Jonathan and I almost always take some time to share before the services on Sunday morning, we both get there early and usually it is just the two of us for a while. The Sunday after his mother Rosalie died, he shared a truth to me that we often forget in our day to day faith walk. In the midst of his grief he said simply “Easter has just come a little early this year.” In these few short words Jonathan brought me face to face once again with the center of our faith. It is the God given grace to celebrate life even in the presence of death. It was to give us this good news, this living hope that was Jesus’ primary purpose. Jesus Christ is God’s invitation to life and joy. Jesus gives us this hope clearly in the gospel of John; Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

This passage from death to life is the true essence of Easter but it is not just life after death. It is a passage from death to life, from fear to faith, from despair to hope that grows in us as we live in God’s grace and mature in our faith. God’s grace must be assimilated into our very beings in order to live out the newness of life that Jesus promises. Just announcing this Easter promise is not enough. We need to be given direction and the power to live out this new life made possible by God’s grace and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus provides both of these in his discourse with his disciples. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:10)

It was not just Jonathan’s words that lived out this Easter message for me these past weeks it was the whole Stenstedt clan as they celebrated Erik’s life in a joyous memorial service. It was a time for grieving but more than that it was a celebration of life, love and hope that allowed us to celebrate the transcendent truth of Easter, of the triumph of life.

Easter expresses a truth that needs to be lived. It is not a cold belief but a vibrant living hope powered by the love of God. Paul connects this hope and love as we live it out as Christians in his letter to the Colossians: We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel (Colossians 1:4) The Good news, the new life, the eternal hope are all intended to begin now and be fully expressed as we experience our own Easter. The truth about Jesus and the truth about Easter are one and the same.

That truth is life. John’s Gospel begins with this mystery that is Jesus he declares that in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:4) It is a life that can only be made possible by grace, a grace that
cannot be earned but must be accepted as a free gift. The Gift is Jesus himself. The giver is God and the
clearest expressions of the gift are the events of Holy Week that culminates in Easter.

Easter is not a day to celebrate it is a truth that must be lived out in the power of love. A Gift given that must be unwrapped again and again throughout out lives. With Jonathan’s spoken thought that “Easter has just come a little early this year,” still ringing through my thoughts I rose to begin preparing to celebrate the little “Easter” that is at the core of our worship every Sunday. And into the silence between us Jonathan said simply “Christ has risen” to which I responded with a full heart “Christ is risen indeed.” And as I said those few words I acknowledged that on that long ago Easter morning new life was born, love and joy were acknowledged by a gracious God and the world will never be the same.

Pastor Jim Bliss
Easter 2007