The First Week of Easter: From FEAR to LIGHT
STEP ONE: BREATHE
Take a deep, cleansing breath. Allow the air to fill your lungs and expand your body. Exhale and empty yourself into the room. Repeat three times - once for the one who Created you, once for the Incarnate One who walks beside you, and once for the Spirit whose life fills your being.
STEP TWO: DWELL IN WORD
“Because I live, you also will live.”
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“FEAR NOT” - Some things to try out
Ending each week of this devotional, there will be a collection of practical suggestions on how you can FEAR NOT. As pastors we know the importance of bringing the abstract ideas of faith down to earth. What can I do in the face of fears? Here are a few suggestions from the pastors who wrote this week’s devotions. Try them out. Allow them to spark other ideas within yourself.
“I am amazed at the creativity of people when they are faced with adversity. If you have been watching the news, there have been several stories about the creative ways people have been connecting and celebrating birthdays, weddings and the like. Drive by birthday parades, live streamed weddings and even a Zoom Passover dinner. What creative ways can you think of to celebrate a graduation? You’ll think of something!”
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“We are creatures who need ritual, particularly for our rights of passage. If you cannot participate in your regular ritual, create one. Maybe do it with humor. For example, have someone read the 87 names that come before yours at graduation - in the classic serious voice used at graduation.Then when your name is called out, have your family make as much noise as possible and the “serious” one remind you to save your applause to the end. Or do something that is easily recreatable in future years and see now as the start of a new tradition. Such as a certificate that looks like a diploma, but highlights how your graduate is a child of God, lists blessings and a prayer. Then do it for your next graduate too.””
“Think of a young person who is in or ready to graduate from high school. What is their ‘thing’? Is it music, sports, reading, hanging out with friends? Think of events that they might be missing. Make a collage card of images of the things that are important to them. Cut and paste these images from magazines or newspapers. On the inside of the card, let them know that you are thinking about them.”
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STEP THREE: PRAY
Gracious God of Life, we are grateful for every new beginning that comes after the losses that we suffer. Help us to remember, when our hope is strained by circumstances beyond our control, that because you are the Resurrection and the Life nothing is ultimately hopeless and that all is well. Amen.
Today’s prayer is by Pastor Steve Thompson.