May

As we approach the month of May, we find ourselves in the midst of the season of Easter. A season, which lasts for seven consecutive Sundays. The Easter greeting heard in churches over the world is found in a first person testimony, “I have seen the Lord” and a third person confession of faith, “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!”

The message of Easter, both simple and profound, promises- that Jesus has, indeed, broken through the barrier of death to new life.  Where He has gone, we will follow. Each of us will go through death to new life. Just as He did. This is the great joy of Easter, the great promise of Easter, that each of us, when we die, will be like the seed that breaks forth into new life.  The Savior has promised, "Truly I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit." – John 12:24

This promise of new life is what the Apostles came to understand through their post-resurrection encounters with Christ and through the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Their lives were not over. They were just beginning.—A gift given from the One who makes all things new.

And this is what we must also come to believe. After traveling with the Lord through Lent and His Passion and Death, we have arrived at new life—both during the remaining days of our life on earth and in fullness on the day of the Resurrection of our bodies when they will be reunited with our souls as the completion of time.

As we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of the Lord this Easter season, resolve to humbly walk with the Lord; join your life to His, dying as crucified with Him, and rising to new life with Him. May this Easter season be a turning point in our lives, freely and joyfully receiving everything that is good from Him. May you be blessed and filled with joy and new life in this Easter season.