Easter Day
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
-- Matthew 28:8
Imagine yourself living in a world of great uncertainty. The faith that had once seemed so important to you has been arrested somewhere along the way. It is no longer a living, vital faith for you. You still believe, or want to believe, so you stumble to your church, that structure of brick and mortar that once offered you the practices that nurtured your faith. This is the body that once had told you how to live and given you hope. Here was where you had heard scriptures read, hymns sung, and prayed prayers that had nurtured you in your faith. In recent years, however, there have been conflicts that have challenged your faith. The church has done and said things that have caused anger among both religious and nonreligious people. Because of those conflicts, or maybe just because you got too busy, you found yourself running away from the church. You have not wished it harm, and you are saddened when you see life go out of the body that had once meant so much to you. A part of you even feels that you have betrayed Christ's body. Although another part of you mocks it and says, "If you're so good, save yourself." And now people are saying that the church is dead. You wander back on Easter morning to this tomb of brick and mortar so that you might be near this body that once gave you your faith. As you enter the church, you hear the words, "Do not be afraid ... he is risen." In those words you begin to recognize hope being renewed within you. The body of Christ is not dead. You feel this powerful urgency to go and tell other disciples who have also drifted away, "The body of Christ is not dead. God has raised it from the dead." So you depart this day with fear and great joy to tell of the resurrected Christ.
-- Matthew 28:8
Imagine yourself living in a world of great uncertainty. The faith that had once seemed so important to you has been arrested somewhere along the way. It is no longer a living, vital faith for you. You still believe, or want to believe, so you stumble to your church, that structure of brick and mortar that once offered you the practices that nurtured your faith. This is the body that once had told you how to live and given you hope. Here was where you had heard scriptures read, hymns sung, and prayed prayers that had nurtured you in your faith. In recent years, however, there have been conflicts that have challenged your faith. The church has done and said things that have caused anger among both religious and nonreligious people. Because of those conflicts, or maybe just because you got too busy, you found yourself running away from the church. You have not wished it harm, and you are saddened when you see life go out of the body that had once meant so much to you. A part of you even feels that you have betrayed Christ's body. Although another part of you mocks it and says, "If you're so good, save yourself." And now people are saying that the church is dead. You wander back on Easter morning to this tomb of brick and mortar so that you might be near this body that once gave you your faith. As you enter the church, you hear the words, "Do not be afraid ... he is risen." In those words you begin to recognize hope being renewed within you. The body of Christ is not dead. You feel this powerful urgency to go and tell other disciples who have also drifted away, "The body of Christ is not dead. God has raised it from the dead." So you depart this day with fear and great joy to tell of the resurrected Christ.
