Easter is not over!
Hopefully that comes as the very best news, although some extremely tired pastors may hear it differently. The churches of Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery and the rest of Christendom have been rushing towards Easter since Ash Wednesday. The planning and preparation have been in the works for months. Everything was perfect on Sunday. With the arrival of this holy day, the journey is over, right?
No. Now is the time that the real work of Easter begins. The preparation is important. Easter, itself, is essential and transformative. Easter becomes real and life-changing in these days after the big day.
The model is set by Jesus himself. The post-resurrection appearance stories move the resurrection from a concept to a tangible reality. Whether the appearance was to Mary (John 20:14), Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Matthew 28:9), Cleopas and the other disciple (Luke 24:31), the eleven disciples with and without Thomas (John 20:19-29), Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples (John 21:7), the eleven disciples on the mountain in Galilee at the Great Commissioning (Matthew 28:17), or others, these encounters with the risen Christ change the people being encountered. Their lives, vocation, and ministry are redirected. Easter and all the work before were just the beginning of the transformative ministry that would follow.
Easter is not over and is never over because the Easter reality persists in us. It exists in the church. It lives in the ministries of caring, connecting, and proclaiming that change lives now. We may live at a distance from the first Easter, but we operate in a world where every day can be a mini-Easter for somebody. Our ministry is grounded and enlivened by the hope that we can make the transformative power of Easter known to somebody today on all the days that are not Easter Sunday.
This Eastertide and beyond, how can you, your ministry, and the ministry of Christ’s church make Easter and the resurrection real for somebody that needs the hope of that? How can you find it for yourself after the busyness of Lent and Easter are over?
Blessings,
Rev. Tim Blodgett
General Presbyter