Hi everyone,
Happy Easter! Although the weather outside where I am while writing this isn’t exactly favourable Easter weather, we know that today is still a glorious day of resurrection and new life! I was just telling our kids the other day that when I was growing up, I remember being told that (at least in Vancouver) it always rained on Good Friday, and then the sun will always come out on Easter Sunday. I was taught that this was the proof of our faith in God and significance of this day.
When I told our kids this, they were like, “Really? Is that really how it works?” I had to say no, as much as I wanted to say yes. Mostly because I already saw the forecast for this weekend and I knew that the whole theory would have proved wrong right away. But honestly, that’s ok that it doesn’t work that way. It’s ok that it’s pouring rain outside (where I am at least) on Easter Sunday. It’s ok that the tangible proof that we sometimes want isn’t as attainable as we’d hope.
Because today is still Easter. Today we still celebrate God’s grace and redemption. Today Jesus is still risen, whether or not we believe it.
Here are the readings for next week:
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Much of the bible and all of the gospels, really, are written to not just give account of the stories of the history of our faith, but to convince the reader that God is real and loving and had sent Jesus to save us all. We see this in our readings today, how Peter implores his listeners to believe in Jesus, and Jesus himself telling his disciples how it’s really him risen from the dead.
That’s all fine and dandy, but let’s be real, this is hard stuff to believe sometimes. It’s difficult to believe that Jesus is Lord when we don’t tangibly see it everyday. It’s tough to believe that Jesus is risen from the dead when our experience tells us that the dead stay dead. It’s darn near impossible to believe that it’s raining (at least where I am) on an Easter Sunday.
But that is the beauty of it all. It isn’t up to our belief or lack thereof to make any of this true. Our salvation isn’t up to our decision to allow ourselves to be saved. God loving us to death and back isn’t up to us proving it to be true.
So proven or not, Jesus is risen. Convinced or not, God has decided to save us all. Believe or not, you are dearly loved and graciously given value and worth simply by your nature as God’s children. It is my prayer that this truth fills your hearts and permeates in your lives, as we continually catch glimpses of resurrection in and around our communities and are shown the joy and peace of new life!
Thus we can confidently proclaim that Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!
Photo by Yannick Pulver on Unsplash