Christ was risen yesterday?

What are you supposed to think about on the morning after the day after the resurrection? Last week was easy, the themes and the thoughts spilled out on top of each other ... community, betrayal, anger, death, loss, waiting, anxiety, life, joy, hope. And Easter Monday sort of works as a day to sit (in the rain this year!) and take it all in - Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. But now it's Tuesday.

The temptation, as I packed by briefcase and set off for the office on Easter Tuesday, was to put Easter back in its box and keep it safely for next year, along with the Christmas tree and the palm crosses. Christ was risen on Sunday but now life gets back to normal. It has to, I have a job to do, family to care for, and a life to live. But seriously, can life ever get back to normal? If I understood Easter correctly, I hope I did, then there can be no more 'normal' - not ever again. 'Normal' flew out of the window the moment Jesus flew out of the tomb.

Jesus' risenness is never in the past, it is always here in the present and rushing on into the future - His future. Christ IS risen on Sunday, Christ IS risen on Monday ... you guessed it, Christ IS risen on Tuesday and Wednesday and and and. Good bye normal, welcome living Jesus! Now I have plenty to think about!

Christ in Bang-Wizzen

I rode on the back of a motorbike through the dark street of a small town in India many years ago. It was Dewali and firecrackers jumped out at us from every angle. Excited children raced through the alleys and grown men wore grins as they sent jumping jacks sparking after their neighbours. Hindus were having fun with their gods. Last night I was in the church where I grew up as a teenager. In all solemnity we recalled creation, flood, exodus, and prophetic promise and then all heaven broke loose – not just Alleluias and bells, not just cymbals and tambourines, but fireworks! Not just sparklers (we had those) but proper big wizzy, banging fireworks.

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.

If Christ be risen (he is!), then fireworks are only the start! There’s a lot more fun to come, and not just childish fun but real grown up fun, world changing fun, live giving fun, fun beyond measure and out of control. Christ is risen, let the party begin.