A Resurrection Birthday!

Today is the most celebratory worship experience in the liturgical calendar, Easter Sunday! In our church, we initially gather outside around a bonfire with noisemakers in hand, while a presider bangs loudly on the church door three times, saying, 

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in.” Then, from inside the building, a voice queries: “Who is the King of glory?” And the presider shouts, “The LORD, he is the King of glory.” 

Immediately, a cacophony of horns, drums, kazoos, and bells erupts, and we, the people, respond by exclaiming “Alleluia!” Let me just say, it’s a goose-bump moment!  

Not only is today Easter Sunday, but it’s also my birthday. A big birthday. Today I begin a new decade—my 70’s. It’s one of those birthdays that naturally invites reflection. A birthday that evokes a certain nostalgia regarding life lived and life yet to live. How many more birthdays will I celebrate? This birthday is undoubtedly a milestone because it signals what is likely my last decade of significant contribution; a decade notable because of the acceleration of aging. Yet, I’m holding on to hope that this significant birthday can also be a resurrection birthday! 

That’s why it didn’t surprise me when a curious question came to me while I was journaling this week. 

Is there any part of me that needs to be resurrected? An aspect of me that has died, and God longs to revive? 

It happens, doesn’t it? Over our lifetime, we experience many small and large deaths that steal our hope, crush our dreams, and damage our faith. The consequence of these small and large deaths is that part of us dies! Our playful and curious part. Our risk-taking, courageous part. Our faith-filled and trusting part. Like an arrow to their hearts, these precious capacities we once possessed become deflated—sometimes instantly and, at other times, little by little over our lifetime. 

As we sat around the table at lunch during Fall Creek Abbey’s Holy Week Retreats, I heard numerous examples of these small and large deaths. The concern and lament of a mother who wonders what kind of world her young daughter is going to grow up in. The tragic tale of a gay man who was subjected to conversion therapy through his childhood fundamentalist church. The heartache of two mothers who grieve together over their adult kids who want nothing to do with Jesus. 

Living the Paschal Mystery, Again and Again

Some Christians speak of being “reborn” as a single event in our lives; a one-time occasion when we open our hearts like the ancient doors and allow the King of Glory to enter. But other traditions describe spiritual rebirth as a process that occurs repeatedly throughout our lives. We live and re-live the paschal mystery of life-death-resurrection. I appreciate this perspective. In fact, I believe it to be the most authentic way to live a rich and full, Christi-oriented life. Continual rebirth is what gives me hope this Easter morning; hope that this (big) birthday can also be a resurrection birthday! 

One of the reasons I hold this hope is because of the interior work God has been doing in and with me over the last several months. Amid keeping pace with Holy Week, which culminates in Resurrection Sunday, I have felt the flutters of new life stirring within me. A familiar sensation. A birthing of some deeper liberation, one that I’m not quite ready to write about.

We don’t know what transpired in the tomb when Jesus’ lifeless body became animated, but I imagine it involved the breath of God. So I find myself praying this morning, “Breathe on me, breath of God.” Though I also don’t fully know what this new flutter of life within me means or what this new decade holds, I do trust that there will be many opportunities to re-live the paschal mystery until the day comes for my final resurrection--that day when I meet the risen Christ, face to face!

That feels real to write. And hopeful. 

 Happy Resurrection Sunday! And Happy Resurrection Birthday to me! 

Warmly, Beth Booram

Fall Creek Abbey

April 5, 2026