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| April May 2010 | Volume 59, Issue 2 |
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Easter Season Worship: |
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- Easter
- Camp Brainers
- Mission Work
- From the Pastor's Desk
- Events & Fundraisers
- Outstanding Programs
- Al's Cleaners
- Redners
- Sponsor, Volunteer News & Information
- Ladies Circle
- OYEA News
Easter
The silence breaks into morning.
That One Star lights the world.
The lily springs to life and
not even Solomon . . .
Let it begin with singing
and never end!
Oh angels, quit your lamenting!
Oh pilgrims,
upon your knees in tearful prayer,
rise up
and take your hearts
and run!
We who were no people
are named anew,
God's people,
for he who was no more
is forevermore.
It is interesting in reading the Resurrection Stories of the gospels that they are very matter of fact. There are not a lot of scriptural references, just an angel or some other sort of messenger who reveals the tomb is empty and Jesus who was once dead now lives. It would be easy to dismiss the stories except for these limited details. Certainly if they were made up, there would have been far more: what exactly happened in that tomb? What was the first thing Jesus did? Did angels witness the actual event? When did the resurrection actually take place? And the first witnesses were women, or one woman (the least reliable witnesses in the ancient world – if it was all made up why mention these women at the tomb at all? Paul neglects to mention them in 1 Corinthians 15, an oversight or maybe he thought it better to mention only the men). Yes there are differences in the narratives, but they all agree, that on the first Easter morning they came to the tomb expecting to mourn and instead were given the amazing news that Jesus who was dead is now alive. And soon men and women would see and touch and hear the risen Lord. It was not an inner spiritual experience or wishful thinking or a fabrication. It was the truth; it was real; it was and is the Gospel.
The Easter event is not something we are to describe or understand or evaluate. It is something we are to believe, something we are to welcome, something we are to cherish and something we are to share. Celebrate Easter with us and continue to celebrate Easter everyday in everyway for “he who was no more is forevermore.”
