On this
night/day as the world prepares for slumber/work,
or gets
caught up in the latest episode of whatever,
or is taken
in by the passing Stanley cup fever,
we
Christians gather to pray,
to move
from darkness to light,
to come to
the tomb only to find it empty.
We gather with
our sorrow and pains,
we gather
with our hurts and fears,
we gather
with our trials and hardships,
bringing
them all with us
but knowing
that no matter what we bring with us,
no matter
how heavy the burden or light the load
we know
that we have hope for our Redeemer Lives!
Christ is
Risen! Alleluia!
Henri
Nouwen once wrote:
“Hope means
to keep living amid the desperation and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping
is knowing that there is love, it is trust in tomorrow, it is falling asleep
and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of the gale at sea,
it is to
discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that you are understood.
As
long as there is still hope there will also be prayer.
And you will be held in
God’s hands.”
This is the
truth behind Easter. This is the promise of the Risen Lord. This is what we
celebrate… that hope and love and life always win over darkness, fear and
death. Our hope maybe begin as faint humming but will turn to full out singing
when we remember and encounter that Christ is Risen and among us. Ah huh… there
it is… “among us”… that hope that was promised to us when we he was born… Emmanuel… God With Us! It is through his
cross, death and resurrection that he indeed is among us always, even when we
doubt or don’t believe… he never leaves us today, tomorrow, asleep or awake, in
the storms of life, in our prayers…never because we are always held in God's hands; God's crucified hands; God's hands of love. This is a beautiful gift and this is the
hope that I continue to discover in my life and the hope that is anchored in my
depths. It is one that I pray each of us can hold on to and let it fashion us
to be hope-bearers, light-bearers, Christ-bearers for our hurting, scary,
struggling world. We must live knowing that Emmanuel was born for all and that
He is the One who lived among us and continues to be with us today and always
until the end of time!
This is
Easter my friends… this is the joy of Easter… this is God laughing in the face
of the devil and evil and every sin that tries to steal us from the gift of God’s
mercy. This is God laughing with great joy and saying, “I don’t think so Satan,
these ones and those ones, and even the ones who won’t darken a door of church
this Easter, or those lost in the latest fad or those who cheer louder for
their hockey team then for my son, all of them… Jesus, my Son, died for all of them…
because we love them more than anything and they are created good and holy and
because they are created in my image they are mine! And just when you think you
had won and had it all, there in that moment.., at his tomb… my love was so
strong… and my son, my only Son, my beloved Son…
he lives… He lives… He Lives
and his Spirit is among all my people… so with great joy I laugh in the face of
your darkness for “Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” (1
Corinthians 15.55-57) NOWHERE… for the victory (the hope and the love) is in Christ Jesus Risen!” :)
And so let
Alleluia be our song
for it is…
A song of hope!
A song of
victory!
A song of
promise!
A song of
praise!
A song that
reminds us that
Christ is Risen,
He has
trampled death
and he is with us always!
Alleluia
reminds us that we have been transformed by the cross of Christ and that his
wounds have set us free. We have been transformed because we have been redeemed
and we walk in the light of our Risen Lord!
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
He Lives!
Easter
Blessings!
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