Midweek Faith Lift
April 8, 2026
The Sunrise of Life-Resurrection
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
April 1, 2026
A father took his boy into a toyshop. The boy got away from his dad and found a statue of a man made of balloons. The boy looked at it for a minute, and then he drew back his fist and hit the balloon man just as hard as he could. The man fell over, and then popped right up. The confused boy backed off and looked at him again and then hit him again as hard as he could. Again, the man fell over, and again he popped right back up. The boy’s father walked around the corner and saw his son hit the balloon man. The father asked the son, “Why do you think he comes back up when you hit him and knock him down?” The boy thought for a minute and said, “I don’t know. I guess it’s because he’s standing up on the inside.”
"At its deepest level, Easter is not only about the resurrection of one life, but about the eternal possibility of resurrection within every life. As Thomas Troward wrote, 'Jesus was not the great exception; he was the great example.' Easter is not merely a remembrance of a divine prophet from two millennia ago; it is an invitation to awaken to the divinity within ourselves, to the sacred potential that lives and breathes and awaits to rise in each of us." - Scott Awbrey, Spiritual Passages
Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has
risen upon you.
Affirmative Prayer for today: Infinite Spirit, Infinite Love that is in us and all around us, we are transformed by letting go and letting come all that is possible in this amazing human/Divine Life that we are so blessed to experience every day. Amen.
Happy Easter, dear ones, and Happy Spring, happy new life! I was amazed to look out the window this past Tuesday morning and see daffodils blooming in the back of my yard. It happens every year, and every year I seem to be surprised and delighted that it happened again! Sometimes, the ones in the way back don’t bloom….but this year, they are like the balloon man in the opening story-fearless in the face of cold and snow and willing to bloom no matter what! That is really the essence of the Easter story for us, the basic question for us; are we willing to bloom, no matter what? And if so, how does that look for us, how does it happen?
Today, Easter, we are celebrating the process of resurrection. Jesus’ great demonstration was to show his followers that for sure, there is more to our human experience than just the human dimension, the suffering dimension. He talked about it all the time and in healing people and lifting them up in his ministry, he demonstrated it continually. He invited his followers to have faith in his messages of love and forgiveness over and over again. These were messages of how to transform our lives from a consciousness of suffering and resignation to a consciousness of triumph, faith, love, compassion and a resurgence of the power of life within us. This is the spiritual energy of the power of Life that is greater than just our human life, this is awakening to our Divine Self.
We all experience the many crucifixions of life. Each crucifixion experience holds the possibility of transformation that brings resurrection. Who among us has not had the “gut punch” experience that just knocks the wind right out of you such that you cannot just go on? When that happens, in the midst of great suffering, we either wake up to the truth that we are more than what has knocked us down or we become bitter, hardened, resentful and hateful. Jesus’ crucifixion experience tells us that we are not alone in our suffering and that the potential for transformation is always there, in the midst of our suffering.
This is not about heaven and an “after life” this is about how to embrace a higher consciousness, awakening to a greater reality right here and now in the midst of our human challenges. What is true for us in this human dimension is that each time we peacefully and skillfully navigate what is painful, unfair, morally wrong and based on someone’s lie, we are filled with a resurgence of energy and love. First, we experience the pain, and then we pray, and then we choose love and compassion rather than hate or fear. That is not easy, but that is the message of Jesus, our Way-Shower. It happens in this life, here and now. Here is how Rev. Scott Awbrey describes it in Spiritual Passages:
When Jesus walked out of the tomb, he emerged into the fullness of his divine nature. He was becoming all he was called to be, and in doing so, showed us that resurrection is not only an event, but a realization."
That means to me that Easter is not just a one and done, but an ongoing process of becoming all that is truly possible for us. It is a process of waking up and remembering who we really are so deeply that it becomes an ever- present reality of how we live.
Each Easter season, we confront the cross once again. It is a powerful symbol that represents the intersection of our human/Divine identity with the horizontal beam as our human timeline and the vertical beam our Divine identity. We live our highest expression when we live in the awareness of the the intersection of the beams. That is when our higher nature informs, guides, directs and supports our human nature. When we live in conscious awareness of this intersection, we pause, make mindful choices when presented with challenges and crucifixion experiences. We decide to break the cycle of hate and division here and now. How does that look or sound? This passage from Lori Deschene that came across my Facebook feed, really describes it well:
Be the person who breaks the cycle.
If you were judged, choose understanding. If you were rejected,
choose acceptance. If you were shamed, choose compassion.
Be the person you needed when you were hurting,
not the person who hurt you.
Vow to be better than what broke you—to
heal instead of becoming bitter
so you can act from your heart, not your pain.
Our story line, the ups and downs of our human journey are all opportunities to wake up and discover who we really are so that our human life is more consciously infused with our divine identity. It is always there in us, we just have to wake up to it and recognize it in all the little choices we make every day. And we have lots of opportunities to do this, opportunities to affirm life, resurrection every time we experience another gut punch in our human journey. Our spiritual practice is to stay prayed up, to stay spiritually awake so that when the challenge comes, we can meet it with love and compassion, honesty and integrity.
So how does that look in real time? Just about a year ago, there was a story in the Des Moines Register that featured my ex-husband as the first gay Iowan to legally marry a Thai person in Thailand. It was a long article and was also in the Ames Trib. It was full of inaccuracies and misrepresentation of the truth and my children and I were all named in the article, even though we were not contacted by the reporter to verify the facts. Oh my, that was not a memory lane I cared to go down for sure….it was reminder of an old gut punch in a public way. I decided to just ignore it, give it no more energy or attention and take the higher spiritual road, so to speak. Just pray it away, Deb, right?
The next week the editor stated in the Sunday editorial section, how the Register took pride in the accuracy of their reporting. Well, take a deep breath, Deb because now you are called to really step up and speak up. So, I prayed about it and then wrote a long email detailing all the inaccuracies in the article and sent it to the editor! I sent it Monday morning, and Monday afternoon I received a response from the reporter who wanted to speak with me if possible. It was a crucifixion experience for him, for sure and he was very grateful for my graciousness about it. I was a bit like that bobble toy in the first story—lots of strength to stand up on the inside. He will never forget this story and will not repeat his mistakes of not checking on the truth of what he is told.
We are filled with spiritual strength on the inside that keeps us upright and growing and learning from every gut punch. Realizing that is what Easter is all about. There is a frequently used mantra in Centers for Spiritual Living which is a cousin to Unity, and thatis: 'There is one Life; this Life is God; this Life is Perfect; this is my life now.' Affirming that this is my Life now affirms the Easter promise…Let that be our mantra this Easter….
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb