Dear Friends in Christ,
“Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!”
I still remember the first time I started the Easter Proclamation as a very young
pastor. Partly, I was curious to see if it would work. So I climbed into the pulpit and
spoke those words with a false kind of bravado: “Christ is Risen!” I paused. And not
a heartbeat passed before the choir to the right of me took up the response with huge
smiles: “He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!”
It’s just around the corner now, those days when we pause to remember Jesus
suffering and dying and rising again. It’s just around the corner when we will wash
the feet, strip the altar, and hear his cry of suffering once again. It’s just around the
corner now; that Saturday when Salem’s Altar Guild will transform the sanctuary into
a garden exploding with color and fragrance; a mere reflection of the wonder that is
ours at the new life that is ours in Christ’s resurrection. It’s just around the corner
when we will come together and sit a little closer to one another than usual; for guests
will join us from near and far; all yearning to hear that word of hope for them, for us;
that Christ is Risen and that means new life for us even now. We will come together
again this Easter and we will hear the brass play and the choirs sing and the shouted
good news once more.
This year we’re adding something new to our Easter Celebration: Some of us will
gather at Elmwood Cemetery in Sycamore at 6:30 a.m. at the gazebo/portico. We
will come together in that place to whisper the news that death has been defeated in
a place where many of us have the felt the sting, the ache, the loss of death most
profoundly. We will come together to acknowledge the truth of Jesus’ resurrection in
a place not unlike where that good news was first shared with those women who went
to the tomb to anoint his body and heard the proclamation: “He is not here. He is
risen.” We will listen for the good news in that place and we will pray that it will make
its way into the quiet of our hearts. Please join us as we begin our Easter Day in that
quiet place before making our way back to Salem for the Festival Celebrations.
(Special thank you to Phil and Jenny Ruff for opening their home for coffee
in-between the cemetery service and our 8 a.m. worship. Their home is at 625
DeKalb Avenue, just a few blocks from the cemetery.)
So please join us on Easter Week-End and bring your friends.
The Easter Good News is for you!
For Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!
Peace to you and many blessings,
Pastor Janet