April 2005 - Page 1

See in the Crucifixion not merely a martyr’s death, not merely a passing gleam of God’s love, certainly not a sacrifice to God carrying a legal significance, but in truth the flashing into light of an eternal fact! God calls you to Him. John Wilhelm Roundtree, 1904, British Quaker

Early Quakers did not celebrate Easter and Christmas as special holy days. For Friends, every moment of every day was meant for special celebration and worship. The business of our lives was to be drenched in the grace of worship-centered living. Can you imagine worshipping and watching contemporary TV?

The resurrected life is bathed-in-worship. A life filled with turning to God, even in the midst of the nagging awareness of God’s absence. The resurrection for Quakers was more than a theological milestone; it was a way of life. For Friends, what happened historically was less important than the worship based life of allowing this present moment to fill with God’s holy light and shine.

Walking in the light is a bathed-in-worship way of living, a new way of living, a transformed way of living. The spirit fills our beings with deep vitality and we are risen human beings. Easter for Quakers is a call to live in the life and power that the apostles and the prophets lived in. It is a way of life that bears witness to love not violence. Friends call this the peace testimony. We live in that spirit which takes away the occasion of all wars.

This new Easter life tunes us to the Divine and slowly the subtle awareness of the Presence of God rises in us. We begin not just to believe in God but to know God. Early Christians talked about praying without ceasing, becoming one with God and Christ being in them. It was a slow, grown deep perceptive awareness, a presence awareness new life.

In each of us there is a dark tomb, a forgotten place of brokenness and woundedness. From there the off-key refrain of your not worth much , rises in self defeating behavior and emptiness. The prayer that rolls away the stone is the prayer of the unleashed yearning for God. It is a gift tucked away in each of us. It is the Easter Morning Prayer meant for every day.

Easter is an invitation to Live the Resurrected Life