Easter Promise

Pastor Phil Callaway tells of driving his five-year-old son past a local cemetery. Of course, five-year-olds sometimes have an interesting perspective on things. Noticing a large pile of earth beside a newly dug grave, the boy pointed and said: “Look, Dad, one got out!”

Calloway laughed at the time. But, he writes, “. . . every time I pass a graveyard, I’m reminded of the One who did get out.” And that would be Jesus.

It’s a pretty bold claim, isn’t it? It is the claim of Easter that we celebrate this time of year. It is a claim that has implications far beyond that first morning when the disciples found the tomb empty.

As we find ourselves on the outer edge of what has been a terrible pandemic, with all the social unrest, the violence, the horrible divisiveness that we have experienced over this past year, I am reminded that Easter is not a promise that our lives or the church or the world will ever go back to being like it used to be. It is not a promise that the darkness and uncertainty will be taken away.

But Easter is a promise that the Power that raised Jesus from the dead – is still at work in you and in the church and in the world! That same power is calling you by name – and will never abandon you. It is the same power that holds you even into eternity; and that even now is seeking to make all things new.

Let us pray: Gracious God, as we continue through this season of Easter, we ask you to raise again the places in this world and in our lives that still cling to death. Move deep within us that we may experience your peace, your grace, and your love. Empower us then to live in such a way that we would bring hope to others. We ask in the name of our risen Lord. Amen.