WHEN THE STONE IS ROLLED AWAY
April 2007

Cat Stevens, in his 1970's album, Teaser and the Firecat, introduced the song "Morning Has Broken" to the world. It became an anthem of the Flower Children who saw a new world coming, a world full of hope and peace. While Cat Stevens made the song famous, it was actually written in 1931 by Eleanor Farjeon, who wrote a lot of children's poetry. She set the words to an old Scottish tune that was a children's Christmas hymn. Her words were inspired by Psalm 118: "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It became a hymn for Easter, proclaiming the restoration of Eden and the re-creation of God's new day.

We are going through some dark times, facing the future with fear and apprehension. We don't know the full impact of the government's actions during the past seven years. We don=t know what the economy will look life or how secure our savings and pensions will be. We don't know how quickly global warming will produce catastrophic changes in our weather and whether life on this planet will remain viable. We don't know what will happen if unfriendly countries develop weapons of mass destruction.
We move through the shadows of our personal lives wondering about our own future, our health, our jobs, our relationships with family and friends, whether our children will succeed, whether our own hopes and dreams will be realized.

We live inside the locked tombs of our own despair and frustration, and see only the darkness and the negativity. In our pain and anguish we strike out against those we love, blaming others for our own inability to deal with life. We lose ourselves in the blackness of our hopelessness.

This is why we need to know the real meaning of Easter. It is not just survival of physical death. When the stone is rolled away, it is we who emerge from the tomb into the light of God's new day. It is for us that the gate is opened and life is illumined with wondrous possibilities that we can see if only we would look beyond the darkness of the fears that imprison us. The young man at the tomb said, "Look, there is the place where Jesus was." He is not here, but is going before you.

How wonderful it is that God continually brings light to our darkness, joy to our mourning, hope to our despair. Easter is a time of renewal, of moving ahead, of re-creation, of starting over, just as spring follows the winter. You cannot do this carrying the baggage of the past. That you must leave in the tomb. But Easter is the day of new life, of starting over.
           
The stone is rolled away and the gate is opened. Let us rejoice and be glad in God's continuing presence and God's new day.

Dr. Harry L. Serio