Pilgrims carry wooden crosses across the sands at low tide to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, during the annual Christian Easter pilgrimage on Good Friday in Northumberland, England, Friday, March 29, 2024. Half a world away, Contributing Columnist William McKenzie writes that the unity on display in the diverse global church at Easter makes him well up with tears. You don’t want to sit next to me in a church pew on Easter Sunday or Christmas Eve.
A good bit of my run-up to tearfulness stems from the collection of memories. Recalling our children in Easter or Christmas pageants, wondering if their costumes would stay on or how the children’s choir would perform — and behave. Thinking back to taking our infant daughter to her first Easter service in one of those car seats parents tote around, while her twin brother remained in the neonatal ward for further physical nurturing.
Many a time I have looked across our church on Easter Sunday and had my doubts erased, if only to have them resurface again in the evolution of belief.Moments of reaffirmation are not always experienced in community. But here, too, the older I get, the more I appreciate and understand the importance of life together in practicing the tenets of a New Testament faith. Jesus certainly lived in community with the Apostles whom he called.
My church has a communal tradition at Easter of anyone who so desires can join the choir in the front of the sanctuary to sing Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus. For the reasons stated above, I, uh, don’t join. But that does provide an opportunity to witness the vast reaches of the body of Christ proclaiming together.
There are young and old, Democrat and Republican, male and female, gay and straight, Black, white and brown. All united in their praise of redemption. All sharing a moment of triumph that will not last forever but that will point the way forward. And that means to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbors as ourselves. In that rests the sum of the law and the prophets, Jesus reminded his followers.Of course, we live in a world where fracture seems the preference of the day.
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