Monthly Archives: April 2012

A Happy Easter

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Worshiping on Easter Sunday morning at my childhood church in Chicago was a thrill for the senses. Moody Church was crowded with enthusiastic attendees, nearly 4000-strong, which encouraged us all to sing with extra enthusiasm. Our gusto might also have had something to do with the full choir and orchestra “backing us up.”

As we started my childhood favorite, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” I could almost taste the jelly beans. (Back in the 1950’s when we wore white gloves to church on Easter, Mom always said “no” to eating chocolate eggs in church, but jelly beans? They were ok.)

The messages in the old hymn were exhilarating on this Resurrection Sunday:

  •         Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
  •         Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
  •         Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
  •         Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Plunging into the second verse suddenly got me into some tearful trouble, specifically the last line:

  • Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
  • Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
  • Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
  • Christ has opened paradise, Allelulia!

A picture of Nate filled my mind as I visualized Jesus opening the door of paradise for him to walk in. While I sang that line, it was like a bubble of delight rose to the surface and burst forth in tears.

But isn’t that what Easter is? It’s our annual celebration of Christ’s bursting forth from his tomb when death couldn’t keep him there. As I batted back the tears, I thought of how dark and desolate Nate’s death would have been, had it not been for paradise awaiting him. As Pastor Lutzer said this morning, “At the moment of our earthly death, the devil shouts, ‘Gottcha!’ but right then Jesus is waiting to reject that, as he gives life eternal to the one who has just died.”

Nate lingered between earth and heaven for many hours before his death in the fall of 2009, and I like to think that on that last day God’s Spirit was speaking to him. Scripture tells us the Lord can communicate with us even as we sleep, and I believe a coma-like sleep is no exception. Maybe the Spirit said the same thing Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

I’m confident one day he’ll say the same thing to me and every other Christian as he or she dies. When that happens, giant bubbles of delight will burst forth big-time, and we’ll all be crying for joy.

And none of it would happen if it weren’t for his miraculous resurrection.

“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)

We want the details.

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Our Birgitta began drawing faces at age 3 and never stopped, so with all those years of practice, her portraits have become (I believe) quite good.

When she was little, though, she drew primitively like most children do. As her attention span lengthened and she focused on one piece of paper longer, she added more detail. This picture was drawn at age 4, and like all her creations, I loved asking her about it.

“Who’s this?” I said.

“It’s a girl. She’s thinking.”

“About what?”

“Cookies,” she said. “She loves cookies.”

“She has a pretty bow,” I said, noticing its three parts colored differently.

“For her curly hair.”

We talked about the elbow marks, the hairy eyebrows, the beautiful teeth, the dramatic makeup, and the curly bangs. I saw how she’d carefully colored the inside of her mouth red and put pupils in the eyes, nostrils on the nose.

Life’s important stuff is in the details. When we buy a new car, we want to know everything it can do. When we purchase a product at the grocery store, we flip it over to read its ingredients. When someone has a baby, we want the blow-by-blow of labor and delivery.

Our quest for detail is also true when we ponder the events of Good Friday, but God hasn’t told us everything we want to know. I’d like to know how much detail Jesus himself knew ahead of time about those last 48 hours.

When did he learn Judas was a traitor? Did he know it when he first chose him? What about the bogus trials he’d have to endure and the humiliation he would experience through the mocking of his captors? Did he know the extent of that ahead of time? Did he know his disciples would run when he needed them most? His words to Peter about betrayal hinted that he did.

Did he have an inkling of how brutal the Roman torture would be? And did he really believe his Father would turn away completely? Surely these details had all come clear by the time he was agonizing in the garden, face to the ground.

Tonight at our church we attempted to participate in some of the details of those last 48 hours as we walked The Stations of the Cross: tasting his salty tears, lifting his heavy cross, tearing fabric to represent his torn flesh. We think maybe if we knew more, we might be able to participate more in his suffering.

Though Scripture tells us much, a great deal is left unsaid. But just like the detail in Birgitta’s current drawings has become more complete (at left), I believe Jesus will one day let us know the particulars of his incredible sacrifice. It’ll happen when we’re living with him in paradise, and when we get the full knowledge of those last 48 hours, we’ll go flat on our faces before him, awed that he endured so much…

…for us.

“Grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life.” (2 Timothy 1:9,10)

Vandalism Forgiven

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If we zone out while driving because we know our route backwards and forwards, we can miss all kinds of interesting sights. For example, the other day I drove under a viaduct and enjoyed an unexpected smile when I spotted a cheerful, rainbow-colored message: Happy B-day  KJO

Two words came to mind: celebration and youth. With only a split second to study the artwork, I could only assume it was spelled out with disposable plastic drinking cups. I’d seen those kinds of messages pushed into chain link fences before, but only in white Styrofoam. This was something fresh and new.

The next underpass added more info: Happy B-day Kelli Jo

Without doubt this was the work of high school girls, and as I drove, I pictured a group of them giddily working on the bridge the night before, hurriedly pushing the cups into the fence before they got caught, maybe well after dark.

Some people would call those signs vandalism, or at least littering, both of which are against the law. They might describe them as “messes made by thoughtless youngsters who expect others to clean up after them.” But maybe such thinking is out of place.

Might this be a case for grace?

All of us know people who shine at giving grace to others. They look on the bright side of each situation and hunt for reasons to be thankful. We feel at ease around them, knowing these grace-based people are also non-judgmental. We’re free to be ourselves and can rest easy in the relationship, despite our failures and flaws.

And this is exactly how Jesus wants us to perceive him, as a grace-based Person. When we fall short of his high standards and failure hounds us, he immediately looks on the bright side, hoping we’ll do better next time. He also hunts for ways to hearten us when we’re disheartened and in the process looks for reasons to be thankful for us (hard to believe, but true). Although he’s also the ultimate Judge and has the power to act on all of his justice-based opinions, he often clears us instead, eliminating the blame and shame we deserve.

And he does it by his grace.

My name isn’t Kelli Jo, and it wasn’t my birthday the other day, but seeing those signs put a little sparkle into a boring expressway drive. And by the way, the accurate definition of vandalism is “deliberately malicious destruction or damage of property,” which this wasn’t. And the definition of littering is “rubbish strewn or scattered about,” which this wasn’t either.

Kelli Jo can continue to take pleasure in her birthday greetings… as long as she eventually climbs up on the bridge and collects all 264 of those pretty colored cups.

“From [Jesus Christ’s] abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” (John 1:16)