Easter greetings

I think I, like my favorite saint, Mary Magdalene, have spent time weeping outside an empty tomb -- way too much time. The tomb is empty; rejoice!

This Lenten season was a time of reflection for me, and a time of renewal. The joy that's been largely AWOL the past couple of years continues to seep back in, and that's a good thing. We were created to experience joy; our joy delights God, and denying joy is a sin, indeed.

Not of course, that I go 'round joyful every moment. I'm not even under medication. But those moments of joy, sometimes small, and somtimes profound, have been coming back. Creativity is sneaking back in, too.

I read with interest the Lenten dialog about atonement at Father Jake's. What it comes down to for me is love. He loved us enough to come into this world as a frail human, one of us and with us, to live a hard life -- a life of deprivation and physical endurance that we can't really grasp, in a time when life was hard and short -- and to die. For love of us.

Would anything less than the cross have even gotten our attention?

Christ came so we might have life in abundance.

There is a time for everything under heaven, including time to cry, but we shouldn't waste time crying outside an empty tomb. We are to live, in this life, and into the next.

A favorite song this time of year at the Church of Open Arms is this one, and I love it. The melody is upbeat, almost like an Irish jig:


"Lord of the Dance"

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
I danced on the moon and the stars and the sun
I came down from Heaven and I danced on the earth
At then Bethlehem I had my birth

Chorus:
Dance, then, wherever you may be
For I am the Lord of the Dance said he
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance said He.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John
They came with me and the Dance went on.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;
The holy people said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high
And left me there on the cross to die

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black
It's hard to dance with the Devil on your back
They buried my body and they thought I'd gone
But I am the Dance and I still go on.

They cut me down and I leapt up high:
I am the life that will never, never die.
I'll live in you if you live in me
I am the Lord of the Dance said he.


I'll live in you, Lord!

Happy Easter, everyone!