Easter Up

We add the word “up” to a number of verbs and even a few nouns to make new phrases (pony, listen, step, follow, pass, pay, belly, show, change, catch…). I’m not an English teacher, but I believe that all of these phrases are used as verbs. We are most familiar with the word “Easter” as a noun, but I believe its greatest power lies in our understanding of it as a verb.

More than 10 years ago, most likely during a time of sermon preparation about this time of year, I “heard” (a hearing of the heart, not the ear) a voice use this phrase. "Easter up" she said, as if it was really quite simple – not much different from "cowboy up”. Just put on your spurs, boots, and hat, and settle in the saddle for a long comfortable trail ride.

"I’ve tried eastering-up before, and the ride is seldom comfortable and always frightening," I said. So began another chapter in the willy-nilly book of my life’s journey toward spiritual discipline, and a deeper understanding of the paschal mystery.

"Easter up" she said. “The world we live in is seldom easter-friendly. It knows more about grit than grace, more of proof than faith, all about actuarials instead of resurrection. Easter does not add up in most accounting systems.” Here is the rest of what she told me:

The Spirit calls us to Esther up—to step up and speak up for those whose voice has been stolen by circumstance of time and place, by willful oppression, or by happenstance of disaster; but it is more convenient to Enron out by bailing and blaming someone else, and pocketing the profit of our social and relational insider trading. God’s voice beckons us to Abraham up—to pack lightly and strike out for outrageous promises and dangerous places yet unknown; but it is more comfortable to Jonah out by hunkering down into the safety of our known captivity, or heading in the opposite direction from possibility.

Faith calls us to Moses up—to curl our toes into the holy humus, speak to the fire, and return to the land of our indiscretions in order to struggle for the kingdom buried within; but it is much safer to Herod out by giving in to the voices of paranoia and fear, using our power and control to isolate us even from those who would love us.

The gospel calls us to Easter up—to dare to run to the tomb in hope that it just might be empty, to open the fear-locked door on the outside chance that an unimaginable gift of holy proportions could arrive, to open our eyes to the stranger walking beside us and invite her in to break bread because hospitality could open us to communion with the saints. There are a million reasons not to; countless ways we can find to get "out" instead of "up." But that inner voice in the silence continues to whisper the resurrection invitation: "Easter up."

 © 2015 Todd Jenkins