Resurrection Sunday
by Rev. Cory Coberforward
John 17:1-7
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.”
Matthew 28:5-7a (Responsive Reading)
The angel said to the women,
“Do not be afraid,
for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples:
‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see him.’”
Read the written message below with music videos
Easter is quite the celebratory and important time for those who celebrate it, yet some say that certain aspects of the Easter holiday were stolen from “pagans,” but what is paganism and what does it mean to steal a holiday? Traditions have borrowed from each other since time immemorial, and humans tend to celebrate at certain times of the year – often for good reason! Perhaps, the historically Christian-used pejorative “pagan” is behind these oft-repeated assertions – people are pointing out that Christianity is connected to and shares roots in the past, pre-Christ, in both Judaism and other traditions and practices, even though Christianity has often tried to distance itself from them. However, funny enough, Easter may be one of the least “holiday-borrowing” of Christian traditions, as even the use of the bunny and the egg can be traced back to specific Christian groups in the centuries after Christ’s death coming up with their own relatively unique ways to celebrate a holiday that was originally celebrated at the time of the Jewish Passover by Christianity’s earliest followers, who identified as Jews. Many Easter practices share a common thread, however, which is their shared symbolism of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection – something that Christianity further shares with many other traditions’ symbolic practices, highlighting the importance of spiritual renewal and our rebirth in the God at the core of our being across cultures and ages.
I was fascinated to find out that the origin of the eggs on Easter can be traced back to early Christian iconography depicting the phoenix, the bird that dies and resurrects in fire, as a symbol for Christ’s resurrection. And although this aspect of Easter practices can’t be said to have been directly borrowed from another holiday, the use of the phoenix to symbolize spiritual resurrection goes back much further, coming out of Greece and Egypt! Early Christians were people of their times, more or less, and like us sometimes naturally went to known symbols and imagery to depict their spiritual beliefs. But unfortunately, through the decades and centuries of disparagement thrown at “pagans” and even Jews, many lines of Christianity have lost their appreciation of their roots.
Sometimes I feel like this is something those few of us who call ourselves “Swedenborgians” can learn from, allowing ourselves to return to a true appreciation of Christ’s direct teachings instead of always trying to bend things into Swedenborg’s type of interpretation. But be that as it may, both Swedenborg and Christ often hit right at the heart of the matter, as do other spiritual teachers across traditions. They both taught that we must come to see that the glorified Christ, known as God and by many other names, is the very core of being and is both within us and around us, the substance of all things.
Jesus spoke about “believing in him” and he clarified what this means, saying that everything he does is God’s very will and teaching us to turn to God’s will in our own being, seeking God’s will as our own. As far as he was concerned, believing in him meant taking his (and other sages’) teachings to heart and turning to God within. He consistently taught about how we should turn to the very love at the core of our lives and place that before our minds’ hangups and attachments. This means turning away from our typical mode of judging and fearing back toward the light that we are: coming to love Divine Love with all of our being and coming to love others as one with ourselves as the natural outcropping of that turning. This dying to ourselves and carrying of our own cross brings true resurrection, spiritual transformation, and regeneration – which is the purpose of Resurrection Sunday (Easter) and why Christ had his ministry. As he told us, the Christ is always with us and already within us, we just have to turn within and be in him in the same way. Jesus put it this way because he fully knew himself to be one with God, and invited us to this same knowledge.
How do we “be in” Christ in the same way that he is within us, as Jesus told us to be? Well, as he shows, this means letting go of all the aspects of being that are “without” Christ, the parts of us that are centered in their own sense of control, lack, and domination. These are the aspects of thinking that centre in divisiveness and lack an awareness of our shared light and unity in God, our unity in the love that we are. It’s easy to not do this, as rising above this type of thinking is not our typical mode of being, we tend to identify with our opinions and thoughts but not the light that shines on them. This is why Christ’s teachings can seem too metaphysical and Swedenborg’s too mystical. And why we often interpret their more direct teachings as just being too “out there” or “philosophical,” and yet, they both were describing pretty simply our experience and how we might transform our lives.
Like Christ in our reading, we would do well to pray and seek our own redemption into the full light of God – what Swedenborg calls regeneration and Christ calls glorification. Our lives will continue to feel incomplete or wanting to the extent that we haven’t surrendered our earthly way of being for resurrection in the Spirit. This resurrection is a transformation back into our naturally childlike state, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, and starts in our understanding but doesn’t truly find its footing until our hearts and minds rise renewed and completely returned to God. This doesn’t mean we have to stop being ourselves, but it does mean letting our false sense of separate, limited self go in order to fully uncover our natural being: the Christ, the Krishna, the Light of God within.
The practices that we find in Easter remind us of these principles in their simple attire. An egg represents birth or rebirth, a breaking out of the shell that confines us into newness of life. Rabbits symbolize the reproductive or transformative power of God which parallels the vibrant life of spring, always bringing forth something fresh and able to spread rapidly throughout our lives. If we wanted to take things further, we could even say that a good Easter hat can represent the shade and peace we find under the wings of God, the tranquility, sense of protection, and peace of mind that we uncover when we stop thinking that we are the doers and God the bystander. Turns out, almost anything points to God!
In Christ’s story, we hear tell of a man who allowed the will of God to direct his every move, even when he still grappled with fear and misgivings. This allowed God to work through him in marvelous ways. And despite betrayal and murder, we see that God was always there for Jesus and working through him even in the worse of times, that they were always one even when Christ felt like he was forsaken by his higher nature. This is a lesson we all can take home. We often treat the good times as God-blessed, and the tough times as quite the opposite, and they can definitely feel that way. But in order to truly allow our own resurrection of Spirit, we have to come to accept that all aspects of life fall into God’s providence, and that even the toughest things will eventually be used for good. This means treating our enemies with love, because even through them God is working, and when we hate them we are ultimately hating God’s providence. This acceptance of fate will allow our lives to rise above the trappings of fate, above destruction and death, even in the midst of them. Christ calls on us to glorify him and to be glorified through him, to set aside the death in our mindsets and find life everlasting. On this Resurrecting Sunday and every day after, let us rejoice and give thanks for his and our resurrected and resurrecting Spirit. Amen.
Blessings are already within you,
Cory