Easter - I Have Risen Indeed!

Irenaeus, who was a disciple of the Apostle John, has a line that has been quoted over and over again, "The glory of God is the human being fully alive." However, this line is somewhat cherry-picked from the whole statement. The statement continues with, "and the life of the human consists in beholding God." Life, life and more life! That is the Easter story. Death has been swallowed up by life. Easter is an invitation to behold the mystery and participate in the reality of the resurrected, re-created and re-imagined life of God.

The Lent season of less has shown me that I need to let go of a lot of things to behold God. I need to let go of all my pursuits of more, find myself in a place of less and then open myself up. It is no wonder that God has such a preference for the spiritually impoverished, the meek, the mourning, the marginalized and the misunderstood. These are people that can more easily behold God. They have more room for trust, love and God-life. They aren't holding tightly to all the other forms of pseudo-living and their own bigness. They have room at the Inn of their hearts for a baby in a manger and the have room in their minds for an unbelievable experience of an empty tomb. They are constantly on the precipice of becoming fully alive!

I have found that there is a little more freedom in less of me. This Easter I sit with this strange and strong response to the traditional mantra, "He is risen." Instead of the typical response "He has risen indeed," I feel compelled to blurt out, "I have risen indeed!" Throughout the journey into heart of God in the person of Jesus, there are confounding paradoxes, ridiculous challenges, hopeful murmurings and courageous trust. Yet, the ending of it all is me... beholding Jesus... fully alive. Alive with the source of all Resurrection and Life. I have risen indeed!