We’ve been singing this chant at the beginning of worship since Easter. Yesterday was the Fifth Sunday of Easter, so I guess that’s a pretty good yardstick of how long it takes for a song or phrase to take root. Now, I’m grateful. It feels like such pleasant company on a rainy, quiet morning. Be not afraid, sing out for joy, Christ is Risen, Alleluia! These are some of the lasting gifts of worship. The parts that latch onto us and trail us out to our cars, floating in the air like bits of dust suddenly visible in the streaming light pouring through a window in our life. Be not afraid, sing out for joy, Christ is Risen, Alleluia! Even on dark mornings like this. When the throaty song of the cardinals singing in the new green canopy, dripping and freshly scrubbed, is the brightest light to be found. Be not afraid, sing out for joy, Christ is Risen, Alleluia!
Our worship needs more of these moments. More chants, more music, more opportunity just to linger together in the cathedral of these words. To allow the simple reassurance of our faith to guide us in the challenges and the opportunities this moment presents us.
It’s always unnerving when the familiar approaches to life no longer work. When circumstances call for something new. Our daughter and son in law just brought their new baby home from the hospital. Gabriel Alexander. Now, everything must change. The familiar routines that made their household work must be re-thought and re-created. Who they are as parents; who we are as grand-parents, requires similar imagination. Everything shifts to make room.
We face such moments all the time. Individually and together, in our workplaces, in our families and in our churches. Each moment gives way to the next, and the next and the next....
Be not afraid, sing out for joy, Christ is Risen, Alleluia!
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