From the Pastor
Linus is sitting on the floor, contentedly sucking his thumb and holding his beloved blanket. Suddenly Snoopy dashes in, grabs the blanket in his teeth and runs out the door. But Linus is still holding on. Desperately he clings to his blanket as Snoopy drags him up and down hills through the snow. Finally, after a mighty struggle, he manages to wrestle the blanket away from the pesky beagle. As he drags himself and his blanket back inside, he is met by the always sympathetic Lucy: “Are you crazy? It’s cold outside. You could catch pneumonia rolling around out there in the snow!” To which Linus responds, “The struggle for security knows no season.” Not a bad comment on the mind-set of 21st century America. The search for security and safety has become a national obsession.
But there is an alternative point of view. John Alfred Brashear was one of the great scientists of the 20th century. Born to poverty he rose to largeness of life and spirit. Back of his home was a small hill to which he and his wife would walk each evening to study the stars. The two of them were eventually buried on that hill beneath a simple inscription: “We have loved the stars too much to fear the night.” That is another view of security…it is called faith.
In just a few weeks we will once again walk the path that leads from an upper room to a garden to a barren hill with three crosses and, finally, to an empty tomb. What might we discover along the way? I hope we find nothing less than changed expectations and assumptions about life. I hope we discover that life can be lived with joy and expectation, not anxiety and fear. I hope, much like the disciples on the Emmaus road, that we meet Jesus, one who has risen out of our fears and disappointments and who now calls us to join him on a very different path; one in whom we have seen the love of God and in whom we can have trust and hope – in this world and any other; one who calls us away from preoccupation with security, narrow tribal loyalties, self-interest and survival.
What a radical thing to allow our lives to be shaped by this Easter hope. But I’m ready. I have had enough of the false hopes offered by a thousand yesterdays. I am ready for the hope of a new tomorrow…and that is Easter. Gene
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