Local Minister: Easter Is About Growth, Inner Peace

On Sunday in Idaho Falls, one local minister provided an Easter message of inner peace to her congregation, and the eastern Idaho community.

In a small church, on a quiet downtown street, the Unitarian Universalist congregation sings Bob Dylan’s peaceful protest anthem, Blowin’ in the Wind. The song asks, “How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend he just doesn’t see?”

“We’ve become a society that expects that consumerism will satisfy personal need, personal desire for connection and meaning,” said Reverend Lyn Cameron, “It just doesn’t do that.”

Cameron said this Easter, and every Easter for that matter, is a time of literal growth. It’s a time to step away, she said, from the fear that has begun to grip American culture, and to surrender to a greater trust in one another.

“The message that we keep hearing again and again, is that we need to put up our defenses, we need to defend against others, which of course isn’t true,,” she said. “We need to build trust, we need to realize that human beings are made for joy, and delight, and not for fear.”

During Saturday night’s Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI told the faithful, “Today, we can illuminate our cities so brightly, that the stars in the sky are no longer visible.” On Sunday, amidst her congregation, Reverend Cameron echoed those sentiments.

“Turn off the TV. Stop comparing ourselves with others, and instead listen to your own inner voice,” she said. “Spend time in the out of doors, spend time with your family, spend time with your pets.”

An Easter message, she said, perhaps an Easter answer to an age-old question: How does one have hope in tough times?

“What we need to do is we need to change the way we think about things,” she said.

The Unitarian congregation meets regularly at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays at the church on E St. in Idaho Falls.