An Easter Procession
Sinners and a Holy Imagination
I went to my first Easter Vigil Saturday night. Aside from it being longer than any Pentecostal service I’ve ever been to, it was really quite moving. I really loved the procession of people holding candles while we all entered the dark church and the chanted prayer at the beginning. A couple people were baptized into the Catholic Church and a handful of other Catechumens were brought into the church. I am still discerning and preparing for my full entrance into the Catholic Church.
It was a very large and very full church. I remember reflecting on how committed these folks were to this particular movement in the Christian liturgy.
The part of the service that affected me most was the time of the Eucharist. I was touched by the vast amount of people and the diversity of those making their way forward to receive the body and blood of Christ. I saw rich and poor; healthy and sick; the righteous and I’m sure a fair amount of sinners. Even though I am unable, at this time to partake of the Eucharist, this sinner (me) joined the crowd processing to the table of the Lord. I crossed my arms to receive a blessing from the priest. Walking up there with everyone was a very meaningful experience.
Yesterday I heard a sermon at the Protestant church my wife and I attended. The preacher quoted Graham Greene, “hate is a lack of imagination.” She continued the sermon by saying that when we encounter people who do not behave as we would have them, in order to keep from hatred and judgment we need to imagine a beautiful outcome; we need to imagine a difficult backstory that has brought them to this place where they currently are. She talked about how it is such a shame that many Christians today seem to want to tie everything up into neat little bows; to have everything add up to some particular “answer” to the mysteries and questions we all wrestle with.
This morning as I reflected upon the movements of the Easter Triduum and this woman’s sermon, I wrote out this little prayer:
Who am I to think myself so righteous?
Who am I to concern myself with the motives of others?
Who am I to love?
To love
To love…
Oh Lord, help me to love.
Give me a holy imagination-
Let me imagine goodness for others
An unknown beginning
A different outcome.
Let me imagine
Justice and mercy engaged in an eternal embrace.
Give me a vision of them seated at the table
Set with the elements of your grace.
Your resurrection proves it-
The possibility
Oh, the possibilities!
To see goodness and beauty and truth
All intertwined at the procession
Toward your body and blood
How remarkable is this place!
I believe in the empty tomb to prove your resurrection.
Further still I believe you are alive in this procession!
Amen!