This year, St. Mark’s United Methodist is seventy years old. We’ll be reflecting on different themes as we move through this year, and it is fitting, that in April, we are concentrating on “creation”. The eclipse this past Monday surpassed the expectations of many, even those of us who knew this was going to be a remarkable moment. It was a time in which creation offered a stunning surprise, as we saw the sun and moon dance together. During those moments, all of creation, from the sounds of birds to the cries of coyotes, offered to us a witness of the power of connection and transformation. The fact that this occurred during the Easter season, which already harmonizes with the greening of the earth, reminds us that there are many kinds of transformational times and spaces. Some of these even involve suffering.
In the resurrection narrative in Luke 24, the disciples were told that the Risen Christ must first suffer. That is, resurrection is necessarily preceded by suffering. In the eighth chapter of Romans 8, the Apostle Paul observes that creation itself groans with all of us, even as it eagerly awaits the longed-for resurrection. Our faith does not proclaim that goodness and resurrection magically happen. Rather, we learn that the Divine One is working even in our suffering, and even in the midst of creation’s groaning, to bring about the grace of the new creation.
Jan Richardson is a contemporary poet and pastor in the United Methodist Church. On December 2, 2013, she lost her husband, singer and songwriter Garrison Doles. In the midst of her grieving, she continued her longstanding custom of writing blessings. These were published in her book, The Cure of Sorrows, and her reflections continue in her book, Sparrow: A Book of Life and Death and Life. She would write, “I have found the most compelling repairs are the ones that make themselves visible, that leave evidence of the breakage and also of the imagination by which the breakage becomes transformed. Such repairs are always provisional, imperfect, and ongoing. Like a nest, they involve continual mending. They ask for a willingness to keep remaking what is perpetually at risk of falling apart. It is this remaking by which a home, and a life, may come: not in spite of what has gone before, but because of it.”
We’ll talk about this in worship on Sunday morning at St. Mark’s, as the sermon is titled, “The Groaning of Creation and the Promise of Resurrection.” The sermon arises from Luke 24:36b-48, which will be read by Jerry Arvesen, and Romans 8:18-25, which will be read by Laura Baich. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, under the direction of Gerry Sousa, and accompanied by Lois Leong. We’ll sing, pray and have a moment for children.
We look forward to connecting with you whether this is your first time with us, or if you have a long connection with St. Mark’s. We meet in the sanctuary at 10:30. If you choose to join online, visit www.smumc.church and click on the Livestream banner.