Friday, April 16, 2010

Ahhhh, Spring...

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Happy Easter!

What? Easter has come and gone, you say? Not so, my friend! In the church, we celebrate Easter as a SEASON--for 50 whole days! So, if you've put up your little bunny and chick figurines, and if you thought the egg hunts were over, get 'em all back out--you have five more weeks to have your Easter fun!

But seriously, it does seem pretty easy to forget all about the ways the church does things, when the stores have all moved past Easter and are looking forward to...well...whatever holiday they can think of that comes next, I guess. We are called to be Easter people every day, though--always proclaiming the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection, living without fear of what may happen to us in this life. Sound good? Well, I know it's not that easy. Sometimes, I think I spend a lot of time caught up in details of the church, and I'm completely missing out on the joy of knowing Jesus, of getting to know God better day by day, of living like it matters to me that God made me and everything else, and that God wants us all to experience shalom. How do I keep in mind that I'm supposed to be focusing on loving God and my neighbor, when I have so much "stuff" to do? Being faithful is such a chore, sometimes!

As people who are supposed to know the risen Christ, though, I think there's one sure-fire way to keep our heads in the game: make taking time for God a priority every day. You don't get to know more about friends by just thinking about them--you have to take time to talk to them, to read what they write to you (if they write letters or emails), to make yourself comfortable with who they really are. So, in these 50 days of Easter--a good part of which has already passed us by--are you getting to know God more? Are you taking time for studying scripture? For prayer? For seeking God in other people and places--in the world around you?

It's always a challenge to grow in our faith. Just when we get comfortable, it seems we learn something about God that makes us a little bit uncomfortable. It just hardly seems fair! But the God whose story is revealed by the Bible is still in the process of revealing God's self to us, in new ways, every day. And we can't know how that is unless we keep trying to catch whatever glimpse of that God we are privileged to see that day. We may only see God's backside--like Moses did--but still, it's something. And it's part of the story we have to share, as Easter people. God interrupts us. God does what we don't expect. God doesn't let death win. It's amazing. It seems too good to be true. And it's the story we have to share. How will you tell that story today, in word or in deed?