He is risen, Alleluia!

Many times over the course of my life and ministry, I have tried to imagine what that first Easter morning must have been like, standing just as the sun was rising and staring into the dark and empty tomb into which the body of Jesus had been laid.

Most of us can recall a moment in our own past when something that gave meaning and happiness to life seemed suddenly to have been taken away. Matthew’s Easter Gospel tells us, however, that early on that morning, the discovery was made that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and that this incredible, miraculous, life-changing news would turn that empty tomb into a profound sign of God’s love and transforming power to heal and restore and make all things new.

In the weeks that follow Easter Sunday, we hear in scripture how the appearances of Jesus after his death gave his followers a new confidence and conviction that the leader who they had placed all their hopes and dreams in would never be separated from them again. Their minds had been confused and their hearts broken. They had been devastated and paralyzed with grief and abandonment. Now, however, they were full of courage and faith. They were ready for the difficult task of sharing their Easter joy with others. Christ’s resurrection would change these men and women forever, and this miraculous and profound event would propel them forward in the days ahead.

My wife and I have been watching a British television program called “Long Lost Family” where family members are reunited after many years of separation and disconnection. In one episode, a man who had been adopted from birth, sat in a room waiting to be reunited with a mother he had never known and a family he had no idea he had belonged to. When they came through the door the expression on the man’s face was one of being reborn right on that very spot! It was an incredible scene as he learned that he had never been forgotten after all these years, never been unloved or unwanted, and now he was embraced and surrounded by a group of relatives that up until a few days before he didn’t know existed. You can tell that at that moment it was almost too much to take in. His heart was bursting with new life and a new sense of who he was and who he belonged to. It was clear that his life would never be the same again.

When I sat there and watched this moment unfold, it occurred to me that this is part of the joy and the overwhelming sense of love and transformation that comes to us at Easter. It is the glorious news that we have never been alone, that we will never be abandoned, unwanted, that we have always and will always be loved far more than we can ever imagine.

When I think about that family reunion on that television show, I also think about our congregations and our parishes as we gather each week as a family around the altar of the Lord. It is in these sacred gatherings that we are filled with the courage and love of Jesus and are empowered to bear witness to the presence of the risen Christ to those who experience the same situations of fear and doubt and abandonment wherever they may be.

In Matthew’s Gospel, the angel asked those who had gathered at the tomb to remember that Jesus had told them that he would rise again on the third day and soon the thoughts of abandonment and fear would turn to resurrection joy.

In this blessed Easter season, let us seek to express something of this joy and the transforming power of the resurrection, in prayer, song, sacrament and in our common life together. May we carry this good news with us and in us and through us as we journey together with our new bishop in the days and years to come.

Bishop Michael Bird is serving as diocesan administrator until the new bishop’s consecration on May 9.