Dear Rehoboth,

This is a very exciting week for us in the church as we make our last preparations for Easter Sunday. This week I have been given lots of options on which to ramble, but despite the options, I find myself to be in a rather tricky spot. You see you all know these stories. You hear them every single year. We all know the story. Judas betrays Jesus in the garden. The people whole a week ago shouted “Hosanna” now have the nerve to shout “crucify.” We know they whipped him and stripped him, and placed a crown of thorns upon his head. We know the story. They put nails in his hands and in his feet and pierced his side. They hung him in the middle of two common criminals and after his last breath, they placed him in a tomb. We know the story. The story goes on to remind us that he was in the tomb three days and on the third day he is raised from the dead. Death was defeated on that third day. Jesus conquered the grave and set us all free from sin and death. We know the story. And maybe that’s the problem. We know the story so well that we don’t let the story get a word in edgewise. We know the story so well that we skip over it. We don’t listen anymore. Try a little exercise if you have a few minutes. Try to write from memory the story of the prodigal son. A familiar story that we just heard during Lent. After you do that, reread the story. Did you miss some parts? I did when I tried this exercise. Now I want you to focus on what you left out. What parts of the story did you forget and why do you think you forgot those parts? This is how I am going to approach this story we all know and love so much. I am going to rewrite the story and focus on what I forgot. See what that says about what I believe is the point of the resurrection. 

We know the story too well, and maybe that doesn’t give the word of God any room to speak. We hear the first line, and we begin to tune out because we know this story. We know about Easter and think when we know the story too well, we close our hearts and don’t allow the Holy Spirit to speak a new word into this world. Easter is a story of resurrections and new life; maybe we should let the story speak this week instead of us. This week I am going to try to approach this text with new eyes. I have no idea what that will look like. But, what I do know is it will help me to live the story rather than know the story. I say all the time that we are “Easter people,” what does it mean to be Easter people? It means this story defines our lives. What would it look like for us to not only know the Easter story but to live it? To get there, we need to let the world speak this week. This is what I will be doing this week. What about you? What does it mean to you to be an Easter person? What parts of the Easter story have you forgotten? Where have we silenced the Word of God in our midst? These are some questions I am wrestling with. I would love to hear from you all. Thank you for letting me ramble this morning.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Lee