He is Risen

Hurrah! Happy Easter, one and all.  I hope that you are all ok. I have definitely improved in the back department, but I am still suffering a bit. I just have to be very careful if I straighten up too quickly because it sometimes KILLS. I managed a couple of half days at work this week, but I didn't achieve much because I'm walking around like Mrs Overall. Never mind. Worse things happen at sea, etc. Unfortunately, I have had to cancel all Easter activities  - no Good Friday service, which is always one of my faves. On Sunday, there was a tentative plan to be up before dawn and go to the lighthouse and watch the sun come up. Well, I say tentative - the church was doing it - it was only tentative for me. 5am is very early to get up. Anyway, my dodgy back made the decision in the end. 

I haven't ignored Easter completely. I've eaten quite a few chocolate eggs. FOW2 called round to feel sorry for me and explain how to work the birdsong app that she had downloaded.  I also managed about half an hour of The Robe. I watched it in honour of  Aged Parent who liked it a lot. She was a very big Victor Mature fan. So, a lot of deep Easter spirituality here as you can see. 

I saw someone online saying that Easter was a far better Christian holiday than Christmas, more spiritual, if you will. That seems a bit po-faced to me. We all have lots of issues with what Christmas has become, but Easter isn't far behind, and, like most things, it is what you make it. 

I was reading about the Empty Tomb in John this week. The first line is

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed."

HOH and I were talking about this, and I hadn't noticed it before, but we wondered how dangerous it was for her to be out and about, in the pitch black (and it would have been a lot more pitch black in those days), wandering around on her own in a graveyard. How determined was she? Even more scary to see that the stone had been moved. No wonder she ran off to get the disciples. Note that they weren't out and about in the dark. I remember someone saying once that everyone had run off and left Jesus in his darkest time. Our pastor pointed out quietly. No, not everyone. Just the men. 

I was thinking that the thing we all get excited about and sing about and pogo up and down about. (Well, not me, not with this back)  - The resurrection had already happened at this point, but was the effect instant? Well, it wasn't really. The disciples who came back with Mary had a look at the tomb - definitely believed, but then sloped off home and locked the doors again just in case of unwelcome visits from Jewish leaders. Mary, who was courageous enough to chase down those who had taken the body, still didn't quite know what was going on and was getting upset and telling the gardener all about it until she realised that he wasn't the gardener at all.

There was still a lot of sadness and confusion around, even though the amazing thing that had just happened was coming over the horizon. I think there is probably a lesson there for me to keep watching, keep an eye out for the answers even when current circumstances don't look to be THAT favourable. 

Either way, He is Risen and I'm going to leave you with some of my favourite lines from one of my favourite hymns. So good, you need to sing it twice. 2! 3! 4! Hit it, Charlie Wesley!!

'Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me.

’Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me