Christ is Risen from the Dead

Easter faith is to look East with the eyes of the heart, and we keep vigil for the rising sun because the Son of God has risen in the flesh. We do not forget those who have died, especially in what appears to be in senseless ways, and we do not pretend the bitter sting of sorrow has not touched our hearts. Though weighed down by grief over horrrific injustices, though bruised by the tragedies and sorrows of this world, though threatened by all kinds of dangers and all manner of evil, especially that which lives in our own hearts, we dare to take our stand on this great morning.

We stand our ground on sacred ground to behold a God given day paid for by His own blood. We open the eyes of our hearts to behold this new day and discover it to be the first real day ever, and the Eighth Day, a day of hope, a day that offers a future filled with love and meaning. Indeed, we stand and orient ourselves to this great mystery, a mystery offered on our very altars, and these altars are always mystically if not physically oriented to the East, to the bright goodness that the blood of Christ has won for us, to a radically new horizon for all humanity, to the sudden surprise of a happy ending that we always longed for even without realizing it but could not guess would happen. For the New Man is risen from the dead and no power in the heavens, on the earth or below can stop His sacred purpose -- and this purpose is that we might know the Father, that we might recieve His blessing, that we might thrive and live in glory everlasting.

To secure this new freedom, the Fullness of Life and King of Glory did not disdain our death, but suffered it to vanquish Hell and smashed down its gates and this includes the gates of our own personal hell: sinful judgments and habits and broken memories and all kinds of personal misery. Now the Lamb who was Slain has humbled every spiritual power by His humility and made the whole cosmos subject to His dominion, including the forces we find in our own hearts. Nothing is beyond the scope of His power and authority.

By the Prince of Peace, sin and death have no claim over us anymore. This Suffering Servant became sin to bare away our sins, by His stripes we are healed, and by his death, He conquered death. Who now shall separate us from the love of God? This Mighty God has already descended into our misery to raise us up from it, from our despair to give us new strength of heart, from our despondancy to grant us new purpose.

By the Risen Lord, unvanquished hope flows forth for humanity, for you, dear reader. Now, a radically new possiblity to love streams before us, a new courage flows through us and we never have to go back to how we lived before. This new beginning, this brand new start is a journey out of our self-made prisons, a pilgrimage into the wilderness of freedom to offer true worship, a procession through the gates of paradise and a homecoming into the heart of the Father, into a new communion with one another, into a new fullness of life, of freedom, of love.