This is the Night,
When Christ broke the
Prison bars of death
And Rose victorious from
The underworld…
O Truly necessary sin of
Adam,
Destroyed completely by
The death of Christ!
O happy fault
That earned so great, so
Glorious a Redeemer!
Exsultet from the Easter Vigil
Dear God, this entry bring my journey with Sister Miriam and her Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation to an end. It has been good to have something to focus on the last six and a half weeks. Sometimes I’ve liked it. Sometimes I’ve wanted to do something else but stuck with it. Some days have been good and some days have been hard. Some days I’ve felt spiritually attacked and some days I’ve felt incredibly protected by you. The truth is, I was always protected by you.
Yesterday, my day of not adding sound like music, videos, or podcasts to my world, was harder than I thought it would be. In fact, it might have been the hardest day. Then I had something going wrong with work that was really frustrating me. In fact, it is still frustrating me this morning. But when I would start to get frustrated yesterday, I would try to remind myself of the devastation the disciples experienced on that Saturday 2,000 years ago. My day and my experience was nothing like theirs as they hid in a house, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives now that they had seemingly been suckered in by a false Messiah. Could Peter, James, and John show their faces back on the fishing docks again after that?
Then came the morning! The night turned into day. The stone was rolled away. Hope rose with the dawn. Then came the morning. Shadows vanished before the sun (Son?). Death had lost, and life had won, for morning had come. (“Then Came the Morning” by Gloria Gaither / Chris Christian / William Gaither)
So here I am this morning, dressed in a bright pink shirt and ready to celebrate something that I paid nothing for. Something I didn’t earn. It’s like when the university I graduated from won a national championship in basketball a few years ago. I celebrated even though I had nothing to do with it outside of a modest donation to the athletic department. The victory wasn’t mine, but it was. In this case, the victory is even bigger and will never end. That national championship team has been replaced by other teams, and other universities have won the championship since then. But Jesus, oh my Jesus, you won for forever. You turned history on its head. I get to celebrate the richest victory because you not only won, but because of your victory I get to sit here this morning and community with you, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
Father, thank you. I love you. I worship you. I celebrate you. Let this Easter be impactful for some of the people who are coming to church for the first time in 12 months. Or maybe even 12 years. Bring healing to relationships this morning. Bring people to yourself. Help those who have been running from you and others to stop, turn, and sink into your love and the love of those who are always there for them. I know a friend who is mourning the loss of her mother from Friday. Love her and comfort her as well. Make this an Easter of resurrection, hope, peace and comfort for her.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 