In the Morning, Joy: An Easter Homily, Rev. Josh Pawelek, April 20, 2025

The choir sang “In the Morning, Joy,” by the American composer Mark Hayes. This piece is an adaptation of Psalm 30 in the Hebrew scriptures. Christian churches often incorporate Psalm 30 into their Easter liturgies. In English, the relevant excerpt typically sounds like this:

O God, you brought up my soul from Sheol,

restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Sing praises to God, O you his faithful ones,         

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger is but for a moment;         

his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may linger for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

          Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

It’s so important to acknowledge the weeping—that is, the sadness, grief, pain, anger, discomfort, disorientation, disillusionment, disbelief—all those things you may be feeling, either in your private life, your personal life; or in response to events in the life of our nation and our planet. We need to name the weeping clearly and honestly. It’s healthy to do so. We need to accept that all of it may linger through the proverbial night. And that proverbial night may be long.

But joy comes with the morning. That’s an Easter message. Joy comes with the morning, and we can help it come as we find little things we can do—little things within our capacity, little actions we can take, support we can provide, comfort we can give, music we can make, love and compassion we can share. We need this Easter message in our lives. No matter how difficult things may get, joy comes with the morning.

When I first read this passage from Psalm 30 I was excited that it mentioned the pit. “You brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.” There was another mention of a pit in our service this morning. Well, it wasn’t a pit. It was a deep, dark hole. Do you remember it? Where was it?

It was part of the story Emmy read—Rabbityness from the children’s book author and graphic designer Jo Epsom. Rabbit had disappeared, and the other rabbits were upset. All they saw was a deep, dark hole. (A pit.) But when they finally went down into the hole, it wasn’t scary at all. There were Rabbit’s art supplies and musical instruments, all the unrabbity sources of joy Rabbit had been sharing with them. They were sad. They missed Rabbit. But they were able to continue Rabbit’s unrabbity activities, filling the forest with color and music. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

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Today is Easter. As the story goes, after a quick, sham trial, the Roman Empire oversaw the execution of Jesus on Good Friday. His body was placed in a tomb (we might say a pit or a hole) and a stone laid in front of the mouth of the tomb. When Jesus’ friends, sad and grieving, came to retrieve his body two days later, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. At first they were afraid. Later, different people claimed to have encountered Jesus alive. Word of his resurrection spread. Though weeping may linger for the night, joy comes with the morning.

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Friends, I’ve been struggling. I’ve been struggling most immediately with how much to talk about what’s happening in our nation right now in this Easter homily; and just struggling more generally, like many of you, with what’s happening in our nation. But I know colleagues across the country are spending their Easter homilies clearly and honestly naming the weeping. I’m young enough to be able to say I’ve never seen things quite so bad in our country. I’ve never seen such callous disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, or for the economic well-being of its people, or for the civil rights of its people, or for the rights of states and various institutions—especially schools at all levels—to conduct their affairs in the way they see fit. I’ve never witnessed such blatant trashing of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause stating that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” I’ve never seen people taken off the streets and deported without so much as a hearing. We say his name: Kilmar Ábrego García, but we know he is not the only one who has been denied his Constitutional due process rights. I’ve been struggling with the magnitude of it all. I suppose I’ve been struggling because some days I can’t see my way out of the pit. Some days I can’t go down the hole far enough to find the colors and the musical instruments. Some days the stone is still in place. I  haven’t found the empty tomb. Some days I can’t see the joy that comes in the morning, can’t touch it, taste it, smell it, hold it.

But I welcome this Easter celebration. I welcome the Easter story, because it is a story of faith. And when I am struggling, I have learned to lean into faith.

Faith that the Easter message is true. Faith that Joy will indeed come with the morning, even if I can’t find it yet.

Faith that mystery, magic and miracles are real, and as we find ways to let them enter into our lives, joy comes.

Faith that spirit and divinity are real, that there are things in this world that we ought to call sacred, ought to call holy, and as we find ways to let them enter into our lives, joy comes.

Faith that a great multitude of people will rise up in response to injustice, will rise up in response to oppression, will rise up in response to exclusion, will rise up in response to cruelty, will rise up in response to hatred, will rise up in response to inhumanity; and with the uprising joy will come.

Faith that resurrection is real, that we can actually see it. That we can see it in all the ways our deceased love-ones live on in our lives, the ways they speak to us in signs we never expected to read; the ways their love continues to bless us and the world. We see it every year in springtime when the earth is new and fresh and green. We see it, as the poet E.E. Cummings says, in the leaping greenly spirits of trees / and a blue true dream of sky; and [in] everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes.” As we recognize the truth of resurrection in all these dimensions, joy comes.

I am struggling. I know many of you are struggling. Right now it is time for faith in this very simple Easter morning message. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Amen and blessed be.