Now all the vault of Heaven resounds

in praise of love that still abounds:

“Christ has triumphed! He is living”

Sing choirs of angels loud and clear!

Repeat their song of glory here.

“Christ has triumphed, He is living!”

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

This stanza from a hymn by the Rev. Paul Z. Strodach. a fellow Muhlenberg College alumnus, is a favorite of mine. (Class of 1899) It sings to the tune of “All Creatures of Our God and King.” You can find it on YouTube. It is for me a gem and a great support through these troubling days.

Some folk think Easter is a “one and done” holiday. Liturgically, it is a season running until the festival of Pentecost, which this year falls on Sunday, June 5. While we might more correctly call them “The Sundays of the Resurrection,” I delight in the word “Easter” because it reminds me of the rising sun and more importantly the Rising Son.

Martin Luther would say, “I live my life as if Christ died yesterday, rose again today and is coming tomorrow.”

Liturgically speaking, each Sunday is a telling of the Easter narrative. I’d like to think each day can have Easter triumph. Luther would write in his Small Catechism (Part four, Section four) as to the significance of baptism.

“It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand, that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

Luther was an Augustinian monk. He was well aware of the teachings of St. Augustine. The saint is credited with saying, “We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” This weighs on my mind, especially when it was reported recently that in 2021 Pennsylvania led the nation in the dissemination of hate literature, with 473 cases of hate propaganda being spread. This is a far cry from the poem I heard on a ’70s sitcom, “Roses are red, violets are blue, God colors the flowers and His children too.”

This Easter Season may God color our thoughts words and deeds in ways that are pleasing.

If we attempt to live in the words quoted by Luther earlier in this peace, we believe that our sins have been forgiven in Jesus and each day dawns on our new life in him.

At. St. John’s Lutheran in Mahoning Township is a wondrous Easter stained-glass window. Unlike just about every resurrection theme I’ve ever seen, the tomb’s opening is horizontal to the ground. Jesus is seen rising out of it vertically. He is the true rising Son. God give us the ability to rise with Jesus each with sanctified mouths.

I once hear that God gives us two of everything that’s important, two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, today and tomorrow.

May this day we rise above a sinful nature that hurts others with hate. May we see that have sinned and all may speak with sanctified lips. This Easter may we daily face the rising Son and be lifted from our baser selves.

A colleague of mine liked to talk about bluebirds and boo birds. What flies out of our mouths each day?

It has been said, “If Jesus is in your heart, for God’s sake, (literally) tell your mouth.”

May our thoughts, words and deeds rise with Jesus to triumph over hate and darkness.