Darkness!  Emptiness!  Numbness! Still in Shock!  Of death! His death! A valley of darkness. A vale of tears. A well of pain, of loss.  The 

In-Between moment – the events of that day and the days, the life ahead!  The triumph of violence, of might, of anger,  of human power! Or is it?

Going to the tomb, the grave. The place where death reigns supreme, where death is a full, stark and inescapable reality.   A body lifeless, empty, soulless! What is left? A future? How to understand, make sense of, a life filled with so much hope, by so many, a new liberated future.  All dashed, all disillusioned, all scattered. 

His words, his predictions, his fate, still buried, still forgotten and lost somewhere.  He predicted his betrayal.   He predicted his trial, his death!  But that wasn’t the last word.  That wasn’t THE END. 

Something is different!  Something incredible has happened, has occurred.  The earth trembles.  The heavenly hosts reveal their presence.  The Christian people, Churches shake with joy, with wonder, with love!  New life has broken free.  He has broken free, broken free of those chains. He has started a fire of love and death and sin have been conquered, defeated.  He has set us free!  This moment sets us apart from all other peoples, all other believers.  He has saved us, redeemed us! 

Death, War, violence, exploitation, human trafficking does not rule, does not have the last word! Jesus has risen and we his followers have been saved and he has given us the power, the example, the love to conquer death, to conquer war and violence and exploitation! The tomb is empty.  He is not there.  We are not there! 

On this Glorious Easter Morning, we celebrate and basque in awe and overwhelming joy that the tomb is empty because it could not hold the Risen Lord!  The Light of the Risen Christ is brightly and dazingly shining in your life and into our world! Let our celebration this most special morning fill you with Easter joy, fill you with His love that has triumphed and now reigns forever. Pain and Suffering are no more! 

We are his heralds and his messengers that bring about that end to violence and war, which his rising from the dead conquered!