”And suddenly there was a great earthquake…” (the rolling of the stone from the tomb, Matthew 28:2)
“I have seen the Lord!’ (Mary Magdalene to the disciples, John 20:18)
“Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’” (Matthew 28:9)
“Reach out your hand and put it in my side!” (Jesus to Thomas, John 20:27)
Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)
“Jesus himself came near and went with them” (Luke 24:15)
”Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish” John 21:12a, 13
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. (Luke 24:30)
Hear.
See.
Touch.
Taste.
Feel.
The resurrection story is full of the experience of receiving the divine. This week, we testify to how we receive God with all of our senses: the sound of an earthquake, the witness of our eyes, with his breath on our skin, with our hands on his flesh, and food on our lips. God is here. God is present.
God is screaming to be known. The Easter story is of a God who surprises, who reveals, who confronts, who arrives, who delivers.
The power of this story is the invitation to receive.
Presbytery Office
So see God.
See God in the garden.
See God in the locked room.
See God by the sea.
See God at the beach.
See God from a boat.
See God on the road.
See God on the mountain.
See, with your heart-senses, God, where a cross cannot destroy him, where a stone cannot contain him, where tears cannot conceal him, where locked doors cannot stop him, where unbelief cannot deny him, where death cannot keep him.
May we experience the divine and receive God with all of our senses.
Happy Easter!
Rev. Ryan J. Landino
Presbytery Leader
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy
April 6, 2023