Easter Sermon: "Verse Jumping", 2023 | Everything, Everywhere, All At Once

Sermon: Verse Jumping

Text: Matthew 28:1-10

Today's reflection comprises seven small chapters, akin to seven tree rings or seven turns of a kaleidoscope, reflecting rainbow lights.

Turning a kaleidoscope is not only fun but also quite philosophical. An inventive optical instrument, it is filled with an array of colourful, moving pieces that come together to create a unique, mesmerizing vision. As you turn it, beads, glass chips, or other colourful trinkets already shift about, reflected by mirrors, presenting us with new discoveries.

Kaleidoscope. RED.

This Holy Week presented a unique kaleidoscope cosmos. Fast-paced and dizzying, many moving pieces were in play: Mark was travelling for Easter, our senior office administrator resigned, and her last day with us at BVU was on Thursday. The beautiful and successful Maundy Thursday meal and the meaningful, rich experience of Good Friday services filled me with deep gratitude. It was a very full kaleidoscope vision. I am so glad to be here, safe and sound, celebrating the wonderful Easter joy with you! Hallelujah!

I am so glad and, to be honest, so relieved… In the midst of this RED Holy Week tube, I paused for a moment, feeling pulled in every direction, and told myself, "Wait a minute. Breathe. Think. Feel. Be You (Meghan's mantra!). What does Easter mean to you?" If I truly ask myself what Easter means to me, (not how I can convey meaning to others, but through my own process of reflection) the question becomes personal, real and impactful.

Last September, I was called to be Co-Lead minister here with Mark and be part of the joy of growing and sharing together as a community of faith at BVU. The seven months since I arrived have been a radical time of learning and growth for me. (Last week, I told people that I had been here for "5 or 6 months". Time flies!) You know BVU, and I now know it well, too—there's never a dull moment! It was as if every week, there was a total turnover in the BVU kaleidoscope universe! I have been SO busy adapting through learning and gathering BVU data, languages, and information; it felt like I was becoming an AI (artificial intelligence)! Then, with the heartfelt support of so many of you, I finally gained deeper confidence and am ready to rediscover the joy of "H.I." (Ha Na Intelligence). Only through rediscovering my personal intelligence can I answer, "What does Easter mean to me?". The question, "What does Easter mean to you? To me?" reveals two important kaleidoscope pieces: What is Easter? What does it mean to me? In other words, who am I, and who will I become?

Kaleidoscope. Orange. 

A few weeks ago, my family decided to have a movie night at home. We chose last year's ground-breaking Oscar-winning film, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, starring the incredible Michelle Yeoh. For those of you who haven't watched this movie yet, (while being very careful not to spoil it) here's a quick movie trailer. (Play YouTube.)

Evelyn Quan Wang is a middle-aged Chinese-American immigrant who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond. In the midst of the kaleidoscopic chaos of this family, what triggers all the events that follow is that the laundromat is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While Evelyn sits and faces a hostile IRS agent, she starts "Universe jumping" by the sudden invitation of her "weak" husband's Alphaverse Waymond version, who explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternate universe.

 

That’s the important part: many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternate universe. The rest of the movie is based on that premise: our choices matter, even the little ones.

 

You really need to watch the film to understand all I am saying, and even if you watched it, you might still, like me, need to check the story online to fill the gaps. As I said, it is a kaleidoscopically dizzy and messy manifestation of a multiverse-hopping journey, but it is truly worth watching. What I want to introduce to you, though, is just one fun concept from Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: ‘verse (Universe) jumping. To do ‘verse jumping, you need to do something extremely unusual, out of the ordinary, to hop on to another version of yourself in the past or in the unrealized universe that could have happened if you made some different choices. 'Verse jumping allows characters to explore alternate realities, revealing hidden aspects of their identities, and unlocking their untapped potential and the world around them. 'Verse jumping enables people to access Thea abilities, memories, and bodies of their parallel-universe selves by performing bizarre, unlikely actions. 

 

For example, the first things required for Evelyn to do ‘Verse jumping were switching shoes to the wrong feet, thinking about being inside the janitor's closet, etc. The first thing her husband Waymond did to trigger ‘verse jumping’ was ‘eating the lip balm.’ But ultimately, through gaining more power and understanding by discovering not only her multiverses but others' (like her husband's, daughter Joy's, father Gong Gong's, and their multiverse's influences on her multiverses and choices), at the end of the movie, Evelyn understands that, while she became a "fighter" in her life to survive as an immigrant woman, the great power to rearrange a new kaleidoscopic reality is to gain "empathy" for herself and for the world, especially for her daughter. She must learn to use her multiverse powers to not just fight, but fight with empathy, and bring happiness to herself and those around her -- and to know who Evelyn is and who she will become. 

I can relate to Evelyn… Throughout my life, I started to realize that there were many multiverses of others and systems around me; patriarchy, sexism, family expectations, church power structures, not to mention racism… As I established myself and my path, I became a fighter. I came to believe that the ultimate advisor, mentor, and resource who could help me stand on my own feet is me. I developed the attitude that I already have the resources I need within me. But now, in this ministry position, with the privileges and support I have with BVU, I see that I can let my guard down. I am learning to let God work, let the Spirit flow, even while trusting myself. I am very grateful for this place and this community.

 

Kaleidoscope. Daffodil yellow.

 

What does Easter mean?

 

I wonder if Easter involves journeying again and again with Jesus, who has done and still does, in a unique way at every turn, ‘verse jumping to the multiverses of God's world. Is there an even bigger event that is deeper than death? Life? Life beyond death? In Christ’s journey, defined by love for all humanity, creation, and God's transformative, heart-aching love for all those who suffer, those who strive to build peace in this kaleidoscopic, fascinating, and at the same time dreadful world... 

Like the journey of a daffodil, deeply planted, sheltering itself as a bulb through the winter, and hopping to the new universe of the spring. On Holy Saturday, Jesus descends to the underworld, Sheol, the Jewish place of the dead, and rises with all creation on Easter. With Jesus, we can explore powerful and painful emotions safely because we tap into the death and life of Jesus during Holy Week and the mystery of Easter.

 

Kaleidoscope. Wheatgrass green.

 

In today's Easter account of the empty tomb (Imagine this incredible, statistically improbable multiverse of the Risen Christ), Mary Magdalene met the messenger who said to her, "Jesus is not here, for he has been raised. … Then, go quickly and tell the other disciples, 'Jesus has been raised from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee! There you will see him!'" As soon as Mary and the others left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" HI~~~. "Do not be afraid; go and tell the disciples to go to Galilee; there they will see me." 

Why Galilee? 

Kaleidoscope. Blue.

 

In this kaleidoscope chapter of blue, I invite you to gather with me around the blue (?) lake in Galilee, where Jesus began his ministry and called the first disciples, where his disciples performed their first unusual choices to follow Jesus: They threw their fishing nets away. They moved away from their patriarch - father, and chose to learn the very unusual ways of God, to tap into the potentials of the Kingdom of God. 

With Jesus' extraordinary vision of God's love, the disciples experienced many, dizzy, messy, kaleidoscopic multiverse jumps — later, through their own deaths for truly living the life of a disciple of Jesus, the breaker of bread and maker of life-giving water. Jesus invites the disciples to "go back" to the multiverse of the past, the place of the origin of everything, everywhere, all at once, “back to Galilee!. Without the physical presence of Jesus, the disciples must tap into something more that they should learn together as a community. Go to Galilee. ‘Verse jump!

 

Kaleidoscope. Indigo.

So, how do we encounter the Risen Christ? How do we witness Easter and resurrection in our own lives and in the world today? ‘Verse jump, learn the stories in the Bible (and other wisdom traditions and resources, of course), especially those that invite us to enable universe jumps through choices and actions that are statistically low, out of the ordinary; require gaining the power to fight for justice, with love and empathy, in Jesus's way... We have many stories and parables like that in the Gospels.

 

The Prodigal Child

 

The Good Samaritan

 

Feeding the Five Thousand

 

The Unnamed Woman who broke open the alabaster jar of very costly ointment and poured it on Jesus's head... (This woman truly knows how to do ‘verse jumping…)

 

Kaleidoscope. Violet.

 

• So, what does Easter mean to you? (Not for anyone else; your singular interpretation)
• What unusual, extraordinary action or alternative reality in your life would you visit to rediscover yourself and the meaning of resurrection?
• Which story or parable would you like to "go back to” and experience the Gospel's multidimensional power?
• Where is your Galilee?

The answers you give now are not static – they will change from year to year, even moment to moment. That’s what’s supposed to happen – God gave us a kaleidoscope world, a kaleidoscope faith. In a kaleidoscope, the elements do not change – only the way they come together in our vision, our understanding. We learn and the universe shifts around us. God’s vision, God’s works, always in sight as we jump, and jump again.