Arise! Dawn Has Come! And A Multi-vitamin

Darkness is at its deepest, just before sunrise. Voltaire

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope. Bernard Williams

The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. Reverend Carl Gregg

Today we will be greeting people as they come to Flowery Divide for Sunrise Service. The Cashmere community and their friends have been coming to this flowery hill for decades - long before the over forty years we have lived here.

They arrive to walk together amid the balsam root and lupine and all sorts of wildflowers, greeting the dawn, where the shadows of night give way to the promise of a new day. This is resurrection morning for individuals and the community. This is the dawn of hope.

The first Easter as reported in the New Testament did not begin with choirs or certainty. It began in grief. Women carrying spices to anoint a body. Feet heavy with sorrow. Hearts broken open. And yet, into that quiet heartbreak came the most surprising...almost alarming, awe-filled news. For how could it be - "He is not here."

Resurrection didn’t burst forth with fanfare. It came gently, personally. Mary in the garden hears her name. Thomas touches wounds. The disciples on the road feel their hearts burn. The risen Christ comes not to demand allegiance but to breathe peace. He shows up, again and again, not as a triumphant warrior but as a wounded healer.

And so, we too rise this Sunday morning—not with perfect faith, but with open hearts. We rise with our doubts, our questions, our weariness. Resurrection does not require certainty. It only asks that we show up. Just as we are.

This sacred story we once again share today is not just something that happened long ago—it is happening now. Resurrection is not a one-time miracle; it is the deep truth of the universe. Life refuses to be extinguished. Love cannot be buried. Every morning, the sun returns.

This was clear to me in 2020 when John and I and our grandson Eli continued the Flowery Divide Sunrise Service when churches were closed. When people were not allowed to congregate. But life refuses to die. Love cannot be shut down. We took bread together. We drank juice. We breathed in the air of hope despite what was happening in the world. I felt utterly defiant.

Every spring, green shoots break through winter’s soil. Here on Flowery Divide, sometimes little trees grow right out of a teeny crack in a rock. It amazes John and me. We are reminded that every teeny act of kindness, every gesture of mercy, every moment of justice cracks open more life into the world.

In a time when our planet groans, when many feel depressed, and exhausted by fear or cynicism, Easter is not a naïve denial of suffering—it is a fierce insistence that death will not have the final word. That love is stronger. That hope is stubborn. That the tomb is empty, and our hearts can be full.

For all of us gathered here for these many years, we remember that resurrection is for all. It is not confined to a single religion or nation or tradition—it is the incredible, divine rhythm of renewal that pulses through all creation.

Today, let us be Life people. Let us rise by creating communities where all are welcomed, where all lives matter, where the earth is cherished, and where the love is in action.

The stone is rolled away. Maybe some think of the story literally, others more metaphorically. Either way the point is that morning has broken the world open once again. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. The bees are hard at work.

Let us show up for the party. Walk into this day— more open, braver, more tender, hopefully defiant, more mindful. Perhaps even in awe. Spiritually aware. Seeing the amazing beauty of it all. The amazing beauty of us all.

Life has risen. The earth sings, shouts, nudges us, "Hey, pay attention, look what at what I am doing! Follow my example." We too can arise. We can flower and flourish together.

How may we continue to be inspired by a two thousand year old religious story of resurrection and hold on to our sacred rituals to awaken within ourselves new lives of compassion, courage, hope, awe, resilience, and joy?

We kept the tradition of Sunrise Service alive even...and especially during COVID times. Our grandson invited several little dinosaur friends.

Sunrise 2020 on Flowery Divide

I took this photo a couple of days ago...aimed toward the west

Now a postscript coming from a slightly different angle. It's about caring for ourselves, healing ourselves, both physically and emotionally so that we can be strong, connected, happy and helpful in the world according to scientific research . I love it when we see the overlap of ancient wisdom and modern science. Yes...nature (or Creation for the more spiritually inclined) heals us. In SO many ways. Here is some research synthesized by Dr. Jeremy Dean.

The nature remedy reduces depression, ADHD and fights cancer, obesity and more.

Being in nature relaxes the mind, which in turn enhances the immune system.

This may explain why nature has a remarkably beneficial effect on a wide range of conditions including depression, ADHD, cancer, diabetes, obesity and many more.

Dr Ming Kuo, who carried out the research, explained how nature helps:

“When we feel completely safe, our body devotes resources to long-term investments that lead to good health outcomes — growing, reproducing, and building the immune system. When we are in nature in that relaxed state, and our body knows that it’s safe, it invests resources toward the immune system.”

Being happy and relaxed are obviously good for your immune system in any case.

So relaxing indoor activities are also good for you, but probably not to the extent of being in nature, Dr Kuo said:

“If you are absorbed and relaxed, chances are your parasympathetic system is happy and your immune system is going to get a boost. That said, these enjoyable indoor activities don’t provide the phytoncides, mycobacterium vaccae, negative air ions, vitamin D-producing sunlight, and other active ingredients found outdoors.

To reach these conclusions, Dr Kuo reviewed a large range of studies on the connection between nature and good health.

She described nature as a sort of magical multivitamin:

“I pulled every bit of the research in this area together that I could find, and was surprised to realize I could trace as many as 21 possible pathways between nature and good health–and even more surprised to realize that all but two of the pathways shared a single common denominator.

The realization that there are so many pathways helps explain not only how nature promotes health, but also why nature has such huge, broad effects on health.

Nature doesn’t just have one or two active ingredients.It’s more like a multivitamin that provides us with all sorts of the nutrients we need.

That’s how nature can protect us from all these different kinds of diseases — cardiovascular, respiratory, mental health, musculoskeletal, etc. — simultaneously.”

Some people come to the Sunrise Service and never or rarely step inside a church. They say outside in nature is where they feel the most alive and connected to a healing source of life.

How might we, wherever we are in our journey, acknowledge the power of nature?

And here I must mention our good friend for many years, Dr. Ed Meyer who died last week just as he inched toward being a 100. We often asked him how we could care for creation... for it was the message he tried to preach by example. He said, "Start by appreciating nature." I don't think Ed thought of himself as a particularly spiritual person, but I must disagree.

I talked to Ed last year as Earth Day rolled around. Every word he said opened me more to the power of nature and the importance of us understanding.

How might we begin our individual and collective healing, become more alive, by appreciating nature or Creation?

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."  Rachel Carson

"Nature has the power to heal because it is where we are from, it is where we belong and it belongs to us as an essential part of our health and our survival.  Nooshin Razani 

"I go to nature to be soothed, healed, and to have my senses put in order." John Burroughs