Eastertide

Resurrection doesn't end on a spring Sunday. The church calendar calls the season between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost Eastertide. For forty days until the Ascension Jesus kept showing up visiting various disciples. Then 10 days later the Holy Spirit showed up to the gathered group, and has been showing up ever since.

The power won by the resurrection and endowed on us by the Holy Spirit is for always. So the fun of Easter eggs and cantatas may be over for this year, but the best part continues, the reality of what it means for Jesus to have risen from the dead.

Victory over sin! Freedom to make the right choice! Escape from death! These are the vestiges we live in daily, when we choose to fully walk in the power of what Jesus offers.

I love spring, it's a whole lot easier to believe in resurrection. My friend noted to me last week that celebrating Easter in the southern hemisphere where fall is bringing winter would feel very different. But whatever the weather outside, new life is available because of Jesus' victory. Celebrate!

Human History Hinges Here

When I awoke on this Good Friday contemplating the significance of this day, I applied to it the phrase Human History Hinges Here.

Last Sunday we had our youth discuss what is different in the world because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The short answer is, a lot.

Even for those who don't believe in Christ, human history, as evidenced by the traditional BC and AD, changed dramatically due to the events surrounding the carpenter from Nazareth. The impact of those who followed Christ changed the trajectory of the future.

Not everyone would see these as positive changes, but history took a different turn after that fateful weekend in the tiny nation of Israel.

Contemplating that today reminds me of the impact of Jesus on the world. But I can also see it in myself. In a smaller circle that defines my life, my history is different because of Jesus.

I don't know what I'd be doing today if not for Jesus, but I wouldn't be pastoring an urban church in Cincinnati, having raised four children who are having their own impact in the world these days.

I can't really unravel my own history that has been intertwined for decades with the story of Jesus, nor can I unravel the history of humanity since that first Good Friday so long ago, but I do know that God has an amazing story line that can be traced, and I expect once graduating to an eternal perspective it will be entertaining to experience.

Meanwhile, I contemplate the significance of this day. I can only scratch the surface, but at least I find it important to pause and try. For the cross is foolishness to the world, but the power of God to those who believe. May that power be real in me today.