Claudia Crosby shared a wonderful image of Easter as a PK ("Preacher's Kid"). She said she remembers her father waking them up on Easter morning "with his loud (and somewhat off tune) singing of "Up From the Grave He Arose" as he moved around the house. It was his favorite Sunday and he was as excited for Easter worship as we were for Santa at Christmas." I know how he felt and my guess is every preacher worth his jellybeans feels the same way. What a wonderful day, the very heart and center of our faith--Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed!"
Claudia's memory brought back one of mine. Not just on Easter morning, but lots of mornings when the boys were young, I would wake them with an overly cheery, sing-songy "Time to rise and shine". They hated it. I can still here David groaning and Chris grumbling "Get out!"
On this Easter Monday, it's time to Rise and Shine! Time for the church to rise in the hope and power of the Resurrection, time for the church to shine the love of Christ into the world. This is our new morning and every day becomes a day to rise and shine in the light of Christ. Next Sunday is our spring "Partners in Mission" Sunday. PIM is our basic avenue for second mile giving to the global mission of the church. We will celebrate the 26 mission teams that carry our work into the world and we will tell the story of what this church is doing in the name of Christ. There will be special world music in the traditional worship services and a steel band in "Shine". We will celebrate what it means to be a global church in witness around the world. This is our time to rise and shine.
Thanks to Casey Proch, Doris Hall and our incredible choir and musicians for the overwhelming joy of Easter music. Thanks to Lisa Wells and our staff who worked so hard to prepare the facilities for the Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Thanks to our teams of ushers, greeters and support services for making this a truly memorable Holy Week and Easter.
And now...it's time to rise and shine!
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