Two reflections for the Sunday after Easter:
When reality sinks in
When emotions are running high
it’s easy to get carried away
on a cloud of euphoria
that carries us to another plane
and allows us to float for a while
just beyond the reach
of things that would weigh us down
But, however much we might want to stay there
reality calls us back
to touch base again
and be grounded in the grit of everyday.
The high of the resurrection
may seem too lofty
for the daily grind
and yet the resurrection
was forged
from pain and suffering
and love and death
The resurrection
is a place
for our alleluias
and our laments
for our soaring
and our trawling
The resurrection
cradles us and caresses us
and lifts us high
above our dreams and our hopes
for in the resurrection
we see the whole of life –
The God of love exalting the Son
who came to earth
to live in love among people
who needed a Messiah
one who would live and love
and suffer and die
to bring a new kind of life
grounded in reality
full of questions
and full of hope.
The miracle that is the resurrection
can withstand the reality that is life
thanks be to God.
What now?
Once the furore died down
Once the crowds had gone home
the festival over
the celebrations finished
What then?
Once folk had moved on
the executions a grim memory
to talk of when the nights get longer
the pageantry and spectacle
something to treasure
What then?
Once it was safe
for friends of Jesus
to venture out of doors again
What then?
Back to normality?
Back to auld claes and purridge?
Hardly an option for disciples
without a leader
They could perhaps return to their former lives
And, for a time, the fishermen did
But the years of building hopes
and the days of crushing despair
and the nights of endless what ifs
could not be so easily snuffed out
The dream that became a reality
The Risen Christ appearing in their midst
was not an event
that could be whispered about
among themselves
It was a triumph
that had to be trumpeted
near and far no matter the risk
to be hushed up
An event they became willing to stake their lives on
And what about us
Are we changed by the resurrection?
Are our lives transformed
by the truth of what we cannot see with our eyes
changed by what we can only know in our hearts
that the Risen Christ makes all things new
What now for us -
people of the resurrection?
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