Home
Sunrise: A Reminder of New Life and Hope
By Don Meyer
CHICAGO, IL (March 27, 2005) - Three words that stunned the world and a truth
that has powerfully reshaped it in ways almost beyond comprehension.
He is risen! He is risen!
These words have reverberated each Easter Sabbath morning through the
centuries as Christians celebrate Christ's victory over death and the
hope that we, too, will share in that greatest celebration of all.
As we gather with our respective church families this morning, we will
listen to the Gospel accounts of Christ's resurrection, a joyful
conclusion to an otherwise difficult and even depressing week of events.
We've heard these accounts many times before. What will make them
different this day? How will this time of reflection influence our
perspective and conduct for tomorrow and the days to follow?
I like to picture Mary at the tomb on that incredible morning two
thousand years ago. I see a foggy morning with a thick haze hugging the
hillsides and carpeting the grass with dew. It is a quiet morning,
punctuated occasionally with the song of a bird and the gentle whisper
of a breeze that seeks to clear the morning sky.
As she approaches the tomb and sees the stone rolled to the side,
imagine for a moment her bewilderment. At times I wonder how I would
have reacted if two angelic beings greeted me with the news that the
Lord is not here – he is risen! Imagine the sense of confusion,
excitement, joy and fear that must have surged through her body at that
moment.
I also like to think that as Mary ran to tell the other disciples the
incredible things she had just seen and heard, she may have been awed by
a magnificent sunrise, one of those blazing yellow-orange-gold balls of
fire that I have enjoyed for many years rising on the horizon of my
beloved lake out east. There is something about a spectacular sunrise
that inevitably draws me to the Creator and fills me with a sense of
promise and expectation – and awe.
Today is such a day. The morning here in the Midwest began with a haze
obscuring the sun, but with the promise that sometime today the sun may
burn through the thickness and explode on the landscape, much as Jesus
does when his light pierces through the darkness to illumine some life
that is struggling and searching for hope. And that, too, is an
incredible moment – to witness a life being transformed by the power of
the risen Lord.
This is the story of Easter – lives illumined, transformed and empowered
by the spirit of the living Lord. It is our story. And we, like Christ,
become that illumining agent as we allow our lives to reflect his love,
his compassion for others and his call to engage in our world and make a
difference – to be the sunrise in the life of another.
May yours be a blessed, and inspiring, and transforming Easter through
the power of our risen Savior. And may we each be reminded of that power
and his love each time our lives are graced by the magnificence of a
glorious sunrise.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
