LOOKING TO EASTER


I felt my Lord's atoning blood
close to my soul applied;
me, me he loved the Son of God,
for me, for me he died!

            from Glory to God, Praise and Love
           by Charles Wesley, 1739   
           (United Methodist Hymnal, #58)

Question for you -- of all the Holy days in the Christian calendar, which is the most important?

For years, I though it was Christmas with the lights and the decorations and the anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ child.  Advent is the season of lights, as each Sunday another candle is lit until on Christmas Eve when the sanctuary glows with candle light as we join our voices in singing, "Silent Night."

Lent, leading us to Easter, is a season of increasing darkness as we meditate upon our sinful nature.  Each Sunday in Lent, we extinguish a candle to remind us of the day Christ's light left the world.  Sacrifice, death, suffering -- comparing the seasons of Advent and Lent, it's like "Joy to the World", versus "Woe is us!"

 Yet, to me, Easter is the highest and holiest of days.  Without Easter, Christmas is nothing more than a charming folk tale, and Pentecost would have no meaning at all.  

 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life.  God didn't send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.   (John 3:16-17, CEB)

 Experiencing both Good Friday and Easter takes these words of John from a sweeping, global promise and personalizes it for each one of us:

"For God so loved me that he gave his only Son, so that if I believe in him, I will have eternal life.  God didn't send his son for my sake to judge me, but that I would be saved through him."  Read this out loud in front of a mirror, and maybe you'll experience the same awe and humbleness that Charles Wesley felt when he wrote, "... me, me he loved the Son of God for me, for me, He died."

What does Easter mean to you?  What would your life be without the sacrifice of Good Friday and the joy of Easter morning?  Where would be your hope and joy without the redeeming grace of Christ?

After all, hymn writer, George Herbert, didn't write about Jesus, the new born king in "Ask Ye What Great Thing I know." (#163, United Methodist Hymnal)

"This is that great thing I know; this delights and stirs me so, faith in him who died to save, him who triumphed o'er the grave -- Jesus Christ the crucified."







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