Catching up history

By Rev. Paul L. Escamilla, Senior Pastor

In The Divine Comedy, Dante writes about his trek from the pit through purgatorio, and on through the celestial spheres, until he finally approaches the highest reaches of paradise. As he draws near, he hears something he’s never heard before—what sounds to him like “the laughter of the universe.”

Theologian Harvey Cox, referring to Dante’s description in When Jesus Came to Harvard, wrote: “The whole universe laughing? The solar system, the Milky Way, the hundred billion galaxies that surround our earthly protons, all bent over in convulsions of hilarity? A laughter that somehow catches up an entire history of sobs and cries of pain? The last laugh of the God of life after so many deaths and defeats . . . .”

Easter is the event that leads us to precisely that hope—the possibility of history getting caught up. And every gesture of goodness, every act of kindness, every invitation to faith, every song of praise, every witness to compassion or mercy, every confession, every reconciliation, every faithful challenge to misused power and every use of power on behalf of those without is God’s working in God’s people to catch up history.

During “the Great Fifty Days” of Eastertide at Laurel Heights, in all the ways we gather and disperse, worship and serve, we’ll have our part in catching up history. Among them:

Water Walk May 4th
Continuing the Conversation May 5th 4:00 p.m.
Blood Drive May 19th 9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Senior Sunday May 19th
Gathering Gods Harvest: Exploring Service Opportunities — through May
Project Transformation promotion — through May

I can already hear, very faintly, the laughter of the universe. I hope you can, too.

Grace and peace.
Paul