Greetings Dear Reader,
In many parts of the world, today is a holiday as well. It is Easter Monday. Over one hundred and twenty countries celebrate
today as well as yesterday. In some, it
is even a public holiday. The intent in
the liturgical calendar is to extend the celebration of the Resurrection into
an entire week. Services are supposed to
be bright and reflect the joy that is the risen Jesus.
In this country, it is one of the great half-price-chocolate
holidays. The pretty floral bonnets are
put away. The ham is reduced to sandwich
meat. Children will return to school for
a restless few weeks before summer break begins. Forgotten eggs lie in wait around the house
and yard to reveal their odious presence as the days warm. Our hope, however, is in getting bags of our
favorite chocolate at half the retail price.
We put the resurrection away much more quickly than we do
Christmas. We congratulate ourselves on
having commemorated it. We do not, I
think, get changed enough by it. I am going
to try to put a little laser focus on this closing thought.
I have been asking about love all year. It is my foundational theme for my blog this entire
year. We are almost through a third of that
year. In asking where the love is during
Holy Week, I am asking that we see that it is all about getting back to a world
where love rules and all things are good.
We do not seem to be able to get to the foundational point. It is this: God loves us. He wants us to love him and each other. That reality will make things good again.
We cannot get traction on changing the world for the better
until we build this as the foundation. We
are capable of finding many reasons not to act in a loving way but none of them
are valid. If I live every moment
seeking to love God and my neighbor, I can truly make a difference. I can move things closer to good.
Many people will express their love for chocolate
today. If they put that energy into
loving each other, the world could change.
We all know in the deepest part of our soul that this is true. Everything about Jesus’ actions during Holy
Week is to ask us to see the Father’s love for us and to love each other. All of his opposition acted in ways contrary
to the idea of love for God and neighbor.
As I turn the corner toward summer, I ponder what warmth I
can carry from the resurrection that will warm the souls of those I encounter. I want to walk with a greater sense of what
it means to love others with a true depth of heart and soul. I yearn for everyone to see that everything
Jesus suffered was to show him or her the extent to which he is willing to go
to show his love.
If you have not gotten this yet, I must be expressing myself
unclearly Dear Reader. God loves
you. He loves you right where and when
you are. Your circumstances matter but
do not impact the level of the Father’s love for you. Every good thing in the world is an
expression of this. The entire idea of
Passover and the Crucifixion is his paying the ultimate human price to express
his divine love for you.
The Father wants you to seek him in love and in truth. He is not trying to make you follow a list of
rules or diminished who you are. He
wants justice, kindness, goodness, and freedom to fill the universe. He is nudging us back to a world where everything
is good. We are not there yet, so, he gives
is many good things along the way to reveal his love for us. Oh, and there is still half-price chocolate.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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