Lutheran Church of Mahomet, The Invitation 2018 Easter Invitation | Page 11

At the time it was simply part of raising our family. We attended regularly and
every year, Lent season would roll around and we’d show up for soup and sand-
wiches (an easy way to feed the kids) and attend Lent services.
That was where things changed. As an adult, wife, and mother, that’s where it fell
into place for me. The stories of Jesus that moved from Wednesday to Wednesday
and then into Holy Week, became a living and breathing reality for me. My eyes
could see Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem with the palm branches waving.
My mouth could taste the wine and bread Jesus offered his disciples in the upper
room. I felt the loneliness of a sleepless night of prayer in the garden. I could re-
late to the betrayal of his friend Judas. I was aghast at the mockery of his trial. I
could only imagine the burden of wearing a crown of thorns and the weight of a
heavy wooden cross. I couldn’t wrap my own mother’s heart around the anguish
of Mary’s heart. My heart broke as he suffered and then died on the cross. And
then the darkness would turn to light and Easter morning would dawn.
I have always loved the Alleluias of “ Jesus Christ is Risen Today ” being sung to-
gether as a LCM family on Easter morning. The excitement and glory of the
meaning and gift of the day always fill the church and my heart. I simply know of
no greater gift; the gift of eternal life for all of humankind through the sacrifice of
God’s son, Jesus Christ. How many of us would design the course of life for one of
our kids the way God designed his own son’s? It is too big a concept for our minds
and hearts to even conceive, yet, God did. How many of us would actually walk
that course knowing where the ending would lead, yet Jesus did.
What does the Resurrection mean to me? Everything. How can any of us really
and truly understand the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice if we can’t see our own
weaknesses and sinful selves through his suffering and crucifixion? If our hearts
can’t break at the thought of his death and then rejoice at his resurrection, how
can we truly understand the gift of grace and forgiveness that is ours because he
was willing to be painfully nailed to a wooden cross and die for our salvation?
How great is the power of God that he brought his son back from the darkness of
death just to save us?
When I lift my eyes to the beautiful empty cross in our sanctuary, it is all so real
for me. The wooden cross that, to some, can seem a lifeless object actually lives
and breathes for me. I am content in knowing that because Jesus lives, so too do I
here on this earth and will in heaven someday. Because Jesus lives, we can all face
tomorrow.