Resurrection Day

"... While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!'"

- Luke 24:4-6a

Easter Reflection for Holy Week

It's the middle of Holy Week and the end of a semester. As a pastor and graduate student, that means that I feel like I don't have time to sleep (let alone blog!).

As I've been reading through the gospel narratives of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection in preparation for my church's holy week services, I have been filled with this strange mixture of sadness and hope. Maybe it's not so strange, when you consider that both sadness and hope are exactly what the story should convey to us. But in most years, I don't dwell long enough on the sadness before I move on to Easter morning, the empty tomb, and the great hope we have in Christ resurrected.

This year is different. I don't know why, exactly. But I suspect that my thinking about society's larger economic woes is combining with some of my own personal struggles to be more faithful in a way that is making me dwell more on the sad aspects of a world broken by sin and alienation. I got my new copy of Newsweek this afternoon, and the cover story is an article by Jon Meacham on the decline of "Christian America." I am very leery of mixing fidelity to God and fidelity to country, but from my scan of the article it's not all about the decline of the highly politicized Religious Right. It is also about the decline of the Christian faith in our culture in general, an argument that is backed up by some statistical evidence.

The church is in a tough spot right now. We're all in a tough spot. So I thank God for the promise of Easter, because we need to hear its message now more than ever. I have an Easter column in the United Methodist Reporter this week, which I wrote both to help the church and help myself.

Happy Easter!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Whey do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you..."

- The Gospel According to Luke 24:1-12, 36

Happy Easter

O Splendor of the Father's light
That makes our daylight lucid, bright;
O Light of light and sun of day,
Now shine on us your brightest ray.

True Sun, break out on earth and shine
In radiance with your light divine;
By dazzling of your Spirit's might,
Oh, give our jaded senses light.

The Father sends his Son, our Lord,
To be his bright and shining Word;
Come, Lord, ride out your gleaming course
And be our dawn, our light's true source.

- St. Ambrose of Milan