Bettyann and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a play in which our granddaughter starred, the first week of April, in northeastern New Jersey. Even though it was gray, rainy, cold, and with plowed dirty snow still piled in parking lots, we also noticed that there was a great amount of anticipation leading up to Easter Sunday. Church signs, announcing “special services, masses, etc., yards of homes featured bunnies, windows with decaled decorated eggs, flowers and such. Overhearding a priest say to the young man, behind the counter, at the bagel shop, “will I see you Easter Sunday, I will miss seeing your dad this year,” I thought; “even for those who are ‘Christmas and Easter”’ church-goers, or for those who simply sit at home and dream of Easter baskets, chocolate rabbits, and colored eggs, anticipating Easter, on the one hand, is like waiting for the door to finally be unlocked, unhinged and opened onto a verdant spring meadow. On the other hand, illustrated by one young woman customer saying to another, “it’s been so miserable all winter, god, I can’t wait for Easter to be over,” Easter is stepping out onto that meadow and closing the door behind on the long, cold, dreary winter.
Having given it more thought, now that's Easter Sunday is passed, I suppose for many, the day comes and goes and now what? Easter is over again until next year. For some, winter will probably still hover above and the grey of death will not give way to the springtime. The candy is eaten, the brunches are over, and everything seems to have returned to normal. All that anticipation ended in just one day—with grand celebrations and powerful sermons, and perhaps with even a first playful roll in the springtime grass—and now it's over. Or is it?
For me the celebration of Easter was insignificant if the celebration has not pointed to the continuing reality of the Risen Lord. I appreciate that in many church traditions, the season of Eastertide which lasts until Pentecost asks the question of those who lead congregations into continual contemplation of the resurrection until the day of Pentecost: how will I perceive the continuing presence of the risen Lord in reality? Will it be all about anticipating a historical event that happened long ago and only comes but once a year? Or will the entirety of my reality change as a result of the on-going presence of the Risen Lord?
Honest, I have wondered, at times, what difference the resurrection has made in the practical realities of my life. I still argue with Bettyann; I have loved ones, who mean more than the world to me and who go their own way without recognizing the Lord; I have difficulties with my business. I still see a world so broken by warfare, selfish greed, oppression and sin. Like the two men on the road to Emmaus recounting the events surrounding Jesus, sometimes I wonder aloud: "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21a). A week after, things seem pretty much as they were before Easter Sunday, and the reality of my same old life still clamors for full redemption.
This is often the way I feel when I have forgotten and think of resurrection as an event long past that only speaks to the future yet to come. I feel this way if I do not connect Jesus’ prayer for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” with the reality of the cry, “he is risen, indeed.” I’m convinced more than ever that new creation, new life, resurrected living is a possibility for me as I follow Jesus.
The risen Jesus told his followers, "As the Father has sent me, I also send you" John 20:21. Jesus' resurrection is not a promise for escape from the world, or a life free from trouble, but rather it commissions me as I remember that he is risen to be his agent in the world. He sends me out with this extraordinary news: death and evil do not have the last word! And as I live in light of the resurrection, I can gain new insight into the practical realities of my everyday life. I appreciate what N.T. Wright has concluded: "Jesus is raised, so he is the Messiah, and therefore he is the world's true Lord; Jesus is raised, so God's new creation has begun—and we, his followers, have a job to do! Jesus is raised, so we must act as his heralds, announcing his lordship to the entire world, making his kingdom come on earth as in heaven."
Father of all, I realize You have sent me out beyond Easter Sunday into Eastertide because everything has changed. As I live into and out of the resurrection, I prayfully request that Your Spirit will help in energizing me to demonstrate the continuing presence of Your Son, my risen Lord in my live and in my world.
Having given it more thought, now that's Easter Sunday is passed, I suppose for many, the day comes and goes and now what? Easter is over again until next year. For some, winter will probably still hover above and the grey of death will not give way to the springtime. The candy is eaten, the brunches are over, and everything seems to have returned to normal. All that anticipation ended in just one day—with grand celebrations and powerful sermons, and perhaps with even a first playful roll in the springtime grass—and now it's over. Or is it?
For me the celebration of Easter was insignificant if the celebration has not pointed to the continuing reality of the Risen Lord. I appreciate that in many church traditions, the season of Eastertide which lasts until Pentecost asks the question of those who lead congregations into continual contemplation of the resurrection until the day of Pentecost: how will I perceive the continuing presence of the risen Lord in reality? Will it be all about anticipating a historical event that happened long ago and only comes but once a year? Or will the entirety of my reality change as a result of the on-going presence of the Risen Lord?
Honest, I have wondered, at times, what difference the resurrection has made in the practical realities of my life. I still argue with Bettyann; I have loved ones, who mean more than the world to me and who go their own way without recognizing the Lord; I have difficulties with my business. I still see a world so broken by warfare, selfish greed, oppression and sin. Like the two men on the road to Emmaus recounting the events surrounding Jesus, sometimes I wonder aloud: "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21a). A week after, things seem pretty much as they were before Easter Sunday, and the reality of my same old life still clamors for full redemption.
This is often the way I feel when I have forgotten and think of resurrection as an event long past that only speaks to the future yet to come. I feel this way if I do not connect Jesus’ prayer for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” with the reality of the cry, “he is risen, indeed.” I’m convinced more than ever that new creation, new life, resurrected living is a possibility for me as I follow Jesus.
The risen Jesus told his followers, "As the Father has sent me, I also send you" John 20:21. Jesus' resurrection is not a promise for escape from the world, or a life free from trouble, but rather it commissions me as I remember that he is risen to be his agent in the world. He sends me out with this extraordinary news: death and evil do not have the last word! And as I live in light of the resurrection, I can gain new insight into the practical realities of my everyday life. I appreciate what N.T. Wright has concluded: "Jesus is raised, so he is the Messiah, and therefore he is the world's true Lord; Jesus is raised, so God's new creation has begun—and we, his followers, have a job to do! Jesus is raised, so we must act as his heralds, announcing his lordship to the entire world, making his kingdom come on earth as in heaven."
Father of all, I realize You have sent me out beyond Easter Sunday into Eastertide because everything has changed. As I live into and out of the resurrection, I prayfully request that Your Spirit will help in energizing me to demonstrate the continuing presence of Your Son, my risen Lord in my live and in my world.
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