As the Sun Rises

I have been contemplating something that I heard, as presented by a good friend of mine, at the Sunrise Service that we attended on Easter. As the sun rose that cold brisk morning the question asked was: What is the importance of the reality of the resurrection? Recently, I have been engaging in a number of new relationships that have caused me to stop and reconsider what I think I thought about the things that Christians think about. Maybe not reconsider, but at the very least these relationships have helped me to re-establish a ground connection with Orthodox Christianity, given that the conversations with these people require me to know what it is that I think I believe. For example, consider the Easter season. The Easter season as with the Christmas season has been commercialized and its identity has been thieved. This could be another rant another time, but nevertheless, it brings me back to my original thought. Why celebrate Easter? What is the importance that lies behind the resurrection of the prophet from a small town called Nazareth? Consider the implication that if there was no resurrection there is no Christianity. Could this be reality? What if Jesus did not have a bodily resurrection? With the reality of the resurrection comes the strength and hope the lies behind Christianity.

Read John Updike's poem at http://www.edow.org/spirituality/updike.html

If I may use Updike's language, don't you dare mock God by making the resurrection some sort of metaphor. Don't allow yourself to begin to think that the body did not die. Or that the body did not live again. This is the hope of glory, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the Son rises so does the power to defeat death and the power to give life.

This is no Easter candy that melts in the sun.
This is the Son risen.