Journeying inside the resurrection story

As you’re stepping into the room, you are met with the welcoming smell of fresh grainy bread and the sweet scent of lilies. You see a circle of chairs with a large wooden cross in the middle. Placed around and on the cross are different items from the natural world as well as a lovely grouping of candles, glass, and stones. You chat a bit with others before settling down on a chair, taking a deep breath to relax from your day’s activities.

As the central candle is lit, you’re asked to consider which of the items in the middle of the circle reminds you of what state of mind you’re in as you enter into this gathering time. You look more closely at what’s lying there with the cross and candles. There’s an Easter lily trumpeting its blooms, some forsythia branches whose golden flowers are giving way to greening leaves, and a dried-up daffodil plant looking lifeless, except for the bulbs hiding beneath the soil. All of them seem to be saying “new life” in some stage or form, and you ponder which one best nails down your mood.

Then you’re invited into a time of thought-provoking readings and reflective prayer, and you’re given a hand-out on which the readings are printed. The first reading is a saying of Jesus, from the Gospel according to John, chapter 12, verses 24 and 25, read in two different translations one after the other. You reflect on how interesting it can be to see how different emphases come out with the two perspectives.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:24-25;&version=72;
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:24-25;&version=65;
A candle is lit and words of prayer are spoken.

The next reading is a brief quote from Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation:

In order to become myself I must cease to be what I always thought I wanted to be, and in order to find myself I must go out of myself, and in order to live I have to die.
Again, a candle is lit and words of prayer offered.

Before the third reading, pens and pads of paper are passed around, and you are invited to mark the moments during this resurrection story that are somehow intriguing or stir up some feelings or questions inside. Here’s the link to John’s story of the empty tomb:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:1-18;&version=65;

For that “moment” you chose, you’re asked to enter into that part of the story as a “witness” to what’s going on. Your witness might be a person or an angel, or it might be an inanimate object… like the linen shroud, the stone rolled away, or the tear leaking from Mary’s eyes as Jesus says her name. You write down on your pad of paper a few lines about what that “witness” has to say about that piece of the story. It’s pretty cool to imagine yourself in the story that way and to hear the creative thoughts of others.

The group begins to discuss who are the characters in the resurrection story and how we are like them… or completely different from them. There’s some discussion about how the other gospel writers introduce other characters as well, telling the story of Jesus’ new life in a different way, because each author has in mind a different audience with their unique situations and faith challenges.

Your eye returns to the natural objects near the cross, and you and others think through where you are in your own faith journey and your ability to feel and see new life happening in your relationship with God and with your world…

Maybe you’re like the trumpeting lily, feeling joyful and free… maybe more like the daffodil, whose blooming days are over but there’s plenty of life down in your rooty bulb… or maybe you’re growing and greening like the forsythia branch… or maybe some other image is better for you… You have a chance to discuss this with others, and it feels good to see that they also have lots of questions about what Jesus’ resurrection means, how it could be possible, and what it has to do with our relationships with God…

Well, that’s a taste of our gathering for this week. If you’d like to chat more about what it means to be like that seed that falls into the ground, dying in one way, but rising up to something completely new… come to Bread for your journey next week, either being physically present at the Crowne Plaza or virtually present here on the blog. And feel free to give me a call and we can set up a time to talk and listen over coffee. (603-533-5274).

Peace and Joy,
Kari