Musings on faith and life from an Alaska Lutheran pastor.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Holy, Holy, Holy

I abandoned my computer Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, so I return to you today....Happy Easter! (It's a season of 50 days, you know, so plenty more time to say Alleluia.)

What can one say about the Resurrection of our Lord? Or about the celebration of Easter? We had girls in white dresses (with blue satin sashes), women in white sandals, lilies aplenty and shiny white paraments. We communed with real bread, sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," and heard brass and bells. We ate egg bake, muffins and chocolate eggs. People smiled, hugged and laughed in greeting; many hadn't seen each other since the last major church holiday :)

Sometimes I feel sad that I only see many folks twice a year. There's such a diverse group of people who gather at Christmas and Easter and I miss their energy on other Sundays. Still, I'm grateful they come, even if twice a year.

So what can I say about Easter? Well, I finished "A Thousand Splended Suns," a tragic and moving tome about women in Afganistan. And there was redemption, resurrection at the end, only after the main character Laila passed through unspeakable suffering.

Laila muses that while she has found joy in her life, the sacrifices and losses along the way were considerable. Put another way, the resurrection came only through the cross.

So rejoice that your resurrection has come. Maybe you didn't feel it, per se, on Easter Sunday; perhaps your life has challenges and you still feel stuck in Good Friday. That may be and it is okay. But take heart and live in hope that Easter is coming, even when it doesn't seem that way. It may break in just when you least expect it. Alleluia, Amen.

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