A Very Different Egg

by Rev. Kay Ash

As many of you know, we had to reschedule our Easter children’s activities this year because of heavy rains. Despite the rescheduled time slot to the following Saturday, the event blossomed in wonderful ways. Can there possibly be anything better than children and families running through our “looks like paradise” Kessler Park UMC campus bursting with giggles? Clearly, the Holy Spirit is moving in this place!

The Kessler Park UMC Easter Parade and Egg Hunt event has been going on long before my time. Traditionally, the parade featured a local fire truck, police presence, marching band, antique cars, king & queen, a giant bunny and lots of toddlers with tricked-out tricycles or wagons. The parade route followed a two block rectangular pattern throughout our neighborhood and usually lasted about 20 to 25 minutes. After the parade, there were age level egg hunts across our large property and finally, a picnic in Robert’s Forest with the Hamburger Man.

Most people are not aware, however, of the process required to prepare for the Easter event, particularly, the parade. To describe the process as complex is truly an understatement. So that traffic can be interrupted by the parade, which takes place on the public streets of our neighborhood, we must obtain a special events permit from the City of Dallas. Each year the permit process has grown increasingly complex. More than a dozen documents had to be filed, multiple support personnel paid and large numbers of neighbors had to be personally notified. It took several months to complete the necessary steps and the cost reached into four figures.

We finally got the necessary permit, but then, the weather happened.

That Thursday after Palm Sunday was a sad, sad day. Since heavy rains were predicted at 100% for the following Saturday, our event day, we had to cancel and reschedule for the Saturday before Easter. All of the moving parts came to a screeching halt. Our date specific special events permit was no longer valid. It was time to make lemonade out of soggy, rain-soaked lemons!

The following Saturday we put out tables of arts and crafts on the basketball court: you could decorate eggs with beans, or bling or yarn; you could paint with shaving crème or string beads into a cross. When the families arrived, something wonderful happened. Kids played, crafted and chatted while parents got caught up with their friends and neighbors. Our Easter event slowed down a little bit. I saw hugging, and picture taking, and neighbors complimenting each other’s children. I saw glue dripping, God-inspired works of art and little faces covered with melted Hersey’s kiss chocolate. In the mix of it all, one of our neighbors told me how proud she was of our church for flying the rainbow flags next to our yard sign. “All people are loved by God,” she said to me. As I gleefully agreed, I realized that the Kingdom of God was bubbling up right then and there onto our “looks like paradise” Kessler Park UMC campus. More than anything else, our annual Easter event has to provide time and opportunity for our neighbors to connect and to love each other, all to the glory of God.

It may take us some time to successfully reimagine what our annual Kessler Park UMC Easter time activities will look like over the next few years. With that said, it will be exciting to find new connections between ourselves and our neighbors. The Holy Spirit is surely on the move!

The Shape of Our Lives

I love the KPUMC sanctuary for many reasons, but my favorite feature of our worship space is its cruciform shape, meaning the ground plan is in the shape of a cross.

While it is common for Catholic and Anglican/Episcopalian churches to be built in this shape, it’s rare in the United Methodist denomination, particularly in the south.

The shape of our church is not just an architectural feature; it’s not only a nod to the most recognizable symbol of Christianity.

It also makes a statement about the shape of our lives together — the life of a Christian disciple is supposed to be cruciform.

What does that mean?

This is metaphorical language, of course. But it means that, in some sense, as we follow Jesus, we will also experience suffering and crucifixion. Our lives will mirror Jesus’ life; the contours of our faith journey will resemble the ebb and flow of Christ’s journey.

Jesus himself mentioned this when he said, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.” Obviously, Jesus didn’t mean that we should all be dragging wooden crosses behind us everywhere we go; he meant instead that the experience of following him involved hard choices and difficult challenges. There is a necessary struggle that we must each embrace if we are going to be God’s people in the world.

I reflected on this truth as I walked the Stations of the Cross in our sanctuary this week. The Stations of the Cross are a cruciform spiritual discipline; not only do we literally walk in the shape of the cross while meditating and praying, but we read through the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion as we go.

We don’t do this only to commemorate or remember what Jesus went through; we do this because we are called to a life which will resemble his.

This doesn’t necessarily mean our individual lives will resemble each other’s, or that we are called to the same kind of choices in life. To paraphrase the opening lines of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, “Each cruciform disciple is cruciform in its own way.”

“Taking up the cross” will mean one thing for me, and another thing for you . “Saying no to yourself” will challenge my behavior in a certain way, but perhaps another way for you.

Lent is a season in which we must check ourselves and ask if our lives are actually cruciform, or whether they take a different shape. What about you?

Don't Skip to the End!

Are you one of those people who reads the last couple of pages before starting a book? Or do you fast forward to the last couple of minutes of a movie before watching the whole thing? Do you need to know how something ends in order to decide to commit?

If so, I’ve never understood that impulse. The fun of reading a novel or watching a film is sustaining the mystery of how things will end. The narrative or plot is what matters, the flow of events from one to the next.

In the same way, I don’t understand people who attend only Christmas and Easter services. Essentially, these folks are cutting out the entire life, ministry, teaching, miracles, and crucifixion of Christ in order to focus merely on his birth and resurrection.

I feel the same way about those of you who only attend the Sunday services of Holy Week. If you skip directly from Palm Sunday to Easter, you’re missing some important pieces of the narrative. To go from the celebratory mood of Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem directly to the glory and majesty of Jesus’ resurrection is to skip directly to the ending!

The faith which we share and call “Christian” is really nothing but a story, a narrative of how God has worked in the world to bring salvation to all people. It’s tempting to focus entirely on the end; yes, it’s great news that we are saved by grace, forgiven of our sins, and raised to new life.

But the whole story matters. We need to know how God accomplished this salvation, because it tells us something important about God and God’s nature. Put simply, the fact that God in Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross should assure us that none of us are truly alone in our suffering. Jesus Christ embraced the entirety of what it means to be human in order to unite us to him. We are never separated from God, because God consented to be with us in our humanity.

Nowhere does this become so clear as in the story of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday. We will celebrate Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem this Sunday by waving palm branches and singing songs of praise. 

In our Maundy Thursday service, we will remember and reenact the Last Supper, in which Jesus left his disciples the example of his servanthood in washing their feet, and instituted a ritual meal in which his ongoing presence is celebrated.

And of course, on Good Friday, we will hear the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion. None of it is pretty, but the details are important. We need to peer closely, to pay attention to what happened.

All of this sets the stage for what happens on Easter morning. The Easter story simply doesn’t have the same weight unless you are clear on what came before. Easter doesn’t matter unless Maundy Thursday and Good Friday happened. 

For that reason, I hope you make plans to attend our extra Holy Week services. Even if you already know how it ends.