Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia! 

Easter celebrates the fulfilling of the promise that Jesus, though crucified, would rise again. (Mark 9:31). As “Easter people,” our pilgrimage of faith is full of gratitude. God has released us from sin and death and offered us new life. We are invited to live and act in the power of the Risen Lord that we may, as a witnesses to the power of the risen Christ, bring God’s truth and healing love to others from our place of resurrection. 

Following the path of Resurrection does not mean we will not face challenges in life, times of shadow and sorrow, of war and economic woe, of need and neglect. The Easter promise means that we will never face these trials alone, and ultimately life and love will triumph. 

In the Celtic tradition, pilgrims are not simply travelers along the path of life, they are seekers in search of the place of their resurrection, their deepest and truest self in Christ. Living deeply attuned to the rhythms of the land, ancient Celtic Christians believed their place of resurrection to be a physical place, which they must locate and wait for their coming resurrection. They undertook pilgrimage to find that place. More recently, one’s “place of resurrection” is understood to be a particular issue or problem facing this world, which God has called the pilgrim specifically to address. 

Prayer is critical to a pilgrim’s journey. In prayer, we are encouraged to let go of the accustomed patterns of our daily lives and give thanks to God for bringing us safely to this point in our journey. With prayer, we enter the search for our place of resurrection with a sense of expectancy and excitement. Through prayer, we are opened to the abundant life the Risen Christ offers. 

God of life and hope, fill us with the abundance of your love, that believing in the promise that in the place of our resurrection, your power “working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”  

Ephesians 3:20

Amen. Alleluia.