Black tea with milk and honey and toast with clotted cream

HE IS RISEN! Easter has arrived and spring is in full bloom here in the United Kingdom. I was blessed to get to travel to Cardiff, Wales with two friends and I must say that Sunday's service really touched my spirit. I have heard the gospel read probably hundreds of times by this point in my life but the vigor and enthusiasm with which the pastor read the resurrection account struck me. When you hear Bible stories your whole life they can become so ingrained in you that you downplay them, at least I do sometimes. But the truth of the matter is that JESUS ACTUALLY DIED... and HE ACTUALLY CAME ALIVE AGAIN! Maybe to some, even to me at times, this message seems overdone, overplayed, maybe even outdated. But apathy does not negate truth. When Pastor Naumann read the ressurrection account the power of what really happened that first Easter weekend re-hit me like a bag of bricks. Watching 'The Passion of the Christ' again on Friday also helped all this sink into my heart all over again.
Love itself died. Agape died. Jesus, the beautiful and perfect Lamb of God was ripped to shreds and then hung mercilessly by nails for all the world to see him, to see the consequences of its sin, of your sin, of mine. But the story didn't stop there. A Holy and Holey ALIVE Jesus, after stretching His arms out and saying, "Beloved world, pay attention... this is how much I love you! This is my agape!", came back to life!
I think in Advent and Lent all the hype and anticipation can make the post-Christmas and post-Easter seasons seem like a bit of a let-down. But they are ongoing in reality. Easter is not really over. The power of the cross, the power of Easter, the power of Love Himself does not live only one day of the year just as He did not stay in that tomb. Wallow in the truth of the Love our God has for you. Pray outloud knowing He hears you. Sing a hymn at the top of your voice, even if people can hear, especially if they can. Let the sun shine on your face and dance around in circles because JESUS IS ALIVE!!! Greater love has no man than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends.
A prayer from February 24, 2011.
My precious Jesus,
You have given me this new day as a chance to live in your agape love...
to wallow in it in fact.
Grant that my broken and selfish heart may be renewed and sanctified to lavish this love all over the lives of the people in my life.
Remind me always of the endless depths of your agape, that I would not fret over the trivial pursuits of my mortal flesh, but rather that I would be refreshed by the simplicity and imense vastness of the fact that you are agape itself. Etch this truth ever into the stone of my heart...
Weave agape's beauty into the fabric of my soul...
that the tapestry of my life may be woven even stronger and more elegantly into your likeness, so as to bring honor and glory to you alone, Master Weaver, my Joy, my Song, the Agape of my heart. Amen.