There are few times in our lives when we enter so fully into an experience that time seems to stand still; we are transfixed in the moment (or days). Childbirth, falling in love, attending to a dying loved one, recovering from a critical illness are examples of occasions when we are so enthralled that we lose ourselves in the moment. We are subsumed in mystery.
In many ways, experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic has been a collective experience of mystery. What caused the virus? How do we survive it? How do we prevent it? What to make of our friends and family who chose not to avail themselves of the vaccine? How do make room for folks with different risk tolerances very different from our own? And probably the most profound mystery, what do we do/who are we in the face of deep solitude? One of the participants in our Monday Bible Study referred to the pandemic as a great reset. I think that is the way of mystery.
Happily, this year Christians around the world can mark the Triduum, (the three days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday which brings the Great Vigil of Easter), in person. Many of us did not realize the power of mystery as we habitually gathered to remember the birth of the Eucharist, the vulnerability of foot washing, the collective silence of Good Friday, and the smell of the Vigil. They had become rote. Except now.
Now we know the power of being together to touch each other. The mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ experienced in time that merges days. We feel and know the presence of the Holy Mystery in our collective heart which is the heart of the world.
Come out of time and experience the mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector