Submitted by Pastor Kailea Nauman, First Christian Church

Luke 24: 1-7: Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold two men stood by them in shining garments. Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

We are just finishing up the Easter season and we like to rush right into Pentecost when Jesus ascended to be seated at the right hand of God. But I would challenge us to sit with this for a little while longer. At our Good Friday service Pastor Bill reminded us that our Jesus is living. We do not serve a dead Jesus but a Resurrected Jesus and because of that we are made alive, too. Because of Jesus we walk in resurrection power, we are made alive in Christ Jesus our Lord, and this is the Good News of the Gospel. We do not have to wait for eternity with Jesus to experience His Love, His Goodness, His Grace, His Mercy. We do not have to wait for heaven to experience His Peace and His Presence. Because Jesus went to the cross and defeated sin and death we can now, through the Power of the Holy Spirit and the Resurrection, experience all these things now. We are made alive now, not in heaven but now, we are a new creation.

So let us sit with this for a bit longer this Easter season. Let us be in the Scripture, learning from Jesus as the 12 did after the Resurrection. Let us want to sit here with Jesus a bit longer. Let’s not rush it. Go deeper than you ever have before, and give yourself over to Him. When you do, you too can experience all these amazing gifts He has for us: love, joy, peace, mercy, grace, forgiveness and His Presence.