And So It Is

Easter Day began with rain. Awake from 3:45 a.m., I didn’t realize that the forecast had been borne out until I trekked from the downstairs bedroom over to the lean-to that serves as office, library and catch-all on the west side of the barn. It was a lazy day. Coffee perking on the gas stove top, I indulged myself with conversations about God and faith via the Internet, where thanks to a website new to me I found thinkers and believers recorded live in forums at which I can now only wish I had been present. I found myself typing madly, taking notes from a talk by Marcus Borg, Biblical scholar and teacher, and then emailing the notes, High Priority, to myself. In the same forum, Christine Pelosi talked about her work for political and social reform and the call to serve that was an important part of her family upbringing and her Roman Catholic faith and continues to shape her personal and professional growth.

I was called to consider, once again, what life would be like on earth if God were king and the rulers of this world were not, and reminded once again that in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for God’s kingdom on earth, in our lives, in our times. In a separate recording, another writer talked about her research on Mary Magdalene, the first witness at the tomb, and the fiction piece that grew out of her study. And though I did not regret that I was alone, on Easter Sunday, as many other Christians throughout the world gathered to celebrate, I took comfort in knowing that in my own quiet, solitary way, I too was a part of this day of active expression of faith.

This afternoon I soaked up the sunshine that followed the rain, sitting in the garden, and finishing a novel about a young girl’s struggle in the 1950s with undiagnosed Tourette’s Syndrome. Around her tenth year, she is institutionalized for several months, dropped in the midst of a small group of children who suffer far worse conditions. Only after returning to the grandparents who are rearing her, and following the death of her grandfather, does she realize through her grandmother’s insistent faith and her own gifts, including that of words and an “angelic” singing voice, that God does indeed love each one of us, including her, no matter, no exceptions.

And so it is.