Reflections on Easter Week:

Getting back to ordinary tasks, I’m finding it hard to shake ‘the glow’.  The sense of holiness filling every thing, every act...in truth it  is a blessing, and not something I want to ‘shake’.  I just feel different.  There were so many sacred  
moments throughout The Three Days, and right on into Easter morning.   
Moments like  Maundy Thursday:  People coming forward to receive the word of forgiveness.  People coming forward to have feet washed, hands anointed – fulfilling the mandate of Jesus.  We shared Holy Communion.  Then, watching as the altar was stripped – hearing the  
words of Psalm 22, imagining the betrayal and abandonment of Jesus.   
It is stark – as it should be.  Jesus condemned to death.  On Friday,  Good Friday, we gathered around the cross – even as 8” of snow fell outside!  We drew near to the greatest mystery of faith –  
Christ’s obedience, Christ’s victory over death.  It is the holiest   
time – a cross lying in the center, illuminated  by candlelight.   
People take time to come up to the cross and pray.  It is a  sacred moment of such vulnerability.  It is the center of the year.
             When we gathered again on Saturday night for the Vigil,  
the solemn sacredness continued – but soon joy breaks through.   
Because so many people share in presenting the lessons, from the kids through adults, we are given the opportunity to ‘hear’ on many levels.  This year, the Sunday School kids presented the story of the Flood – and they found ways to help everyone ‘hear’ on an experiential level!  After hearing the lessons, from Creation, through the Flood and the escape of the people of Israel through the Red Sea, through exile, the promise that God would bring his people back, even through trial and fire...
we moved into the back of the sanctuary.  It is filled with Easter flowers and candles.  We gathered around the font, and renewed our baptismal promises.
And there it is.  That is where we become part of the story.  In 1 John we read, “The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.  We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.”  (1 John 1)

In the Three Days, we see it, we hear it, we experience this truth of God.

We understand God’s work in a new way, and become part of the story.   
This indeed shapes every day following...