Bright Sunday Surprises-- Luke 24:1-11; Matthew 15:30-38 (Rev. Dvera Hadden, preaching; 2nd Sunday of Easter)

Photo credit: Oscar Ivan Esquivel Arteaga, used with permission via Unsplash

Bright Sunday, Holy Humor Sunday celebrates God’s and our joy and delight in human experience. Do you feel an ease or a lightness after encountering God’s presence and joy through the Kensington Players’ dramatic presentation?  Or, do you not wonder and marvel at the human capacity for creativity, wisdom, and wit that we see in Ted Swartz and Lee Eshleman’s writing? I invite you to dwell a moment in joy and wonder, in laughter and delight.

Can you imagine what it might have been like for the early followers of Jesus to hear the mute speak, to watch the differently abled made whole in community, to see the blind experience sight? To watch seven loaves of bread and a few small fish feed so many more than 4 thousand people?

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and the other women to encounter the tomb empty, the stone rolled away, the figures in dazzling white who told them to look for Jesus among the living rather than the dead? Wonder, awe, fear, overwhelm, paralysis, joy, delight, chaos; what surprises you in this so-familiar Easter story? What makes this witness new for you? How does your imagination shift today of how God works in us, in our world to bring transformation and new life?

Our life circumstances may not always present to us as joyful, delightful, or awe-inspiring, yet in the midst of, even because of all the rest of our lives- the overwhelm, sorrow, fear, anger, helplessness, hopelessness, empathy fatigue, compassion burnout, whatever we may experience- the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ is bringing life where we see loss and emptiness.  The Risen Christ is bringing joy and wonder in the midst of hopelessness and a sense of meaninglessness. What are we expecting?  What are we looking for in the midst of our lives?  How do we imagine that God might surprise us with new life, with transformation, with joy, with delight? What a great holy joke that what we perceive to be a catastrophic end just may be the beginning of newly transformed life!

Since the beginning of 2025, we have been learning and practicing new and renewed spiritual disciplines.  Today, I invite you into the spiritual practice of attention to surprise- surprise that can open your heart and mind to new ways of encountering God’s amazing, refreshing, delightful, renewing, transforming work in the world, for yourself- and joy-bringing surprise that you can share with others.

Examen practice of surprises- lightly adapted From Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Father Mark Thibodeaux 

-  In a gesture and posture of receptivity, I ask God to make God’s presence known to me in this moment. 

- I thank God for one or two of the blessings, big and small, that I received today.

- I ask God to show me a negative surprise from this past day. In my imagination, I replay the moment(s) of my day that were affected by that negative surprise, paying attention to both my interior response (attitude /disposition) and my exterior response (words/actions.)  I ask God for forgiveness for any response that was not from God’s inspiration, and I thank God for any response that was from God.

- I ask God to show me the biggest positive surprise of my day. In my imagination, I replay the moment(s) of my day that were affected by that positive surprise, again paying attention to both my interior and exterior responses.  I ask God for forgiveness for any response that was not from God (ingratitude or complacency, for example), and I thank God for any response that was.

 - I look to tomorrow. I ask God to show me a concrete way I could surprise someone tomorrow.  It could be something big, such as getting a person a gift or apologizing for something I’ve done wrong.  Or it could be something small, such as not being so grumpy with the coworker (or neighbor or family member) who gets under my skin.

- I ask God to help me desire to create this surprising moment. I try to stir up excitement in my heart about it, imagining the good that will come from it.

- If I feel called to do so, I resolve to do it and not back out.

- I end by singing or humming the refrain of my favorite hymn.

As we dwell in wonder and delight, surprise and joy, let us turn to God in prayer.

© 2025 Dvera Hadden