An alternative Easter


Today was probably one of the first Easter Sundays that I didn't step into a "church building." However, today was one of the most memorable Easter celebrations that I have ever had. A group of people gathered together at our pastor's house today with the focus of really REJOICING in the resurrection. What a joyous day in which I can reflect on how my life is transformed because Jesus died on the cross for me. The importance of this day was to celebrate with the people I have been living life with. I am transformed because of what Jesus did and who Jesus is! I need Easter to be a daily thing. I need reminders of why I choose to serve and to live life in this way. I need people to live life with and challenge me. I need people to ask me hard questions and to ask hard questions to. I need to live in His kingdom daily. Let's participate in it together, shall we?

N.T. Wright, from Surprised by Hope:
Insofar as the [resurrection] is interpreted in [the New Testament], it has a very "this-worldly" meaning, relating to what is happening here and now. "Jesus is raised," [the apostles] say, "therefore he is the Messiah; he is the true Lord of the whole world; therefore we, his followers, have a job to do; we must act as his heralds, announcing his lordship to the entire world." It is not, "Jesus is raised, therefore look up into the sky and keep looking because one day you will be going there with him." Many hymns, prayers, and Christian sermons have tried to pull the Easter story in that direction, but the line of thought within the Gospels themselves is, "Jesus is raised, therefore God's new world has begun, and therefore we, you, and everybody else are invited to be not only beneficiaries of that new world but participants in making it happen."

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