Easter Day - Community of Grace Presbyterian Church - Sandy, UT - April 20th, 2014

       What an amazing way to spend Easter day, and it wasn't even purposeful. I had meant to take a bus downtown to catch First Presbyterian Church and First United Methodist Church in downtown Salt Lake City, but it turns out the busses aren't running today. I did manage to get back to my car before 11am though and looked up a service that would be occurring around that time from a Church I hadn't attended (or denomination I hadn't visited yet for Holy Week).

 

      Community of Grace Presbyterian Church is a medium sized congregation who has a lot of energy. One of the first things I noticed when the service began was how common call and responses were...it was the most outward passion I've seen in a Christian community in a long time. 

    As for the look of the church, the theme today was purple. Which is ironic a bit since Purple was the royalty of Rome but Christianity came to adopt as the nobility for Jesus. As far as I know it has no historical basis in Judaism, it comes directly from the world that ended up adopting the religion from the small sect of Jews who founded Christianity.

      The sermon itself had aspects of the High Church (which is shown in the colors throughout the Church too...I've never seen High Church symbolism adopted by the newer Christian sects only those that came out of the Reformation). The big difference that separated it, since the hymns were traditional hymns that are in any Traditional service with some modern hymns thrown in for good measure was the call and response. After the confession of sins and was the forgiveness of sins spoken by the pastor in Jesus's name. The beginning was beautiful since through the music and confession there were moments of silence taken which allowed great time for reflection. It didn't feel rushed.

      The sermon itself was "Rejoicing in the Graveyard" which was the story of Mary in John and how Jesus found her when she was mourning for him missing from the tomb. This was tied into the Christian theme of God finding us. He told the story of a baby his friend a fellow pastor had found who the mother had entrusted to the church since she was an addict. It was a powerful story but chance and the action or lack of action in regards to love...and our desire to be loved and safe.

     Given that I have no idea of Jesus was/is literal God for me the power in the story was that by being present with ourselves where we are the good and right action will come to us. When we allow ourselves to not be consumed but aware...our mind will lead us to right action if we give it the chance.

    The story of Easter reminds me of the power those who have died has on us too. I've heard stories of people seeing or hearing loved ones who have died. Whether it actually happened or not is beside the point, but many times it inspires the person to action. Just like it did with Mary and Apostles. Sadly, many times it takes someone dieing to realize how significant they were in our lives. I don't believe in any person or persons as God(s) but I do believe in the power we have to inspire one another and the power that sacrafice has in peoples' lives.

     The service ended with collection, three prayers...one beautifully sung by the pastor, one silent prayer and one where people called out communities and people in their thoughts. Finally it ended with the Lord's prayer and all the congregation holding hands with a call to live Christlike. It was powerful, and I do think I'll visit here again. 

     Have a very Happy Easter.

Easter - Unity of Bellevue -Bellevue, WA - April 24th, 2011

      After hearing the stories from the Old Testament in my visit to St. Sava it was nice to be embraced by the music and silence of Unity of Bellevue this Easter day.

    How can Easter apply to me? Me a non-believer who doesn't believe the Nicene Creed or the physical resurrection of Christ. The fact is as I discovered today, there are still messages that can teach within the story, just as their are in all the Old Testament stories that I heard the day before.

    First, let's talk about the basic story of Easter and quote part of the Nicene Creed.

     He was betrayed, suffered, died and was crucified. He rose again on the third day...

      The sermon focused on those three events. Betrayal, Crucifixion and the time before the Resurrection and how we all can experience that as well. Every betrayal is a time to learn and chance to live with right action, when we are crucified is when we can show compassion and love as Jesus did in the story (Forgive them Father they know not what they do) and the silence...the three days in the tomb...the time alone where the transformation occurs. Jesus exists as the example of how we can act in those instances of extreme suffering. Just as Jesus represents all those who wrongfully suffer (the sermon I posted 2 posts ago about the gay kid bullied to death as an example). It's from there that it reminds to act with goodness, just like much (not all) of the actions that Jesus does in the Gospels.

    After doing a lot of study through contracts I know there is much still to learn. Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright are good folks to read about 2 major interpretations of the Gospels though, and I still have learn more about the other faiths and philosophies as well that will be an appearance in this blog. Suffice to say though, today was hope.

     I do wish I had a TARDIS to check up on the sources and see first hand what the writers who wrote long after the death of some of the people believed them to have said. Whether it's the Odyssey, the Analects of Confucius, The Tao Te Qing, the Iliad, the Torah or the Gospels...I don't know if the miracles happened...I doubt the probability of them, but I would like to know for certain.

     It was a great sermon and very gnostic in it's approach to the Testament. With Judas knowing what Jesus wanted more then others because of the miracles he'd seen...effectively facilitating the resurrection.It was very much the Gospel of Thomas rather then that of the Gospel of John (which explicitly states Jesus as God in the introduction) hadn't had as much influence over the canon. Oh to see the debates over what would be considered Canon at Nicene and before in the early Church... 

    It reminded me of Be Alef Synagogue and I understand now why they share the same building.

    There were time of meditation to reflect on the story and the music was extremely good. It started with a Jazz Choir, had a classic "The Prayer" sang by a man who held a candle to Josh Groban and then a passionate celebration in the end in song.

      In church today I experienced one of the diverse interpretations of the Gospels and shall be writing on the differences in other communities when I visit them as well. 

    Happy Easter everyone.