Christianity Today

New Beginning

[Jesus] uttered a triumphant cry: "It is accomplished!" and it was as though he had said: "Everything has begun!"

NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS,
The Last Temptation of Christ

On a Morning Like This

In the sky
The song of the skylark
Greets the dawn
In the fields wet with dew
The scent of the violets
Fills the air
On such a lovely morning as this
Surely on such a lovely morning
as this Lord Jesus
Came forth
From the tomb.

MISUNA GENZO
in John Carden, A Procession of Prayers

It's a Fact

[T]here really is no story about the Resurrection in the New Testament. Except in the most fragmentary way, it is not described at all. There is no poetry about it. Instead, it is simply proclaimed as a fact. Christ is risen! In fact, the very existence of the New Testament itself proclaims it. Unless something very real indeed took place on that strange, confused morning, there would be no New Testament, no Church, no Christianity.

FREDERICK BUECHNER,
The Magnificent Defeat

Ever Present Christ

Christ is in the midst of us!
He is, and ever shall be!

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ACCLAMATION

Time to Rise Up

How fair and lovely is the hope which the Lord gave to the dead when He laid down like them beside them.Rise up and come forth and sing praise to Him who has raised you from destruction.

SYRIAN ORTHODOX LITURGY

Empty Church

The power of God is now and has always been the power to raise us from the dead. Period. It is not about us. It is about God. Our only role is to stick our feet straight up in the air and admit that without God we might as well be put to bed with a shovel. Now that is a message that can empty a church out fast.

BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR, God in Pain

The Best Is Yet to Come

[A woman] diagnosed with a terminal illness called on her pastor to plan her funeral. ...

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