There is a First Time for Everything
Jeremiah 31:1-6:
“At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” This is what the Lord says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.” The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful. Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit. There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’”
Matthew 28:1-10:
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Easter Sunday
There is a First Time for Everything
On Easter we celebrate the Risen Christ who brings us into new life. We celebrate and rejoice in the forgiveness of sin, and the new life that God’s forgiveness offers to us. We celebrate spring, and all things new. Each new day is a celebration, a gift from God.
Jeremiah 31:1-6
Our first reading describes a celebration. The prophet Jeremiah writes to the captives in Babylon, speaking of the day of celebration to come, when the people will be reunited, they will be together with their families and friends, the land will be planted again and produce fruit, and they will celebrate with tambourines and dancing.
Matthew 28:1-10
Our second reading describes how Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James discover the empty tomb. They go to see the tomb, but an angel meets them there. The angel shows them the empty tomb. And so, they learn that Christ has risen. They learn the good news. This is the good news. That Christ is risen.
Something New in Each Chapter of our Lives
You know, there is a first time for everything. In each chapter of our lives, we discover something new. We find new things to learn, new things to experience. And there is a first time for everything.
Remember when your child was born? What an amazing thing! Or when you got married? There’s a first time for everything. And there are also first times for sad things. The first Easter after a death. The first Sunday after a divorce. There’s a first time for everything.
A five-year lease
I remember once, a long time ago, I was starting a new business. It was a medical office, and I remember, I was sitting at a table with John Miller, the man who owned the building. He was going to be my landlord. He pulled out a hefty stack of papers, set it on the table, and said, “Here is your lease to sign. It’s a five-year lease.”
And I was terrified. “A five-year lease?” I said. “I’ve never signed a five-year lease!” And he looked at me with compassion, and he said, “Ed, there’s a first time for everything.” He was a very nice man, and I learned a lot from him.
There’s a first time for everything, and new things are both exciting and terrifying. When the two Mary’s met the angel, they were terrified. It was something totally new. But it was also the beginning of something totally beautiful. It was the first day in a new life for them both. It was the first day of a new life. There’s a first time for everything.
Life is busy
You know, a lot of people really don’t like going to church very much anymore. And so, maybe you only come to church once or twice a year. And I understand. Life is very busy. There are so many things that demand our attention. Sometimes our spiritual life is the last thing on the list.
Life is always changing
But life is always changing. Nothing stays the same. We have to keep learning and adapting to new things, new changes. Isn’t it? There’s always something new coming up. Like, you think you know how your computer works, and then it changes! And there are so many of those things! At first we thought we had just one password. And now we have like six levels of passwords! And it can be so difficult to figure all of that out. There are so many changes happening, and when they happen in a very short time span, a person is completely overwhelmed. This is where spiritual practice is very helpful. Even if you don’t go to church every Sunday, I hope you have some kind of spiritual practice, some kind of spiritual discipline.
Developing a Prayer Life
I was thinking about the briefest and most useful thing I could say this morning. An Easter elevator speech, you know? And so here it is. Everybody needs a spiritual practice to survive these days. For ordinary, everyday use, everyone needs a spiritual discipline that you use, on a regular basis, so that you can manage, so that you can cope with all the changes, all the inevitable challenges that life is going to give you. And for this, I recommend prayer. Develop a prayer life.
I see so many people who are on the edge of overload, people who live at maximum stress level all the time. And they are speeding. Trying to get more and more things done, they go faster and faster. And so there is no concentration. No focus. No mindfulness. And this can lead to problems. It’s very difficult to deal with life, to solve the complicated problems we face in life, without focus, without a calm and concentrated mind. When people are speeding, mistakes happen. Accidents happen. Don’t they? You know what I’m talking about. Just go out here on Route 1 on a busy afternoon.
Pray without ceasing.
More now than ever, we need a prayer life. To make it through the day, to deal with all of life’s challenges, a prayer life is necessary. In Thessalonians 5:17, we find the instruction, “pray without ceasing.” So, for Easter, I want to give you this practice. It’s something you can use every day, in a very practical way. “Pray without ceasing” is literally, exactly this. It’s a spiritual practice called “meditatio” or “sacred breath prayer.” Sometimes it’s called “centering prayer.” It’s praying with each breath. With each breath, we utter a line of prayer. The words are spoken, or whispered, or they are sub-vocalized, spoken with interior speech, below the level of hearing. And the words are repeated, with each breath.
This kind of prayer, centering prayer, helps us to calm the mind: to quiet the mind. Centering prayer is a practice that helps us simplify our thinking, to slow down our thinking, and develop mental a calm mind. Centering prayer also helps us to overcome temptation. To stay on our path, to stay working toward our goals. To not get lost in the weeds. And we can use it to comfort ourselves, to self-soothe when we are hurting. And this kind of prayer, centering prayer, provides us with a sense of God’s presence.
The practice
In centering prayer, you use one phrase. For example,
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
Now, this morning when I woke up, I was feeling nervous, a little anxious, you know. Easter Sunday. It’s the big day, you know. We’re going to have a lot of people in church. And so, I used this prayer. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” And over and over, through the whole morning, through breakfast, and driving here: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
So you repeat this with each breath, and the breath is a part of the prayer. Perhaps the best known centering prayer is the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” You may have heard that one. Or, it could be something simpler:
The Lord is near.
The joy of the Lord is my strength.
All things work together for good.
Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Or you could pick a phrase from your favorite Psalm and make that your prayer. Maybe Psalm 91. And you pray that, and you find that line that really speaks to you.
I remember, after my father came out of a twenty-year depression, he found a line that spoke to him. “He restores my soul.” And that was his prayer. After twenty years of the darkest dark, my father came out of that, and he found his light again. And so, “He restores my soul.”
So these are all examples of possible prayers you could use in this contemplative practice, meditatio, centering prayer, the practice of praying without ceasing.
Connecting mind, voice and breath
Centering prayer is a mental and physical practice. We connect the mind to the voice and to the breath. It connects everything we are. It can be very helpful if you are feeling distracted and disturbed, you know, unsettled, like you are scattered all over the place and you are having a difficult time concentrating. Go to prayer. Go to this sacred breath prayer. Centering prayer. It is a deep and ancient spiritual practice in the contemplative Christian tradition. It dates back to the 3rdcentury Desert Fathers, and to the 14th century text “The Cloud of Unknowing,” and to St. Benedict of Nursia. And it is something we really need today, in our busy, complicated lives filled with distractions and ever-increasing stress and responsibilities.
A hitching post for the mind
Centering prayer is a contemplative Christian practice that creates a hitching post for the mind. Usually our mind is all over the place, like a runaway horse. But centering prayers gives the mind a hitching post. It gives the mind a focus, a place to stay, a place to be anchored. We keep the mind focused on the prayer. And this is very beneficial. We need this practice now. We need it now, and we’ll need it in the future, as the world continues to change and get more and more complicated.
Invitation
So the invitation this morning is to start something new. Start something new in your life. With Easter and spring and all things new, there is a first time for everything. I invite you to begin your prayer life in all sincerity.
May you know the blessing of peace that prayer can bring.
And may this be a truly blessed Easter for you.
Amen? Amen.