It's a tall story, the tale of the spiritual teacher who was arrested and put to death, whose body was put into a tomb and then disappeared.  It's a tall tale, the story of the spiritual teacher who was seen again after his death, who inspired his followers to go forth and teach and start a religious movement.   It's a deeply significant story that many believe is the literal truth, and I want to respect that.  This is the time of year when those believers complete a time of reflection on their personal spirituality and enter into an intense time that re-enlivens the emotions of that ancient time when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, taught at the Temple, hung out with his followers, was arrested and abused, and was put to death.  This is the time of year when they watch through the night, as his followers must have watched, mourning his death and not at all sure what would come next.  This is the time of year when they go to church on Sunday morning to be reassured that he has risen from the dead.  It is a spiritually powerful time with the potential to transform people's lives.

Still, it occurs that when little children ask, "could that really happen?" they are invited to believe and not to question.  This is far too important a matter for questions.

Many adults still carry that little child's question in their hearts. 

I want to say to those grownup little children, yes, it's all right to wonder if it could really happen.  And to remind them that even something that might not be literally true in the everyday world can have a special truth that can only come in stories.  For many of us to whom questions come, the only way to move past the question is to go through, to come out on the other side in some way.  And the other side is not the same for everyone.

In the congregation I serve, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Manchester, there are people who believe the story, usually not literally, but in some fashion that really provides a foundation of hope for their lives.  That is how they have come out on the other side of their question about Easter.  Their hope is usually partly about life beyond this life, and partly about this life.

There are also people who want to believe the story in entirely human terms, having concluded that Jesus was not God in any sense other than that all of us bear a seed of the divine within us, believe the story is a way of speaking of Jesus' power to inspire them even though he had actually died, the way humans do. For them, Easter is a reminder of the potential power of any one human life in this world, a source of joy and hope.

There are people for whom the story of Easter is sort of alien, people of a scientific bent who don't relate well to stories with no data.  They come to church on Easter because they enjoy being together with the rest of the congregation and out of a desire to understand each other better. For them, Easter is about the power of people coming together to understand one another, and the evolution of human consciousness. 

So I invite you to sit with your questions, find people to share them with, go into the tomb of not knowing, and come out again with new understanding, suffused with hope and joy.  Happy Easter!