I have been wondering lately if we are ready for what is coming. And please, don’t get me wrong, I do not ask this in a fearful way, but in an honest one. Because the truth is, something new is unfolding before us.
Easter happened
Resurrection was proclaimed
But, Monday still came
After Easter, it is tempting to think that everything is the same, that nothing has really changed, and that the natural thing to do is to return to what we knew, to what felt familiar, to the way things have been so far. But the resurrection does not take us back; it moves us forward.
The disciples themselves struggled with this. They saw Jesus, and yet they did not recognize him at first. Because they were afraid and confused. Therefore, Jesus had to say to them again and again, “Peace be with you… do not be afraid.”
This was no longer the same Jesus they had known before.
He was not simply returning to sit with them by the road, to share meals like before, to laugh and walk as they once did. This was something new.
As N. T. Wright reminds us, resurrection is not the same as immortality.
Jesus truly died
There was loss
There was injustice
There was separation
There was pain and grief
God’s response to death is always life, but when death happens, things change. Even when life comes again, things are not the same.
And perhaps that is where we find ourselves today. We have known loss and experienced change because some things will not be as they once were. And yet, God is still bringing life.
The question is not if new life is coming, but if we are ready to receive it. Are we prepared to let go of the idea that things were better before? Are we ready to release the comfort of nostalgia? Are we ready to trust that God is already at work in what feels unfamiliar?
Because, as I have mentioned before, resurrection always calls us forward, it invites us into something we do not fully understand yet, and asks us to walk by faith, not by certainty.
So maybe this week, instead of trying to go back, we can begin to ask: where is new life emerging among us? What is God doing that we have not yet recognized? And what would it look like for us to say yes?
Peace be with you
Do not be afraid
Christ is risen, and something new is already beginning for us at Groveville UMC.
Warmly,
Rev. David Gaitan
