The month of
March brought together an eclectic number of experiences for me, culminating
into an epiphany of sorts.
A pastor
friend of mine emailed me asking me to give one sentence on what Easter means
to me. (I think he was just being
lazy and trying to get us to write his Easter sermon. ;) And since he was being lazy I decided
to be lazy too, I didn’t give him one sentence but one word, “new.”
I too have
been preparing for Holy week and our celebration of The Resurrection of Our
Lord. I was working on things like
our Sunrise Service, planning the usual things like our responsive “Alleluia,
Christ is Risen! He is Risen
Indeed, Alleluia!” Much of the
Christian church continues to use that responsive for all 7 Sundays during the
season of Easter. I usually stop
using it about the 3rd Sunday of Easter, because it gets so
repetitive, stale and boring.
In the
meantime, a dear couple in our church has been going through a very difficult
time. Pat Haverstick has been in
hospice care as her body succumbed to the effects of cancer and amyloidosis. As
I visited Pat and her husband Mike over that time, I had a number of occasions
to talk with them and of course share what our Lord had to say in his
word. On one occasion we read 2
Corinthians 4:16 – 5:9.
“16 Therefore we do not
lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. 17 For
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. 18 So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built
by human hands. 2 Meanwhile
we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because
when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are
burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us
for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come. 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as
long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by
sight. 8 We are confident,
I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the
Lord. 9 So we make it our
goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
Immediately
when I finished reading that passage Pat said to me, “I want to save that
one.” I knew exactly what she
meant because I felt the same way.
A few days
later we celebrated the gifts of God in Sunday worship and the epistle lesson
was again from 2 Corinthians 5 and I was particularly stuck by verse 17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
As I visited
Pat and Mike over the following week something very strange began to take
place. Each time I was with them I
could actually “see” the truth of this Bible verse. For as Pat’s body seemed to get weaker with each passing
visit, her trust in Jesus seemed to get stronger and stronger. As Mike watched his beautiful and
generous wife grow more frail each day, I saw his confidence in the promises of
Jesus become more solid day by day.
Until it finally dawned on me.
This is what it looks like. This is what it means. “If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
“ It does not mean life is
easy or perfect or pain free. But
it does mean that old way of death and pain and sorrow is gone and the way of
life, the new way in Jesus, is taking over.
On Sunday
March 17th at approximately 3:20 pm, Pat closed her eyes on this
world and opened them to see the face of Jesus welcoming her into his
arms. And in my mind he said
something like this, “Welcome Pat, the old has gone and the new has come.”
As I sat at
my desk finishing some Easter services the next morning I came across my
Sunrise service with its usual responsive “Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!” and
suddenly it didn’t seem so repetitive and stale and boring. In fact, I’ve decided to put it back in
all my services for the season of Easter.
And I don’t know what the congregation will be thinking but I know what
I will. I’ll be thinking of
Pat. I’ll be thinking of Eunice,
Jerry and Charles. I’ll be
thinking of all of God’s saints that he has called home. And I’ll be thinking, “if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! “
My question
now is do I need to email my friend back and tell him what Easter really means
to me? If so then I know what I’d
tell him. It means that the old
way of pain and sorrow and death is gone.
And the new way of peace and joy and life has come. I’d tell him that I know its not
perfect yet, I know there is still pain and sorrow and death. I’d tell him that the Resurrection of
Jesus doesn’t mean that I, and the people I love, won’t suffer and one day
die. But I’d tell him the
Resurrection of Jesus does mean that suffering and death are ending and that
new life, real life, life in Christ is here. And I’d also tell him I’ve seen a hint of what it looks like
and I can’t wait until I see it completely when Jesus returns.
“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am
making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5)
