Easter Monday is a melancholy day. Back in November we began the rhythms of the liturgical calendar as we anticipated the coming of Jesus into the world. We ushered in that season with a promise, the promise of "God with us." Yesterday that promise was realized in the greatest moment in history and the greatest words ever spoken: "Christ is risen!"
He is risen indeed!
But today is Easter Monday. He is still risen, thanks be to God. Although, most of us want more.
I noticed on my daily Harley calendar that my son got me for Christmas that today is "Easter Monday" across the pond. It's an actual holiday in many parts of the world. Evidently someone back in the day wanted more as well. So the tradition of "Easter Monday" began centuries ago. Some churches actually repeat the worship service from Sunday morning on Monday morning. Groups in some parts of the world play water pranks on "Easter Monday" dousing each other with water as a kind of baptism game. In Egypt, the Coptic church celebration on this day is called "Sham El Nassim," which literally means, "Smelling the Breeze," a holiday that predates Christ by almost 3000 years, but that Christians took for themselves as a continuance of Easter Sunday.
Maybe today is melancholy (for me) since yesterday was a beautiful new morning at the Bering Drive Church of Christ; but today, I'm not there. And I want to be. I want more. I want to continue my gratitude today to have stood in the pulpit yesterday on Easter Sunday to proclaim the old truth of a new beginning.
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
I am grateful to stand in the place where Brent and Rob stood before me, where Melanie leads worship, where Bill proclaimed the Gospel, where Don serves faithfully, and Cynthia now loves, where Samira has encouraged and ever encourages, and numerous members of the Pastoral Team pray and edify.
Sharon called me last summer. “We would like to talk to you about coming to Bering.” Hmmm. Maybe….
Time between.
And now here we are.
But all that matters is the gospel we proclaimed together yesterday on "Easter Sunday," as well as this "Easter Monday" as we are scattered again to live out our lives as "Easter Sunday people in a Good Friday world."
I prayed yesterday morning, “Dear God, may we today as one united body receive your Spirit anew in this proclamation of your word, in the name of your precious cornerstone, our living redeemer, in the name of Jesus”… and then the sermon… and then the “Amen.”
And then the “Amen.”
And then a lunch, and a conversation, and a phone call, and a meeting, and a walk down the hall to the water fountain, and another phone call, and a smile, and a visit, and each and every day of simple ministry. The beauty of all that begins on "Easter Monday" as we go out into the world and live "Christ is risen!" lives after a wonderful day of "Christ is risen!" proclamation.
And another “Amen.”
