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Hallo again to all.

It is Easter, 2006. You all know the story. We repeat it every Sunday: Christ is risen. Resurrected.

The very notion of resurrection is to us nearly incomprehensible. We've listened to a lifetime of sermons about Jesus' resurrection. Life from death. We've never seen it first-hand; we can only take it on faith, and we do. Our faith is very strong.

Especially during Easter week, which is to say, right now.

Speaking of resurrection, we've always enjoyed the poem 'Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front' by the American poet Wendell Berry. Its last few lines are:

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

As the world seems more perilous with each passing year, we've taken to saying that last line to ourselves quite a bit. 'Practice resurrection', we say. Don't just talk about it or marvel at it: do it.

No, we're not divine. We can't resurrect dry bones nor do we expect to return from the dead to rejoin disciples. Instead we try to practise resurrection in our own mortal way by finding hope in despair, by finding energy in fatigue, by finding light in the dark, by overcoming injury and disease, by refusing to let our health fade, good ideas die, or good friends fade away.

Here where we live in the Northern hemisphere, Easter happens in the Spring, when plants and flowers and leaves are being resurrected, lambs and calves are being born, and each day has more light than the day before. Instant global communication can bring us so much evidence of death and darkness. Celebrate Easter, celebrate Jesus' resurrection by finding a dozen little resurrections that we can practise in our own lives.

See you next week, alive again, alive still.

All of us here at Anglicans Online

Last updated: 16 April 2006
URL: http://anglicansonline.org

(Click for an update on Cynthia's cancer)