Eastertide Reflection

Resurrection starts
with the cry of grief,
an empty place,
a familiar voice.
It's tiny...
like the fingers of a newborn.
Seemingly insignificant...
like the grain that lands in the clam's open mouth.
'Often overlooked...
like the leaf bud on the tree.
Christ has risen.
Waiting for us to take notice.
Christ has risen.
Waiting for us to respond.
Christ has risen.
Christ has risen indeed!

--Katherine Hawker (Liturgy Outside)

Eastertide is a good time to reset. Our time of confession is over; the time of assured grace is now. We worship without prayers of confession; we shout "alleluia!" Lilies abound. Black has given way to white. Christ has risen!

Today my friend Sara preached about living as Easter people. She asked us to fill in this sentence:
"Life is _______."
Most everyone responded with a variation on "Life is more complicated and difficult than it appears." Even the classic "Life is like a box of chocolate" gets to the heart of life's intrinsic complicated-ness. "You never know what you're going to get." Resurrection gives us a chance to open our eyes to new possibilities, new ways of dealing with complications of life. Life looks different in Eastertide. Lent is, in some ways, a time to look at ourselves individually and communally. Easter re-focuses us on the ultimate expression of love streaming from God in waterfalls of mercy. Eastertide keeps this focus as we go back to our 'normal' lives.

But is life really "normal" after Easter?