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Beloved in Christ,
One of the things I seem to have to learn over and
over again is that most things in life become much easier when we
simply pay attention. Concepts or problems that seem complex and
inscrutable have a way of coming into clear focus when we pay slow,
deep attention. My own engagement with the difficult people and
situations I encounter are so much more faithful and come so much
easier when I can attend closely to what’s going on inside of me. We
are rarely present in our own lives, and as a result the time seems
to pass so quickly, and we miss so much of what is being offered to
us in each moment.
In this Sunday’s gospel lesson, two disciples are
traveling toward Emmaus from Jerusalem after Easter. The risen Christ
comes to walk along with them, and they don’t recognize him. Their
heads are down, they are lost in their own grief, intent on escaping
to some other place, and they miss the Jesus walking right next to
them.
Easter is a season that invites us to learn again how
to pay attention. The literally incredible news of Jesus being raised
to a new form of abundant, overflowing life that can withstand the
worst our world can be or do jolts us out of our sleepwalk through
life. It demands that we lift up our heads that are so weighed down
with grief, to see death stripped of all its power, and to recognize
the Jesus who is always walking right next to us.
In a world anesthetized with chronic busyness, in a
world drunk with the wine of scorn, where people frantically search
for any escape offered, to be an Easter people is to be wide awake.
To live in Easter’s light is to attend to the life we are actually
given, and to help others wake up, and recognize the power of Jesus’
love and life bursting through every barrier of fear and oppression,
around every table where bread is broken, and his name is
remembered.
Grace and Peace,
The Right Reverend Craig Loya
Bishop X
Episcopal Church in Minnesota
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