Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

Some sto­ries have nice, tidy end­ings. This is not one of those. In the East­er sto­ry, the end­ing is more of a be­gin­ning, and the mid­dle chap­ters are still be­ing writ­ten. Through­out this sea­son, Christ re­minds us and re­veals to us that the res­ur­rec­tion is our birthing and our eter­ni­ty, it is who we are – a peo­ple rec­on­ciled and re­stored to new life, a peo­ple ever rising.

This is the sto­ry we are in­vit­ed to enter.

This is not an event we re­call, but a way of life we are called to live. As a body of be­liev­ers with ques­tions and doubts, ideas and opin­ions, hope and con­fi­dence – as Beloved Com­mu­ni­ty – we are called by God to con­tin­ue this sto­ry in our com­mon life. In so do­ing, we be­come signs and in­stru­ments for oth­ers to know Christ’s ex­tra­or­di­nary love for us. The way we live our lives, in­di­vid­u­al­ly and as a com­mu­ni­ty, can ex­press our in­ward un­der­stand­ings of life and death, of love, and of our faith in God for the rising.

No mat­ter how hard the falls, no mat­ter how im­per­fect our lives, no one is be­yond the reach of God’s grace and love. We live, al­ways, in the promise of ris­ing with Christ. How we live, in com­mu­ni­ty with oth­ers, is in­tend­ed to be life-giv­ing, life-restoring.

Grace Epis­co­pal Church is a sign of God’s love es­tab­lished more than 150 years ago – pos­si­bly the old­est, con­tin­u­ous­ly open church in Al­len­town. We are a com­mu­nity of pas­sion­ate peo­ple, striv­ing to live out our faith in an ever-​chang­ing down­town, an ever-chang­ing world. Our life to­gether, and our life in ser­vice of God’s mis­sion, are nur­tured and nour­ished by the pres­ence of Je­sus Christ among us. We break bread to­geth­er and prac­tice lov­ing one an­oth­er. We prac­tice ris­ing to new life with Christ.

It is here – in our re­la­tion­ships, in the church, and out into the streets – that we are called to bear wit­ness to the risen Christ’s love for all. Here, all are wel­come. Come as you are, with all your pre­cious gifts, all your scars and wounds and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties. Come to love and be loved. Come, rise up, and ex­pe­ri­ence the liv­ing sto­ry of God’s grace.

The Rev. Twila Smith – East­er 2016