"He is not here; He has risen! "

Luke 24:1-8
₁On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ₂They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ₃but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ₄While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ₅In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? ₆He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ₇'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " ₈Then they remembered his words.

Christmas is kind of a strange holiday especially when mixed with American folklore. We as Christians know that we are celebrating God's promise of Jesus having finally come into this world and that it was setting into event something much more important. Christmas though in and of itself conjurs other visions besides just the nativity. We think of presents, snow, Santa, shopping. But there's something that Christmas movies love to hammer home. It is the season of peace on Earth, good will to men. To have a heart filled with love and generosity. One of my favorite Christmas songs from one of my favorite Christmas movies contains the line, "It is the season of the heart; A special time of caring; The ways of love made clear; It is the season of the spirit; The message if we hear it; Is 'Make it last all year'."

It's a good message and it's true. People seem to have a joy and love unparallelled any other day of the year. I try to live it, and it's not so different from what the Bible teaches. But have you ever tried leaving your Christmas lights on through February. Have you ever kept your Christmas tree up past New Years. People sure love to remind you that Christmas is long since over. They're tired of the lights, they're tired of the credit card bills and they're certainly tired of the snow.

Easter's a very strange version of Christmas. Once again we as Christians know that we're celebrating Christ's triumphant resurrection and defeat over sin. But Easter conjurs up some interesting images as well apart from the empty tomb. We think of chocolate bunnies, dyed eggs, a giant rabbit, jelly beans and Spring time. But Easter's American folklore is far less celebrated than Christmas. No one says make Easter last all year. The only thing that hangs around afterwards is the candy, and that only lasts as long as your self control allows it, or how much candy your children are limited to at a time.

That's why it's so interesting that Easter is the only holiday we celebrate all year long. Easter is the only holiday we truly live the message every day. The chocolate bunnies disappear. Eggs are eaten or go bad. Spring changes into summer. But the message of the Easter stays with us. Every week the Christian celebrates Easter specifically by going to church on Sunday. Every Sunday is a mini anniversary of that very first Easter.

We live the Easter message every day by declaring ourselves triumphant over death. Our sins forgiven through Jesus' death at the cross. Our resurrection assured by Christ victory over death. As we live in our assured sinless resurrection we humble ourselves before Christ. We repent of our sins. We love our neighbor by spreading the news of their Savior's victory over death, the life waiting for them and the path to their righteousness. We live under the law as well as the Gospel.

We live as Christlike stewards. In Jesus' name we pray. The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with belief. The Father sees us as blameless. We study God's Word. We preach forgiveness of sins through Jesus as the path to everlasting life. We go to church. Simply put we live in Christ every day.

Through synicism, the message of making Christmas last all year goes away with the date for eleven months, but Easter truly lasts all year. We pray that every Sunday the Holy Spirit fills us with a vision of the empty tomb as a reminder of Christ's victory over death. We pray that we use our new found forgiveness to live every day under the law and to look forward to our resurrection and Heavenly home that is now only deservedly ours through Christ's love for us.