Todd Hiestand

An Easter People

March 29, 2007

I’ve been reading a book by Eugene Peterson called, Living the Resurrection and wanted to share a short section with you. Hopefully it will encourage you in your workday or wherever you are…

“The [world] is obviously not a vacation paradise. Its more like a warzone. And that’s where we Christians are stationed, along with the children, to affirm the primacy of life over death, to give a witness to the connectedness and preciousness of all life, to engage in teh practice of resurrection.

We do this by gathering in congregations and regular worship before our life-giving God and our death-defeating Christ and our life-abounding Holy Spirit. We do it by reading, pondering, teaching, and preaching the Word of Life as it is revealed in our Scriptures. We do it by baptizing men, women and children into the name of the Trinity, nurturing them into a resurrection life. We do it by eating the life of Jesus in the bread and the wine in the Eucharist. We do it by visiting prisoners, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, healing the sick, working for justice, loving our enemies, raising our children, doiing our everyday work to the glory of God…all this is pretty ordinary. It doesn’t take a great deal of trainging or talent to do any of it….”

Friends, we are called to be an Easter people, a resurrection people…people who proclaim life in a world of death and distraction. May we live together (united, even though we are part of different local communities) as the people of God in the everyday work to which God has called us…