Christ is risen! Not restored to life from the dead, not resuscitated, not brought back to life, but Risen! Given new life, given a new body! Given a new beginning! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen! No longer bound by the limitations of time and space, no longer restricted by geography or the calendar, but Risen! Present here with us now. Present where ever people suffer. Present where ever people rejoice. Present where ever people struggle and laugh and triumph and weep and seek. Present where ever God’s people are! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen! Freed from the constraints of mortal flesh. Freed from the constraints of that which had been deemed possible. Freed from the limitations imposed by human imperfections and inadequacies. Freed to set us free! Freed to set us free from all that binds us and keeps us from being all that God calls us to be! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen! Released from the strangle hold of death. Released from what had been believed to be the hopelessness of the grave and tomb. Set free from the helplessness of the human body. Set free to free us from the fear of death and despair. Set free to carry us to the perfect freedom that is His to give. Set free to live among us as part of us within us. Christ is risen!

Christ is risen that we might arise! That we might arise into newness of life here and now. That we might experience life abundant and life everlasting. That we might throw off the shackles of sin and shame and guilt and be freed to live and love and serve and sacrifice and rejoice. Christ is risen!

Let us arise with Christ, for with Christ, “ours the cross, the grave, the skies!”

Thanks be to God!

(Quotation from “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” by Charles Wesley, 1739.)

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Excerpt from: WordAlive Copyright © 2012 by Abingdon Press.