Daily Devotion for Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012

Scripture Reading for Today: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Key Verse for Today: 1 Corinthians 15:10a, "I am what I am by God's grace, and God's grace hasn't been for nothing."

Today is Easter Sunday!  Technically, my Lenten devotion of writing daily devotions ended yesterday but it seemed somehow wrong to quit before Easter.  We've been leading up to... what, exactly?  You can't just stop on the Saturday before.

My hope is to continue to write on this blog.  Probably not daily but I'll try to keep it fairly current.  I'll have more options for the subject matter as well as I won't be self-restricted to the daily common lectionary!

But I digress.  We're here on Easter Sunday and we are celebrating the resurrection.  I included Paul's discourse on the resurrection rather than the Gospels because I don't think it's as well known.

Three Marys at the Tomb

by William Bouguereau.  They experienced

resurrection differently than Paul and

likely differently than you or me.

Paul shares with us that this is all about God's grace.  He recognizes that he walks by grace - pardoned for sins that strike against his new-found faith.  You can tell that Paul is still wrestling with the acceptance of this grace.

And don't we all?

There are many times we believe in our unworthiness more than in the grace we receive.

Paul shows us that this is foolishness.  It is a waste of the grace.

He could have given up but he went on to be an apostle for Jesus Christ.  In fact, we likely wouldn't be attending to our daily devotions if not for Paul's persistence.

The resurrection continues to shape our lives - how we live and what we live for.

It is grace that has already come to us but it is grace that is also still yet to come.

On many levels.

I like the Modest Mouse song, "Float On" for these lyrics:

        I backed my car into a cop car the other day

       Well he just drove off - sometimes life's okay

       I ran my mouth off a bit too much - oh what did I say?

       Well you just laughed it off - it was all okay

                                                      

       And we'll all float on okay

The song is overtly positive - acknowledging that grace happens in various ways.  There are times when things work out even though they shouldn't.

Paul shared that with the church at Corinth and he's sharing it with us.

If we believed it for ourselves, what could we accomplish?

Breath Prayer: Risen Christ, thank you for your grace.