He is risen! He is Risen indeed!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This is the triumphant cry of Easter Sunday morning.
But it does not only belong to Easter Sunday - this should be our cry of triumph every day!
It still is our victory cry in these troubled, vastly different times.
Mercifully, our corner of the globe has been spared from the very worst of COVID-19.
This does not mean that we are not affected though.
Read more
Nor does it mean that we are exempt from the 'social distancing' regulations our governments have put in place for our safety and protection.
This time of regulated seclusion is not a time of exclusion.
God's love for His world has not ceased and will never cease, no matter what.
God proved His love for the world by giving us His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for us on a cross as a peace payment for our stupidity, stubbornness, selfishness, meanness, and every other sin that we could possibly commit.
God's love was truly shown when He rescued the world by releasing Jesus from the clutches of death and raising Him from the grave on that first Easter Sunday.
But God's love did not stop at the empty tomb.
Jesus revealed His living and breathing self, first to Mary Magdalene, then to the self-isolated disciples, and then to a crowd of more than 500 people in order that they would witness that Jesus is indeed risen, He is not dead!
For those of us who are blessed to have access to a Bible, Jesus is revealed to us too.
The Gospels are Jesus' love-letters to the world.
They are His teachings on how to live peacefully, caringly, respectfully, co-operatively and lovingly with each other and for each other.
As dreadful as the coronavirus is, one positive that is emerging from it all is that the majority of people, everywhere, are learning to act in a more considerate, even Christ-like way toward each other.
We are learning to live out His teaching of love, which can only be a good thing. I hope and pray it will continue well after this pandemic is a mere memory.
- Pastor Geoff Schefe is a pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Horsham and represents the Horsham Christian Ministers Association.