I
really like Christmas. I love the
lights, decorations, tree, and presents.
I love the music which can be heard randomly throughout the year at my
house. ( Mom is unconventional. ) I rarely get the same thrill from
Easter. Why not? Easter is the real base of my faith. Jesus arose!
HE CONQUERED DEATH! That is
awesome. I feel like I should be breaking
out flashing lights, and decorations and buying presents. This is a time to celebrate big time. So why is all this missing in my experience? I do not want to cheapen Easter to
commercialism, but I want to celebrate with vigor this time of life conquering
death. How do I do that?
Thinking
about this celebration, I first need to prepare my heart by remembering what the
cross means and how much was sacrificed for me in that event. I think thoughtful introspection during Holy
Week would serve me well. Thinking of
the events of that first Holy Week would certainly propel me to Easter in the
right frame of mind. Only after
remembering the defeated sense of Good Friday, and the hopelessness of Holy
Saturday can I experience the overwhelming celebration of the Risen Jesus.
I
would then want to shout it from the roof tops.
I can celebrate Easter by sharing Jesus with a hurting broken
world. For you see, only Jesus can put
the broken world back together. He does
it well, completely, and in His time.
Not in mine. This year I got to
spend Easter afternoon at church hosting a few of my disabled friends. We danced a Gospel hula number that helped us
see Jesus. Our hearts were stirred
because Jesus had His fingers in our hearts.
I pray the message of the Risen Jesus will ring in their hearts which
have experienced so much pain and hurt in their lifetime. The hopelessness of
this world for them can be replaced with the hope found in the Risen
Jesus. Hallelujah! Jesus conquered death! He conquered sin! He conquered disability!
