Invitation of the Resurrection

The tomb is empty!

So, what do we do now?

Contrary to common practice, Easter is not a singular day.  The promise of the empty tomb where Christ was thought to lay to rest is not just an event of one day.  He did not just walk around for a day or so and return back because death/sleep (for Biblically that is the analogy) was so peaceful!  He didn’t just get tired again on the road to Emmaus.  Nor did he find appearing to the various women (Mary Magdalene named most) and the disciples a chore.  He spent time, and a lot of time with his followers.  The Easter reality is not a singular day event.

Yes, we see attendance increase on Easter.  Why?  Is it because people make an intentional effort to come to church on Easter, since it is one of the most important events in the narrative of our faith?  Yes.  Is it because we feel a sense of duty to loved ones (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and so on) to show up?  Could be.  But is that the only day that God works?  No!  God is always working!  What I consider is that the day of Easter is the beginning of the invitation!  See the world in a new way!  See that death is not the end!  See that hopelessness is not our only reality!  Experience God’s presence beyond the now, beyond our situations of struggles, and beyond what we think is possible.  A person’s life can be refocused in a day!

However, that is not the end of the story.  Easter is not a singular day.  Easter is a season.  Think of it kind of like New Years.  Easter is a chance to start over, a chance to move back to God, a chance to live anew.  Easter is an experience of living into the hope that (as I said above) death is not the end, there is still hope, that God is doing amazing things!  The Easter season is one of forgiveness, of fellowship, of storytelling, of connecting the dots, of seeking reconciliation, of humbling yourself, of partnering, of declaration, of trying something new!  The Easter season is just that, a season.  Jesus spent nearly 50 days with his disciples: teaching, fellowshipping, and empowering.  The Easter celebration doesn’t end after we depart from service.  Easter doesn’t stop after we finish a big meal that day.  And Easter doesn’t stop after we wake up from a nap!  The reality of Easter is an invitation to take more steps than just seeing the empty tomb; it’s the invitation to really internalize it.

And yet, Easter is not just a season either!  Easter is the reality of our faith!  It is a way of life.  We are Resurrection people.  Easter is a series of singular days and seasons in our lives as we try to experience the renewal of God’s faithful promises every single day and always at hand in every season of our lives.  God rose from the tomb, yes.  We rejoice in that.  And God invites us to make that reality in which we try, and try, and try again to live into what Jesus lived, taught, died for, and rose again to show us!  Easter is just as much our reality in the budding of spring, in the length of days during summer, in the bounty experienced in fall, and in the failure of winter’s perseverance to cold and dark and death.  Why?  Because Easter is about all those things.  It’s a way of life that understands mortality, while embracing new life, enjoying life to the fullest, and in recognizing the vast blessings life holds.

Therefore, may we embrace God’s invitation of the resurrection every day!