The Visible Love (The Second Sunday of Easter)

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery
established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all
who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body
may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


That we may show forth in our lives what we profess by our faith. I roll those words around on my tongue. Show forth in my life, what I profess by my faith. But what do I profess? What should show forth in my life?

And I turn open the crisp pages of Rilke, looking for an answer, something, to build these last four weeks of college around.

And Rilke writes,

"Ever again, though we've learned the landscape of love
and the lament in the churchyard's name
and the terrible, silent abyss where the others have fallen;
ever again we walk out, two together,
under the ancient trees, ever again find a place
among wildflowers, under heaven's gaze." (Uncollected Poems)

And I can hear the midst of our Easter celebrations a call towards more visible, profound, daily love. A call to walk out together under ancient trees and relearn the landscape of love. 


Isn't Easter about how all things are made new in Him who is no longer dead, but alive? Doesn't this Resurrection life change the landscape of our love?

I want to show forth love in my life. I want to write letters to people who I hold close to my heart. I want to walk around the Quad on a Tuesday afternoon just because it's a beautiful day, and there is enough time to do beautiful things. I want to find a place among wildflowers.

I want to write more poetry in these next four weeks and laugh loudly with my roommate early on a Sunday morning. I want to have my heart stopped at another writer's words. I want to wear cowboy boots and a red sundress and drink iced tea and lemonade with the people who have shaped my life. I want to cradle a mug of chai and look at you and realize that of all the good gifts in all the years, there isn't anything quite like the gift of knowing you. 

(mandie sodoma - I'll never be able to say enough thank you's for this picture)

Can we relearn the landscape of love in these next four weeks?


Because this Easter life, this Resurrection joy? It's about living visible love. These next four weeks will fly, and we'll wear the robes and march down the bright green lawn, out towards our future. These next four weeks we can fill with worry, with anxious plans and second guesses. We can fill them with misunderstanding or hurt, with broken bones and egos and hearts. And perhaps those things will always arrive, despite our best efforts.

But we can also live these next four weeks loving each other with fuller hearts. We can live like kites set free on the breeze, joyful and unafraid. We can choose life over plans, people over post-it notes, knowing our hearts over double checking our to-do lists. 

Come with me, and find a place among the wildflowers, and live the Easter life?

Love,
Hilary