“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
Are you full? Have you had enough? After the devotion of Lent; the intensity of Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; and by the time that you read this, Easter morning? And yet there is more, much more to our Easter. Herb Brokering wrote an added verse for Easter to his hymn “Earth and All Stars,” number 558 in the green hymnal. The words are:
“City of God, Easter forever,
Golden Jerusalem, Jesus the Lamb,
River of life, saints and archangels,
Sing with creation to God the I AM!
Jesus is risen and we shall arise.
Give God the Glory! Alleluia!”
His hymn with its buffet of images invites us into the Season of Easter, a season of abundance.
This year, during the Season of Easter, our Epistle lessons will come from the Book of Revelation, a most misunderstood book. But, as biblical scholar Barbara Rossing tells us, “Revelation’s gift to us is a story of a God who loves us and comes to live with us.” Revelation, like Easter, is not ultimately about absence, about Jesus’ or our going away, but about presence and fullness.
On might be struck by the fullness of images and descriptors in the readings from Revelation: myriads (that’s 10,000 – officially), thousands, blessings, honor, glory, multitudes, nations, and more and more. The tree in the city that we hear about in Revelation 21 bears not one but twelve kinds of fruit for the healing of the nations.
Easter, not just the Day, but the whole Season, is a time of abundance. Outside, during the week, we can even receive a hint of this as creation itself is now awakening and beginning to bloom with abundance. Our God comes to us with abundance in creation, in His Church, and especially in His Eternal Kingdom. God lives with us in them all, and with God, there is always more than enough. His cup overflows.
In Christ,
Pastor Rose
