Rising Up

The day you placed the phone call. I need some food. I don’t have any money left and I can’t afford to buy any food. Can you send some money? There is rice and water, but nothing else.

The sleepless night of worry and regret, of whatifs and alternatives. Tossing and turning worrying about what will happen, what the day will bring.

They call and ask you to come in to the office. You know in your heart its not going to be good. Then they tell you, you are being let go.  We will pack up your desk and meet you outside. The excuse, reason, doesn’t fit, doesn’t work. What now?

The phone rang. Are you… I have some bad news. You husband, son, mother, father, grandma died…

The plane has landed and you watch as he walks off to you. He looks harder, tired, worn. There are no scars on the outside, but inside there is pain so much pain.

The police pull up and you kid is lead out. Panic, fear set in. Will they take us all into custody, send us back to a place out kids can’t remember.

I don’t love you, I don’t think I ever loved you. Those words rip out your heart.

In the darkness, the darkness of pain, of grief, of longing. In the darkness a light has just begun to peak over the horizon, we hear these words…

‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ Mark 16:6-7

He is not here. The Lord is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! We proclaim aliveness. We speak that even in the hardest darkness, the darkness of loss and grief, anger and sadness, fear and uncertainty. Even in the hardest darkness … we speak of hope, of possibility, of life. We speak of rising up, of taking a risk to believe that a new day, a new world is possible. The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed. We too are rising up.