Dust to gold, 
ash to life,
the risen Christ is here!
Glory swells
despite bewilderment,
doubt and angst.
The lull is over, an
empty gap replaced by
divine invitation to believe!
Believe in the
restorative God,
healer of souls,
full of grace for 
you and I.
This is the One
whose power 
reigns
beyond death,
whose way forsakes
an “eye for an eye”,
instead, choosing the
path of compassion.
“Forgive them,”
 proclaims
this Christ in the face of
persecution, resurrecting
death to glory.
And, now we —
a people who know —
can become part of this Great Rising!
We can take all our
sadness and joy,
hate and love,
sickness and healing,
anxiety and hope
and weave it
with Our Glorious Redeemer
who lives among us,
within us, and
leads us
to the path of 
eternal illumination.
The celebration isn’t later,
after a bodily death;
it begins, 
here and now
with the risen Christ!
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
Alleluia! Amen.

Luke 24:1-6a
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”

Prayer:
Risen Christ, Let me experience your rising in my life. Help me to see things anew, to refresh my outlook, to welcome the stranger. Help me to follow your lit path. Amen.