Yes, the time stamp on this email is right – a little after 3:30 in the morning. I’m so excited I can’t sleep. Here’s why:
A few years ago, Diane and I celebrated Easter with people from a small beach village. We gathered with people from village churches on the beach under the dark morning sky. It’s an annual tradition. A local pastor brought a message as the sky began to lighten. By the the time the sun crested the water in the distance, we were singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” Donuts and hot coffee at the Little Church on the Boardwalk with all those gathered from different denominations was the concluding act of fellowship.
We’ve reflected since that for us, there’s nothing quite as breathtaking and exhilarating as singing the beautiful anthem Charles Wesley wrote in 1739 and watching the sun rise on the water, knowing that God created both the sun and the oceans and everything else we see.
This year, many of us cannot celebrate Easter as we normally do. But we are nevertheless assembled in our homes or wherever we may be. We join our hearts this morning with one another, and with believers in that little beach village as well as Christians around the world. We commemorate the most life-giving event in human history – the day Jesus Christ defeated death and rose from a grave, and gave us the incomparable gift offering of eternal life.
Today, Diane and I are with you in spirit as the dispersed AU Family observes Easter and all the life that Christ gives. May we – all of us – live in the constant joy of being His children, and may we greet each day of life as a gift to be opened and celebrated because Christ died so that we may Live today and forever.
Click on the link below, and let you heart and voice sing with the Oratorio Chorus and Festival Brass from Southwestern Seminary the magnificent anthem, “Christ the Lord has Risen Today.”
Faithfully, Evans Whitaker