Living in Easter's Light

Beloved in Christ, 

One of the things I seem to have to learn over and over again is that most things in life become much easier when we simply pay attention. Concepts or problems that seem complex and inscrutable have a way of coming into clear focus when we pay slow, deep attention. My own engagement with the difficult people and situations I encounter are so much more faithful and come so much easier when I can attend closely to what’s going on inside of me. We are rarely present in our own lives, and as a result the time seems to pass so quickly, and we miss so much of what is being offered to us in each moment. 

In this Sunday’s gospel lesson, two disciples are traveling toward Emmaus from Jerusalem after Easter. The risen Christ comes to walk along with them, and they don’t recognize him. Their heads are down, they are lost in their own grief, intent on escaping to some other place, and they miss the Jesus walking right next to them.

Easter is a season that invites us to learn again how to pay attention. The literally incredible news of Jesus being raised to a new form of abundant, overflowing life that can withstand the worst our world can be or do jolts us out of our sleepwalk through life. It demands that we lift up our heads that are so weighed down with grief, to see death stripped of all its power, and to recognize the Jesus who is always walking right next to us.

In a world anesthetized with chronic busyness, in a world drunk with the wine of scorn, where people frantically search for any escape offered, to be an Easter people is to be wide awake. To live in Easter’s light is to attend to the life we are actually given, and to help others wake up, and recognize the power of Jesus’ love and life bursting through every barrier of fear and oppression, around every table where bread is broken, and his name is remembered.

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya