Post Easter...

I wish I knew where the last few weeks have gone.  Felt like only a couple of days...at least where the blog was concerned.  My church prepared for a 50th birthday celebration on Easter Sunday.  Big doin's as we used to say in my childhood--back when we were known as the "shake and bake" girls because of the thickness of our accents.  Guess I do know where the weeks went...they went to cleaning and packing and organizing and cooking and preparing and practicing and so on and so on and so on.

But the event is over and was great...from middle school's Barbie and Ken retelling of the Easter story to the sanctuary filled to overflow to the lunch that could have fed the 5000.  Sunday afternoon we saw a not-church-friend who wished us a happy Zombie-fest day.  Took me a couple of beats (I'll blame that on being up since 4:15) but I figured out that was his shorthand for celebrating the resurrected Christ.  It was funny, but I wanted to say...wait, let's talk.  You are right; we talk about it in that way.  Resurrected Christ does seem like zombie fest to the world...but it's so much more than that.  No, we can't do it in a passing sidewalk conversation.  It's deep...rich...complicated...mystery.   Different people think about it in different ways.  No one completely understands it.  So, let's talk...

But no one seems to want to struggle with the concept.  If not available in an easy sound bite, we don't really want it.  Even folks in the church want a devotional book version.  I enjoy the devotional book sometimes, but it is in the struggle...the difficulty...the seeking to explain the inexplicable that I find the meaning and the message and the material that strengthens the foundations of my faith.

Easter was a great celebration.  It is insider work...insider language...insider concepts.  But what I would love now is to bring people back, a few at a time, and explore this zombie-fest thing that has the power to change the world.  If anyone wants to go there...let's talk.  The party's over and real life is back in session.