A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering: 4/21

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

It's Easter Monday, Lord,
and time to look back a bit...

I'm thinking of the three women who came to the tomb
expecting to find you dead
but finding that you had already risen
from the dead...

I'm thinking of the apostles
hiding behind locked doors in fear...

I'm thinking of the two disciples
walking with you on the road to Emmaus
and not recognizing you until...

Seems like your closest friends
didn't get it right away, Lord:
even when you were right in their faces -
they didn't understand what had happened...

It took time for it all to sink in...

It took time for them to understand,
to believe, to act on what they believed...

It takes me time, too, Lord...

All these years,
and the message of Easter
is still sinking in, making itself known,
making itself real in my life...

I still don't understand everything about Easter:
often it seems I get the dying part
much better than I get the rising part...

I want you in my life
but sometimes I hide from you
because I'm not sure what having you in my life
will cost me...

I believe you're always with me, Lord,
so I'm sure I miss you lots of times -
even when you're right in my face...

So this Monday morning, Lord, I offer you
the ways I think, I hope I "got Easter"
a little more this year than before...

I learned that I need to wrap a towel around my heart
as you wrapped a towel around your waist:
I need a heart wrapped and ready to serve
others' needs before my own...

I learned my sins added
to the burden on your shoulders
on the cross:
my sins made your load heavier...

And I learned that you are always just ahead of me,
drawing me out of myself,
out of my darkness into your light,
calling me to be closer to you,
beckoning me to follow where you lead
so that I will find you
even though I know you're always right by my side...

Help me to understand when I don't understand, Lord;
to "get it" when I'm confused;
to take the time to let the Easter story sink in
to the depths of my mind, my heart, my life,
into my words and deeds...

And because I so often miss you
even when you're walking by my side, Lord,
open my eyes and ears and heart
to those in need around me
and help me to find you in them,
to serve you in them...

It's Easter Monday, Lord,
and I'm looking back:
draw me out of the darkness into your light,
always closer to your risen face...

Amen.