New Life

Jesus Christ has risen!

Where or who would I be if Jesus had not suffered and died, triumphantly overcoming death three days later?

Growing up, my favorite and most meaningful aspect of Sunday Easter was sunrise service. My congregation was a small country church. Behind the building, an overgrown hill housed a radio tower. No one went up there.

Except Easter Sunday. 

When just enough light allowed, the congregation would quickly ascend. Long pants, to protect from thorns and scraggly bushes, were a must. Boots were a necessity if the previous days had been rainy. Many Easters, a winter coat, gloves, and a warm comfy hat, greatly enhanced the conditions.

There was no elaborate service.

Simple hymns sung acapella.

Scriptures read with out the enhancement of a sound system.

As we stood there, often shivering in the cold Ohio wind, the sun would slowly slip over the horizon, bringing the hope of a new day, just as Jesus brings us hope of new life in and through him.

Despite indoor Easter sunrise services, I continue to find early Easter mornings, the best time to worship and spiritually renew.

This Easter has not been typical.

The first moments of this Easter Sunday found me alone.

Waiting.

Carl and Ben arrived home from the track meet in Okinawa around 1 am.

The rest of my children were gone.

Nick, of course, was most likely working as the Easter sunrise found its way to Oklahoma.

Abbi's Easter sunrise was viewed from above the clouds. When she landed in Taipei with the track team, she boarded a new plane bound for the Philippines.

Which brings me to my youngest, who graciously shared his Easter morning view with me...

Obviously Jacob is not in Taichung.

Interestingly, today is also a holiday for my Taiwanese neighbors.

Today is Qingming Jie- Tomb Sweeping Festival.

As the name applies, family burial sites are cared for by the living members of the family.  Bugs, twigs, and left over leaves are swept away. Weeds are pulled. While this sounds somewhat similar to the American Memorial Day, it is not.

Full of traditions and spiritual implications, the day is a day of bai bai (worship of the ancestors) and the offering of sacrifices to those who have entered the after life. Food is left near the grave sites to nourish the ancestors. Paper money is burned so they can be happy in the after life. The main goal- keep your ancestors happy so they don't come make you unhappy!

As Carl and I left church, this was the scene across the plaza from the entrance.The air was thick with smoke from four or five small fires, fueled by the fears of the living.

How ironic, I realized, that Easter and Tomb Sweeping Festival would occupy the same square on  the calendar.

While they are spending the day sweeping tombs,  tombs filled with decay, fear, and hopelessness, I also am celebrating a tomb, an empty tomb! Praise God! Because Jesus' tomb is empty,  new life, hope, peace, and joy are mine.

If only they knew.

If only they would believe.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."