My friends in Christ,
I will be spending time this Easter Season reflecting on this collect for Easter Day:
O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We came through these stark, dark days of Lent to the light and joy of the resurrection of our Lord. Yet, the world around us can seem still to be very stark and dark. I want to acknowledge to you all that, as I write this, there are wars ongoing around our world, changes in our own government, weather patterns that have destroyed homes and lives, and rising uncertainty everywhere. What are we to do in a time such as this? We need and must PRAY and reflect the love and power of the resurrection to this world.
In prayer, we are truly invited to die daily to sin. In this case, among the sins we can experience and for which we need to repent is not loving those with whom we disagree. This is difficult to do, I know. We need to love better to do the work God is giving us to do. It is easy for us to condemn; it is more difficult to love those with whom we disagree. In order to make the power of the resurrection known in this world, we must love those around us enough to speak the truth in love to them, to stand up and speak for those who are voiceless, to speak out against injustice, and to reflect God’s love to the world.
This is what the resurrection of our Lord reminds us to do: Jesus, rooted in prayer, loved the world so much that he spoke the truth in love. Yes, we know what happened to him, yet that is our same call. Rooted in prayer, may we, during this Easter season and beyond, boldly love those around us. May we, as a community, come together to support one another in the work God is giving us to do. May we, through prayer, work to make the love of God in Christ known to this world that desperately needs God’s love and light right now.
+ Diane
