Dear Members and Friends of St. Mark's,

This week I have transported myself away from the city life and placed myself, along with Jake, just outside Julian.  As this morning’s sun rose above the tree lined hills it was an amazing sight. The brilliant red and orange lighting providing a stunning backdrop to the silhouetted hills on the horizon. I thought of how many sunrises these trees have witnessed.  Each sunrise is reasonably predictable in its seasonal routine, yet each splendid ray of light is unique in its resurrection of a new day, one filled with wonder and hope.  Welcome to the season of Easter.

It is easy for many of us to look upon our routines as a ordinary part of our life, but what if, just for a moment, we look outside our routine to see the beauty and the wonder that glistens in front of us; the unique hue of the flower that grows up in the crack of the asphalt, the reflective display of dust particles as they dance in a shaft of light, the intricate lacelike weavings of a spider’s glistening web.  These are things we sometimes miss because we are busy focusing on our daily routines.  And yes, sometimes we work very hard to remove these acts of creativity from our presence because they do not fit into our orderly lives.   Yet, each one of these, and many other things, is an opportunity for us to pause and see God’s extraordinary creativity in our ordinary lives.

This week in church we will hear of two acquaintances who walked along the road, lost in their thoughts about the death of Jesus. Their ordinary routine was shaken, but they returned to walk a familiar pathway, expecting their lives to just move forward after this death.  We will also hear how Jesus walked with them but they did not know it because their eyes had not been opened to God’s presence with them; not until the simple routine act of breaking bread changed everything.

In this season of Easter, as we reflect on the resurrection of Jesus and our usual understanding of life, I hope that you’ll see something new in your many routines.  I hope that you will also find yourself in the presence of God in ordinary ways, and be reminded that life is more than normal routines – each day is filled with resurrection power.

See you in church,

Jeri