Happy Easter

We had a fun Easter this past Sunday. The picture on the left is Matthew with a chocolate bunny that he got from Nana Patti and Papa Charro. We asked him to hold it up for a picture and he put it right to his mouth. When we took it back from him, we notices that there was a little bit of the wrapper that was gone. He had been able to get just the slightest little taste of chocolate before we took it away from him to save it for later.

Easter is one of those holidays that should really be celebrated. I don't just mean that it should be observed. I mean that it should really be celebrated. Jesus rose from the dead! If he didn't, nothing we do matters (according to 1 Corinthians 15). We have new life, forgiveness, hope beyond this world, reconciliation with God and with one another.

It certainly seems like we should live everyday in celebration of this fact. At the same time, following Jesus is not simply a life of celebration. There is diligence and sorrow and doubt and repentance and evaluation and learning and so much more. All of these things must be constant and must be integrated into our lives. But there is something great about just taking time to celebrate.

I was thinking about this during the weekend services at Good Shepherd. I was thinking about it because I was wondering what all the visitors were thinking as they attended our church. Sometimes I wonder if unbelievers would get a clearer picture of Christianity if we did nothing different in light of their presence, but simply let them look in on what it means for the church to come together and, in this scenario, celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. At the end of our service when we sang In Christ Alone and Christ the Lord is Risen Today I found myself thrilled to the very soul. It was so amazing to sing about something so cosmic and big and epic. Wow. We serve the risen Lord, the Creator of the universe. And he came to die and rise so that humanity could be his bride.

That's a lot to celebrate. I hope we all can catch that, experience that, and, perhaps, let others see the light of that celebration.