Sunrise Service 4/12/2020

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

So, this Easter is a bit different isn’t it?

I have seen many people talk about how they are a bit tired of being a part of a historic event.  These certainly are historic times, and I suppose we all are probably looking forward to getting back to some semblance of normality.

There is, however, something I’ve observed of late in the way morning sunlight filters through spring leaves making a golden haze that always gets me thinking. What are the bright spots in the midst of all the shadow? What pearls can we produce from all this time, irritation and quite possibly in some cases, pain?

I think we can learn a thing or two.  I think we all have learned that family can, if given the appropriate circumstances drive us exponentially up the wall to the point that we may at times, need to hide in closets to get away from them. I am not saying I have done that. I probably just read about such behaviors on Facebook.

I think we have also learned that while they may make us long for mind altering substances or have daydreams of running away from home, they are also of infinite value.  These are our people. These are the ones with which we can be most comfortable in situations without makeup or even clothes that we would dare let see the light of day; without “real” clothes at all for that matter. Theirs are the hugs that cure heartbreak. Theirs are the fingers that interlace with our own that lead us down the path of life even when the road is bumpy. We have learned that we NEED our people.

This holiday finds some of us playing a game of sardines with some of our family and possibly far apart from others.  Grab the nearest sardine and hug them as tightly as you can. Do it despite how they do a jig on your last nerve.  They could be one of those you could only access from a distance.  There are those out there who would love to be someone’s sardine in a tin.

I think we can learn something specifically from that golden sunlight I talked about too. Yes, I am a sucker for a nature scene, I admit it.  But I think if God took it upon himself to make all these agonizingly beautiful surroundings for us that He probably had a point in doing so.  So, I like to try to see what little divine post-its I can whittle from the scenery.

That same sunlight is shining on all of us. It dispels shadow everywhere.  This is the first time I can remember in, well, most of my years and maybe further back than that if I researched, that the whole world is working against a common enemy.  We all want to bring light to the darkness.  Maybe a common enemy is good for us to maybe finally learn how to maybe, just maybe, do a bit less harping on our differences and possibly attempt to love one another?

I know. I know. It’s a crazy thought.

People just loving people for their sheer value as a person of inherent worth. Cra-zi-ness.  I mean just feel free to give it a go. If you spontaneously combust in doing so then you can blame me.

But maybe, just maybe, if we take this holiday season of Easter (and really Passover as well) we could just look at that intoxicating morning sunlight and pause. Just think about it. Both holidays are all about Light overcoming darkness.  Death being overcome by Life.  Maybe if we sit our excessively busy rear ends down for a minute like this whole crazy debacle is forcing us to do, maybe there is actually an opportunity for us to learn something.

Light overcomes darkness. It always wins in the end. I don’t care if you have the deepest darkest shade of pure ink it cannot put out the tiniest pin prick of Light. The dawn of this Easter came for all of us. The sun shone on every single one of us.  It’s just a matter of us making the conscious effort to embrace the Light.  If He went to all the effort to send encouraging notes in the inconspicuous details of the early morning, then I think we could all at least pay attention to what He has to say.

Dawn broke golden on the tightest of sardines.  Even that one specific sardine that if they say they’re bored one more time you are going to legitimately do them bodily harm.  You might comfort them afterwards but there is going to be some harm.

It spilled sparkling onto that lone soul who hasn’t had a hand touch theirs since…they can’t remember when and they would kill for someone to annoy them.

Daybreak came for every single one of us wanting the shadows to be dispelled.  Maybe some of us weren’t in the best of situations when this day came but it came, nonetheless. It came giving us a chance to be the first pin prick of light.

I hope we all try to hang onto the lessons the morning light brings.  Hug someone in your home you would rather strangle as of late.  Send a message of love to someone you cannot hug.  Plan to love harder in days to come, not just family but everyone. And yes, I know everyone doesn’t deserve it but if you ask those you’re packed in a home with right now, some days you don’t either so…technicalities.

There will be days, somewhere in the future, where all these lessons will casually slip from our mind and routine and typicality will fill their spots. I think we would be doing ourselves a disservice though to have not learned from these days though.  God gave us those patches of misty gold through those fluorescent yellow-green leaves to teach us something. His very essence is Light overcoming darkness.  He wants us to be about similar business. Even if this Easter broke in a very different world for you, that’s ok.  Each day gives us the possibility of a great Sunrise Service.