NO LONGER

The table's been set, out come the fancy dishes and linens........the candles are spread out, the bible open, the boards of wood nailed with the pieces of paper that hold our sin are in the midst of the feast lest we forget the death that made possible the resurrection..........the rolls are made that once opened will be empty, reminding us of the tomb............the resurrection eggs are placed in the middle to be gone through once more, telling the story of our risen Lord.............

And yet.........

It is not Jesus that I am thinking of as I do the last dishes of the day.

It is not the cross.

It is not the empty tomb.

Instead I think of THEM.

The disciples......huddling behind locked doors, waiting, wondering.......I can only imagine what their thoughts must be........I can only imagine the terror, the agony of wondering DID THEY FOLLOW THE RIGHT GUY?  WAS THIS MAN WHO DIED ON THE CROSS REALLY WHO HE SAID HE WAS?

Can you feel that?

Can you imagine that?

It bears down on me, the weight of their uncertainty, the hopelessness that they must have felt at some point, the despair and my heart is heavy and my eyes are filled with the waiting of the disciples.

And it is THEM I think of them tonight.

Because we are all waiting.

We are waiting for the return, we are waiting for the miraculous, we are waiting for the hurt to stop hurting, we are waiting for the despair to give way, we are waiting for fear to subside, we are waiting to feel again, we are waiting to be filled with the power of the ALMIGHTY, EVERLASTING, ETERNAL GOD.

And I am here to tell you that the wait is over, that HE HAS COME, that the TIME IS NOW.

We do not have to lock ourselves away from the world, we do not have to cower in fear, we do not have to approach this life, this world with ANY DOUBT.

FOR HE HAS COME.

HE HAS RISEN.

THE LORD OUR GOD, OUR SAVIOR CAME BACK AND HE IS HERE AND YOU CAN BE FILLED WITH THE POWER OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

And so while, once again, we are in a season of waiting for the return.......we are armed with the knowledge that the disciples DID NOT HAVE.

WE are armed with the PROMISE FULFILLED.

WE are armed with the DAY AFTER.

WE are armed with the knowledge that death DID NOT STOP OUR SAVIOR.

WE are armed with CERTAINTY.

And so while we wait, we step outside those locked doors, we step outside the walls of our churches, we step outside the doors of our homes, we step outside the bounds of our comfort.......because we are NO LONGER HUDDLED IN FEAR.

FOR OUR SAVIOR HAS OVERCOME DEATH.

OUR SAVIOUR LIVES.

OUR SAVIOUR IS ETERNAL.

OUR LIVES DO NOT END HERE.

AND SO IN BOLDNESS WE STEP OUT AND PROCLAIM THE WORD AND THE PROMISES OF A RISEN SAVIOUR.

JESUS IS LORD.

FOREVER AND EVER.

AMEN.