In the end, it is love that counts. I am interested to note that Jesus made the cover of Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report this week. Easter simply means love counts. The message we receive from the empty tomb is not that love wins over everything except human treachery, or over everything except fear, or everything except despair, or everything except racism or pain or death. The meaning of this day, if we embrace the Christ of the empty tomb, is that love is the only thing that triumphs over all else.
Easter is unfinished because it is a demand as well as a promise.
For Christ to reign means that we must finish Easter by living lives worthy of the love God gave to us in the life of Christ. The Easter demand is great, but so is the promise. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loves us. Last Thursday evening, nearly a hundred of us from this community gathered in the Large Assembly for a Maundy Thursday service. It was a beautiful candlelit evening, made lovelier still by a powerful dramatic reading, gorgeous flowers, delicious soup, and beautiful music.