Now What?

Well today is the third day after Easter and we are now in the Easter Season. We’ve come through Holy Week as we walked the path which Jesus walked from the glorious entrance into Jerusalem where women, men and children laid their cloaks and the palm branches upon the path which that donkey colt carried Jesus upon.

Then we followed him to the upper room where he broke bread with his disciples one last time, Mary washed his feet, and Judas Iscariot let to betray Jesus to the religious leaders. Jesus was arrested in the garden and taken to be interrogated, beaten, and left barely alive as he carried the cross to Golgotha where he was crucified and died. After being laid in the tomb of one of his secret followers for two days, Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day and appeared to the women who came to continue the burial ritual and they ran to tell the other disciples.

So now we have celebrated the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus what do we who are alive here, now do with our lives? What is next? Now what?

The life of the Christian Church gives us a rhythm to remember and celebrate who we are and why we follow the teachings of Jesus. He taught humanity how to love selflessly and to teach others how to love in the same way. We human beings have a long history of being violent to one another and protecting ourselves against strangers, but Jesus taught and through the Holy Spirit continues to teach us how to break through those feeling of anxiety and distrust of others and to love our neighbor without reservation.

I always wonder what people think when I go off on a rant talking about how since the beginning of time God has commanded, implored and desired for us to love one another and to live God yet we fight against this impulse with nearly every fiber of our being.

I would guess that some might see me as naive and foolish, but I believe I will be preaching the same message when I’m older and wiser. It is the core of what Jesus teaches and it certainly is what we are challenged to do. To love one another. That is what we can do now to make our world a better place.