Living Easter Lives
Easter is upon us! May the glories of the Resurrection of Jesus be felt in your hearts and homes.
We as Christians are called to live Easter lives – that is to say we live in the joy of the Resurrection! We celebrate the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the one whom we attempt to embody in our daily actions, thoughts, and tribulations.
Kate Bowler, an historian and educator at Duke Divinity School is an expert in the American prosperity gospel. In her podcast and blog she has spoken about the season of Easter, the power of unconditional love, that everything happens for a reason. She writes that the season of Easter, fifty days long (ten days longer than Lent, she points out!), celebrates Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The way this happens may have been immediate for some, like the women seeing the empty tomb, or it can be a longer experience, like for us feeling gratitude every day for the opportunity to worship the risen Christ.
But what happens when something dramatic or tragic happens in our life or in the world? We live with constant reminders of the difficult and unfortunate things that happen to us and to others. Should we succumb to those realizations and let it damage our relationship with God?
Perhaps, rather, we ought to sing harder, pray deeper, live more fully into the life of the Risen One.
I pray that you will worship hard with the rest of the church fully during this Easter season. That you will search deeply for ways of living a resurrection life with your family and friends, and your extended family at church, and in the larger world. As we come closer to being able to worship in person, let’s create new relationships and build up ones that may have fallen by the wayside. Happy Easter!