Easter
PassOver
Season of ReBirth!

I do So Love the Celebrations of Springtime —
Not just the Holidays but every bud and bloom.
I Love how things begin to Open Up!
And Open to the Ever Increasing Bright Light of Day!
And Open…
Open…
Open…

Coloring Easter Eggs with the Kids!
…for the Kids!
Well, Both!
Making Stroufeli.
My arms soar from kneading dough…
Now, it’s beginning to feel like a Holiday!
Getting to be with Family Members! (Not “Having” to be, but “Getting” to be!)
Easter Baskets out, waiting to see if the Easter Bunny will come to fill them!
Yeah, we still do that!

It’s 2019.
JESUS would have been two-thousand and nineteen years old today,
Scholars estimate that due to a slight miscalculation, our Gregorian Calendar is about four years off, and JESUS was actually born in 4BC.
So that makes him more like two-thousand and twenty-three?
However you calculate it, we are in the two-thousandth anniversary year of that part we know nothing about!

The Gospels tell us of JESUS’ Birth in several recountings of the Christmas Story.
And then there is the story of his parents finding him in the temple preaching when he was only 12 or 13 years old.
And then it skips to ages 30 to 33 — his last three years on earth, seeking out being baptized by JOHN, all the way through the Passion and Resurrection.
Then it gets into the Epistles of PAUL and such.

But there’s this chunk in the middle,
From age 12 or 13, to age 30, when we hear nothing about anything…
So even JESUS’ Life had a Messy Middle!
Well, He was human, after all!
Perhaps it was a time when He tried things and they didn’t quite work out?
Perhaps it was a time when He failed more than he succeeded, or worried about money or abundance or having enough…
Perhaps it was a time when He fell in Love, questioned his sexuality, made mistakes and had to learn the difference between “I am a mistake” and “I made a mistake” and came to Love Himself, even with all of His Flaws and Shortcomings, so that He could better Love Others…
Perhaps, through trial and error, He grew to appreciate the Miracle that Life is, and perhaps that was a part of what enabled Him to perform Miracles.
Those who say that they do not Believe in Miracles have forgotten that they are one!
Perhaps, He forgot. And then remembered.

And every year at this time, He Celebrated PassOver, the Holiday commemorating
when God “passed over” the homes of the Jews during the tenth plague of Egypt — the slaying of the first born — as Moses negotiated with Pharaoh to free the Israeli Slaves. It is a testament to the power of Hollywood, as well as somewhat crushing to my personal imagination, that I cannot hear that story without seeing in my mind, CHARLTON HESTON and YUL BRENNER.

And this Year, Good Friday and the first night of PassOver fall on the same night!
Easter Weekend and PassOver Weekend — one in the Same!
And next Sunday, Greek Orthodox Easter is celebrated!
And for All of Us… Spring!
Season of ReBirth!
And How Full Of Wonder is that!
…especially for those of us who, whatever our age, are perhaps a bit like Jesus between Puberty and Thirty — not talking about it…figuring it out!
Perhaps Laying Low, and just sorting through mistakes and trying stuff and finding our way!
In one way or another, we are learning to appreciate the Miracle of our Lives and the Miracle that we are!

The Rabbi tells the story of ADAM who lived in the sunshine, and then, after the Sabbath there was the first NightFall.
ADAM panicked. He was scared.
But instead of making the sun rise at night to comfort him, GOD gave him two flints to rub together…
Teaching him, “You Have What It Takes To Do This!”
“You can create what you need to get yourself through this!”
RISE!
Let us Reinvent Ourselves,
Create Light Out of Darkness!
ReBirth!

ReBirth itself is a Miracle!It’s Messy and reaching for ReBirth doesn’t mean that we don’t like where we are at or the things we’ve tried, and it certainly doesn’t mean we are without Hope!
But it does mean that we get to try New Things
and New Places
and Fall and Get Up again, and Hope for New Things, and Try and Taste and Awaken and Welcome and Delight in it All!

Birth is a Messy Process!
The person giving Birth is often Screaming!
And so, she simplifies the process to get through it — focusing on her Breathing
She Breathes Deeply!
She takes Deep Breaths!

So, let’s learn from that Wisdom in our own Passover-Easter-ReBirthing Process.
Take a Deep Breath!
Now!
Even if we’ve meditated already today,
Even if we feel like we don’t need it or don’t have time,
Especially if we feel like we don’t have time…
Now! In this moment…
Take a Deep Breath!

…There!
…ReBirth!# # #