Post-Easter: destination AND guide

Well, I did it! To be honest I'm quite proud of myself for hammering out close to 50 consecutive posts through the season of Lent.

And so this blog now returns to its previous format, characterized by the following:

• Five to seven new posts every week
• The "stream of consciousness" style that is in itself an exercise in self-examination
• More immediacy - both in terms of its response to my life and the news in the here and now.

So welcome to the day after Easter. The picture I included (taken during church and without a flash) tells the story that yesterday's celebration is still very much on my mind.

Church last weekend was a supercharged celebration in all the right ways. The experience electrified me and I’m still full with the life that saturated the day. But I’m concerned the charge may be residual rather than active.

Rebekah used her morning message to discuss how easily we tend to consign Jesus back to the tomb (where he can't bother us) and then roll the stone securely in place once again. Later, and only maybe - depending on how we're feeling at the time - we just might open it a crack and take a peek at the Christ-life, but only every week or so.

I call this the “Jesus as museum exhibit” syndrome.

Do we come to church each year to listen to the story – or do we actually want to be a part of the story?

Easter Day may be growing harder to remember as it falls away in the rear-view mirror, but Jesus hatched a plan to be vital and real and relevant in every moment of every new day. So it’s with deliberation that I have chosen to start today and every day in a devotional posture with the empty tomb front and center.

It’s all about getting the right start, and I know how vitally important initial trajectory is to anything we want to accomplish. Today's trajectory is not only toward Jesus but it encompasses Jesus too. Jesus is both destination and guide.

I'm wondering how all the details, and the concerns, and the deadlines and the conversations will change character in light of Easter truth; I’m wondering about the story my life will tell via this day, next week and the coming year; I'm wondering if I will have the spiritual fortitude to keep the Prince of not only on my mind but also in my heart.

And I am wondering, “What will we do with this Risen Lord?”