As we leave the tombs of quarantine, a return to normal would be a disaster unless we recognize that we are going back to a world desperately in need of healing. — Esau McCaulley, Unsettling Power Of the Easter Story.
It is not often that you find an opinion piece about the Easter story in the NY Times, but this Sunday McCaulley’s opinion was full center and worthy of all our reading and meditation. It is interesting that a few days earlier, my friend Luis reminded me that the symbol of Easter is not the cross, but the empty tomb. McCaulley, too, says, “the source of healing is the empty tomb in Jerusalem.”
We are all emerging our Covid tombs, whatever form they took. I, for one, emerge with a feeling of fear and trepidation. I take “baby steps” as I once again go to lunch, enter a store, or hug a friend who I haven’t seen in ages. Yet, I also feel renewed and challenged. God’s work for me, and for us all, is much clearer than it was. We have learned that collectively we are up to any challenge those who wish to divide us can throw. We have learned that love, compassion, and hope, can and will overcome hatred, cruelty, and division.
Beginning yesterday we celebrate the empty tomb, and with God’s help will begin the healing our world so badly needs.
It is something we often miss. The healing we need can only happen to the extent we collectively commit to moving beyond our divisions. I am not confident but I am hopeful and committed!
Great thoughts.
D