into our living room, high overlooking the East River and the borough of Queens. The apartment is quiet. Soon my wife will awake and we will prepare to meet some family for “the paschal mystery,” the Easter Eucharist.

There we will hear Luke’s account of Jesus’ Resurrection and his remembrance in Acts of how Peter preached about it in the early days of the Church’s life. We will hear the author of Colossians remind us that we have died and that now our life lies hidden with Christ in God.

But the Lesson at Morning Prayer was from the first chapter of John! A “strange” reading for Easter day and one which I usually associate with Christmas. Yet there it is, the Easter message: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

Among the several miracles of Easter, that is the one I am most grateful for this morning. That despite the best efforts of the religious establishment and the Roman government, the light of Christ still shines. Despite the struggles and confusion of the early Christians, the light of Christ still shines. Despite the on-again-off-again attempts of the Church to be faithful down through the centuries and in the face of our many sins, the light of Christ still shines.

Why does it shine? For what purpose does it shine? “That We All May Be One!” One with God. One with each other. May our Easter celebration across the world remind us of that calling and give us both the will to pursue it and the grace to accomplish it.

Now, the apartment is flooded with light! The sun is risen.

The Son is Risen!

Alleluia!

This entry was posted on April 8, 2007 at 11:04 am and is filed under Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Interfaith, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.