Is it Easter Yet?

 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Psalm 51:12

Our journey of Lent is almost over.  Soon we will wave the palms as we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem followed by the Holy Week of remembering Jesus’ trek to the cross that leads us up to Easter.

This season of Lent, as I have reflected and remembered, I have found myself fast-forwarding to the celebration of Easter.  It’s not because I want to skip the difficult parts of the story – I have always loved Lent and Holy Week – it’s just that I feel as though we have been stuck in the hard part of the story, the separation and the grief, for far too long.  One poignant example of that is that for the past two years, we were unable to come together in our sanctuary to celebrate Easter!  The pandemic has continued to separate us in so many ways and I, for one, have been desperately missing the fellowship and community of all the ways we have been unable to come together.

Which is why I keep finding myself racing ahead – eager to get to the celebration.  This Easter feels bigger and more powerful than usual.  It feels as though this long awaited coming together – for worship on Easter morning and even for Easter breakfast! – is an embodiment of the resurrection.  The body of Christ being brought back to the fullness of life.  There will be flowers and music and FOOD and we will once again gather together to celebrate the risen Christ.

What an amazing Easter gift.  People of Holy Cross, we are the body of Christ.  And God is restoring us to life in so many ways.  The joy of celebrating Easter together is just one sign of this new life.  God is constantly at work in and through us and will continue to do this work in ways we have not yet imagined.  This season (even though it is not Easter quite yet) I feel the power of the resurrection in my bones and I am so very grateful for all that God is doing.  

Thanks be to God!! 

Pastor Heather Grell