Lent-to-Easter 2010: "It was 30 Years Ago Today" (Or "This Ending Is Also My Beginning")

As this Lenten blog for 2010 -- which included questions and reflections and an unintended sharing of my spiritual journey -- ends, it concludes with the beginning of that spiritual journey, on Easter Sunday 1980.

Prior to that I had only ever been to church for weddings or funerals, literally a handful of occasions.  Because I had been asking questions about Christianity of a friend, she invited me to a special worship service, the Easter Sunrise service.

I don't really remember many details of that day, mostly the strong emotions.  I recall not wanting to make any mistakes nor standing out in any way.  I was curious, an absolute sponge in absorbing what was taking place and trying to figure out why a group of people would board the bus from church at such an early hour, and gather to say and do what I guessed they did every Sunday.

The main thing I recall was the sun, rising over the beach... Jones Beach.  It was first time in years that Easter Sunday was without rain or clouds.  It was a glorious morning, and I had never been to a beach that was so uncrowded:  the only people there were all observing Easter.  I went home and reflected on this for at least a couple of days.  I must have had hundreds of thoughts about the existence of God, the injustices done by the church in the name of God, and deep-seated rational side of me that could not prove or disprove anything related to what I witnessed at the Sunrise Service.  In the end I concluded one thing:  the beauty of the sun rising over the beach and the love and passion I felt from the gathered were not the products of a random sequence of events.  What I felt then (and now) is that I had scratched the surface of "why" (God's Love) things are the way they are, and it was the beginning of a new period in my search for meaning.



The person who invited me to that service was a girl whom I befriended a few weeks prior.  It blossomed into a romance; she was my first girlfriend.  We broke up a few months later when I moved to St. Louis for college but we've remained friends throughout the years.  As mentioned previously, for the next two to three years I attended Mass at the Catholic student center near campus and seriously considered baptism during that period.

I started attending a Lutheran church in my junior year.  I had started looking at different denominations but the reason why I continued going to a Lutheran church was because of another girlfriend who was a lifelong Lutheran.  (You might notice a pattern here, but I don't think that pattern is unique to me.) That relationship didn't work out but by the time we had broken up I had been baptized and well on the path of my spiritual journey.

Previously I've mentioned taking Crossings classes as my adult version of Communion classes -- more fully understanding and thereby affirming my Baptism.  What I haven't mentioned is that I took two of those classes with Denise, one while we were dating and the other during our engagement.  During these classes we learned a lot about each other and our individual spiritual journeys, and then made the commitment to continue journeying together.

Something else I haven't mentioned in this Lenten blog is that many of these posts are thoughts I've had brewing in my head for years.  Most of them are things that I've mentally noted to share with my children Amy and Noah as they become old enough to discuss with them.  But the parental irony here is that even though they're now old enough to have mature discussions, the last people they want to have such conversations with are their parents.  The time will come.

But in case something happens to me before that time comes, many of the thoughts are now written down in this Lenten blog. Even though I've never seen the movie My Life, about an expectant father who learns he has a terminal illness and then creates a video diary for his baby daughter, I can certainly relate to it. It's about wanting to share a legacy.  Legacy sounds too strong a word for me, but there are certain things I've always wanted to share with Amy and Noah.

And so, on this Easter Sunday 2010 -- exactly 30 years since that life-changing Easter Sunrise Service -- I dedicate this Lenten blog to my children Amy and Noah.

To Amy and Noah:  as much as this final post is about Easter Sunday, my spiritual journey and how three women played a big part in it, this blog has not been a story about "how I met your mother" (even though that story would be amusing, romantic and nowhere near as raunchy as the TV show).  There have been many other friends and teachers along the way, a huge community of loving folk with their own spiritual journeys, many of whom are sisters and brothers in and God and Christ, across the miles and years.

No, this blog has been the story of my spiritual journey, of how I met my Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.

And I hope that it's now part of your spiritual journey, of how you continue to meet your Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.


Blessed Easter 2010!


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