Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Easter acclamation. I love it. The more we say it the more our hearts are lifted up.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
So, a funny thing happened. A great mystery.
At the beginning of Lent the Grace Church children, and I bury the alleluia in the memorial garden. We then exhume the alleluia on Easter morning, if we can find it. Well, the alleluia didn’t get exhumed last week for obvious reasons.
But, here is the funny thing. It rose up from the ground, all by itself! Seriously. It did. It kind of freaked me out. Though, it turns out is wasn’t a miracle. It was physics.
The ground was so wet that the container became so buoyant that it floated up through the mud and broke through the surface. The rain then washed all the dirt away, and now it is just sitting there on top of the ground.
Or, maybe it was a miracle.
Either way, I’m afraid to open it.
I think I’ll wait for church to open back up and I’ll let the children open up our minor miracle. The alleluia has risen indeed.
In Lent we take on penitence and we put away celebration, we put away the alleluia.
It is now Easter, and we do the opposite.
We take on celebration and put away penitence, we have the option of giving up the confession of sin for the season.
It isn’t as if we give up the need for forgiveness and starting over, its that the celebration of the resurrection is supposed to be so overwhelming, so amazing, we are supposed to be so freaked out that there is simply no room for the work and words of confession.
Maybe next year when we exhume the alleluia, we will then bury the confession of sin! Bury sin, because the power of sin has been broken, sin is no longer retained, sin is forgiven.
The alleluia has risen indeed! Forgiveness has risen from the earth, indeed.
Jesus appears. He breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.
They rise up like the original Adam at the creation when God breathed life into what was lifeless dust. Life rises from the dust with the breath of Jesus. The disciples arise indeed.
And Thomas comes to believe when he sees. Thomas is risen indeed.
And we are those that are blessed, who have not seen, but believe.
We are breathed upon. These piles of dust are coming alive. We are risen indeed.
The rain has washed away the earth of the grave, and we stand, discovering what it means to be alive in the breath of God.
Belief is a miracle. It is the physics of forgiveness that frees us from the oppression of the grave.
Belief is that breath of fresh air.
Take on the alleluia, put away sin.
Celebrate the crazy mind-blowing news of resurrection.
Open up the miracle and stand back.
Become a child again and be amazed.