Halley was one of the best behaved three year olds I have ever known. Which is why it was so unusual for her to slip out of her pew that Easter Sunday at the close of the service. She’d come to the Easter service with her parents, sitting quietly with them throughout the worship service. But when the choir began to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from the balcony – Halley was so enchanted she had to see where the music was coming from.

She went to the very front of the sanctuary and with head turned upward, she stood there through all the Hallelujah’s with her eyes fixed on the choir. Her face radiant  with wonder and awe. This image of Halley, comes to me when I think of Easter.

Wonder and awe is a good way to describe Easter. Wonder at what God has done. Awe that God would so touch our lives with grace.

We celebrate this Easter in a time of crisis, conscious of terrible tragedies unfolding as Covid10 circles the globe. Our heart’s ache with the compelling human need we see.  People precious to us die and we wonder if there is life beyond this life.  Easter is God’s message  of hope to us.  Death has been pushed aside and our last enemy is defeated. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

Not long after those words were spoken, the tragedy of Holy Week transpired. Palm Sunday’s triumphal entry progressed to Calvary. Death and the power of evil seemed to have won. All who loved Jesus mourned. But, then there came Easter – An empty tomb, a living savior, Jesus alive, death defeated with its powerful message “He is Risen.”

May your Easter be one filled with Joy, a Joy that radiates both wonder and Awe, for Christ has Risen . . . Christ has risen indeed!