Practice Resurrection

Just as we have forty days of Lent to fast and look inward and cleanse, so we have forty days of Easter to "practice resurrection." Eugene Peterson, biblical scholar and creator of The Message Bible, also wrote a book entitled Practice Resurrection : A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ. I have owned this book and the accompanying workbook for years, but never has it meant so much to me as it does now. Easter this year has taken on new meaning. You might say, I have met Easter and the Risen Christ "again for the first time."

Khalil Osiris is a man who learned the hard way that until he recognized the prison in himself which held him captive for decades he would never be free. However, when he realized "the freedom that comes from within," the control he had over his reaction, his behavior, his mind and his heart and the necessity of living a life "practicing resurrection" from the death of darkness to the life of light, even the bars of prison could not imprison him.

Because of Khalil's teaching, I too have realized the necessity of practicing resurrection, and this Easter season, I invite you to join me here as we move forward together to live in to the resurrected life. There is no greater way for us to honor and remember the Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus than to live a resurrected life, free of the chains of darkness.