Easter (almost)

​(almost) Easter Greetings, Beloveds!
At this posting, I know I am a little ahead of myself. We do tend to leap ahead with our liturgical seasons—rushing through Advent to get to Silent Night or speeding through Lent as if we can barely pause at the tomb before proclaiming, “He is risen!” (Indeed.) But we are not quite there yet.
 
Lent is, if we are honest, uncomfortable. It gives us space for self-examination, a mirror held up to our soul, our heart, our intentions. It invites us to wrestle with the sin, guilt, and shame we carry—the burdens we have been called to release, but so often keep lifting back onto our own shoulders instead of laying them at the foot of the cross. I do not need to name them for you; you already know them, and so does God. Our omnipotent, omniscient Creator knows your heart intimately, knows our broken human condition, and so… we have Jesus.
 
Jesus, who called Lazarus from the tomb, also calls to us. He calls us to set down whatever we have been carrying, whatever we are still clinging to that is no longer ours to bear, and bring it to the font—remembering that we have already been washed clean. Dear gentle reader, do you not remember? Do you not trust the One who gave up everything out of love—just for you?
 
Easter reminds us that the love God sent to us in Emmanuel, God with us, is still with us now. God conquered death for you in a message of Hosanna: we are saved, we are loved, we are forgiven, we are worthy. You are all of these things. All y’all, because God so loved the world.
 
We are resurrection people. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, be certain of this: Christ, our Savior, born for you, took upon himself all the chaos, the muck, the mire, the blight of sin as a reminder of how deeply God loves all of us. The message of the cross, the silence of the tomb, and the rising to glory out of death are proof that there is nothing God would not do to remind us that there is nothing that can separate us from this all-inclusive, all-powerful, all-encompassing love.
My prayer for all y’all is that like Mary, you run with joy as you share the news proclaimed on Easter morning with everyone you meet: HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED (almost)!
God loves all y’all…and so do I. – Pastor Suzanne