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easter collage: not here

well, we've reached the end of Lent, the end of our 40 day journey that started in ashes and ends with life bursting forth against all odds.  hallelujah!  death sometimes looks so strong and overwhelming, but Jesus proved once and for all that LOVE WINS!!!!  it's the greatest part of our faith, that no matter what else happens, no matter how many things go wrong, no matter how advanced the cancer is, no matter how deep the debt is, no matter how terrible the sin is, no matter how bitter the pill, no matter how dark the night, no matter how lost the soul: love wins.  love wins.  love always wins.  hallelujah!

and so my lenten journey of collaging ends, as well.  the last one is one from mark 16:1-6, which talks of the three women who make their way to the tomb early in the morning.  mark tells us that they had bought some spices, and were worried about how they would move the stone at the entrance in order to properly annoint Jesus' body.  but when they got there, the stone was moved and Jesus' body was gone.  it makes me wonder what happened to those spices?  did they save them?  did they think the body would turn up somewhere?  did they drop them right there?  did they hold onto them as a reminder of the miraculous event?  no one knows, of course, but it causes me to wonder how often we as Christians are like ones who are still waiting to annoint a dead body.  our faith often resembles looks to others like the faith of ones who have lost their hope, rather than ones whose hope has defeated death once and for all.  and even though easter will be full of "hallelujahs" and "he is risens," what will the sound of our churches be in a week, in a month?  will we sound like those running away from the tomb to tell others the exciting news?  or will we sound like those who are still looking to use our spices to annoint something that is dead and gone?  my prayer for my church - and for the church universal - is that it will be the former. 

"lent 2011: not here"
mixed media on canvas
april, 2011
gregory a. milinovich




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Emoly said…
It's like "now, the rest of the story" with Paul Harvey. Bill and I watched "Jesus Christ Superstar" last night, neither of us had seen it before. I wish we had watched it Friday night instead. It left me with an empty feeling because of where it ends. I felt like jumping around the house singing, "But Christ is Risen!" I did in fact jump up and start singing, "Christ the Lord is Risen today" which we sang in church yesterday morning.

Thank you, Greg, for seeing it to the "end" and not letting us believe that the cross is the end, but the empty tomb. Thank you for reminding us to live our lives because Love Wins, not because of the death of Christ.

Christ is Risen!
11:26 AM
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