Easter Weekend—2014

This Easter weekend, Mahina and I drove to Kansas City to visit our daughter, Mariah. Her boyfriend, Michael, had arrived the day before. Friday night was Mariah’s senior solo show at the Kansas City Arts Institute.

It was fantastic!

Mariah was so stressed. It wasn’t necessary. There were about a hundred people or more that came to the tiny space — some flying in from great distances — just to see her quilts. She made some really good connections and may have sold a couple of pieces and has a commission or two in the works.

Mahina and I were sitting outside speaking with the chair of the fiber department. She was going on and on about what such an amazing artist Mariah is. She stated that Mariah’s peers respect her. Also, if Mariah can produce that type of work in just one year, she’d love to see what Mariah will do in the future.

While we were talking, the local paper came by. When the photo journalist saw the crowd, she exclaimed, “Holy cow!” and went back to get more equipment from the truck. She went in and took pictures and interviewed Mariah. The story’s supposed to be in the June edition.

Mahina and I called it a night around 9:30 (the show was over about 10) and Mariah and her friends took a long deserved break.

After we all slept in the next day, we met for lunch with some of Mariah’s friends that had traveled up to see her show. After lunch, we walked around all of the little shops in the area and ended up at River Market Antiques. That’s one of our favorite places in KC! It’s four stories of awesome stuff!. We got a butter dish (our old antique broke), a leather punch (my belts are too big), and a pipe. Well, I got a pipe. We spent about 3 hours there. It’s very easy to do.

Easter Sunday, Mariah and Michael went to a Catholic church that she attends from time to time and then we all went out for breakfast. Afterwards, we went back to Mariah’s place and had a small, intimate Easter Eucharist. Her roommate, Molly, joined us.

It was one of the best services I’ve ever had the privilege of being a part of. We met on the back porch. The birds were chirping. The squirrels were playing. The flowers were singing praises.

Like usual, we read the Gospel and, instead of giving a homily, we open the floor up for discussion. The reading was John 20.1-18 (one of my favorites). We talked about how John’s Gospel deals with New Creation — of how he starts off his story about Jesus with “In the beginning…” and how Jews from the first century would have heard echoes of Genesis 1. We talked about how John used “signs” that mirrored the days of creation and how the eighth sign was the resurrection and how it happened on the “eighth day,” or the “first day of the week.” This helped us see why Mary thought the resurrected Jesus was the “gardener.”

Of course, we talked about the importance of Mary — of how she was the “apostle to the apostles.” And we saw something that I had never seen before.

In the New Creation, woman was created first.

And then men were “created.”

We saw that, when women were created first in the New Creation, the “subordinate” state and role of women was removed. They were fully restored to their rightful place as equals. Tears started to well up. It was such a moving revelation.

And the movement continued.

When we started the “Prayers of the People,” the tears were in full. I think all of us were crying. It was such a beautiful place for reflection and thankfulness and mindfulness.

We finished with the Eucharist, each one serving the other with the bread and wine, recognizing Christ in each of us.

All in all, it was one of the best Easter weekends that I can remember. I’m so thankful to my family and friends who made it all possible.

~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC