Easter Monday Rumbling in the Brain

Published in the Brechin Advertiser on 04 April 2013

So Easter is past and we move through the year. Where have these first 3 months flown to. The daylight is staying in the sky longer now and it might actually get spring like now that the weatherman predicted more snow and ice through the end of April. I’m hoping he says we will have snow and ice all summer, it might get nice since every summer they say BBQ summer is wet and cold...

Well the Lord is risen, he is out and about interacting with His disciples and others. So a last thought for this year on Easter: Not sure who did this originally so if it was you and you happen to be reading this let me know--I'll be sure to give credit where credit is due. Just the thought adapted below made me think on an Easter Monday, hope it does for you too:

‘What if you had to describe Easter using only punctuation marks?

Maybe this Easter was a comma for you. It made you stop, pause, think and maybe even listen; but that's about it. Perhaps the day was a downer—a big bold full stop. You thought you'd feel excited, but instead it seemed to be more of an empty ritual. You felt as if you were not on the inside, but on the outside… just an onlooker. It was this day that life became a full stop for Jesus' disciples. He was dead. He was buried. The end to any and all expectations of hope and kingdom.

But wait—news of an empty tomb…the full stop is no longer a full stop, it became a question mark. That was worse than a full stop. Now there is doubt. Where was He? They were perplexed. The guards were gone; the stone was rolled away. He was not there. If not there, where had He gone? An angel spoke, 'Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was in Galilee, saying the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and how He must be crucified, and the third day He must rise again?’

Of course they remembered! The full stop is gone. The question mark is removed. There is only room for one massive exclamation point! That's what Easter is all about…an exclamation of gratitude and of praise for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the salvation His victory over death brought to us.’

So what do we do with this risen Jesus?

Will be an interesting journey this year,

Rev. Jon Bergen