Happy Easter!!!!
Did you know that Easter is a whole season? It is! The Easter season is 50 days – 50 days of remembering the good news of the resurrection PLUS our weekly reminders of Easter on Sundays all year round. I don’t know about you, but I am grateful for the time to remember that death does not have the final word for us.
One of the joys of Easter for me is dyeing eggs with my daughter. We do it every year, and every year those little symbols of new life stick with me as the dye marks my fingerprints and nails for days. This year one thumb was stained blue and the other thumb was pink. It used to annoy me because I thought I looked like a preschooler who got overzealous with the food coloring.
Those stains never came out before serving communion on Easter Sunday. But now I view those stains as a reminder mark of resurrection. With those brightly stained fingers I got to share the body of Christ given for you, and the blood of Christ shed for you. With those stained fingers we sang Easter hymns, prayed together, and heard of God’s great love for all humanity.
We are people who are marked: not only by deaths of all kinds, but more importantly by resurrections of all kinds. Death (heartaches, fears, failures, our physical death) does not have the final word for any of us. New life (each new morning, forgiveness, redemption, a change of heart, second chances, and at last, resurrection) will always be our final word. Sometimes we just need reminders that we are marked.
The dye is long faded from my fingers now, and truth be told, I kind of miss the reminder right at my fingertips. So I’m on the lookout for other marks of resurrection.
Where do you see marks of new life? Maybe it is in forgiving someone, or welcoming a new face to your community. Maybe it is in being involved in sharing food, or advocating for those who need affordable housing. Maybe it is hanging out with a child, listening to their ideas and questions, or praying for peace in our world. I’m confident that we can be resurrection reminders for each other, and we can celebrate being marked with all the wild brightness of resurrection glory!
Peace, Pastor Ruth
Interested in future projects of the senior ministry team? Questions? Please talk to Esther Tatley or Pastor Ruth.