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
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