“Let us break bread together on our knees. When I fall down on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.” (Let Us Break Bread Together, African American Spiritual)
Sunny mornings awaken my energies. They renew my spirit. Easter morning in my mind’s eye is the sunniest of all mornings. It could be raining cats and dogs, but it’s Easter!
Jesus rising from the dead is a powerful story of rebirth into new life. It is surely a day when the glory of the Lord rises upon us. (Isaiah 60:1) Like yeast in dough, this spirit arises within us. We are changed by the interaction. We become something more life-giving.
Lent invites us to clear away the debris in our lives. We prepare the soil for new planting. The new buds of Easter give us the assurance that life defeats death. The Easter story tells us that our brave space cannot remain affixed to a cross any more than our safe space can be held in a tomb.
Through Christ’s resurrection, we are given the opportunity to gather in a new harvest—to set an abundant table—and to break fresh-baked bread together. For in the heavenly kin-dom of Christ, God’s grace is ever renewing.
O God of wonder and ever renewing grace, we thank you for sunny days, loaves of freshly baked bread to share, and a son who brings us into new life. May it ever be so. Amen.