Near here is the Land
That they call Life.
You'll know when you arrive
By how real it is.
Give me your hand.
God speaks to each of us, Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilke's; Book of hours: love poems to God
Christ rising, Iona. Photograph by Stephen Wood
'The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.' Matthew 27:51b-53
Christ is risen!
We rise this morning, emerging from darkness into light as Jesus must have done. For 47 days we have walked through Lent and Holy Week, just part of a larger and continued journey - one that is epic and mundane, and is toward Life and our deepest life. We take the hand the Risen Christ offers to us - and a new start Having reached this point, if we could draw back a little from this epic narrative and its crescendo, what stays with you from this Lenten journey? What has changed in and for you?
Love, not death, is the eternal thing
For me the words of Richard Rohr in his book Immortal Diamond are one good conclusion. He states that for him, 'the Resurrection is a big neon sign that keeps alluring and inviting history forward towards its certain conclusion. The Risen Christ is, as Teilhard de Chardin tried to describe it, the divine lure, a brilliant blinking light set as the Omega point of time and history that keeps reminding us that love, not death, is the eternal thing. '
Another thing that has stayed with me and goes before me on this resurrection day is nicely summarised in an account from the Desert Fathers. Abba Poeman said of Abba Prior that he approached each day as if it were a new beginning.
Bless the Lord, who leads us into life.
Andrew Hook