This morning at the lectionary group meeting, my Christian colleagues were earnestly discussing the implications of the empty tomb and it popped into my head to wonder aloud "what would it have been like for Jesus to be in that dark place, having been to hell and back, perhaps both literally and figuratively, and then to see the light begin to grow, the stone roll away, and to be free of binding shroud and painful wounds?"
It had occurred to me that many times we humans are in such a place----our hearts dead from grief, from addiction, from illness, from abandonment, from the host of human disasters to which we are heir. And very often, a light begins to appear, perhaps slowly at first, perhaps imperceptible to others, until we find new life outside the tomb which had imprisoned us.
This did add something to the conversation and toward the end of our time, one pastor asked me directly, "so, Kit, how do you handle Easter, as a Unitarian Universalist?"
And, knowing that it probably went against the grain of some of these friends, I identified myself as a Christian humanist, whose theology was founded upon the non-supernatural events of Jesus' life and for whom his teachings and life were the miracle, not a virgin birth, not a bodily resurrection, not any of the many miracles proclaimed in the scriptures.
My congregation on Easter Sunday will contain folks from all over the theological spectrum and they all need to hear something that brings them light, so I will offer my thoughts with that in mind.
I told them the title of my Easter sermon, "Confessions of a Christian Humanist", and told them that I would be blogging during Holy Week about the events of that time and how I see them. Nobody clamored for the address of Ms. Kitty's, but it may be that they will tune in.
These men are warm, loving individuals, men of integrity, and I have come to love them very much. And I feel loved by them, even though we are very different. What a blessing!
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