Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday. Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen Luke and Ann Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your daily life.
Happy Easter. As we move from Lent into the joyful Easter season, Karen and Ann reflect about what it means to have a resurrection faith in a world that still feels uncertain.
The empty tomb is just the first step toward alleluia.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Faith Break. I am Anne Gallagher.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: And I am Karen Luke.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: And we are co workers, friends, moms, wives, lay ministers. And we are here every week to help you find your God moments in your everyday.
And today is a special day.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: Happy Easter, everybody.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: We. We actually, to be perfectly honest, needed to give ourselves a little pep talk this morning because we are recording this in the middle of Lent, and it has been a very Lent y week for very deserty some of us. So we are switching gears a little bit to put ourselves in a resurrection frame of mind. And how about we start by sharing our God moments?
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Do you have one?
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I do.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: So you've heard me talk about my great nephew or. No, my. Yeah, my great nephew Harrison.
And my niece and nephew invited us over for dinner. And the text said, harrison wants to have dinner with you guys. And it was the cutest thing. And I was like, okay. So we went over and we had dinner. And as I was holding. Holding Harrison, and he was falling asleep, my niece asked me to be his godmother.
And it was just like the most precious moment. And it was funny. Cause we're all around the table, but I heard nothing else. But Susie and Nathaniel and Jeremy were talking. And all of a sudden, Nathaniel looks at her, looks at Susie, and is like, you asked her?
[00:02:13] Speaker B: And it was.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: I'm like, was she not supposed to? Oh, my gosh. And then Jerry's like, wait, what happened? And it was just like the most beautiful, comical.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: While you're holding. While I'm holding.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: He's asleep on me. That is. Oh, I miss the baby sleeping on me. So that was definitely my God moment.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. I can't believe you just said that. Cause that relates to my God moment too. Oh, my God.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: And we're twinning.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: We're twinning again. We didn't call each other. This just happens to us frequently.
So, you know, our kids are teenagers.
And when you have teenagers, you look back at those baby years with kind of a longing. Because even though when I was in it, I was exhausted and it was the hardest thing I'd ever done, for sure. But now looking back, you're like, remember when you could just pick them up and everything was okay?
[00:03:02] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: And remember when you could just hold them and everything was okay? So now they're teenagers, and it doesn't really work like that all the time. And we had some rough moments with my littlest one, who's now a big one this week, was just struggling. But in the middle of that, she. Oh, my gosh, she's gonna kill me if she hears this. But she let me snuggle with her and, you know, even, like, you know, like, just hold her and just, like, just be there with her in that way, even though she's, you know, it's.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: Like, almost as tall. Taller than me.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Taller than me. And, you know, it's like trying to hold, like, a St. Bernard puppy who's not a puppy anymore. And now they're like, you know, and you're just. But just to have that moment where I was like, okay, I know this isn't actually fixing anything.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: But I'm glad she still will let me hold her today just a little. So, yeah, that was my God moment.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: Gosh.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: W.
That's a win. Okay.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: All right.
Easter Sunday, Easter.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: There's a lot to unpack.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: There is a lot to unpack. And I know we've done a podcast for. It's probably our third Easter. We're talking about this, so I don't want to get repetitive, but I.
I do think every year, we spend a little time talking about the idea that, you know, at church, when it's Easter Sunday or even, like, the Easter vigil, like, we go from darkness, and then it. You know, the gospel, we turn on all the lights, we sing all the alleluias. We. You know, and it's a, like. It's a symbolic, kind of, like, visceral thing the church does with the joy of the Resurrection. And I appreciate that. But at the same time, when we're looking at the readings, and I think when we Sometimes we look at what's happening in our hearts, we know that Easter doesn't really come in that way all the time, and it certainly didn't come in that way for the people who were at the tomb.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: On Easter morning.
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Yeah. You know, I.
I love Mary in the. Like, I love Mary Magdalene and all of the stories, but this one, it's like. And I'm sure we're repeating ourselves, but can I just give a shout out that she was the first person, first.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Woman to the resurrection.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: She was the first person to witness.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: The resurrection in all four gospels.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: And it was like, you know, anyway.
But, yeah, I mean, it wasn't like. I mean, they still knew, but they still had, like, confusion.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Right. And, like, we come in liturgically, it's almost like a marching band, you know, Sometimes we're like, hallelujah. Like, it's all. And. But the Gospels give us this image of her coming to the tomb when it's still dark, alone. Or maybe, depending on which gospel you read, it would be like, one other woman or something. And, you know, so she's looking for the body of Jesus in the dark.
And that was Easter Sunday. Right.
And when she finds the empty tomb, it's not an alleluia. It's like, what the heck is happening here? I need to go get some friends and figure out what to do next. Right.
[00:06:28] Speaker C: But isn't that with everything, like, in hindsight, like, when we're in the midst of something, we don't get those moments. Like, it's just an eagle eye on that particular moment without any other context. And then it isn't until after that. You're like, oh, yes, okay, now I can piece it together. Now this makes more sense.
I think that's just in everyday life. And we're able to celebrate the joys and the alleluias because we have what happens after.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah. No, it takes time to integrate that understanding of what the resurrection is. Right. And even the people who were closest to Jesus did not.
They didn't understand it. On Easter Sunday morning, I mean, we have this. You gotta love the story with, you know, the apostle Jesus left and Peter, like, kind of racing each other to the tomb, right?
[00:07:22] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: So we have Mary Magdalene's, like, kind of creeping in quietly in the dark. Then she finds the empty tomb and goes and gets the other two. And they say that the disciple, that Jesus, the beloved disciple, ran faster than Peter and got there first but didn't go in. And I just love that image. Like, reminds me of, you know, when you were little, like, the top of the basement stairs or, like, the places, like, you didn't want to go unless you had a buddy, he runs to it, but he doesn't run in. He waits for backup.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: That's like when you turn off all the lights downstairs and then you run upstairs.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Thinking something's chasing you.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Yeah. But, like, that's what the resurrection felt like to Jesus first followers. Right. They were confused and they were afraid and, like, what it looked like for them to have faith that first Easter Sunday morning.
It wasn't an alleluia. It was a wait and see, wait and see what's going to happen next.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: You know, I just got thinking about when you were talking. So we have our alleluia moment on Sunday, Easter, and then Monday, we're right back into going to work.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Except we get Easter Monday off this year. Did you know we don't have to go to work that day.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: Yay.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: You can go home and alleluia as much as you want.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: One plus of. Well, I mean, we're working through Holy Week, so I mean it really.
But the idea of, like, you know, how it's a mountaintop experience is what I was trying to say. Like, Sunday or Holy Saturday is like our mountaintop experience. And we're just like, yes, Jesus rose and everything is good.
But then we get back into our normal routine and everything is not good.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Right.
It hasn't all been fixed.
[00:09:19] Speaker C: It's not all been fixed.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: And it hadn't been fixed for Jesus either. He was raised from the dead, but his disciples didn't get the same Jesus back. They got a resurrected Jesus back.
And it wasn't the. Like. I don't know. I think the faith of Easter Sunday morning is just the faith that this is not the end.
[00:09:41] Speaker C: That's a good point.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: This is not the end. This is the beginning of something new. And so it calls for a whole different kind of faith. Because, you know, we make a big deal about Lent, the 40 days of Lent, and the journey of Lent and how it ends with Easter. But, like, Easter season is a journey. It's a longer journey. Easter is 50 days, which is 10 days more than 40 days. So is it good for, you know, I mean, it's like, I don't know. It's just. We're just starting a whole new process. We're not finishing anything.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, it's. I don't know. And I've said this before, like, I've. It's hard being in ministry during these times. Like, the ordinary time ministry is like, okay, that's fine.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: But like, Easter, Christmas, we're so. I don't wanna say busy, but we're preoccupied.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: We are preoccupied trying to get busyness.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: To, you know, give everyone an experience that sometimes I completely flash over and I'm just like, oh, Easter was there.
So sometimes I feel like I'm still in the dark until I realize, like.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: When you haven't finished your Lent yet.
[00:11:03] Speaker C: I haven't finished my Lent yet. Yeah. Actually. So, like, you know, one of the questions that we were talking about is, like, what makes it hard for you to believe in the risen Jesus among us now?
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: And that was like. That hit me because in the state of our world now, with everything going on, good and bad with.
We've had a lot of funerals. A lot of our parishioners have passed. There's been a lot of sickness.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: We've had a long, hard winter.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's just like.
But that's always going to still be there. And I guess that's where I struggle, especially this year. And I mentioned that this Lent was different for me, but that's where I struggle. Like, okay, yes, we're supposed to be celebrating this, yet I still feel bogged down with the darkness and everything that's going on.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: But I think that's really important to give permission to everybody in our parishes and who are listening or watching today that if you find yourself on Easter morning having a hard time feeling the alleluias, that's okay, because it was the same for Mary and for Peter and for all of Jesus's disciples. And we'll get into that more in coming weeks. But, like, they had to grow into it, really. Right. And, like, all we know on Easter Sunday is that the tomb is empty and that Jesus has risen, but we don't know what that means. We haven't seen him or experienced him.
You know, we haven't seen or experienced the risen Jesus yet. So it's like. I don't know. I think the Easter Sunday faith is a very.
It's a hopeful faith, but it's.
I don't want to say fragile but tender. You know what I mean? Like, it's not a faith that's been tested and grown yet. But the thing that's so cool about the readings is that, like, we have the. We know what it was like from the Gospel for. For, you know, Jesus's first followers. But then we have the counterpoint of the reading from Acts, which takes. It's weird. So we're going to hear it first on Easter Sunday, but chronologically, it takes place, you know, much later.
[00:13:28] Speaker C: Right? Yeah.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Than Easter. And so we see the apostles in a position of really strong faith, like, standing up in front of a crowd of people and, like, strongly and faithfully proclaiming the good News in a way that converted, like, so many people.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: So we. It's like, we know they're gonna get there. We have the. So that's the hope, you know? Yeah, we know we're gonna get there.
But to maybe just to hold that Easter Sunday moment with a little Bit of care and thoughtfulness this year.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Cause, like, not everyone is in a joyous. You know, I think we tend to forget that, too. Like Christmas.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:13] Speaker C: You know, there are people that are grieving. It's the first Christmas or even their 10th or 15th Christmas. And, you know, I don't know. I don't know where my point was for that, but, like, going back to the risen Jesus, have you ever thought about, like, what Jesus would come back as?
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Like, why did people didn't recognize him in all the stories?
[00:14:38] Speaker C: Because I'm like, okay, I'm picturing Jesus coming back as, like, a poor person on Goodman.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: Oh, today. Like, what Jesus would look like today. Oh, yeah.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: And would we even.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be like a televangelist or anything like that. Right.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Would we know? Would we understand? Would we have that faith?
Would we think that he was a lunatic? You know, like, it's just. It's. It's just interesting how that kind of mindset, for me, maybe I did meet him and I didn't recognize him.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Well, you meet him every day. Right?
[00:15:22] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: And all the people around us. Right, Because.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: You know, living with faith means receiving everyone as Christ, which is.
[00:15:33] Speaker C: Oh, which is hard.
Do you ever, like, have you ever been so angry with somebody? I've never been able to physically do this, though. But, like, I tell myself if I'm angry with somebody, just imagine them being Jesus. I just can't get past that point. I was just like, no, I'd rather. That makes me sound like a really bad person, probably.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: But this is hard.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: It's hard.
This is hard.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:59] Speaker C: Life is hard. Adulting's hard. I'm sorry. I'm like negative Nancy today.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: You know what? We're just gonna go with it because it's okay. We're living into the alleluia yesterday.
[00:16:12] Speaker C: Everybody who is feeling like me. You got me. And then there's Anne, who's the joyous. Hallelujah.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Oh, God, I don't know if I can carry that banner all the time.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: I didn't say all the time. Just, like, right now.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Well, listen, what does Jesus. This is another question we were going to talk about. What does Jesus say when he starts appearing to the disciples?
[00:16:32] Speaker C: Peace.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Peace, peace. And also, do not be afraid. Those are like, the two things that come up over the resurrection stories over and over again. And, like, you know, Jesus is telling them to not be afraid and to have peace because they're scared and anxious.
Right?
I mean, he says it for a reason, because they don't have it and they need it, and he needs to give it to them.
But so I find. I don't know, I find that very relatable, is that, you know, in this joyful season of Easter, we still need to go to God for peace.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Because it's not easy to walk into the unknown. And I think that's part of what you're saying, and what I'm feeling, too, in my life right now is like, there's so much that's unknown. Right. We're dealing with trying to get our teens safely through adolescence. We're trying to get our parents, you know, through their older years. We're trying to get through the busiest work years that we're probably ever gonna have. And, like, we're trying to do it all. And, you know.
Yeah. Like, I think about the people who built the church, like, it all started on Easter.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: But they had no idea what was going to happen.
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Or how they were going to get there.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: But peace comes in a lot of different forms. So, like, somebody could be of peace mindset, where everything is just, all right, I'll let God handle it. All right. This is fine. And then there's moments of peace where in the chaos, you're like, okay, yep, now I can go forward.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: So wherever you are on your journey, like, peace can look different in many ways.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Right. And we've just finished Lent, which we talked. We've talked about, you know, being pilgrims of hope and being on a journey, but really, I almost feel like Lent is like, the prelude to the journey.
Like, we're just. It's the journey to this. To this starting line of what it means to build the church and to be an Easter people. And so, you know, Lent was when we gathered ourselves and we got rid of the things that we didn't need, and hopefully we put ourselves in a position to draw closer to God. But it's in Easter where.
I don't know. I think we're really called to become the people God's made us to be and to do the hard work of building. I know. I'm sorry.
[00:19:16] Speaker C: No, it's true.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: We need a rest. We need a rest.
I think.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: I think one of the reasons why we're having a hard time today is because this is, like, our third year anniversary.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: And it's like, what haven't we said about Easter? Right. But we're all on a different journey. And that's what I love about.
That's what I love about our faith is that we're all on a different journey. We're never on the same timeline, but also the readings are different. So, like, what we talked about three years ago, I should have watched it. We were in a different place.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, a lot has happened in three years.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: A lot has happened in three years. I had a 13 year old, not a 16 year old.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: You know, she was a lot nicer in the mornings.
Don't kill me, Emma.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, and the cool thing about being in community is, like, there's going to be someone who can say the alleluia for you, and you could just go and, like, stand next to them for a minute, you know, and just, like, that's why we have each other, you know? And why. I think why the Church brings us through these cycles of seasons every year is because where we are in our hearts may or may not align with the liturgical calendar, but it still is, I don't know, like a bucket in which to put whatever the emotions are that we're dealing with spiritually and in.
[00:20:47] Speaker C: Community, there's always somebody there to lift you up or pray for you, pray with you in your times of whatever and to celebrate with us.
So thank you to our families at transfiguration. St. Catherine's for.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: And Easter is always so much fun. It really is. I mean, I know we sometimes complain about the work hours during Holy Week and Easter, but I love Easter. I love seeing everybody come in in their dresses, and I love giving out little Easter eggs. And I love the alleluias that we get to sing because we haven't sung them for six weeks. And the music, I just, you know, I need it. I love it. And so I'm not, like, getting down on Easter, but I just. I feel like it's important to say right now that, like, the alleluia in your heart might be quiet and it might be timid, and it might be uncertain. And that's okay, too, because we got miles to go before we sleep, friends.
Okay. So as we kind of start our journey into this Easter season, I think one way to keep our eyes open for the risen Jesus, who sometimes we might not recognize, is like, to allow ourselves to have new eyes, to see the unexpected places where Jesus can show up. Right. Okay. So, like, maybe that's what Easter is. Maybe it's not coming in with a marching band full of alleluias, but it's just having open eyes to see where Jesus might show up. And maybe it's just in, like, the flowers that are starting to come up. Or maybe it's like, you know, the smell in the air when the snow melts and, like, we get rain instead. What a nice change. Or whatever for Rochester. But, like, you're so optimistic, you know, I mean, I think it's just like, let it be the small things, and it doesn't have to be all over. I just. I have to say that this is. I don't know if this is gonna make it into the podcast, but I was looking at the camera and we been talking about since the fall when we started this thing that we needed to get a little Jesus to sit on the camera. And Jesus has been there all day, and I didn't notice it until right now. So Jeff had put a little Jesus doll right on the camp.
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Jesus has come.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: So, I mean, but isn't that perfect for Easter? Because it's like.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh, how long do we want to. It was like a scary moment, too. It was like we were all. And then all of a sudden, Anne's like, jesus. And I was like, what? But there he is. I mean, that's my small moments. Yeah, it's the small moments. I think the small moments are also easier attainable than, like, searching for this big thing that might not come for a very long time. And then we just feel more let down.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: So let Easter be the first step towards faith.
[00:23:41] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: We got a whole season to dance towards the rest of it.
All right? I think. I think.
[00:23:46] Speaker C: I think that's where we're at this.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Easter, and that's where we're going to be. So we hope you guys all have a very joyful Easter, and we will be with you in the coming weeks to explore more about growing in faith, dealing with doubts, and just keeping. Keep on, keeping on finding Jesus in the everyday moments. So have a great week, everyone. Happy Easter.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a faith break with us today.
Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher are lay ministers with the parishes of St. Catherine of Siena in Menden, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration in Pittsford, New York. More about our parishes, including weekly live streamed Sunday Mass, can be found at stcath.org or Transfiguration Bay, pittsford.org Engineering Today is by Jeff Beckett. Join us for new episodes of Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music.
