It is a beautiful day! Happy Easter!

A few months ago I changed the ringtone on the alarm that wakes me up in the morning. Instead of the traditional harsh and jarring I now wake up to "A Beautiful Day" by U2.  I hoped that beginning my day this way might make me a little less grumpy in the morning.  Sometimes it works. The upbeat song is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has.  Its a much better way to wake up.

How easy it is for us to miss the beauty of the day. I am sure you have had the experience of remarking on the beauty of the day only to have someone respond. "Thank goodness after the lousy weather we have had."  Or even still having our moment of joy over the days beauty being spoiled by the person who tells us, "Its going to rain tomorrow."  Why can't we just enjoy the beauty of a day, why do we have to dwell on yesterday or be anxious about tomorrow?

This is how we are called to experience Easter, as a beautiful day which does not dwell on the sins and sorrows of the past or the anxiety of tomorrow.  It is a beautiful day - it is the Resurrection day of the Lord.  The psalmist sings, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad," and so we must.

In his 1st letter to the Corinthians St. Paul calls us to

Clear out the old yeast...celebrate the feast, 
not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, 
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The beautiful day of the Resurrection of the Lord, is a moment to leave past hurts behind.  To acknowledge that by His death we now now mercy.  It is a beautiful day, Christ is risen and I have hope that death has no power over us.

In John's gospel we are given the account of the breathless apostles who found the tomb of Jesus empty of everything but the burial clothes and therefore, "saw and believed."  They believed not because they understood.  Nor did they believe because they no longer had a fear or anxiety about what was to come.  What they did know was that it was a beautiful day because this changes everything.  The resurrection of the Lord makes this day and everyday different.

U2 concludes their song with the words

It was a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

Beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Reach me I know I'm not a hopeless case

This Easter day is a beautiful day because we are not hopeless.  The tomb was empty.  We live without lamenting the past or creating an anxiety about an unknown future.  Because he is truly risen and death has no power over us.

It is a beautiful day.  Happy Easter