Sunny Celebration
It was a
glorious day.
No one could
have picked a more perfect Sunday to celebrate the joy of Easter.
I remember
hearing the birds sing during the Sunrise service.
The sun made
her way over the horizon (read: the jr.
high) just as we said our final ‘Amen’ and greeted one another once more,
“Christ has risen indeed!”
Our 40 days in
the wilderness and our slow march during Holy Week turned into a bright hour of
song and celebration as we celebrated the gift of resurrection during worship
at 10am.
Sunday, was, well, pretty perfect.
Easter has come
and gone now….
Or has it?
As many of you
know, Easter isn’t but 1 Sunday. No, it is actually 50 days! Thus, for the next
6 or 7 weeks we will hear stories of the post-resurrected Jesus.
We do this to
remind ourselves that we are in fact an Easter people!
The work
isn’t done. Rather, now is the season and time for us to celebrate the life we
receive from God’s grace. Now is the time to celebrate the sunny days and the
joy of laughter. Now is the time to thank God for life—for today—for our
friends and family—thank God for
YOU!
Creation isn’t done with ‘resurrection’ either. Trees are blooming; daffodils are
opening; and grass is growing. Before you know it, the slow process of
re-creation will have completely consumed our neighborhoods.
This work, this
re-creation, is also happening in you.
Everyday God is
shaping you into the person who God wants you to become. Believe it. Trust it.
Embrace it. As an Easter people we are reminded that God has never given up on
us and that not even death could keep God’s love for us down.
So friends, I
encourage you to practice resurrection in the coming days. Celebrate the gift
of a new day…this new season.
Easter has not
passed us. Rather, it is just beginning.
Also, in honor
of national poetry week, I want to share a poem by my favorite writer, Thomas Merton
that has set my course for this Easter season.
Take thought, man, tonight. Take thought, man tonight when it is dark, when it is raining. Take thought of the game you have forgotten. You are the child of a great and peaceful race. You are the son of an unutterable fable. You were discovered on a mild mountain. You have come up out of the godlike ocean. You are holy, disarmed, signed with a chaste emblem. You are also marked with forgetfulness. Deep inside your breast you were the number of loss. Take thought, man, tonight. Do this. Do this. Recover your original name. This is the early legend that returns. This is the legend that begins again. Remember the ancient dances. (He has remembered the whole world at peace. He has remembered the world of villages, of maize, of emeralds, of quiet mothers. He has lifted up the world.)
May you during this Easter season, discover your original name.
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