Gift From The Galilean

In 1983, something happened to me. 

I was given HOPE.  

I didn't pay for it, open my chakra to receive it, earn it, attune myself to a higher frequency, 

say affirmations, read the right book, eat the right food, wear the right color, 

go to the right church, listen to the right teaching or follow the right leader. 

Nope. I did...nothing. 

Oh.

Except for one thing.

I admitted I was dead.

 Tired, discouraged, bitter, betrayed, hopeless, unbelieving, unloved and unloving. But mostly tired.

That's all I had to offer.

So what did I have to lose?

May as well try Jesus. I had tried everything else.

So I came to Him lifeless.

And He came to me alive.

The next day...I awoke to a new world. 

Colors were brilliant.

The air was sweeter.

The light was brighter.

The ground hummed.

The dawn whispered.

Hope was no longer a stranger.

Hope was now a companion.

The gift of the pale Galilean.

Hope.

Resurrection is not religion.

Resurrection is not dogma.

Resurrection is not morality.

Resurrection is not theology.

Resurrection is hope.

And that is what Easter means to me.

HOPE.

Remembering My First Love

I remember Easter as a child...lusting for chocolate bunnies and white dresses with pink satin sashes. My eyes and ears and mouth longed for Sunday's earthly delights. A holy day for pastel gluttony! But then I grew up, and took on the cynicism of adolescence. Candy and bunnies and baked hams and church programs fascinated me no longer as I became an overfed and bored adult. 

But 29 years ago, my spirit awakened to Resurrection. As the stone rolled away from the grave of my heart, I could see color again! I could smell hope! The very air seemed seemed to throb with joy. Easter became ALIVE as I became alive, and my spirit said "YES" for the very first time. 

But, as the years went by, my joy began to dwindle. Disappointments, dogma and deferred hope began to roll the stone back over the tomb. The bells of Easter were replaced by the burdens of religion. My heart stopped celebrating, and the earth stopped singing. 

As Rich Mullins said so beautifully: 

"...the stuff of Earth competes 

For the allegiance 

I owe only to the Giver 

Of all good things..."

The stuff of earth is a dangerous drug, my friends. It can make you forget your First Love. But I am being born again...again. The voice of the Father is calling to me, saying, "Arise, My Beloved, and come away. Return to Me, your first Love...and do the things you did at first. You have walked through the darkness of human Law...now come forth into the reality of divine Grace."

May you return to your First Love this year, my friends. Put aside the boots of the flesh, and put on the dancing shoes of the Spirit. The world doesn't want what we KNOW...it wants what we LOVE. The world doesn't want another PROGRAM...it wants the PEALING of Easter bells! It doesn't want MORALITY...it wants MESSIAH! It doesn't want LAW...it wants LIGHT. It doesn't want RELIGION...it wants REJOICING.

And so do I...And so do I...