Month: April 2025

easter hope with no eggs?

| PastorChixsta

Recently, I was at a gathering where each of us was asked to share a story of hope.  For many that might come across as a bit odd.  But, as a Christian minister in Long Beach, California, it’s actually something that I get asked quite a lot these days. Typically, the “hope question” gets posed after a comment about the latest federal government outrageous headline or reversal of course.  To be clear, I spend much of my days hearing any number of stories, opinions and reflections on the current status of division in which our country finds itself.  I hear an ongoing stream of diverse views and perspectives from conservatives, liberals, and moderates.

Interestingly enough, one thing does bring a majority of these voices together.  Seemingly and sadly, one thing that our widely diverse community shares is an immense amount of anxiety and fear.  Across the political-partied aisle, there is a strong sense of apprehension about where our country is headed.  There is a lot of description of a fast and slippery slope of moral decline.  I would share that there is an increasingly strong feeling of hopelessness rising amongst the people that I serve.

So, in that context and in my role, it makes good sense for people to ask me for a story of hope.  As a minister, I am expected to have wisdom to offer in difficult situations as well as vision for a hopeful future.  In the church, we are a mere few days from Easter, when we pull out all the stops to celebrate the biggest, most fabulous day in the Christian calendar.  For some, Easter is a day full of chocolate bunnies, pastel dresses, and fancy hats.  For some, it’s a day for a big ham dinner and gathering around the table.  For some, it’s a morning of lilies, music and thunderous preaching – all to celebrate the biggest miracle in the Christian story.

However, none of these names the biggest, most universal way to celebrate the Easter holiday: the Easter Egg Hunt!  Prior to Easter Sunday, folks hard-boil and color eggs in multiple colors of vinegar dye.  Then, eggs get hidden all over yards and parks for children to find.  Admittedly, it’s an odd undertaking when one steps back to think about it, but even so, it’s a longtime and beloved annual tradition.  As odd as it may be, the boiling, dyeing, hiding and finding of Easter eggs marks the celebration of the biggest miracle in the Bible.  Additionally, throughout our secular communities, Easter Egg Hunts are valuable markers of the onset of spring. And in all of that, these egg hunts serve as a sign of hope that the spring season often brings. 

But when I went to the grocery store this week, I encountered a problem for this year’s sign of Easter hope: not a single egg for sale.  The refrigerated egg case at my local grocery store was depleted, and a sign read: “due to supply shortages, availability may be limited in the coming weeks.”  I stood there and chuckled to myself, “well now, how are we ever going to celebrate Easter?” 

Of course, Christians know that Easter is as much about dyed eggs as Christmas is about wrapped presents under the tree. Egg hunts and Christmas gifts are symbols that help us to narrate and live out the ancient stories of our faith.  But, as I thought about upcoming Easter celebrations and the hindrance of the egg shortage, I realized that there are other parts of the story that offer me hope at this particular crossroads in our culture, communities and country.  

This year, my story of hope isn’t the one with the big names, or the one that gets all the attention.   

Instead, my story of hope is from a time when Jesus ate dinner with his closest friends.  The dinner occurred just a few days prior to his death.  Some refer to the evening as the “Last Supper,” and there has been no shortage of acclaimed artwork depicting the event.  But it’s not the artistic symmetry of the meal or the grouping of Biblical heroes surrounding Jesus in his final hours that brings me hope.  It’s simply the knowledge that in his final hours, Jesus spent time with people.  He did what brought him comfort and what he loved the most: gathering friends and enjoying a meal.  He continued to build relationships, and it’s there that I am finding hope. This season, it won’t be centered in Easter egg hunts or Sunday worship brass ensembles. It won’t be coming from the news headlines where big, bold political moves claim to right all of the wrongs.

My hope is coming from the people with which I find myself on a daily basis.

In a time and place where there is such deep division, I am directing people to seek hope and change in one another.  I am encouraging people to seek out their immediate community and be bold enough to build a bridge or two. So that maybe next year, with the bridges that we have built, we can cross the vast chasm that seems to divide us so starkly today?  

~ Pastor Melinda

www.BeingtheChurchLB.org

Is 25 hours enough?

| PastorChixsta

This was my question when I learned about Sen. Cory Booker’s marathon, record-setting speech on the Senate floor this week. Is a powerful 25-hour oration enough to steer our politically-pummeled country toward its constitutional dream of a “more perfect union?”

While obviously quite an accomplishment for Sen. Booker and an energy boost to the sagging Democratic contingent in our country, I would contend that no speech – no matter the length or the content – on any legislative floor will be enough. It’s neither politics nor any governmental structure that’s going to lead us out of this painful, vitriolic and degenerative mess of a situation in which our country finds itself.

While the manipulation of our two-party political system could very well be what has landed us here, it is most certainly not going to be what pulls us out. Instead, I would offer that the answer lies with you and me and all of us. It’s you and I who are going to need to be the change agents in our nation’s story. You and I are going to have to come together and push up our sleeves. You and I must do the hardest work of all. That’s not speechmaking; it’s building relationships. It’s forming and reforming community. It’s building bridges from the rubble of our own unwillingness to listen. We must humble ourselves, come together and listen to one another in order to forge a path forward.

This is the bread and butter of what I do all day long as a Christian minister in one of the largest Protestant denominations, the United Methodist Church. I do the painstakingly slow, mostly invisible and totally unglamorous work of building community. Please trust me when I say that there is nothing like leading a faith community to offer someone a crash course on managing heightened human emotion; hearing all sides to a particular issue; and trying to foster peace. In the church, we are called to welcome all people, whether we agree, disagree or abstain from sharing an opinion at all. Often that means I facilitate communities to carve out some common ground, or at least, a starting point. While my desire is always to bring people together to listen to and learn from one another, I will admit that is not always what happens.

What I have learned in the messy work of community building is that one must listen more than speak. When we humble ourselves enough to stop talking at people, to stop insisting that our way is the right way, and instead place ourselves in a listening posture, we build relationships. Then, it is those relationships that offer us a way forward when we are stymied by the inevitable disagreement and conflict that will arise.

You may wonder why a liberal clergywoman from California is calling into question a prominent Democratic US Senator’s notable speech. I appreciate Sen. Booker’s noteworthy career serving our country, and I applaud his ongoing work. I would likely vote for him in an electoral race, and knock on doors for his campaign. I do not take umbrage with (in fact, I support) his stance and position on our nation’s driving issues. However, while speeches, debate, and discourse are important parts of a healthy democracy, it is our personal and professional relationships that will bring about the change we need today.

I have never known someone who has changed their mind on an issue, or come to the negotiations table, based on a well-researched or lengthy speech. However, I have known many to consider a different idea or opinion because of a friend’s personal experience. Our former ways of bridging differences and bringing people across the aisle are clearly no longer working. We are in an unprecedented era of public shaming and unquestioned power grabbing, and we must focus our work on building relationships of understanding and acceptance. This requires a lot more of showing up in arenas with people who challenge us; engaging in discourse and dialogue.

We have to talk with and listen deeply to one another. Cory Bookers’ 25-hour speech is noteworthy and powerful. But we are well past the place for powerful monologues as the sole answer. Politics and grandstanding will not save us, regardless of how many records are set, or whose attention it grabs.

25 hours of one person talking at us is definitely not enough. We deserve so much more. We are capable of so much more. Perhaps, we could start with an hour of conversation and respectful dialogue?

Photo by Elina Sazonova on Pexels.com