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This week’s Easter gospel reading is the Road to Emmaus. A few of the disciples are walking to the city of Emmaus and they meet Jesus along the way. Of course, they don’t know that it’s Jesus. Whether he has been so transformed in his resurrected state… or the disciples are caught so unawares that they can’t see who this man is… we don’t know. But they do not recognize the man they meet on the road. They don’t recognize that they are living in a post-resurrection world… so they don’t see Jesus for who he is. They aren’t able to see the truth that’s standing right in front of them. They don’t yet know that nothing will ever be the same.Nothing will ever be the same. I can’t help but think today’s gospel reading has something profound to teach us about where we are right now. We too… are post Easter people… we live in a world where the resurrection happened. We see everything through the lens of the cross and the empty tomb. Jesus our Christ lived and died and was raised from the dead… and for us… that changes everything. It changes how we understand our relationship with God and our relationships with one another… it changes how we are called to live… it changes how we see one another and care for one another. It changes our understanding of sin and brokenness… and even death itself. We are post Easter people… and that means… because Christ lives… we shall live also… and nothing… nothing in all of life or death can separate us from the love of God… and that, folks… that changes everything… it changes everything… or at least… it should. The question is… do we see it? Do we see that nothing will ever be the same? That nothing should ever be the same?Here lately I’ve heard a lot of people something along the lines of… “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal.” I’ve said it myself. I can’t wait for things to get back to normal. Completely understandable. The craziness and uncertainty we are living in is highly stressful. We are all living though trauma right now… our lives, even if they haven’t been directly affected by illness… have all been directly affected by this virus nonetheless. We can’t see our families… many people have lost jobs and incomes… and those who continue to work have had to find new ways to do so… with those deemed “essential” putting themselves at risk. We have no idea how long this all will last… we have no idea how many people we’ll have to say goodbye to… we have no idea how many livelihoods will be lost. We are isolated from one another… stuck in our homes for the most part… which is particularly hard on those who live alone and those who don’t have access to online communities. Major life events and milestones have been put on hold… some will never happen. Our Seniors won’t get to wear their cap and gowns at graduation. We’re missing community… we miss gathering together… hugging one another… and so many things that were just a natural part of our lives a few weeks ago.“Normal” is looking pretty good right now. We can’t wait until things get back to normal. Things were pretty good then… weren’t they? Were they? I’ll be honest and say… that back when things were “normal”… there were a lot of things I took for granted. Like… seeing and interacting with people outside of my immediate family… like hugs… like getting up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to get ready to come and lead worship… like looking out across the sanctuary and seeing all of your faces… like visiting people… going out to eat… spending time with my friends… like grocery shelves stocked full of toilette paper. I took those things for granted. I don’t ever want to do that again.There are other things that I’ve noticed through all this… this pandemic has helped us care more about one another… we’ve found new ways to cultivate relationships… checking in with one another more often… we’ve come together as communities to make sure children are being fed outside of school… we’re offering support to those who have lost their jobs… granting forgiveness on interest and late fees… as a whole society we’re offering people grace in ways we didn’t before… and proving that such a thing can, if fact, be done. This pandemic has shed light on a lot of ways that we have been failing to caring for the lost and the least. Over the course of a few weeks, millions of Americans lost their medical insurance in the middle of a pandemic because they lost their jobs. We’ve seen higher death rates among the poor… we’ve come face to face with the reality that if some children weren’t being fed at school… then they weren’t being fed… that far too many people are only one or two missed paychecks away from losing their homes or being able to put food on their tables. Maybe “normal” isn’t what we should be striving for. We are Easter people… we live into and out of the reality of the resurrection… and that changes everything. We live in and out of the unconditional love God has for us and the incredible gift of grace we have received. We are called to live lives guided by our love of God and our neighbor. As Easter people, we have been released from the penal, merit-based system of this world. We have been released from our obsession with what someone may or may not deserve. We don’t have to earn God’s love… and neither does anyone else. We don’t have to earn God’s grace… and neither does anyone else… we don’t have to earn our place as a beloved child of God… and neither does anyone else. We are Easter people… and that changes everything… and so maybe the message we need to hear this third Sunday of our Easter season… even as we are separated from one another and find ourselves anxious and afraid over what the future might bring… is that we don’t have to accept what was “normal” before as good. Maybe the good that God is creating in the midst of all of this is newly opened eyes… maybe our eyes can be opened… like the disciples’ eyes were that day on the road to Emmaus… to Christ in our midst… calling us to be Easter people… to continue to reach out to the lost and the least in new ways… to care for one another without worrying about what is deserved… to celebrate with joy of all those things we so easily took for granted… to find a new normal… with loving our neighbor at its core.Nothing was the same after Christ rose from the dead… nothing should have been. Right now… where we are… in the midst of an epidemic that has affected us all in so many ways… this all will pass… eventually… but nothing may ever be the same… and maybe, people of God… it shouldn’t be. ................
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