The season of Lent has come and gone. Along with it has gone some of those temporary changes like giving up chocolate or the conclusion of a bible study. Much of the candy has been consumed, and pastors around the world are still recuperating from the challenging week of multiple worship services and a range of emotions. (We’re tired.)
Yet, the journey of life goes on. We wake up with the sun. We have coffee and breakfast, then it’s off to work. Even those who are retired, by observation, fill their schedules to overflowing. Then maybe a quick lunch, more work and play, and then it’s time to return home. I pray we gather around the dinner table with family before the final activities of the day are carried out and we then settle down for well earned rest only to do the same thing again tomorrow and the next day.
The journey continues. And though it may take different paths at different times, we still put one foot in front of the other. We still have conversations, interact with other people, and experience the highs and lows that a dynamic creation exposes us to. The question before us today is, in the midst of all that life offers and often throws at us, will we keep God at the front of our passions and lives.
This seems like and easy question, and we certainly mean to say yes. What we are really asking is, how do we respond to the empty tomb. For those of us who proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, our response should be, must be, love. When someone at the top of their lungs shouts that which we detest, we must love them. When someone harms us emotionally, physically, or otherwise, be are called by Jesus to love them. When we are betrayed by the person we so desperately want to get away from or worse, the one our hearts choose to deny, it is the God who loves us who invites and challenges us to love them. Our response to Easter must be a recommitment to love others as the resurrected one has loved us; unconditionally.
Once we have ascertained that our Easter response is to love, then the question is of how to keep love, God, at the forefront of our actions and thoughts. For some it will be a cross around their neck or hanging in their car. For others, a friends group to hold each other accountable may be of great benefit. For the introvert, taking time to read Scripture or some other book with a positive message may be in order. Whatever we do, It should not be of a temporary nature for God is not temporary.
This love that was found by Mary in the garden has been gifted to us through the ages. Let us not lay it down to be lost with the remains of the Easter eggs, the candy wrappers, and the leftovers from the Easter feasting. Instead, let us hold onto that love, Jesus, and take the Spirit with us wherever we go, allowing, desiring, that it guide us in whatever we say or do.
Friends, I encourage each of us this week to reflect on Easter. Either Jesus lives, and our lives are changed and renewed, or we are lost, with a doubtful purpose. Either creation is either being shaped into God’s Kingdom, or we are merely the result of random events and questionable luck. If it is all the same, I for one will choose love.
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