Pain....Musings by Kaye

HI Gentle Reader, we meet again. The hussle and bustle of the Easter Hoildays is now over. The pressure is off.

I know that during my many ministry years, this was a time to breath a sigh of relief. No more special preperations or services. Things could get back to normal, whatever that is for you and I.

As I sit a reflect of the Easter holiday and all it contains Gentle Reader, one thing comes to mind and that is the subject of pain.

We all have, at one time or another experienced pain to various degrees. Perhaps a bumped elbow or knee. A pulled ham-string from playing soccer or even a broken bone or and operation. We hope for rapid healing. We have all been there....done that Gentle Reader. But you know, sometimes pain can be a good thing too. A reminder of something important. Take Easter for example. Easter is more than gifts and dress up clothes and candy. Easter is a time to remember.

The story that we proclaim and are invited to live into each Easter is a story that begins with very deep pain, very profound suffering. It is a story that calls us, Gentle Reader,like the women who accompany Jesus through the final days of his suffering, to be present to the anguish, the fear, the pain; to tenderly pour the oil, to bake the bread, to lovingly accompany, to hold one another, to weep and, yes, to prepare the spices and ointment and to do the very hard work of suffering together. But the story doesn’t stop with the pain-filled suffering. The empty tomb, while confounding initially, leaves us all with a glimmer of hope. Could it be that the pain and despair and loss and injustice do NOT have the last word? The good news of Jesus Christ is that our lives (and indeed the lives of all with whom we share this existence), in all their struggle and pain and brokenness and frailty, are framed by this profound, persistent and perplexing hope. Therefore, we carry on, Gentle Reader, you and I, with eyes wide open to signs of life beyond the suffering and pain. Christ has risen! Hope endures! healing has begun. Alleluia!

Luke 24:1-12.