Sunday Stretch: Easter 2023

He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen!

This is your part …

He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

Photos from the last Easter when I wasn’t pastoring a congregation, 10 years ago

Easter Confession here: this has been the most difficult Sunday Stretch I’ve written yet, since beginning this newsletter back in September of last year.

That might be because it has been an unusual Holy Week for me. I knew it would be, all the way back last June, when I looked at the kids’ school calendar and saw that Spring Break would take place over Holy Week.

That is the worst-possible-case scenario for a Pastor. Not only does it ensure that you’ll be working nonstop over Spring Break, but it also ensures that you’re going to have to find a way to keep your kids, who are home from school, occupied - during what’s also inevitably a snowy and cold week in Minnesota.

I was also trying to figure out a little trip for our family over Spring Break, while not missing too much of Holy Week, and also finding round-trip flights somewhere for under $200 a person. When I found said flights, I went ahead and booked them - even though it meant I might have to find a pastoral substitute for Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday, I’d be back in time for Good Friday.

You might notice some frenetic, wishful thinking in the above paragraph, because clearly I was trying to fit too many things into one tiny little space. And even though I thought I could keep making it work - serving as a solo pastor with a long commute and parenting two quickly growing-up boys and being a writer, reporter, and speaker - it became evident late last year that I couldn’t keep making it all fit together while also keeping my own personal sanity. So as most of you know, on January 15 I served my final Sunday as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Brownton, MN - which means that this year, 2023, is my first Holy Week not serving a congregation as its pastor since before I was ordained in 2013.

In that year, my final year of seminary, our oldest son, Jacob, was just six months old, and we were living in the San Francisco Bay Area for my husband, Ben’s, work, without any family nearby. That Easter, Ben had just torn his ACL the weekend before, and he was attempting to work from our 1-bedroom apartment - shared with a baby whose crib was sometimes in the closet - while I attempted to finish up seminary both online and with a couple of in-person classes at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

That too was an unusual and frenetic time, though when I look back at the pictures, I’m struck by how impossibly young, naive, and hopeful we all seem.

That Holy Week was weird, too. I was on the cusp of becoming a pastor, and yet we hadn’t really found a home congregation in Northern California. My future church calling was in flux, as we tried to navigate finding a church in a city where Ben’s company might have an office. Eventually, that happened in August and we moved to Chicago. But then, that Easter 2013, I didn’t know it would be possible. I didn’t have any guarantees.

Just hope, faith, and love.

So too this Holy Week, it has been weird. We left on a flight to Arizona early last Palm Sunday morning, so we attended Palm Sunday at our nearby (and very inclusive!) Catholic Church in the neighborhood, which was the closest option for Saturday night service. I had to eat my words a bit this week, because I just wrote to you last week about how I didn’t like Passion Sunday mixed with Palm Sunday, and you should really try to attend all the services of the week.

Well, the church we attended last Saturday night did do Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday, and they did it really well! Then, Thursday night I found myself at an airport hotel in Phoenix without a way to get to a church - so I worshiped Maundy Thursday online with our nearby Lutheran Church back in Minneapolis.

I intended to go in-person for Good Friday, but then after arriving back from Phoenix that afternoon, I got a raging migraine and watched online again.

But man, did I feel Good Friday. As I watched the service, and I thought about all the congregations where I’ve served in the past and the fact that I was no longer with them as their Pastor, all those feelings of sadness and maybe a little bit of shame and regret and guilt and sorrow just bubbled up.

I texted a friend of mine who had also been an ordained ELCA Pastor and author, and has since stepped away from parish ministry. They too had been feeling the loss of pastoring a church this week.

Texting with them, I had that feeling where you realize, wholly and completely, that you are not as alone as you just a moment ago had felt.

Even in the sadness of Good Friday, as our Savior hangs on a Cross and we shout: “Crucify Him!” or worse, ignore it’s even happening — I felt the solidarity and hope that comes with the partnership of knowing that we are coworkers and colleagues in our work to share Jesus’ Gospel and usher in God’s justice, truth, and love.

Even if it looks different than we thought it would. We are still in it together.

The next day, Holy Saturday, I watched four basketball games for my two boys and snagged a grocery store elusive parking spot to buy eggs to hard-boil and dye. I finalized plans with my parents for Easter at their house the next day.

I experienced the cognitive dissonance of sudden spring in Minnesota, as I pulled out my bike for a ride and then dragged myself downstairs for a quick yoga practice.

Lying there on the mat, breathing in and out, I started to feel some of the guilt and shame and expectation of the week melt away.

Just like that year in 2013, when my recently-injured husband and little baby son needed me deeply — this year my family needed me, too. We made our way from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon and back without any major mishaps, no small feat, and we soaked up those moments of family togetherness that sneak by all-too-quickly as kids grow up from babies to tweens before your eyes. I kept seeing parents with babies in the airport, and I kept not quite realizing how long it had really been since that was me. Could we really be this old?

I’m marinating in each moment with my boys, because now I know they just don’t last.

By God’s grace (and your faithful readership), I’ve been able to use this newsletter to continue to share God’s word and do my work as a journalist, writer, and Pastor at least three times each week.

Even today, while I won’t be hearing the echo of a packed sanctuary shout back at me:

HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA

I will know that I continue to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection anyway, and maybe even more honestly, because I have to admit that Jesus rises anyway: that he doesn’t need me to preach him into resurrection, but that God saves through grace, and that grace is bestowed on me this year as I walk down a different path than I have previously each of these past 10 years.

By God’s grace - and from many friends and colleagues, including some of you - I know I will be getting the chance to serve as a pastor to churches very soon, as I fill in as preacher and pastor for a variety of friends here in the Twin Cities on sabbaticals and vacations this summer. Also by God’s grace, I continue to receive more invitations to speak and teach on Christian Nationalism and how to interpret current political and social movements through a theological lens, which is more and more important each and every day, it seems.

No God has not come to kill and destroy, in order that only a few select white American Christians might rule in absolute power.

But God has come so that all may have life, and have it abundantly.

Just today, I signed a contract to teach four sessions of a course next fall. And yes - I do have new book news coming … soon and very soon …

For now though - Jesus is Risen. The green blade rises. Thank you for the space here to share this joy of resurrection. I’m going to include below the Gospel text for today. I hope you consider reading it aloud to yourself or with a family member or friend today - and see how the words (and the resurrection itself) become embodied in you.

Take this day and this joy and soak it in, however you can. For today, Jesus has done the work. Maybe tomorrow we go back to see where God is calling us next and to do the Good Trouble work for justice that God calls you into in your corner of the world.

(Speaking of Good Trouble, spare some prayers and solidarity for the Tennessee legislators who stood up so courageously this week for those who have lost their lives to gun violence and school shootings, only to be dismissed by their fellow legislators).

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

Love,

Angela

This special edition of the Sunday Stretch for Easter Sunday is offered to all subscribers free-of-charge. To receive the Sunday Stretch each week in your inbox, please prayerfully consider a paid subscription. Additionally, because this is a special edition, I won’t do our usual in-depth study of each of the Lectionary Bible passages. Instead, I’m going to share below - in entirety - the gospel text for Easter. Then, I’ll include our prayer and prayer requests. Thank you (all!) for being a part of this community, whether you subscribe, or you read occasionally, or you got this newsletter from a friend. I’m grateful to be on this journey with you.

Easter Gospel

Matthew 28:1-10

Matt. 28:1   After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.  ² And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.  ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  ⁴ For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.  ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  ⁶ He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.  ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”  ⁸ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.  ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

PRAYER

Dear God,

Sometimes I find comfort in rules and routine; in knowing what I can expect. Sometimes it seems like the world is changing all the time, and I never know what to expect. Then, on Easter, you break all the rules again. God, you were never supposed to die. But you did: killed by capital punishment at the hands of a cruel and power-hungry empire and religious hierarchy. And then, God, not right away - but after three agonizing days - you rose again. You’re alive! You appeared first to those who perhaps would be least likely to be believed, your women disciples and friends. May I hear their testimony anew today. May I expect the unexpected in my own life, as you remind me that resurrection is indeed possible - even if it breaks all the rules.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

AMEN

An Invitation

A Community that prays for one another is transformed by the power of the Spirit. We’ve been praying for and with each other now for about six months! For the new year, and about once a quarter, I will re-start this space for prayer requests and praises. Please email with your own requests and I will share here with your permission!

1. We continue to pray for a cessation of violence and war in Ukraine, and for refugees and migrants around the world who are without a safe place to call home.

2. We pray for all people experiencing extreme weather, and those without safe shelter or a warm/cool place to sleep at night. For all those in need of food. For all those looking for work.

3. We pray for the people of Holy Land, for Israelis and Palestinians, Christians, Jews, and Muslims - that all will be treated with justice and be given equal rights before the government, to live, work, and practice their faith. We pray for an end to violence and protection of the vulnerable, especially children and the elderly.

4. We pray for the people of Syria and Turkey, where a devastating earthquake took the lives of tens of thousands in February, and violence and unrest continues to threaten the land.

5. We pray for all churches, church leaders, and volunteers as they finish up a busy season today with Easter Sunday. Might they all have time this week for rest and renewal, and might new volunteers and leaders be inspired to take part in future ministry in their local churches.

6. We pray for the people of Mississippi who were impacted by tornadoes last month, and for all those in the path of extreme spring weather in the American South. May they receive resources to rebuild and find safe shelter in the storm.

7. We pray for the victims and all who were impacted by the shooting at a church-based school in Nashville last month. May God bring an end to American worship of guns, especially as they take the lives of vulnerable children.

8. This Holy Week, God, be with all who lead congregations and serve in churches around the world. Help them to see your presence and find ways to lift up your justice, grace, and truth - while shunning all those who would proclaim hatred in your name.

From Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to Easter morning today, dear God, we pray for our awareness of your presence, and for our joy in your resurrection!

AMEN

P.S. …

A Few Notes:

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