“Again!”

In thinking about Easter I was reminded of a game I’d play with the kids when they were young. My German grandfather used to sing, “Du, Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen” to me when I was child. I’d do the same, placing one of my children on my knee and bobbing her or him up and down in time to the tune. At when one point, I’d speed up the pace and they’d bob at warp speed. I’d usually get an, “Again!” and the cycle would continue. The Easter season, which goes until the festival of Pentecost on May 19, celebrates, to me, the pinnacle of “Again-ness”

Our Lord has just faced the ultimate of Roman cruelty, beaten within an inch of his life, forced to carry the instrument of his destruction, stripped naked and crucified. By all accounts, a terrible way to end the life of one who spent his three-year ministry in healing, preaching and feeding. Satan must have been laughing his horns off on the evening of the Friday.

It’s not lost on me that this year Ash Wednesday was Valentine’s Day and Easter Monday will be on April Fools’ Day. One day we are marked with crosses, the signs our mortality and of our Lord’s love. Then, on the other, is an Easter celebration of the joke God played on the devil. I picture Satan, aka: “His Infamy” thinking to himself, “Well that’s it for the King’s Kid!!” and, “What’s dead stays dead!” WRONG! “His Infamy” was thwarted by “His Again-ness.”

Franklin Graham, son of the famous evangelist, has a TV spot standing in front of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. I had a chance to visit it some years ago. It was divided into sections. In one spot, the body would be prepared for burial, in the other it would lay in state for a Hebrew year. After that, the bones would be placed in an ossuary box. It struck me that nothing would box our Lord Jesus in. Nobody puts “His Again-ness” in a corner! No tomb would hold him. “His Again-ness” would triumph over box and tomb and death. I think about that when I box myself in in regards to racism, denominationalism, sexism and a host of other “isms”

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me” goes the old song. A few years ago, I would learn the meaning of the word. “spect” has to do with vision, as in spectacles or inspection. “re” means “again.” When we have respect for someone, we are willing to look again at a person or situation. My counsel for young couples just starting out would be to have enough respect, so that when a normally loving Hubby comes down stairs for breakfast with a splitting heading and roars at Wifey, flying frying pans don’t go airborne. Looking again separates us from the lower life forms, and is the core of Easter. Jesus, “His Again-ness,” calls to look again at others.

On Resurrection Sunday, God chose to look again at the world created good, that chose to walk away and disobey. God said, “By the death of my son, whenever I look at my people I will see His sacrifice not their sin.” We, then, are called to give others the same respect. With this political season full swing, I’ve always felt that the nastier the political ad, the more it says about the speaker, not the spoken about. Hanging in my office was the phrase, “God, help me to forgive that person who just sins differently than I do.” Please read that phrase a couple of times.

What new vistas are open to you this Easter season? For some it might be a return to regular corporate worship. Yes, I know how tempting the covers are Sunday morning. Footnote: set two alarms. But when we miss the chance to hear the Word proclaimed, share in the holy supper, and let the music and liturgy transport us, we do without a great deal. We also miss the opportunities to serve our Lord, such as working at a food pantry, being part of service project, and enjoying the give and take of the wit and wisdom of others in the faith, that can buoy us all in troubled times. Time to say “Again!” to worship, brothers and sisters?

The COVID quarantine, some time ago, was challenging. In some ways I think we are still not fully back, like a bear awaking after a long winter’s nap. That experience not only gave me an opportunity to reintroduce myself to exercise and musical instruments, it taught me the value of having folk to talk to, even if it’s just by the telephone or email. How will this Easter season strengthen you to say “Again!” to your Lord Jesus’s ways of solace and service? What person, project or program can you be present for after your long winter’s nap? The clarion call of the Reveille of the Resurrection calling us to a great “Again!” Don’t miss God’s wake-up call.

I will never forget how, after hearing a sermon, a little Pennsylvania Dutch lady called me. In my sermon I mentioned a fellow who had a broken relationship with his brother. “Pastor I just wanted to let you know that yesterday I talked to my own brother for the first time in five years.” What relationship can you help to renew in this season of Resurrection. I’ve found that even if you cannot, fully reconcile, to have the weight of unforgiveness removed can be most beneficial. Unforgiveness drags us down. Forgiveness is truly a gift you give yourself. What relationship is calling you to “Again!”

Pastor Paul Strodach was a Lutheran pastor and Muhlenberg College graduate - my alma mater. He’s buried not far from the campus. He would write the hymn, “Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds.” It sings to the tune of St. Francis’s “All Creatures of Our God and King.” May his words and God’s Holy Spirit send a spirit of reconciliation and courage into our hearts this Easter season. Enjoy a verse from his hymn below. Down from the vault of heaven to all God’s creatures, comes the power to say “Again!

Oh, fill us, Lord, with dauntless love;

Set heart and will on things above

That we conquer through your triumph;

Grant grace sufficient for life’s day,

That by our lives we truly say,

“Christ has triumphed!

He is living!

Alleluia, alleluia,

Alleluia!

Keep up the God work!