Devotion - Easter Monday

My Easter Sermon (following closely on the heels of my Good Friday
Sermon) must have set a tone that was a bit too drear.

After the service, I was asked, "Are you okay?"  Several offered hugs
and words of encouragement.  More importantly were the comments in
which folks said that they, too, understood the weight of the stone
which blocks our vision of the empty tomb.  "I have my stone to move,
Pastor." was the linking of my life story with their life story with
The Story which both sermons were intended to establish.

Easter is a wonderful celebration.  It is the best possible news.  It
is the antidote for all that threatens us and would attempt to undo
us.  But it can only have that effect if we expose to the Easter
morning light the hurts and the pains and the deaths which prevent us
from fully living the post-Easter life.

The Easter promise makes everything okay.  But the Easter promise does
not remove the Good Fridays in our lives.

I am writing this from the hospital.  I got a call around 12:30 am to
come and be with the family as they wait and watch and pray.  The
Easter message is being tested.  This is certainly more like Good
Friday, once again.

How many cycles will we go through, in our life times, between the
two?  How heavy will the stone become?  How confident can we be of the
emptiness of the tomb?

My experience yesterday affirmed for me that it is when we are the
most honest that we are the most likely to experience the assistance
of others in carrying our burdens; we are in the best position to hear
with confidence the Easter proclamation.  My hope, as your pastor, is
to assure you that I never look casually at the hurts you share with
me. My promise, as your pastor, is to be the reminder that in all
things God is steadfast and true.

May the Easter promise take firm root in your life.  Affirm it in
every way you can.  And never neglect speaking of it to those around
you.  We never know when we will be the one to offer the word which
comforts or the confidence which sustains the weary heart.