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BY TERRI COFIELL

Through the Great Fifty Days of Easter sanctuaries will be adorned with symbols of resurrection: lilies, butterflies, and painted eggs — all reminders of new life emerging from death, all images of the empty tomb. I would propose the addition of a new symbol, one taken from Easter evening; while I doubt it finds its way onto banners or clerical stoles, I would like to make a case for the Easter Oyster.

Harmony UMC has been studying Philip Yancey's "What's So Amazing about Grace?"

Grace, set in the context of the Prodigal Son parable, was our Lenten focus. In addition to the book study we explored grace in worship, in a film series, and in a service of anointing to let go of our unwillingness to extend grace to others. We wrestled with Christ's mandate to forgive, particularly with the notion that forgiving requires forgetting.

But what does any of this have to do with oysters?

Think about the disciples on Easter evening: ignoring the women's testimony, they locked themselves away in fear. Even Peter and John, who saw the empty tomb for themselves, went into hiding. While we tend to berate the absent Thomas for refusing to believe without seeing, Jesus appeared and willingly showed his scars to the very ones who abandoned and betrayed him. Though he was without sin, the "unblemished" Lamb of God bore the marks of his suffering—our sin—in his resurrected body. But scars are not wounds; scars are signs of healing—just like pearls.

When an irritant (usually a tiny parasite) infiltrates an oyster's innards, the oyster coats it with layers of nacre, the substance that lines its shell. Over a period of three to six years, the oyster's wound becomes a thing of beauty.

Born of excruciating pain, the pearl is a sign of healing. Could there be a better symbol for God breaking the power of sin and death? "'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.'"(1 Peter 2:24)

The hurt is not forgotten; it has been covered by grace: "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…." (2 Cor. 5:19)

We tend to hide our scars, forgetting the example of a Savior who invites us to touch his own. How many others, broken and brutalized by the world, might find their healing if we were to show them the places in our lives that have been embraced and redeemed by grace?

Oysters aren't all that much to look at; neither are we when we refuse to accept or live grace. But if we offer our woundedness, our sinfulness, and even our stubbornness to God's unmerited, unearned, unconditional love, an amazing thing happens. Easter happens. We come out of our shells as something new and beautiful: God's own pearls, transformed by grace.

The Rev. Terri Cofiell is pastor of Harmony UMC in Marlowe, W.Va.