Resurrection Strength

A story is told of an African who became a Christian. His friends asked, “Why have you become a Christian?”

He answered, “Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go. There at the fork were two men, one dead and one alive—who would you ask which way to go?”

Clearly, the disciples were in a state of shock, of loss without direction until they saw and indeed believed in the presence of the Risen Christ. In Luke 24:24 we read that, “Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.” All too often we go looking for Jesus but fail to see that his presence is with us and consequently fail to receive  the life and strength the has in store for us.

It was the Rev’d John Stott who said, “The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into God’s presence. Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!”

O God, week after week you arise,

gathering your people,

proclaiming your word of life,

feeding us with food that is eternal,

sharing your Spirit,

and renewing the face of the earth.

O God, transform us by this resurrection,

that we may embrace all that you have made

and live toward the justice that you intend

through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.