Today is Easter Sunday (Pascha) for Orthodox Christians. This Easter date is based on the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar used by most western churches. I think it was Martin Luther who said that every Sunday should be a little Easter—a celebration of resurrection—so the date doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that we experience resurrection in our lives. Every day should be a little Easter—a celebration of both the Resurrection of Christ and our own resurrections!
When I use the word “Resurrection” with the initial capital letter, I mean the rising of Jesus after his death and burial. When I use the word “resurrection” without the initial capital letter I’m referring to the experience of a person rising again from some disaster or catastrophe, or from some death-like form of living. I’m quite comfortable with the terms “born again” and “re-creation” as synonyms for resurrection. The familiar words from the Parable of the Prodigal Son or from the hymn, Amazing Grace, illustrate this resurrection: “For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found (Luke 15)” and “I once was lost, but now am found…was blind, but now I see (Amazing Grace).”
“Easter,” writes Fritz Kunkel in his book, Creation Continues, “rebirth, the new phase of creation, is either a convincing inner experience which changes our character and our life, or it is nothing at all.”
Since it is Orthodox Easter Day, I want to quote Nikos Kazantzakis, one of my favorite authors, and his experience of resurrection. “When I awoke, I was no longer the same person, because formerly I had not known, and now I knew. I kept asking myself how a dream could change a man’s life. It does not change it, I replied; it simply announces that the change has taken place.” When the “Beyond Within” becomes reality, resurrections are bound to occur. Take note of your resurrections—they happen every day!
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