Easter Morning

For as long as I can remember, there has always seemed something special about Easter Morning.  It is hard to put in words.  The things which make the morning seem like morning are more morning than any other morning, or so it has always seemed.  The colors of the morning seem sharper and deeper.  The crispness of the morning feels sharper.  The air of the morning seems cleaner and fresher.  To walk into it seems like walking into something which has never been before.  Easter Morning has just always had the feeling of being different and special.

 

As I think back on these thoughts of a life time, I am caused to think that maybe it was not so much the physical things of the morning as it was the anticipation I carried with me.  There has been no other morning which dawns with such anticipation.  To wake up on Easter Morning is to anticipate gathering with the people of God to joyously celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  "Christ the Lord is risen today" is to be sung at the top of our voices.  The gospel reading of the empty tomb, though heard and read for what seems like a human's version of forever,  is to be read and heard with eagerness.  And, as a preacher, there is no Sunday for preaching like Easter Morning.

 

It is not just the overflowing sanctuary which creates excitement for the preacher on Easter Morning, but the message to be preached.  Any preacher whose blood does not stir a little more on Easter, or whose fear of not being able to deliver the most powerful life changing Word, should turn in ordination credentials.  There is no morning like this morning we call Easter Morning.  It is the moment we pause on the edge of eternity and shout at the top of our voices that Christ is Risen and that one single Word has made and continues to make life different now and forever for all of us.  Thanks be to God and the Son and the Holy Spirit.