EASTER DEVOTIONAL
Photo from Unsplash.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
We are an Easter people who even at the grave proclaim Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Yet we have never been an Easter people in any but a Good Friday world. Our faith is grounded in the crushing reality of Jesus’ death on the cross. The proclamation of Easter is that Jesus, the Christ, is truly risen from the dead.
This Holy Week, we have through our daily devotions and worship with others entered anew into the Paschal Mystery in which we see the self-emptying of the second person of the Trinity in its fullness with the passion and death of Jesus. This is where we experience how far the love of God extends, as Jesus would not give up on loving all creation even when the cost of that love was death. The shock of Good Friday and the grief of Holy Saturday are central to our faith, for only when we contemplate Jesus’ death is the joy of the resurrection and the promise of the Ascension and a Second Advent made real.
Jesus truly died. Empires know how to kill, steal, and destroy. Pontius Pilate’s detachment in Jerusalem had gotten far too much experience in crucifixion before Jesus of Nazareth entered the city with the crowds shouting Hosanna. Yet, we know that the cross is far from the end of the story of God’s love for us.
Jesus was truly raised never to die again. Just as real as the grave is fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. The frightened disciples became bold apostles through their post-resurrection experiences with Jesus. This is also our story as Jesus is with us by through the same Holy Spirit who was with his first followers. Our baptisms are the connection.
In the words of the Easter Vigil liturgy, “Through the Paschal mystery, dear friends, we are buried with Christ by Baptism into his death, and raised with him to newness of life” (BCP p. 292). As Jesus died and was resurrected, so we too are called to die to ourselves to be raised to new life. The journey through Lent in this devotional has been steeped in the Baptismal Covenant, in which we affirm our faith in the Holy Trinity and name the ways we will live into our faith within the church and in every aspect of our lives.
As far as observing the church year goes, we tend to do a better job of observing the forty days of Lent than we do celebrating the Great Fifty Days of Eastertide. If we don’t examine it, Lent can be law, a rigid observance. We know that the actions we do to become more Christ-like, such as the observances of Lent, are not done to earn God’s love, but are done in thankfulness to a God who already loves us. In these great fifty days, we rejoice in knowing that Easter was not a long-ago event. The same Jesus raised at Easter remains with us in our hearts and lives. The Covenant describes the ways in which grace flows through us as we die to ourselves to make room for Christ to come more fully into our lives as we serve others.
Continuing in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers is how we make room for God to feed us spiritually. Then we are empowered with God’s help to persevere in resisting evil, to proclaim the Good News by word and example, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to strive for justice and peace among all people. These five questions that follow the Apostles’ Creed in the Baptismal Covenant name the ways we live into that love God has already graciously poured into our lives. This is the pattern of life through which we are strengthened in our faith by letting the Holy Trinity work through us as we serve others.
As I write these words, I pray for those of you who will read them using a prayer from the confirmation liturgy (BCP p. 418), “Renew in these your servants the covenant you have made with them at their Baptism. Send them forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord…. Amen.”