Thoughts on Arising at Easter

From one of the most
beautiful poems
in all of Sacred Scripture –
the Song of Songs:

“My lover speaks to me:
‘Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!

"For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!’”

It is what Jesus says to us, today,
you know.

For he has risen,
but so too are we to arise.

From the slumber of
our deadened spirits,
he calls to us,
“Awaken.”

From the listlessness of
lives that are, maybe,
not as full of passion
as they might be,
as He hopes our lives will be,
He calls to us,

“Get up, now.
Look about you,
and greet the dawn
of your new life.”

New Life?

We can have new life?
We can start anew,
start fresh,
begin again,
blessed as any newborn,
blessed as we were at Baptism?

Yes! Oh, Yes!

How has your passion been, lately?

How is it this morning?

Imagine your passion renewed,
restored, enlivened,
thriving.
Passion for being in Jesus’ presence,
at his side.

Always.


We emerge from out of our hibernation,
from the winter of our
quiet and subdued withdrawal . . .

our slipping away
from all the best that is meant to be ours,
all of this splendid Creation
He has made for us.

We emerge this morning
and hear Him as He calls to us,

“Come my beloved,
the winter is past.”

That’s you He’s calling to.

Hear him:

“I didn’t rise
to be alone.
I rose to be with you.”

Whyever would He
roll the stone back,
and begin showing Himself –
His Risen self –
to His friends,

except that to be
without us,
away from us,
is unthinkable
for Him.

“Arise, my beloved.”

Your new life
awaits you,
in here,
at the table of plenty,
and out there,
at the daily feast of life.

We have no idea -
it’s the truth -

no idea how grand how marvelous
how crazy incredible
is the life He calls us to.

To be filled with joy,
at being alive in Him,
no matter what happens.

No matter sadness or loss -
however grievous and piercing,
for loss no longer defines us
when we arise from it
and face a new dawn.

No matter lost jobs,
no matter bills to pay
and quarrels to settle
and frustration to endure.

It is the wonder of Easter
that no matter what
our lives encounter,
we can, in Him, encounter them
every day
as though it is Easter Day.

For we, too, are risen.
And if we but know it,
nothing will ever be the same,
and nothing will ever again steal our joy.

Arise, beloved.
Jesus did,
and so can you.

Amen.