death, every tragedy can become a passage to new life and new creation through God who loves us. Consider the “Descent to Hades,”
a traditional Orthodox icon of the resurrection in which the resplen- dent Christ stands upon the broken gate of Hades and reaches out his hands to Adam and Eve, who step out into the new day beyond death (page 30 art). In the poem “Easter,” George Herbert (1593-1633) writes: “Rise heart; thy Lord is risen … who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise with him mayst rise .…” Christ’s resurrection is a pas-
sage from death to new life for all creation. Christians are an Easter people, living in the hope of resur- rection from all the possible deaths in life: the death of hopes, the death of relationships, the death of certain- ties, the death of control, the death of joy, and ultimately the death of body. Christ takes us by the hand that we likewise with him may rise. What then do our lives as Easter people look like? How does our passage through death into newness shape us for living our lives in this time and place? What are the signs of such life?
Leaving behind fear. In the resurrection accounts of Matthew and Mark, the myrrh-bearing women are told by the angel at the empty tomb: “Do not be afraid.” The risen Christ says to Mary Magdalene in the garden: “Do not be afraid.” Like Mary and the other women, we can take these words to heart. God raised up Christ, defeating death: we need not fear. God is not far-off, but God-with-us: we need not fear. God is gracious, merciful and full of compassion: we need not fear. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? We need not fear. Taking down walls. Over the course of life we build protective
walls around ourselves as a shield from hurt, disappointment, fear. The risen Christ comes to us with the marks of fi ve wounds, showing us that the way of vulnerability is also the way of abundant life. Loving freely. God is love and love does not deplete itself. Like the paschal candle’s fl ame, which “is not diminished, even when it is divided and borrowed” (Exsultet of the Eas- ter Vigil, unknown fi ſt h-seventh cen- tury author), the love of God when shared doesn’t diminish but spreads and burns ever more brightly, illu- mining the whole of creation. Living joyfully. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) wrote in an Easter sermon: “You want to know what is God’s glory? God’s glory is the assembly of saints. The glory of the one who is sung about is nothing other than the one who sings about
it. Be yourself the glory that you sing of” (“The New Chant,” Sermon 34 on Psalm 149). In taking Christ’s hand, we rise into new life, passing through death and fear to joy and glory. We become Easter people, singing of the glory of God and becoming that glory. ’Tis the spring of souls today:
Christ has burst his prison, and from three days’ sleep in death as a sun has risen. All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is fl ying from the Light to whom we give laud and praise undy- ing (ELW, 636, stanza 2).
Author bio: Cherwien is a freelance writer and musician who has written hymn texts for denominational hymnals
across the U.S. and Canada. TheLutheranAd(April 14 issue)rev CMYK.pdf 1 2/25/14 10:40 AM
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PhD requires at least two years full-time coursework. Application deadline: January 15
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