And a Little Child Shall Lead Us...Christ is Risen

My dear friend Beth sent me the most wonderful Easter card! I've always said that if I could do it I would send as many Easter cards as I do Christmas cards. But the truth be told, one cannot buy boxes of Easter cards like one buys Christmas cards. Why is that? Both are considered the high holy days of the church? And without one, there is no need for the other, no birth, no resurrection. Really a circular thought, but one not always pondered on in that light by a good many of us.

The card was chosen she said because it made her think of her grandson Jonah, who is a young lad. She said she liked it because it is the kind of humor that her grandson is into right now. In fact the joy of this card is the fact that it is so child like and yet so profound. As I've said before, a child like faith is the faith that we should have, making all of the “steps” of Christianity difficult has led to the over stating of what God made so simple. Yet, I have to agree, faith is a tough idea to get one's mind around. (Just walk out onto a frozen pond if you are a big guy like me, now that's faith on ice if you know what I mean). The card is perfect for Easter. On the outside of the card in large blocky letters it says, Knock Knock, then lower in smaller letters Who's there? Inside it says, “He is not here: He has risen just as he said!”

I hope the American Greetings company will accept my tip of the hat for their masterpiece, but it truly is a masterpiece of Resurrection Joy. As we say in my family, “this one is a keeper.”

Easter, the high feast day of the church, the lesson that all of the prophecy, all of the “warnings” of “I'm gonna do it,” by Jesus has come to glorious light, even to the point that it amazed his followers, the men who followed along with the women who became his, well, what might be called his care-giving groupies. Mary and Martha, cooking and caring, yep, they were right there, they heard every word that he said and they were surprised by what they found at the grave, but I have to give them credit, they were the first ones in line for an introduction to an entirely new concept, salvation through sacrifice and resurrection. It may have been a touch of weak faith, but I think that it was also a matter of fear and simply not understanding what seemed like an abstract idea that they had never really heard before.

But as we shout Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! We know that it's true, they proved it by finding an empty grave and a visit from Jesus there confirming it in their seeing and hearing. And now we see the joy and introduction to faith in that story well told by simple statements enjoyed by Jonah...the truth told in a Knock Knock joke.